Gaz was on the Massive, eating in the cafeteria, when she took notice of the two female Irkens entering the cafeteria with Darth. The blind counselor was gently leading them into the cafeteria by their shoulders, standing right behind them and warmly smiling as the red-eyed and yellow-eyed women nervously looked at each other, sitting down, at last, across from Gaz herself.
Gaz finally recognized them. Or at least, one of them. She was Dite, that elite guard who frequently guarded the local hospital. Her special onyx metal eye gazed from her to the yellow-eyed, slightly skittish-looking more slender female near her...ahh, another communications officer. NOW she remembered who this one was, it was Xeil, she worked on the bridge of the Massive, taking Senior's old job.
"Now, remember, this is a safe space. Nobody here is going to judge you, it's just Gaz in here and a few other humans." He said, gesturing at a couple of random humans that were not shrunken at the moment, having some free time given to them by their Irken overlords, from the looks of it, for they were nonchalantly chatting it up over a game of cards. "Nobody is going to judge you. You're safe here. Safe. You can be yourself."
"I feel so nervous." Xeil muttered, the well-built, rather muscular Dite gently patting her on the back.
"I'm as nervous as you are about this. But we talked about it, okay? Enough just doing it in private. It's a whole new world. We've got a new boss, a new system, and its about time we finally felt comfortable enough to do it."
"I AM tired of having to sneak one in every time we're in the same bathroom by coincidence or having to loop the hallway camera footage so we can have a moment's peace..." Xeil sighed. "Remember the first time we almost got caught?"
"Good thing it was someone who couldn't actually SEE us." Dite laughed uproariously, a raucous, bellowing laugh as Xeil smiled mischeviously, and put her arms around the red-eyed elite guard.
"Well...let's do it." She insisted, leaning in close, lips slightly parted for a kiss, as Dite leaned in as well, Gaz's eyes widening. Ohhh. So that's what this was about. She just watched, her replacement eye taking everything in...and recording it. It could do so much! Just the other day, she learned it could see in infrared and through walls. No girls in the halls would be safe from her x-ray eyeballs. She'd gotten to see all kinds of weird stuff peering into people's rooms when they thought nobody was watching, but she'd never actually seen two Irkens of the same sex kissing. Sure, she saw the occasional quick smooch in the hallway or a rather quickly done lay in the hay from Irkens with partners who were of the opposite sex, but not when they were gay.
It did make some sense though. After all, hadn't Senior said that Red and Purple had been primarily disposed not merely for faking tallness, but for having a homosexual relationship, something the Control Brains would have been furious with? Well, guess it was a whole new-
"IIIII can't do it!" Dite and Xeil said at once, pulling away, flopping away from each other. Xeil covered her head in her hands, shaking it back and forth whilst Dite moaned, slamming her head into the table, making Gaz's soda bounce up and down. She frowned, plucking it off the table.
"Hey, cut it out. And why don't you two just kiss already? As the song goes, "c'mon and kiss the girl"!" She remarked, rolling her eyes.
"It isn't that simple." Darth murmured, Xeil and Dite sighing sadly, gently holding each other's hand on the table before even that was slowly withdrawn. "Our PAKs regulate our behavior heavily, rewarding us for actions and thoughts that would be in line with what the Irken Empire has deemed acceptable and good, and punishing us for actions that would be deemed defective and wrong. For things in a more grey area, like a relationship, it's always fallen between the cracks. After all, there's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to bring more Irkens into the world, even if its through an outdated method." The counselor sighed, shaking his head, his balled antannae bouncing about. "At least, that's how the Control Brains deemed it. And that's been with us for centuries, hardwired into our PAKs. But at least a "normal" relationship might lead to that, for anything of a homosexual nature, it is viewed as a useless thing. Pointless. Without even the purpose of making more Irkens."
"What about "it just feels good"?"
Dite snorted. "If our PAKs cared about making us feel good about the things that mattered, we wouldn't be encouraged to be mean to non-Irkens..." She grumbled, sighing as she looked at Gaz. "Sorry, its just...even after all the effort we made to change things, even after trying to reprogram our PAKs to do so, so much, that...that sort of mindset lingers on. You can't just force somebody to change how they've done things for CENTURIES in just a few weeks or months, or even years. It takes a while."
