Chapter Three
Dib looked a bit haggard by the time he walked into Zim's house, the bumpy taxi ride didn't do much to ease his anxiety, or make his head feel any better. Juxteen had him in a corner and pounced him. Dib thought his reaction wasn't enough, by the time Juxteen was kicked, his eye and mental state were slowly connecting like some warped lobotomy; Xaxul damaged his pupil into a crescent, and Juxteen's dark cloud just unearthed something...Dib felt it was there...but what it was he had no idea. Dib felt sick, causing Zim to order him to take a rest in the same bed he once did before this whole ordeal started. Dib could only reluctantly oblige, changing into pajamas and sleeping instantly once his head landed on the pillow. Gir pulled the covers over him before rushing over to Zim, "Master, Dib's big ol head is giving black smoky stuff like burnt toast!"
Zim's metal work was disturbed, causing him to bump against the weapon from below on a hovering metal work chair. There was a gentle clang once Zim's forehead struck it, but he still treated it like any other injury and let out a loud grunt. "You saw what?" Zim groaned.
"There's smoke…"
"From...his head?"
"Yeah-!"
Zim started to feel more and more disturbed about Gir's sudden ability to see such occurrences more and more lately. He could see Xaxul, pointed out castles in the night sky, chasing after butterflies that weren't there, and now this. If it was just another one of Gir's silly routines, he would chalk it up to Gir's inner insanity; but these could no longer be considered coincidences. Gir somehow can see something normal SIR units can't, thermal and X-ray vision inside the lenses were unable to see another reality; yet he saw it while Zim can't. Zim took a deep breath, "Gir, explain to your master why you can see all this."
"I just see it," Gir said plainly.
Zim scowled, "That's not a proper answer!"
"Master can't see it?"
Zim sighed, "No...you know, never mind. I got to work on these weapons in preparation Xaxul tries to bring his smelly ball worm face around here again."
"Master I'm surprised you can't see it!"
Zim paused, looking back at Gir from his monitor of blueprints. "Why do you say that?" he asked. Gir smiled innocently and pointed at Zim; Zim felt his body tense up clutching the hovering monitor.
"Zimmy boy in you! Zimmy has clear eyes!" Gir exclaimed. Zim slapped his hand away, harshly, as he fell back clutching his head. That sensation of another second skin beneath him bubbled. He kept trudging with the blinds on, trying to forget Zimalyon but trying to escape him just made it come full circle at every turn. You can't escape what's inside of you like this, Zim thought bitterly, this was no different from his PAK but this was more than just the mind. It was a soul that was deeply sealed.
Ah, may I speak now?
Zim might as well have been speaking with a mirror, that voice was him, yet it was eloquence and authority as one would have expected from a war figure. If Zimalyon was seen as a fierce wave of fury, this was not Zimalyon right now. He was calm, and Zim could picture a shadow in the distance, clad with red hued armor and black crown with a bloody veil. This shadow was Irken shaped, yet Zim could tell this man was not of any origin, he wasn't Irken to begin with but this is how he was to his people. Zim squinted in seeing the movement of a salute.
Your eyes are finally clear, if not briefly...you and I share many parallels and similarities. I must apologize if this is still a lot to take in, I do not have a lot of time on my part either.
Zim, we are incomplete...
You're asking me to just give my body to you?
Not give. Acknowledge. I've been silenced for far too long, the universe is cracking internally. Pretty soon they'll be nothing left as the serpent finally devours its tail.
Space expands, but not while our mother is eating at it.
Ryda'kyangtor, we must not let her hear our soft whispers.
Cooperate with ME and we might have a chance to—
"No, no! No deal! No deal!" Zim yelled, "I refuse to believe you don't have your own ulterior motives! Xaxul and Juxteen have both hurt the Dib looking for you! I have no interest in helping any of your kind if you're all just monsters!"
Zim, you're a monster too...you were always the wolf…
"I had enough of you, Zimalyon!" Zim shouted, "Get out of my sight, erm, Zim's brain! I want no more of this! You hear me, armored beast?! No more of this!"
