Chapter Six
Gaz hadn't seen Tak in years, with her ship still held up in Dib's garage as another means for transport; she just came to the logical conclusion that she was lost in space, or died after their last encounter; to see Tak in her dirty uniform with Mimi still just in parts was jarring. Gaz started to wonder how long she was adrift in the aimless sea of stars, but she snapped out of it, once Tak started groaning. Gaz carried her and set her on the couch, examining her body. Thank God, no bruises, only minor scratches. Tak's antenna twitched when Gaz gave a light touch to check them, causing the Irken to be jolted awake, and hissing like an angry cat. Gaz didn't budge though. She quirked an eyebrow and said dryly, "Oh, you finally decided to wake up." Tak glared at her and looked around, wondering if this was an awful dream.
"You're that purple demon who sprayed soda at me!" Tak yelled.
Gaz rolled her eyes, shaking her head, "Yes, six years ago...are you really hung up on that?"
"Six y…" Tak's voice trailed off, "It can't be six years!"
Gaz looked at her, confused, "And why?"
"I was only gone for a whole month! Wh...when did time accelerate so quickly?!"
"Whoa, calm down, Tak. You're not making any sense. Yes, it's been six years, my brother and I are now teenagers; what the hell do you mean by time accelerating and you being gone for just a month?"
Tak gave a half broken smile, as if the madness of reality had broken what she thought, "You...you weren't there...so you couldn't have seen it. I don't know how I got there, but I much prefer Dirt over where I went. I felt like I landed in a war zone, the stench was awful, bodies laid in piles with thorns being grown out of their bodies…" Tak let out a whimper, "I saw spirits...I think they were...marching into some sort of mechanical tower. I hid as well as I could and camped as I smelled every flesh and bone burning, that black smoke replaced the clouds, and the screams echoed all night and day; and that bloody castle! Even just looking at it, my body started bleeding...n-not from my eyes, but my stalks and nails! I think the castle tried to kill me!"
"Were you on a planet?"
"Planet?!" Tak snarled, "What planet functions this way?! You just proved that it wasn't by telling me it's been six years." Tak was never one to cry, but she broke into sobs. She was once so prideful and confident, but now she was reduced to sounding like a madwoman.
Gaz was startled, and unnerved by her reaction. She drew her attention to Tak's gloves, "Um...may I see it?" Gaz asked. Tak flinched but obliged, painfully pulling off her leather gloves that made a crackling noise at the tip. Tak's nails had drying blood, it was a dark purple and her nails looked a bit cracked; it was like her body was fighting against her.
"My feet are worse…" Tak lamented.
"I don't need to see it," Gaz replied, holding back her urge to vomit.
"I...used to find old children's books on Planet Dirt. Planet Dirt didn't start out as it was, it was once a thriving metropolis, almost an Arcadia in its glory days. The childrens books detailed a...a group of sorts on a red cloud; a knight who was loyal and fought for his people, the jester who lives for his own gain, the king with no eyes, the queen with a sadistic grin, and a whole other bloody roster of subjects. The castle I saw in that book, was where I went…" Tak explained, "I thought...I thought these were just my people's fairytale...to make sense of what was happening; but it's true."
Gaz sighed, "Tak, you're still not explaining very well. Um, hold on, I can get you a mug of coffee and a creamer." Tak's face curled in disgust.
"Bleh," she gagged, "After what I've eaten in that hellish landscape, I'm in no mood for coffee; something sugary to cleanse my palate, or something sweet."
Gaz shrugged, "I can get you fruit punch or soda. I mean, Zim leaves soda cans on the floor of his house sometimes so, I figured you would…"
"ZIM?!" Tak shouted, "That little rabid puppy is far more worse than I thought!" Gaz just handed her a glass of fruit punch, thinking it was just Tak usual ranting, "He's going to bring death to the universe." Gaz now had her focus on Tak, unsure if she was joking, but Gaz could feel her tone and how honest it was.
"Death?"
"To everything...I think you know better than I do, what must be done. We have to kill Zim. It's either him and his estranged abomination family or us."
Gaz's mouth hung in shock before she regained composure, "You can't kill Zim! My brother...my brother is attached to the idiot to the point of obsession." Tak slammed her glass, and glared up at her, she was in a silent furor; if she had the energy she would have attacked the purple brat, but her energy was spent on attempting to survive. Tak tried slapping her in rage, but her swipe was too slow and Gaz moved her head.