"Even with our PAKs not being as restrictive as before, our MINDS within our squishy little bodies still have that knee-jerk reaction of "this is wrong" whenever we do something our PAK used to try and repress. Even just talking to you in a nice way is..." Xeil waved her gloved hand in the air, sighing as she did so. "It's like an irritating little buzz in the back of your mind. And it's rotten."
Gaz looked at the two, mouth slightly open. She'd never thought of it like that.
"Did it...hurt? Having your PAK adjusted? Or...well, I know your eyes are implants, I've seen Darth's eyes."
"No, no, Trik's very good at making sure it wasn't painful." Xeil sighed. "He cares about a job well done, about being delicate with such machinery...and with us. But any change does sort of...leave an ache. And for our eyes, it's sort of like, well..." She hesitated. "You've had your own eye operated on. Didn't it feel like...like sometimes, it's still there? Like your old eye is still in your socket, and you feel like you've got a spare eye in your skull?"
"Yeah, it's FREAKISH. Like some kind of phantom." Gaz said, rubbing over her metallic eye as it softly glistened in the cafeteria. "You feel that way from the moment you get them? When DO you get your implants?"
"Well, after being filled with the depository of all Irken knowledge, we get brought to have our eyes replaced with implants."
"But you just got BORN, that's...that sounds like it'd be super painful and traumatic and GROSS, ew!" Gaz now looked disgusted, a foul expression coming over her features. "I mean...I thought your race would at least wait until training or something!"
"Our idea of getting used to it is like your own father tossing you into the deep end, going "Swim"." Dite said with a dark chuckle. "Oh don't get me wrong, Trik tries to make sure it doesn't hurt, but the knowledge our eyes are being removed...I didn't quite forgive him for that at first. I actually bit him a few times when he was putting them in."
Gaz rubbed her chin. "He always seems to be busy lately. What's he working on right now? Finally figured out a way to get you guys to enjoy dairy products?"
"Well, THAT, at least...we can do together. He finally fixed that part of our PAKs up." Dite confessed as she smiled a little, gesturing at her red-colored PAK, Xeil nodding as she rose up to go to the replicator and get food. "But I think he's trying to put the finishing touches on a PAK that won't be external and will be less intrusive. He says its almost done."
And indeed, he WAS putting the finishing touches on it. The blue-eyed, goggles-wearing Irken was avidly chatting it up with Faith and Dr. Membrane as they assisted him on the final touches of the little object, a faintly translucent PAK that was considerably smaller, about the size of the human heart, with a somewhat adorable little crystal optic glass in the center. "Here. Now we just need to test it out. And since I've put in a copy of my own PAK data and personality into it, I volunteer myself to be the test!" He said, proudly standing up in the center of the laboratory.
Faith cringed a bit. "You sure that's a good idea? We could get someone else to try it out as a test. Like Red or Purple. You know, that way if it fails...no big loss." She remarked with a chuckle.
"I take it he failed to clean up outside your room on his assignment?" Professor Membrane intoned, opening up the double doors that led to the balcony on the second floor they were working on in the labs. It was a bright, beautiful day, soft clouds puffing by overhead, and the wind was a breath of fresh air on all three as Trik laid his goggles atop his forehead and shook his head.
"Trust me, it will work. We've all put far too much time and effort into this for it to NOT work. Oooh, I'm so excited!" He giddily clapped his hands together after handing the special PAK to Faith. "Go on, take off my old PAK. We need to do this within ten minutes." He informed her.
"Right. Okay. Here goes..." Faith said nervously, taking hold of Trik's PAK. "Brace yourself!"
"Ha, I can handle any-YOOOOOOOOW that stings!" His eyes bulged out, cringing as he slightly quivered on his somewhat slender kneess, shuddering a bit as Faith removed his old PAK, and then put the new one up to his skin. Much to her and Professor Membrane's shock, not only did it attach perfectly, as if with glue, not with the odd metal, claw-like tentacles the old PAK had...it sank into his back. It was like it was being absorbed by the body! Trik rose up, dusting himself off, and looked about.