Auribus teneo lupum, Zim…
Zim felt his skin feel normal again and the vision faded as if Zimalyon was never amongst the lights of the lab. Zim rubbed his hands over his head, his green skin felt drenched in cold sweat, dealing with Xaxul and Juxteen were one thing but Zim had to reluctantly accept that he too was molded of the same clay. You're a monster too, Zim...even if things returned to normal, Zim won't have a harder time accepting the man under his skin, this goddamned God. Zim decided to temporarily stop his work and check on Dib, he opened the door and his antenna dropped at the sight of Dib. Zim had only left left to work for a couple of hours and Dib looked pale. He rushed to the human, kneeling next to Dib, feeling his forehead and realizing he was running a high temperature. Oh fuck, not now, why were human bodies so delicate?!
"Dib...Dib? Please wake up," Zim said gently.
"My...my head...hurts…"
Zim clenched his teeth as he felt something dripping onto his fingers from Dib's ears, at first, Zim was horrified thinking it was blood but it was watery and black. Zim wished he knew what Juxteen had done, but seeing that substance drip made him wish he kept one extra harpoon to murder Juxteen for hurting his nemesis. Zim took out a vial from his PAK and collected a sample, it felt wrong to exploit Dib in this state, but he needed a better understanding of what they were up against. Zim placed a cork on the vial before studying the liquid briefly, he put in his PAK and cleaned up the dark stains by having the bed go through a microscopic self cleaning. "Computer, provide a syringe of OGv15, it should expel what's causing his draining of color."
"Zim...I'm cold…" Dib gasped out, his eyes still closed.
"Shh…" Zim silenced him, "It's going to be a quick poke, all right?" he adjusted the syringe needle to be unusually thin that one would think it was invisible, before he injected it into Dib's vein. Zim was never one for medical, but he had to gain a basic understanding of what medicine was good for what while on the battlefield. Zim felt Dib was no better, running into two weaker Elder Gods and surviving as a human was rather admirable.
Zim looked relieved when his deathly pale skin returned to a light beige. He felt his mouth start to tremble and his eyes started to water, he had no idea if it was himself or Zimalyon but he leaned over Dib, before cradling Dib's head on his lap.
Oh Zimalyon if this is you, you are truly cruel making me feel this way. Why must Zim feel so emotional over such a stupid human?
"Mm...Zim," Dib mumbled, stirring, "What's going on?"
Zim felt like he cracked from the inside, "It's...it's my fault you got like this. These horrible things, these creatures aren't going to leave me or you alone; I have no choice, you're staying here with me till we figured something out." Dib paused, lost in thought as he tried to register his bearings; realizing Zim was using "we" instead of "me" or "I" this once was one of them.
"Zim...does a red kingdom mean anything to you?" Dib suddenly asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"A red kingdom?" Zim pondered after wiping away his tears, "Was it reddish purple?" Zim at first thought he was talking about Irk.
"No...no...it was like terra cotta red and rose red...just brownish red and it looks...looks so horrible, and, that smell from the castle windows...burning rotten meat…"
"Dib, you're just delirious. You just need to rest," Zim said firmly.
Dib shook his head in frustration, "No! You're not listening to me Zim! I know you know that place! You know that kingdom-!" Zim did his best to comfort Dib who was acting like he was going through a frustrating tantrum. Dib kept yelling out "You know about the red kingdom! It's in the sky! You know it's from the sky!" Zim swiftly injected a sedative and Dib slumped on the bed. Zim caught his breath, feeling a shiver go up his spine, as he felt invisible cold fingers stroke him mockingly.
You know about the red kingdom in the sky, the wolf knows the red queen in the thorn forest…
Purple loathed being dragged into a meeting, with Red being tended to, this meant he had to take his place since he and Red shared Tallest duties. Ugh, this wasn't fun in the slightest but this was over the Control Brains debacle; it wasn't just Judgementia, parts of Irk holding Control Brains, and Control Brains in Irken working established planets had gone insane, at worst, some of the older ones had died by self termination by cracking and shattering their bowl before dying from being out of the tank and excessive blood loss; at worst, a couple exploded from unknown reasons when signs of their monitoring read as normal.
"We might not be able to rely on Control Brains anymore at this rate," Ex-Tallest, Komb stated, "The Brains have been with us for centuries, you can't just replicate a big muscle that's been here before us; and their AI is more complicated."
"Can't rely on Control Brains anymore?!" Purple almost choked on his soda, "Are you insane, we need them!"
"Then my liege, what do you offer to make the Brains more at ease?"
"Try putting up sound proof walls!" Purple yelled, throwing his soda cup at Komb, that landed on his head like a comical hat.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those walls inside of the rooms were made with the toughest soundproof material," Derk, an Irken elder spoke up.
