(a/n: here you go, a new chapter. Enjoy and review)
Act 2: Brave new world
Zim bolted up right gasping and coughing.
His spat out a copious amount of mucus from his lungs and they l became filled with new clean oxygen. Zim cleared his throat. Zim glanced around the lab and saw that his plan was a success.
For one he's alive and two his lab is intact.
Zim rubbed his eyes as he crawled out of the stasis pod. He tried to stand but his legs wobbled and he fell down on his face. His limbs were stiff and numb from being in stasis for a long period of time.
Zim laid on the cold metal floor for a few minutes till the feeling in his legs returned and he pushed himself off of the cold floor "Computer, Status report" said Zim he leaned against the stasis pod for support.
The main computer screen blinked on and the computer's voice reported "Submersion successful, base one hundred percent intact, main power generators operational and reserves fully intact " Zim sighed in relief but the computer continued "But before the final shutdown of main systems, there was a power surge from a foreign device planted within the systems".
Zim's eyes widened "What! Locate the device" on the screen, a map of the base appeared and a blue dot appeared on a distant part of the base.
Zim scowled and he pushed a button on his wrist computer and the doors to the lab creaked open.
He rushed out the lab and down the hall towards the device. Lights blinked on and systems began to come back online as he passed. Zim had to cut his way through a forest of cobwebs to reach an elevator at the end of the hall.
The elevator ascended two floors and deposited him on a level that had rooms where he conducted most of his experiments.
Zim reached the room at the end of the hall, he glanced around then he saw a large metal tube that ran from the ceiling to the floor. He walked over and he removed a small panel and saw a small black device. It looked rather dusty and it had an inscription on it.
The inscription was faded but he could clearly make out what it said.
The inscription read "Property of Dib Membrane".
Zim scowled, he crushed the device in his hands "Dib, still interfering with my schemes" he turned and ordered, "Computer, run an analysis in case the device affect any of the systems".
The computer reported, "All main systems remain unaffected but one"
"one?" said Zim "the device had created the power surge and it affected the stasis pod's systems".
Zim's eyes widened "What? How?" "Processing" said the Computer.
After a few minutes the computer spoke "It had affected the pod's automated timer, it had changed it" Zim's heart almost stopped "Changed!" thoughts raced through his head.
This changed everything, how far was he in the future? What was the outcome of the war? Whatever it was, he had to get to the surface and see the outcome of the war. Zim turned and ran back to the elevator and he darted back to the lab.
He found the metal container beside his stasis pod, he threw it open and he pulled GIR out of the container screaming and shaking the tiny metal form "GIR! GIR! Wake up something's wrong!" GIR's lifeless form shifted a little then there was a soft hum and then GIR's eyes lit up.
GIR looked up at him yawning "Are we there yet?"
Zim growled "Hurry up, follow me to the transport". Zim spun around and he rushed towards the elevator, GIR followed closely behind. They crammed into the elevator and they ascended to the very top of the base, their fake house.
Zim glanced around and found that everything was left as it should, the sheets covering the furniture was still in place.
The curtains were still in place, only that they had some holes in them. Probably moths, thought Zim.
Zim said sternly "Raise the base and activate perimeter defenses" the entire base shook and there were groans as tons of dirt and rocks were shifted away by metal. Zim saw through one of the wholes in his curtains that house rose out of the ground like some sort of plant, which was followed by the fences, the lawn gnomes, lawn animals and a large flag that said "I love earth!".
Sunlight spilled into the house through the holes in the curtains, shedding away some of the darkness.
Zim glanced at GIR saying "Get ready GIR, through that door is a barren wasteland of radiation and waste, for all we know the human race may have turned into giant, flesh eating mutant apes or something"
GIR clapped and cheered "Yay!" "That's bad GIR" said Zim
GIR stopped clapping "Oh".
Zim edged towards the door, he drew a gun from his Pak, his hand grasped the doorknob and he flung the door open, expecting mutated human creatures and a desolate wasteland. But what he saw was the exact opposite. What he saw was a lush, green forest.
Zim stepped outside and he looked around at his new environment. The house was no longer wedged between two large buildings, it was now standing alone in a clearing surrounded by a forest of trees that seemed to go on for miles. Zim glanced up at the sky and saw that it was clear blue and bright with the warm sun shining down on them.
Zim lowered his weapon then said, "Well this is not what I expected" he put the gun back in his Pak muttering, "I don't understand, there should be ruins or at least some signs of the war, not this".
Suddenly a cold feeling ran down his spine "Unless…no, no!" he spun and ran back inside, slamming the door behind him "Computer!" he shouted
"What" said groaned the computer "How long have we been asleep?" said Zim
"Processing" said the computer.
After a few seconds the computer said in monotone "Based on scans from the surrounding area and the positions of the stars in the local constellations, the precise length is one thousand years". Zim's jaw dropped and GIR gasped.