"So, um...f-feel any different?" Faith inquired quietly. "Any tingling? Or other side effects?"
"I feel perfectly optimal, truthfully." Trik said, feeling over his bare chest, the labcoat opened up to show off his slender frame. "Very lovely work, Faith! Your work on the synpatical modulator for the PAK was excellent. And Professor Membrane, I've never seen such talented stitchwork for the wiring." He offered, giving a deep bow of his head to both of them before taking Faith's hands. "Do you know what this means? No more of those awful bullseyes on children's backs. Our smeets will be far safer and more free than ever before." He insisted, eyes wide, speaking like a kid at Christmas who was trying to explain why his new gaming system was so amazing. "It's a game changer, Faith! It'll be like a new step in evolution...if evolution worked that way."
He sighed. "A shame it doesn't. Kind of hurts my ability to enjoy those excellent X-Men movies of our race." He admitted, going over to the balcony. "Listen, there's just one more thing I'd like you to do beyond shipping the new models to Senior so he can make sure they're distributed properly."
"What's that?"
"...I'd like you to have all of my laboratory tech. I want you to do incredible things with it." Trik offered, turning around to look at Faith. "When I first met you, I knew you could be amazing if you were just given the right tools, and you've proved me right. I'm sure you'll keep proving me right. Just...don't make the mistakes I made. Don't ever settle for so long. Try to make a difference sooner."
Faith stared at him, confused. "Wait, why are you leaving me your stuff? Don't YOU need it?" Professor Membrane looked at her...then at Trik, suddenly understanding.
"Wait, don't!" He cried out.
Trik turned around slightly, smiling warmly at Faith...and then fell off the balcony, arms splayed out as Faith let out a horrified gasp...and a loud, sickening, foul, wet noise rang through the air a few moments later. She raced to the baclony with Professor Membrane, looking down...at the empty, silent husk of her enslaver, her overlord, her patron...her friend. His body was broken, dark green blood pooling freely, yet he looked peaceful despite the cracked-open back. He looked so...palpably content.
Faith just didn't understand why.
...
...
...
... "What're THESE?" Dib asked in horror, looking down at his feet, seeing something that hadn't been there before, that he hadn't noticed at first admist all the horror he'd endured. He had what looked like a little metallic chip that had been embedded within his foot, a dark steely and silver color, faintly blinking with a yellowish crystal "eye" in the center, the odd chip about the size of his thumb. He, like all the rest of the captured humans in this depraved underground facility, were now currently in little cages, a bit of food and water set down for them to eat.
"Tracking chips." said a voice he recognized as he looked up, seeing Maht the service drone there, his deep indigo/purple eyes gazing at Dib as he slid in some more food into Dib's bowl. "There might be a few Irkens who'd feel bad about what they do to you all down here...or who might want to bring proof of your abuse to Senior. So to make sure nobody leaves with any humans...at least, not alive...they put those chips in. You're scanned at all exits and entrances to this club, this way people can know nobody's smuggling humans out." The drone confessed.
"That's clever of them..." Dib grunted. "And I take if if I try to cut the thing out, it'll explode or something?"
"If it senses you trying to slice it out, it administers electrical shocks that will render you unconscious. And well...if you just tried to cut your leg off you wouldn't get far." Maht shook his head. "Your species don't have mechanical spider legs built into the fancy metal backpacks you wear on your back, I'm afraid."
"You know this is wrong." Dib insisted. "You talked about how much Senior inspired all of you. He'd NEVER be okay with this."
"...I want to keep as many people happy as I can. It's part of who I am. And sometimes that means ignoring other people's happiness for the sake of the majority. Sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind, NEED to be harsh to be fair. It's all about the greater good." Maht reasoned. "...it does bother me seeing you like this, but...the only real kindness I could offer you would be to end it forever." He murmured, and he opened up the cage then, Dib being caught off guard.
"EEEP!" Dib squealed out, Maht plucking him up in his black-gloved hands, gazing down at him, resting one of his claws on Dib's throat very, very carefully.