"Um...sound proof ear buds?"
"Brains don't have ears."
Purple cupped his cheek, "Bah, I hate meetings."
"Computer, start the meeting," Komb ordered as Purple slumped in his seat, a bit lazily. These older ex Tallest were such show offs.
"Our meeting today is about the hazards of a recent Control Brain malfunction that happened simultaneously in all 300 planets, and 125 moons owned by the Irken Empire. The time of malfunction happened at the hours of Knö and the secondary hours of Kidan. As of now, the Control Brain population has dropped dramatically, the death toll rising from 5% to 30%.
The highest medical of Irken Professionals and the best of Galactic Engineering are at a complete loss over what has caused these brains to die; however, some theories have come to light in hopes to relax the troubled Irken population:
One: A possible hacking by an enemy.
The Irken Empire has gained exponentially, but not without retaliation. This theory suggests a widespread hack has invaded the syyyyyyysteeeeeems faaaaaaaailiiiing…."
"Computer? Computer, our meeting!" Komb barked, slamming his gauntlets, "No good piece of trash!"
The computer suddenly started cackling, the calm electronic feminine voice actually broke into a mad laughter. "No...oh no, it can affect computers too?!" Purple yelled in alarm, "Tallest Komb we must leave. Who knows what this...whatever, might do! It's already gotten to this computer somehow. Let's just get away!"
"A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds; and when the weeds began to grow, it's like a garden full of snow; and when the snow begins to fall, it's like a bird on the wall…"
The meeting hall started blinking red from an alarm going off, as the building started to shake. Komb tried pushing the Emergency Stop button but it was broken, no matter how hard he pressed and smashed, an electronic voice rang "no function". Purple almost pulled his antenna out, and hovered over to Komb, slapping the darker purple eyed, older Tallest that it left the other in a brief tipsy.
"And when your back begins to smart, it's like a penknife in your heart; and when your heart begins to bleed, you're dead, and dead...dead indeed…"
Purple dragged Tallest Komb out with him as the meeting hall collapsed on its pillars; the Irken meeting hall was made from the strongest metals, and the finest of security; but now it was reduced to char, and it's tall skeleton was being eaten away. The more the Irken populace looked on with their leader, the thirty story building really was being eroded to look like bare bones, the top of the building with the Irken symbol decayed from internal heat. The top antenna curled into horns from pipes, the eyes became black voids from charred metal, and that grotesque grin was made from those who were unable to leave and tried seeking shelter from the top. Purple realized grimly they were bones, and the charred holes with were once their PAKs.
"Tallest Purple...what's happening to our empire?" Komb asked. Purple only hung his head in guilt.
"This is...my fault," he replied.
"Why do you say that? You didn't hack into my computer."
"No...but...I...I helped be a catalyst for this…" Purple broke into tears, "I helped...in this…" Komb didn't understand, he had never seen Purple become so emotional before in ages. He held the other Tallest trying to make sense of this.
"You have done nothing."
"I...I hurt Zim...I hurt Zim...I...hurt Zim...this is my...punishment for it…" Purple replied dully, "Ryda is angry but she's especially...angry at me...I...I did it...I was the one...who tried to drown Zim...at our Elite obstacle course...t-tampered with…" The top of the meeting hall exploded and a sharp piece of pipe impaled Purple's PAK. Komb hastily pulled it out.
"Oh...oh no…" Komb gaped in horror at seeing a piece of the PAK be damaged, he recognized it as one connected to personality. A crowd of Irkens rushed in, as Komb called for an ambulance. Purple smiled tiredly raising his thin claws up as his eyes felt clear, he could see butterflies glowing with luminous red feathers, and a lovely bright tipped tail like a star.
"Heaven…"
Purple was unconscious before the vehicle arrived, but the Irkens were trembling in fear as their second Tallest was placed on the gurney. "Oh no, who's going to lead Irk now?" "We don't have anyone as heir left as Tallest?" "The Control Brains have gone amok too!" "Oh my Tallest, it's the end for us, the end of Irk!" the Irken crown chatted in a panic. Komb looked down contemplative, he was long retired, but Irk couldn't function without a leader.
"My people as long as Tallest Red and Tallest Purple recover, I shall temporarily regain my title as Tallest till they are well enough to reign. Glory to the empire!"
"Glory to Irk! Glory to the empire! May we reign and conquer, and stand tall to thee!"