"He could be your bloody uncle for all I care!" Tak snapped, "I prefer not dying because your brother has a crush on that moron!"
Gaz winced, Tak is still Tak surprisingly, she thought staring back at the Irken with a leer regarding Dib's feelings towards Zim. "Tak…maybe it's best you lay down for a while," Gaz suggested. She didn't want to bring up Dib when Tak was agitated, and more Tak snarled and showed her teeth like an angry guard dog; she just had a deep feeling she was using up her energy even more at this rate. Tak scoffed, but didn't argue. Gaz offered to clean any wounds or dirt but Tak snapped and slammed the door in her face. "You better not be sleeping on my bed with those damn boots on!" Gaz called before turning the knob a few times; great, the other angry alien locked her out of her own bedroom. Gaz nearly jumped three feet when she heard footsteps, only to be Professor Membrane lugging an absurdly big metal suitcase.
"Daughter, I'm sorry. It turns out my duties are needed by the president," Membrane sighed, "If your brother comes, tell him it was urgent."
"Yeah...sure," Gaz replied plainly, "Dad, you and Dib hardly ever talk anymore; if your meeting or something is over, or like, you get a break...give him a text or call?"
Membrane gave a soft expression underneath his lab coat; although his mouth was covered by the coat collar, his goggles looked like he was trying to find the right words; a struggle of a busy single parent who had to juggle his children with his passion, "I'll try. Uh, help me get this to the car, will you?" Gaz helped him with the suitcase, hauling it to the back seat instead of the trunk. Membrane added on safety straps and activated a bulletproof barrier by pressing a remote on his wrist device.
"Can I ask what's in there?" Gaz pointed to the suitcase.
"Stuff, important stuff, daughter."
Gaz groaned, of course her dad would keep such important information confidential, "Just remember to call…!" she yelled as Membrane's black car disappeared in the distance.
What in Hell's Bells name are you doing, dawdling as we inch closer to the steep ledge off into the abyss where no light, but red smoke may reach?
Zimalyon was in a bad mood because of what happened, Zim forcefully regained himself, instead of being completely one with his War God self. Zimalyon felt it was the biggest insult, but this act of pacing back and forth as Dib rested on the couch was beyond inexcusable. Zimalyon could only shout and yell as Zim felt the ringing in his head, and the ripples like white noise bouncing off small square walls made him grunt in pain. Zim had reached a dead end in his thoughts, but Zimalyon kept nudging him to speak with Dib. Zim had something that these petty blooded sky mongers wantrd; Dib was his wild card but he had to use him wisely and respect him, that's what Zimalyon was barking about. Zim couldn't help but think there was something more to it, but Zimalyon would just laugh at him for being so nosy.
Zim sat next to Dib, observing his exhausted slumber, before tapping his shoulder causing the young man to groan. Dib raised himself up, groggily looking up at Zim.
"Zim, I really need sleep. Can you save what's on your mind for later?" Dib sounded half asleep, he was yawning out his words instead of speaking.
Zim sighed, "I don't know what to do next, Dib. I need your visions; you're something these beings want because you could see...see what shall come." Dib looked conflicted.
"Xaxul, then what happened with Xaxul…"
"Yes, he wanted your life!" Zim said shaking his shoulders, "He wanted to get you for this reason!" Dib looked like he blanked out briefly due to sleepiness before it struck him like cold water, "You're...you're like Gir, but somehow...that eye of yours and what Juxteen left in you…"
"Oh fuck, oh fuck…!" Dib was justifiably panicked, now understanding his role more clearly, as if the shock of what Juxteen spoke about was a game of chess, "Then Jux, what Juxteen said—"
"Dib, you need to take a deep breath before you start to go into hysterics."
"The fourth eye, oh fuck me, why me?!"
Zim took his hands, gripping them tightly and subconsciously did exhales and inhales in front of Dib. Dib followed Zim, his body calming but his nerves were still standing on end. This was too much of a responsibility; saving the world was fine, but the entire universe and these things were trailing after him? Dib never felt so small, he once accepted that space was larger than anticipated, but much like every human; he never knew how deep. Dib rarely coward but in the face of all this, he suddenly wished he could wrap this unwanted gift and give it to someone else. Zim gently felt Dib's knuckles, startling Dib by such tenderness, such as the time Zim had his arms around his waist. "I'm sorry this happened to you…" Zim said, it was all he could say. Dib sighed.
"You want to use my sight…?"
Zim nodded, letting his own sigh escape him, "Did you dream?"
