Time to revitalize the forgotten. Quite a few of you remain fans. Some have moved on. For those who want some closure, I intend to finish this story…

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ZiM paced back and forth slowly in the COMM area. Many workers tried to continue about their duties, but the holographic being was exhibiting some unnerving behaviors. Being there. Watching them work. The PRESSURE.

Felm was busy at a computer screen, typing cautiously into the console as he searched for the elevator feed from a little while earlier, "Um, I really don't believe we should be poking at this…"

ZiM huffed loudly, "Well, ZiM says we SHOULD. Now poke faster! ZiM grows impatient with your slow typer fingers of slow!"

The medic frowned and still began to type, scrolling through a log of video feeds; he grumbled to himself, "Not slow…"

Dib and Jeb came in a few moments later, the human with a tray of coffees and the Irken with a pitcher of purified water.

"We made it back!" Jeb cheered, "See? You little worry-wart, I told you going through the incinerator room was a short cut!"
Dib glared up at him, "The singes on my coat beg to differ. But at least we made it back in good condition…" he batted at a touch of fire on the end of coat, scowling, "well, at least alive…"
ZiM waved him off, "Bahh, you could've gone through the deep freeze room and been here minutes sooner. DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT LESSER COMPLAININGS IN FRONT OF ZIM!"

Jeb squealed and hid behind his pitcher, "We won't, we're sorry!" then scuttled over by Felm, "So… anything?"

Felm nodded, "Oh, of course, but I don't want a repeat of the last two times."

"We may not want it," ZiM growled, "but we DO need to see just before the fire. There was something there, ZiM's… INCREDIBLE SEEING ORGANS… are never wrong…"

Dib had set the tray of coffees down and was sipping at one, "And I hate to agree with ZiM, but I agree. If there's something important we missed, I'd rather find it now than later when we'd need it most."

The medic nearly whimpered, "I know, I know, it gives us time to prepare, but fire and living being don't really mix in the world of mortal lives."

Jeb held up his pitcher of water slowly, his voice in deep tones, "I bring the magic, baby."

Felm breathed quickly, pointing, "Computers and water don't mix, either!"

ZiM, fed up the constant hesitations, suddenly grabbed at Felm's chair with his PAK's robot tentacles and slid it across the room, "HA! So ZiM is the one that must do battle with buttons! FEAR ME NOW, BUTTONS!" he typed in a few commands and the feed started up, showing them crouched in the elevator, "Ah, there we go…"

Dib quickly ran to his side to see, pointing at a slow key, "Here, here, press… ZiM, press that, then maybe we can avoid explosions."

ZiM growled and batted his hands away, "Sit your filthy human coffee down and then sit next to it, ZiM is busy!"

The feed started to grain a bit with the first shriek from the video and the hologram's antennae perked as it quickly slowed the frames by pressing said button.

ZiM scowled slightly and grumbled, "Of course I was going to press that eventually…"

Dib started pointing at more buttons, "Here, try this one too, go frame by frame-"

ZiM angrily smacked the back of Dib's head, but pressed the button, the video going frame by frame as he muttered, "Telling ZiM what to do, the nerve…"

The human glared at him, but let it go for the moment when he saw a strange mist attempting to super impose itself over Felm's new, and now completely destroyed, camera, "THERE! LOOK! Do you see that?!"

ZiM slammed his fists down and started batting at Dib's giant head, shooing him back, "Mush, mush back! ZiM is doing this, not you!"

Dib quickly dropped his coffee and started batting back, "I know more about video than you do! Stop hogging!"

"ZiM DOES NOTHING OF THE HOG, YOU OINK-MONGER!"

"Hogging has NOTHING to do with PIGS!"

"SO SAYS THE HUMAN WITH A HEAD LIKE THIRTY OF THE PIGS STAPLED TOGETHER!"

"YOU'RE A HOLOGRAM!"
"YOU'RE A DOOKIE-DIAPER!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!" ZiM stepped away from the controls, growling, "Get ON with it, then!"

Dib gave him a sour face and adjusted the controls accordingly, focusing on the mist and using what he knew of human and Irken technologies to better close in on it, "Look, all we have to do is get a better look at it, we're not going to bring fire into this…" he stopped a few frames short, quickly adjusting more controls, "Look… THERE!"

ZiM stepped back to look it over, Jeb and Felm and other techs from about the room pushing in to see what was on the screen.

Dib shivered as he pointed, "See… see that?"

ZiM nodded slowly, "Yes…?"

The human slowly pulled his hand back, "I dreamt about THAT. It was trying to suffocate me…"

On the still feed Dib had isolated and fixed, a swirling dark mass with long arms and claws, a sunken chest, and a face with features that lost themselves in the darkness was erupting from the crevices of the camera. And it was attempting to lash out at the occupants of the elevator.

