Warning! This story is going to be very long! If you cannot stand long stories then do not read. If you do not like stories about incompetent aliens that no one likes then do not read this. If you cannot stand reading about the imminent destruction of Earth and enemies having to unite to stop the greater threat then DO NOT READ!!!
Thank you, that is all…
Invader Zim- The End?
Chapter 30
Panic Trap
Quietly cruising through space grew boring very quickly. There wasn't much left to do on the ship. Kai had shown Dib just about everything and nothing was really as fun as they might seem to think, especially since Kim was busy driving, Tak didn't really want to speak to anyone and Idu was gone. So Kai was the only one left to hang with and every time they played a game Kai always won because he was the computer for the computer player.
Dib and Kai were forced to talk to each other instead.
"Yooouuu like my siiiiister…"
Dib jumped. He turned to the face that appeared next to him on the wall, wide eyed. "H-How did…?"
"Oh, please. It's obvious. I may be made of metal but I'm all as human as you or Kim. I can tell when one person likes another."
Dib scratched the back of his head. "How long have you known?"
"Ever since you set foot on me. I could feel your accelerated heartbeat when you looked at my sister. Want to know something creepy about liking Kim though?" Dib lightly nodded, not really knowing if he wanted to know or not. "If you like Kim's face then, technically, you like my face too. Seeing as we're near identical in terms of facial features. The only real difference is our hair."
The boy stuck out his tongue. "That's a… creepy thought all right…"
Kai laughed. The smile on the ship grew large. "You're a funny guy Dib. I didn't think I'd like you at first but you're pretty cool, considering the fact that you like my sister."
"What's wrong with liking your sister?"
"She's sort of strange, don't you think?" Kai and Dib were quiet for a moment. Kai looked at Dib's expression. He had he head turned down, eyes narrowed and mouth stretched into a knowing smirk. Kai leapt into reality and looked down at his metallic chest and grinned weakly. "Then again… I suppose I'm not different. Haha, sorry. I tend to forget that I'm a ship. Especially when I'm having such a normal conversation with people."
Dib rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't really call this conversation a normal one. A paranormal investigator, who has spent years trying to prevent an alien from taking over his home planet, talking about a girl, so used to paranormal that she seems out of this world, to a ship who is said to be that girl's twin sibling." Dib smiled. "That doesn't seem normal. Maybe to you. Not to me."
"Oh? What's a normal conversation to you?"
"Talking about how I summoned a pig curse, to make it so that my sister would only taste pork no matter what she ate, with a hobo I met in a diner. After that he'd leave with a piece of corn and steal a kid licking a lollipop in the corner before dashing out the door and into the night."
Kai's face sunk in. He looked befuddled. "Y-You really had a conversation like that?"
"Uh…" Dib scratched the back of his head. "More or less."
"Wow," stated Kai, his face lighting up again. "That's so cool! I've never spoken to a 'hobo' before. You have such a cool life! Nothing interesting ever happens to me…"
Dib was quiet. So was Kai. They looked at one another. Then laughter erupted between the two.
This ensued for a few minutes before it died down and they smiled at each other.
"Anyways, Dib," continued Kai. "I wanted to talk to you ab--"
He stopped mid sentence. Kai's face froze, like he'd been put into a cryo freezer. His eyes were wide, mouth slightly ajar and a look of horror plastered all over his metallic face. Although he was made of metal, his expressions were easy to read. Dib rolled his eyes and waved a hand in front of Kai's face, telling him to knock off the act and talk with him again. But when Kai didn't do anything, even after Dib stated that it wasn't funny, the paranormal-loving boy began to grow a little worried about his friend's brother. He didn't know what was wrong with Kai.
Dib decided that he would go to the bridge and report Kai's strange behavior to Kim. Maybe there was something wrong with him again. Perhaps he had another virus in his system. So as Dib turned he started to walk down the hall, leaving the frozen Kai in his place on the wall. As he rounded the corner the hallway flashed red several times. Loud sirens played out through the speakers, screaming into the echoing halls and into Dib's eardrum.
Hurriedly, he cupped his hands over his ears, ducking down in surprise as the sirens blared and the hallway flashed from its normal gray to red and back again. He looked up and around as he stood, flinching at the sounds, hands still cupped over his ears.
Then, through his hands, Dib heard Kai's strained voice. But differently.
Running back to the hall that he'd left Kai in he looked at the boy. His mouth was open, barking orders, face still frozen, eyes still wide, and horror still plastered as his metal expression. Dib could hear him clearly over the sirens.
"ALERT! ALERT! EMERGENCY!
"WARNING! FOEIGN DEVICE LOCATED.
"LOCATION: COCKPIT.
"STATUS: INFECTIOUS PARASITE.
"CREW MEMBERS AFFECTED: 2/3.
"HULL STATUS: 98.
"RUNNING CAPACITY: 34 AND DROPPING."