"As much as I could. I didn't like it," Dib admitted, "Well, I guess I technically don't like my premonition dreams but this one...it felt like forever, you know?"
Premonitions don't adhere to the time or space this veil is used to, in his river, it feels more like quick sand beneath his feet when he's weightless.
Zim swallowed from Zimalyon's explanation, "Dib, you have to tell me what you saw," he commanded, but Dib was quivering his lips, "Please Dib! You're the only person I can rely on right now!" Dib slammed his knees in frustration.
"Get me a pen, and paper."
They say the diviners are dead, gone extinct into dust, nay, here is one right now on the pale blue gem cascading in madness and in filth…
Zim had heard stories of Irken diviners that stretched many decades before Irk was modernized, Vortian's had their as did other alien species when the planets were young, they all must have been blessed or cursed by their fourth eye to even see that place where Zimalyon and Juxteen came from; but now an earthling in the wake of Irk's modern era was scribbling and writing feverishly onto an empty school notebook that Zim never used, writing in characters thought to be long buried. Dib was in a long trance, hypnotized by remembering the details. Dib spread the papers on him floor, before assembling them like a puzzle, it was like a twisted mural that was birthed by madness; a black flaming castle caused the land to be barren as if it was more like Mars than on earth, and humans were lined up in a crowd as they were brought in like cattle, extra details explained gruesome punishments of humans throwing humans out of the windows of the castle, impalement, cannibalizing, and burning at the stake till the castle consumed them entirely, leaving nothing.
Dib stepped back, his hands covered in ink and his fingers a bit scratched and bloody, as he looked mortified to see this vision laid before him. "I gotta...I just need to…" Dib took Zim's base elevator to the bathroom to clean his hands. Zim observed the drawings, noticing ancient Irken was scribbled in areas.
"Zimalyon, do you know what these mean?"
The end, death, of course the garden of rot...Zim, have you wondered why most earlier alien civilizations have disappeared or vanished, leaving but bones in the wake? You can thank this lower God for it. It's not a castle, it's a living eater...it cloaks itself, drives the planet insane, and is the worst example of a scavenger. Kastron, the castle and glutton.
"D...did it kill the inhabitants on Mars?"
Kill?! They slaughtered each other while Kastron ate them. What Dib is feeling, is what this earth is feeling; prey animals scattering for shelter as their demise reaches for them...Kastron might be a head higher than Xaxul but both are violent idiots, these humans are mere pigs ready to be eaten; so I suggest...we best kill Kastron from the inside.
Oh but even if it meant just flying to it, that wouldn't be so easy. That flying thing wouldn't be so easy as to just land on the damn castle; it wasn't like landing his voot cruiser on top of a space station, Kastron looked like it was a living organism but some oars hinted at the wings also told there were occupants on it. Zim wanted to ask Zimalyon about Kastron but he had fell silent as a separate monitor above the TV started to play a patriotic Irken march from the earlier years, and in Irken scrolled horizontally: ALL INVADERS ARE RELIEVED OF THEIR DUTY, RETURN TO THE MOTHER PLANET, THE FINAL ACT IS HERE.
Zim scowled, what prankster at the board was pulling off apocalyptic propaganda just to scare the invaders back to Irk? He shivered slightly; this was just bait to crowd the Irken population into a single spot. There was no mention these would be broadcast to every invader in their designated planet. Zim and Zimalyon knew by the prick in the same heart they carried, Ryda was manipulating for the end of Irk.
Zim scoffed at the horrible timing, so this is what Kastron was being used for; no dog can capture two foxes, that's how that one earth saying went. "What on Irk do I do?" Zim muttered in frustration, holding his head as he wracked over the situation.
Is the earth monarchy readying their weapons?
Zim was too wrapped up in his mental bubble that he had almost forgotten that the earth had cameras, and satellites in orbit and around space, and rovers. If Kastron was absurdly big, bigger than Xaxul, they were scrambling about how to deal with this anomaly. Zim could almost hear the arguments of it being an exposure, space debris or a piece of space rock. Humans argued more than doing half a damn, at least Dib saved their backward ass more than once, as did Zim but he was still motivated to conquer the earth. "They must be...the city feels too quiet," Zim sighed, "As much as I hate asking for help...I can't do this alone. I'm heading to Irk to get some extra cal...men. Your archaic speech is rubbing off on me!"
Are you seriously blaming me for that? Regardless, if you must leave, then take the Prophet with you. Kastron is bigger than Xaxul but he is mindless and stupid. It takes three days for his body to turn, and he's slower than a snail. He is a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.
