Chapter 4

"Hello, Red."

Kib walked into the dark room where his great-uncle sat in the shadows. He pulled a small bag of chips out of his pocket. "Here." He offered them to him.

"Thank you, Kib." The former Tallest took the bag and opened it, carefully pulling out a chip. "At least someone in my family hasn't forgotten about me."

"They are too busy with the Hyuuumans." Kib sat down on a chair facing Red. "So, you were telling me last time about what you and grandpa Purple did?"

"Yes. We created this glorious plan to take over the universe called Operation Impending Doom. Unfortunately, your 'uncle' Zim fouled it up."

"Isn't Zim your brother? So isn't he technically my Great-Uncle as well?"

"Yes, but he is much younger. No older than your mother. He was the youngest, of course." Red waved it off. "But that topic is for a later day. I have a plan…" He began telling the young boy what he had thought up.

Laying her head on Dib's shoulder, Kay stared up into the stars. They were so different from the ones on Irk, so strange.

"So you look for pictures?" She asked Dib.

"Yup. That one is Ursa Major- The Big Bear." He pointed at a group of stars. "And those are Orion the hunter, and Leo, and Scropio." He pointed them each out in turn.

"And what about that one?" She pointed at a very bright star near the horizon.

"That's the evening star." he explained. "Its not a star really, it's the planet Venus. It appears just before nightfall."

"I see." She suddenly heard her PAK beep and she sat up. A small screen came out of it and hovered in front of her face."

"My Tallest!" A stressed out looking guard said. "Criminal Red has escaped!"

Kay jumped up. "What! How?"

"We aren't sure- we just found Kib knocked out on the floor with a bruise on his head, and Red had ran out the door."

"Kib was there?" Dib sounded worried.

"He has been visiting him once a week." Kay told her husband. "I thought it was safe, but…" She trailed off and looked back at the screen. "Where is our son?"

"We are sending him home. He should be there by tonight."

"Thank you, guard-?"

He looked shocked that she was asking for his name. "Helios, miss."

"Thank you, Helios." Kay nodded. "Tell me, are you paid well?"

"No, my Tallest. I am only paid 50 munnies a year- half that of a Massive's guard."

"For your help, you will be rewarded. From now on, you will be paid 150 munnies a year." She smiled as his face lit up. "Tallest Kay, out."

"You are nice to those guards." Dib told her.

"Someone has to be- they die faster than any other Irken alive." Kay sighed and sat back down, but she couldn't relax again. "What are we going to do? With Red loose…"

"Calm down, we'll worry about that later." Dib wrapped his arms around her. "Come on, lets go wait for our son to come home."

"Okay." She smiled and leaned back against him.

Kib stared at the ceiling, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head. It was self inflicted, after all, so it shouldn't be that bad. He smiled instead and let out a quiet laugh.

"Good job, uncle." He muttered. "Good job."

And that was where it all began.