Dib panicked. He ran down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of Kai, his hands still over his ears. "Kai! Kai! Wake up! What's going on!? Kai! Come on!"
"ALERT! ALERT! EMERGENCY!
"WARNING! FOREIGN DEVICE LOCATED.
"LOCATION: COCKPIT.
"LOCATION: MAINFRAME PERSONALITY CHIPS.
"LOCATION: HULL REPARE DECK.
"LOCATION: NAVIGATION COMPUTER.
"LOCATION: WEAPON STORAGE.
"LOCATION: AIMING MAINFRAME.
"LOCATION: MAGIC RESERVE.
"LOCATION: PERSONALITY CHIP 1-487.
"REMAINING CHIPS: 487-489.
"STATUS: INFECTIOUS PARASITE.
"CREW MEMBERS AFFECTED: 2/3.
"HULL STATUS: 98.
"RUNNING CAPACITY: 12 AND DROPPING.
"SYSTEM CRASH IMENENT."
"KAI! PLEASE! PLEASE WAKE UP KAI!" Dib screamed with all of his might. He even made a grab for the boy's metal shoulder. But it sank into the wall before he could reach it.
The boy's face began to melt away into the metal. It sunk and Dib backed away quickly, thinking that the metal might collapse and suck him in as well. It was only when Kai's face erupted from the sea of melting metal did the paranormal boy scream for the first time since he'd been on the ship.
Kai's face stretched right out the metal, coming so close to Dib's face that their noses almost touched. The boy's face was exactly as it had frozen but now there was also panic wrapped within. He screamed at Dib. "Kim! She's in the cockpit! Hurry! I'm losing control!" As he was pulled back into the wall by grasping, tentacle-like pieces of metal Kai called out one last order to the terrified, pale boy. "Don't get infected!" Then he disappeared behind a wall of metal, which moved and bobbed like it did when his face was being formed. It was like an ocean of gray.
Dib ran for the wall, screaming Kai's name. But he didn't come back out. Instead, the same tentacles that had taken Kai came out for Dib. He panicked and hurried away, screaming down the hall as he went. His arms flew behind him because he was unable to pull them up at his speed. His legs went out in front and he leaned far back as he ran at top speed, dodging tentacles of metal that came out of the walls after him. Leaping over one and ducking under two more, he passed the storage chamber and the incubation cells, hurrying for the cockpit.
As he passed by the cafeteria he could hear Tak.
Dib stopped a moment. The tentacles weren't coming out anymore. Not in this area anyways.
He looked behind him; they were still there, wriggling around like broken limbs from a sea creature. Then there were some ahead of him. They did the very same thing. But in this one patch of hallway there was none, and he could hear Tak on the other side of the cafeteria door. Dib gulped and then pushed the door open to peer inside.
Tak was sitting at a table, rubbing her temple. She looked up, surprised, as Dib entered the cafeteria. Her green skin paled considerably. It was then that Dib noticed the other person sitting next to her. He didn't know who he was nor did he really care. He glanced him over only once. There was a hood from his sweater that stretched over his head. Blue jeans and gloves over his hands. He looked up at Dib as he entered but said nothing.
The irken girl was the first to speak. "D-Dib?"
The boy stood there, noticing the surprise in Tak's voice.
She stood up. "You're alive!?"
Then everything blurred and turned white for a moment. Dib covered his eyes with his arm. The light enveloped him and then was gone in an instant, as quickly as it appeared. Dib looked up again. The room was completely different. Tak and the boy were no longer sitting at the table, nor were they anywhere else in the room. The tentacles crawled along the walls, as if noticing him being there only for the first time they turned and went for him.
Dib panicked again. He screamed as he jumped over one coming down on him. The tentacles hit the ground and Dib jumped onto it before running out the door and back into the hallway. It was, once more, covered in tentacles that tried to bring him down, swiping at his legs and swinging for the back of his head. Dib carefully avoided each one; all the while he was running what had just happened over in his head.
As he jumped over a tentacle that attempted to block his path and trip him up he felt there was something wrong with what had just happened.
The tentacles would have still been there during his hallucination, which is what he thought the vision of Tak and the boy was. If that was so then why had they not attacked him? It occurred to him in an instant. Kai had explained, before Dib ran away, the specific locations that the virus had infected before it took over his personality chips. He'd said that the foreign parasite had made its way into the mainframe but he didn't say that it had fully taken over the detection system, only the navigation system.
With only one shot at this Dib attempted to explore to what limits the tentacles could find him. He wondered if he could get to the cockpit with his plan. After quietly mulling it over he jumped over one last tentacle and then stopped, stalk still, like a wooden plank.
They reached for him.
Dib closed his eyes and screamed, still not moving.
…
He opened one eye.
The tentacles were directly in front of him. They swerved around a bit. Dib grinned brightly. He's just made an incredible discovery that could help him get to the cockpit with speed.