"I could snap your neck, Dib...or crush your chest. It'd be over in an instant, the CHIP would shut down with your death. Or...I could swallow you, end you within my gut. We who're part of this club have had our PAKs adjusted even more so, if we wanted, we can now digest you. It wouldn't have to hurt...it'd be like sinking into a warm bath forever." Maht softly offered. "Dying doesn't have to be cruel. It doesn't have to be merciless. It can be kind. Compassionate. It might be better this way, no more suffering at the hands of Tak and the others."
Dib's body shook a bit, a mixture of fear, anger and terror, and he felt hot, bitter tears spring to his eyes as he looked away, Maht gently stroking over his chest with a single claw.
"I don't want you suffering like this. I don't. But there's not much I can do beyond my offer beyond trying to make you a bit comfortable here. You belong to us now. I'm sorry it has to be this way. Sorry you had to be caught up in what Tak is doing." Maht offered. "Really, I am." With that, he gently placed Dib back in the cage, and onto the blankets that was his bed. "Get some sleep, Dib. You'll need it. And...think about my offer." He added.
With that, he closed the cage, leaving Dib alone with the other humans in their own cages and cells in the "Prison Room" of the underground club, leaving Dib with the prisoners...and his own horrible thoughts. He had to get out. So he couldn't cut his leg off. He didn't exactly have the tools for that. No knives for his meal. No sharp anything. And he couldn't get far on one foot anyhow. He couldn't dig the chip out. The only way to rid himself of this CHIP would be if he was dead.
...if he was dead...
...an idea was beginning to form. A crazy idea. But it was all he had to go on. He just had to wait for an opportunity to get what he wanted. And it would involve a lot of electricity. An "out of body experience"...
Meanwhile, Skoodge was looking down at his communicator, having finished a conversation with Senior. They'd just been informed of Trik's death, and Skoodge quietly sat down in his house, looking at the beautiful ice artwork that laid all around him. The soft hum of the heavy duty cooler provided a steady drumbeat of white noise as he closed his eyes, hanging his slightly squat head as Senior's voice spoke up.
"It's time." He murmured. "You'd best go take one of the ships we designated for the trip and head to the colony. Darth just informed me that he asked Peech and Feyr to begin moving the smeets and our caretakers for all of them off-planet."
"Good, good. How long until everyone's been moved off?"
"Maybe about...three days? GIR and Minimoose adore the kids. They've been spending a lot of time with them, being babysitters comes natural."
"Good. Good to hear. Um...Skoodge, I'm...I'm not going to see you again." Senior muttered out, and unbeknownst to Skoodge, Senior was lying, slumped against the wall on the bridge. The Massive's bridge was abandoned, save for him, all the others very, VERY busy with their own important duties, some normal, others nefarious. Senior had the communicator gripped in one hand, holding it to his chest, his head bowed low as the other gloved hand dug into the floor. "I want you to know everything I'm...glad I picked somebody for...for who it's not too late. I'm glad I got to know someone so special."
Silence. Quiet, somber silence as Skoodge's hands slightly quivered as he held the communicator. "I should be thanking you." Skoodge managed to get out. "You made me feel special." He muttered. "You're one of the nicest people I've ever known."
"I'm going to call May up. I've not got a lot of time left to spend with her. And...Skoodge, seriously, take care of yourself. And keep making sculptures. You're really, really good." Senior admitted. "
"...bye." Skoodge said, as he ended the call, knowing it would be the last time he ever heard Senior's voice. Sighing a bit, he turned, Zim staring, in confusion, locked in his tiny little prison capsule ball.
"What was THAT about?" Zim demanded as Skoodge sighed a bit and plucked him up, then brought the ball up, up, out of the basement and into the living room, biting his lip as he looked back down at Zim.
"Would you like me to bring you to Irk, Zim? I'm going to give you one chance. I'll let you join me on my trip back to Irk, and in exchange...I'll unshrink you. Give you back your normal size. Sound fair?"
Zim's eyes bulged wide. "Yes! Yes, yes, turn me back to normal! I yearn for the proper height that befits me! And I'm tired of all THIS!" He said, gesturing at the capsule around him. "Despite all my rage, Zim is still just a rat in a cage-" He smacked his face. "Oh, FLIRK, the filthy humans have infected me after all, now I'M singing their songs! UGH. Victory for Earth indeed!"