Zim dropped to his knees screaming at the top of his lungs towards the ceiling "Curse you Dib! Curse you!" he continued screaming at the top of his lungs for a few minutes, till he finally stopped to take a breather.
GIR patted Zim on the shoulder saying "There, there" Zim began muttering in a panicked voice "What do I do? The Tallest…the Armada…Operation Impending Doom 2!" Zim slammed his fist on the floor repeatedly. In between each swing he grunted, "Curse…that…horrid…human!" there was a loud beeping and some alarms blared.
Zim glanced around saying "Computer what is it!" "Specimen 6467's pod is failing, he is waking up" said the Computer
Zim's eyes widened "Specimen…Oh no!" he dived back into the elevator with GIR, the elevator dropped rapidly to the second to last floor of the base and they rushed to the laboratory at the end of the hall.
Inside was a single pod, it was longer then Zim's and it had dozens of large metal pipes, conduits and wires plugged into various ports all over the pod.
The glass lid was fogged up obscuring Zim's view of what's inside, but he didn't care. Zim's fingers flew across the keyboard and he noted a few severed wires. Quickly, he snatched them up and quickly welded them back together causing the alarms to stop and the beeping to subside.
Zim sighed and wiping away some sweat from his forehead.
Specimen 6467 was one of his latest projects and probably his guaranteed, ace in the hole against human rebellion. But Specimen 6467 was not ready for action, not yet.
Zim had placed him into stasis so that the base's Artificial Intelligence can download the obedience software and the combat systems automatically while Zim would set up his new regime over the human survivors. But all that had gone up in flames.
He was stuck a thousand years in the future with no idea what lies in wait for him. For all he knows is that the humans had rebuilt their civilization and have advanced their technology and intelligence further to the point where he would be defeated.
Zim shook his head, expelling those thoughts out of his mind. He was an Irken Invader, an elite soldier. Whatever lies out there, he'll overcome it and conquer the planet.
With renewed confidence Zim cleared his throat "Computer, scan the planet surface for life forms" a screen lowered itself from the ceiling and it showed a map of the planet.
The computer scanned for a moment then reported "there are still a few thousand life forms, maybe more but scans show that there is something odd about the life forms"
"odd?" asked Zim "How odd" "I dunno" said the computer "It's just odd".
Zim just shrugged "Ok we'll deal with that later, for now resume Specimen 6467's download, how far along is it?" "Seventy-nine percent" answered the computer
"Good" said Zim "Now GIR-" he stopped and turned around looking for GIR but the little robot was nowhere to be found. Zim wondered where could the little robot have wandered off to but he instantly knew where he would be.
Zim stepped off of the elevator and he saw GIR sitting on the couch with his rubber pig, watching what looked like an old spaghetti western. Even after a thousand years of sleep, somethings never changed.
Zim rolled his eyes then pulled out his disguise putting on the wig and eye lenses, he strolled strolled to the door saying "GIR, guard the base while I'm gone, I'm going to survey our new surroundings"
GIR jumped off the couch saluting and saying dutifully "Yes my master!" he then jumped back onto the couch and continued watching his film.
Zim muttered something then he walked out the door.
Zim pressed on through the wall of trees, silently walking through the forest.
The forest was silent and calm but Zim kept his guard up. He was ready to fight at a moments notice.
After a few minutes of crisscrossing through the forest, Zim plopped down at the foot of a tree that sat at the very edge of the forest. Zim glanced back in the direction of his base but he couldn't see the clearing from this distance.
He turned his glance towards what laid ahead, an endless horizon of green that met the blue sky and it was dotted with rolling hills.
Zim felt calmer, he didn't feel tense about keeping his disguise on but he still felt a bit on edge.
He looked up to the clear blue sky wondering what had happened when he was in stasis, what was the state of the Irken Empire? What happened to Operation Impending Doom 2, did it succeed or fail?
Zim snapped out of his thoughts and decided to continue on with his patrol.
Zim stood atop a pile of boulders scanning the endless horizon with a pair of binoculars, he saw nothing but some mountains in the distance and a forest. But something passed by his line of sight quickly
"What was that?" muttered Zim.
He quickly searched for it and he saw it, he couldn't see what it was clearly but he saw that it was close by and it was moving fast towards the north.
Zim shoved his binoculars back into his Pak then he began pursing the figure from a distance.
He followed the figure northward till it vanished around the bend, Zim carefully stayed a good distance away so that he wouldn't be noticed but close enough to follow. Zim tiptoed around the corner and he dived into some nearby bushes.
He pushed away some of the branches and he inspected where the figure had led him.
What he saw made Zim rub his eyes a few times to make sure that he wasn't in some sort of bizzare dream.
About a few yards away from him was a village with buildings made of ginger bread and the people inhabiting it were walking, talking candy people. Some of them looked like bannana's and one looked like a dog with gold fur.
Zim's eyes darted around the village, taking in the sights then he murmured to himself, "What the heck is going on?".
End of Chapter.
(a/n: well here you go. i hoped you enjoyed it. review!)