Although it had taken over the ship, the foreign device was not made to apply to the magical charms set around its hull. So, although it was in a super advanced ship with incredible capabilities in terms of defense, surveillance and war, the parasite couldn't control it because it wasn't meant to be able to.
Dib took a step forwards.
They still didn't go for him. They were designed to attack panic. But Dib didn't panic.
The tentacles disappeared back into the wall, sucked back through in the same manor of Kai. Dib slowly stepped forwards, no tentacles blocking his way. He smiled brightly and then walked to the cockpit. This made it so much easier…
---
Dib slowly opened the door. He peered inside. Kim's head was seat from her seat, only the back mind you. He stepped inside, slowly closing the door as he went. Then Dib crossed to Kim's seat. She was sleeping soundly, bound to her seat by a tentacle. Dib reached for it but it seemed to make the same noise as a rattlesnake did when it was dangerous to approach. The boy drew back and then looked at the screen that usually displayed space. A black cover encased the window in darkness, making it impossible to see through.
He'd watched Kim fly for a while so he knew what button he was supposed to press to see outside into space.
Dib looked up. There was a bright blue button just above his head. He reached up, pressed it with two fingers and then waited as the black cover rolled up with loud clinks and clanks to reveal space. It wasn't much what Dib had wanted to see.
A planet was coming up fast; the screen was red and yellow with flames. Dib realized that Kai was falling onto the planet's surface, and now, without anything to help them get out of it Dib realized that he would have to do it. Unfortunately, the events that were folding out before him caused the boy to panic once more. And so, as he leapt into the driver's seat and placed his hands on the controls, the foreign parasite detected the panic in his heartbeat and the tentacles were deployed once more, curling from the walls, floor and ceiling.
Dib wrestled them away as he tried to steer the ship away from the surface of the planet. But they overwhelmed him, closing in on his arms and legs, binding him completely. They pulled him away from the controls, leaving the wheel to spin out of control.
As it spun so did Kai. He flipped upside down, right side up and upside down again. This caused the tentacles to lose their grip on Dib and he fell onto the ceiling. Then the gravity malfunctioned from the heat on the hull, which was coming through as Dib panicked. He was sent into the open air and he looked over at Kim, who was still tied to the chair with the tentacle.
Dib floated over, grabbing a bar that was floating next to him in the process. He hurried to Kim's side and then smashed the bar into the tentacle. It released Kim and she floated in the air close to the boy. He swam over and pulled her into his lap.
Dib looked once more at the screen, the planet's plains could be seen clearly now.
He pulled Kim's head into his chest and then closed his arms around her as he pushed his head down. Protecting Kim, he waited for impact.
Kai's voice came up again.
"WARNING! CRASH IMENENT! COUNTDOWN COMENCING:
"TEN…"
The tentacles found Dib's panic in the center of the room.
"NINE…"They went for him.
"EIGHT…"
At first they wrapped around him and Kim.
"SEVEN…"
Then they took differing positions in the air.
"SIX…"
Dib closed his eyes tightly.
"FIVE…"
He pulled Kim as close as he could with the tentacles gripping them.
"FOUR…"
There was a twitching in his arms.
"THREE…"Kim's eyes opened, as did Dib's.
"TWO…"
"Dib…?"
"ONE… HAVE A NICE DAY…"
After that, there was a scream from Kim, one from Dib, one from Kai… And then nothing…
---
Brooke: Okay, my usual account buddies are taking a break for a while because they said they wanted a vacation after all the updates and never getting one. (Cries) So I have a few people from my deviant art account here to help us out.
Oliver: Okay, let's get down to business. The first review we're taking in is sent from The Illustrious Crackpot.
Brooke: … You don't have to be that uptight dude… Anyways, Congrats on doing so well! And I never really watched Duck Dodgers so I didn't see an episode like that, nor do I really remember that far back after this amount of time. But I'll take your word for it.
Scrad: YES!!! DLBN!!! COMMENTED!!! TAKE IT AWAY BROOKE!!!!
Brooke: … maybe this wasn't such a good idea… Dlbn. Glad you like it so much! And yes, no more memory for little Gir! And Dib's thingy was fun to write.
Sin: Another one from Dlbn. Comments galore:)
Brooke: Yes, yes, yes. They had to run a very long time. They were very tired at the end. I shall not disappoint you because you missed me. I feel loved! I am a very happy goth!
Viridis and Green (speaking at same time): Finally, the last person to send in a comment was The Illustrious Crackpot.
Brooke: Yes, I've read the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. I don't remember most of it though. Maybe I subconsciously remembered it or something. Anyways, I'm glad you liked Orange Peels too. I don't really bother to spell check on that and the reason Hix is so out of tune with hugs and stuff but knows about the human body is because, even though he watches human TV, he has trouble grasping onto how they act and stuff like that. He tends to watch a lot of doctor shows and CSI.
Hix: Oranges for everyone!
New: And cake!!! CAKE!!!