Felm covered his mouth to hold in the shock of the discovery, while Jeb and a few techs took this opportunity to squeal and hide in a corner.

ZiM carefully disengaged his hologram and hooked directly in to the console, "Dib, back up a sec…"

The human did so and the PAK went to work as it cautiously downloaded the single frame Dib had uncovered. After a moment, the PAK removed itself from the console and whirred, a piece of paper popping out from the top circle of its shell and ZiM's hologram reappearing just in time to snatch it.

"There," the Irk hmmed, staring down at the picture, "now we don't have to worry about any exploding anythings…"

Felm collapsed into his chair and nodded, "Good…"

A loud alarm suddenly ripped through the tension of the COMM room and several of its techs shrieked in terror while one threw up and bounded out of the room to hide.

ZiM jumped in surprise along with Dib but quickly found relief when he saw it was just to show they had a request to board from another ship, "Z-ZiM," he gulped, "ZiM was not scared!" he reached over and tuned into the hailing signal, "ZiM was just… caught off guard…"

Dib rolled his eyes, but nodded with him, "Yeah me too…" he peeked over his shoulder, "What do they want?"

The hologram shrugged, "It's just Saint and N, they're coming to the Massive to dock."

Jeb gasped long and loudly, near holding his breath.

Felm smiled softly, "Well, it'll be nice to see them, regardless of the circumstances."

"Sainty?!" Jeb suddenly managed to shout.

The medic tried to snag a part of Jeb from where he sat to calm him down, "Yes, but he's not here yet-"

"SAINTY!" and the young cook was out the door, screaming as he bounded down to the docking bay.

ZiM shook his head, "We'll deal with the reunion when it comes. For now…" he instated protocols for the smaller ship to be able to land, "let's get them inside. See what information we can piece together."

Dib nodded, walking out, "I'll follow Jeb and see if I can't get him to relax."

ZiM waved him off, then pulled Felm's chair back into position, "There you are, medic, ZiM reinstates you as official computer person. It is yours once more."

Felm got himself settled, looking down at the buttons as ZiM began walking off, "Um… ZiM, I don't actually need to sit and stay here, you know…"

The hologram said nothing as it suddenly was at Felm's side again, pressing a button on the console and then running off again with a cackle.

A loud roar emanated from the computer feed as it was set back to play mode and the computer burst into flames.

Felm squealed, curling up on the chair to avoid any sparks, and all but threw the pitcher of water Jeb had left behind onto the fire, sobbing as he jumped up and out of the room, "ZiM that was a dirty trick!"

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Down in the docking bay, Saint had landed his ship and opened the side door to allow N out first. After a moment, Saint joined his friend, giving him a reassuring pat to calm him down when guards started to greet them.

Jeb was already bounding to the ship as fast as he could, screaming excitedly, "SAAAAAINTYEEEEEE!"

The tall Irk looked up and froze, quickly looking for cover, "Oh, shoot, he's running really fast."

N smirked, "Impact will be painful."

And so it was. Jeb smacked right into Saint and tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly as he sobbed in happiness.

"NO CALLS!" he hiccupped, "NO VISITS!" he sniffed and wiped tears away, "I'm gonna make you fat so you can't run away again!"

Saint simply shrugged, "All right, I'll give you the chance to try…"

The cook squealed excitedly and stood, grabbing N in a hug as well, "And I'll make you fat, too! Then you won't be able to run away, neither!"

N whined as he was held, "Um, either, and I guess you can try…?"

Jeb squealed excitedly, "Hurray! I get to try!"

Dib came huffing up from behind, ZiM's PAK floating after him as it cackled, "HaHA, Dib-stink! Your pathetic human noodles for limbs can't even handle a simple run!"

The human scowled, "Well, you're a hologram, and you didn't even use that to get here!"

ZiM floated passed him before turning his hologram back on, "Don't hate ZiM for being more intelligent and amazing than your stink-worms for ugly brains."

He then turned to Saint and N, "ZiM was informed you were to look over the remains of our enemy's cell. Anything?"

Saint shrugged, "Enough. Something very wrong and creepy in every sense of the words."

"More than that," N huffed, "We best get to the Tallests so they can better prepare for this."

ZiM nodded and shot the attending guards a look of sheer, intense hate to scare them off, then pointed from where they came, "COME! ZiM will escort you ZiMself!" and marched along.

Saint and N followed closely, and Dib held back to catch his breath while Jeb wandered off to begin preparing fatty recipes.

As they went down the hall, they passed an out of breath Felm, and ZiM laughed, "No, no, now we go this way, medic. FOLLOW ZiM!"

Felm watched him go passed with the little group and sighed, simply trudging along after them.

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End of this chapter. But don't worry, I'm actually going to post more. Pinky promise. Unless you don't have a pinky. Then it's just a promise. R&R, I want to hear from old fans, new fans, and out right CONFUSED fans. Damn, Seuss, you got me. ^^