Zim sighed, going to the lab where Dib had left to, only to find him slumped over in the bathroom; his mouth was still wet from regurgitating and he had his back against the shower, still in a daze. Zim knelt down next to him, feeling Dib's forehead, realizing the human was running a temperature. "Zim...my head hurts…" Dib wheezed.
Zim gave a small chuckle, "My head isn't doing well either, Dib human, because I have a toy soldier inside of it."
Mooncalf!
"That's besides the point," Zim said clearing his throat "Dib, that living castle in space is headed to earth, like Xaxul it intends to destroy us, but something is also happening on Irk. We're going to Irk to get extra help, and you'll be safer with us...um, me."
"What about Gir?"
"Gir will handle on his own, they don't want him, they want us…" Zim helped him up, "It might buy your precious planet sometime while that crazy organic castle is on its way. We best hurry before we—" Zim was caught off guard when the vent above sprung open and Tak attempted to strike him with her limbs, but Zim fought back, their limbs clashing against each other sounded like metal needles in a dance. Zim was pinned to the floor to the other Irken, but he struggled, grasping his gloves around the ends and gripping them. Tak grabbed his antenna making him grunt in pain. Dib ran and tried to pry Tak off only for Tak to push him aside. "Wasn't expecting to see you back so soon…" Zim teased.
"You wipe that smirk off your face, Zimalyon, I know what you are and what you intend to do!" Tak snarled.
"I'm not Zima—"
"Doesn't matter! Same soul, same brain, same blood thirsty monster!" Tak yelled.
Who is this screeching little harpy? I certainly never met her. I blame my slumber in your brain as I have no recollection of this violet banshee.
Not now, this is not the time for your snide commentary! Zim thought before glaring up at Tak, "Let me go, Tak, I'm giving you a warning now that if you don't...I'll break these," Tak only took it up as a challenge and tried to push the limbs as far as they could go, but Zim was crunching the metallic spider tips as if he was crunching a soda can, before they snapped cleared off; like a metallic pencil with the graphite point and in mid writing it skidded on the paper, only the limb bounced on the floor before hitting the wall. Tak was speechless.
"You...you broke...broke it…"
"I have no intention of destroying the universe, I want to stop it as much as you do," Zim said calmly with aggression in his tone of voice, "Now get off me."
Tak reluctantly obliged, still not wavering her glare on Zim as he got up from the floor, "At least you sound less stupid," she snapped, "That doesn't mean I trust you or your big headed lover—"
"It's not like that!" Dib interrupted, his cheeks hot, "B-but...anyway, we're heading to Irk to recruit more help; a big castle God thingy that drives people mad and...eats everything...well, everyone is on the way, and Irk isn't holding up any better." Tak looked skeptical.
"Not holding any better?" Tak repeated, crossing her arms, "What about the Tallest?"
"Hospitalized, ex-Tallest Komb is at the helm now temporarily," Zim replied.
"Um, the Control Brains, any news on them?" Zim just silently shrugged, "Bloody useless…" Tak grumbled, "Can you at least tell me where my ship is?" Dib looked embarrassed, shuffling his feet trying to find words but Tak already saw his body language. Tak grabbed his collar down so Dib was at her eye level.
"It's, err, still in my garage...it's fixed though! You can fly in it! It's a little sassy though."
Tak rolled her eyes, "Yes Dib, I am a little sassy. Idiot."
"What did you have in mind for your ship?" Zim asked. Tak groaned in frustration; she didn't think that far. She just planned to kill Zim and leave. Tak looked at Zim, irritation plastered on her face, and Zim shook his head. He wasn't at all surprised, Tak might have had more planning but she was equally impulsive. She wasn't aware of cracks or blind spots. "Stay on earth then, keep an eye on the humans while we sort things out," Zim said.
"Is that a request or an order?"
"Take it as you want, I'm in no mood to argue with you," Zim said, taking Dib's hand as they followed to Zim's ship. Dib quietly sat in the back area of the ship, buckling himself in. This wasn't a romantic stargaze, or a travel to view the seas clashing above the atmosphere with burning stars. Dib actually started to feel sick and nauseous the moment the ship went off the dock. The change in atmosphere just made his fever worse, and his head was changing within. Dib wanted to not do this anymore, his body barely felt like his own, and sleeping was painful, but Dib reluctantly continued. He told himself this was duty; to protect his family, his home, earth and the universe.