Disclaimer- You know the drill. I don't own most of the characters. The ship I own, I own me, Rouk, but not Rachel.

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(Words)- Bez speech

Chapter 13—Bodies of the Past—

Wren's P.O.V….

It took me a little split second to figure out after I lost my grip that I was sliding down the floor. "Ahhhh!" I screamed and scrambled for a handhold. I grabbed for Rachel's hand, felt her fingers against my palm but wasn't able to grab her hand quick enough.

Rouk was squealing in delight in my ear as I slid further down the floor and somehow spun around to where I was sliding down backwards. I came to an abrupt stop when my back hit something pretty hard I hissed in pain. A rattling sound followed and something fell into my hands. Looking down I saw that it was a skull from some alien. My left eye twitched and I screamed bloody murder.

"Wren? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Rachel shouted to me a little panicked.

"Um... I'm not hurt exactly..." I said. "Nailed my back on a something but I'll only have a bruise at the worst."

"Then what's wrong?" Zim asked.

"I'm holding someone else's head!" I whined. I perked up and giggled insanely, "But it's so cool!" I added starting to look at it.

"Oy.. She's back to normal..." I heard James say.

I frowned at the comment and thought darkly, "As normal as a murderer can be."

"Is it alright to come down?" Rachel asked.

I looked up into the darkness and replied, "Yeah. The landing is rough, but yeah, it's ok. If you can keep your balance it's not such a bad ride."

Rachel's P.O.V...

I sighed with relief looking down into the gloom at where Wren might be. 'I'm still wondering how she knew where to and how to open the ship though. Add to the fact that she knew how to wire this damned thing,' I thought to myself.

Zim stepped away from my side and back from the door. He motioned to the door. "Lady first?" he asked. James sent him a deadly glare. "Our treaty is still in effect." Zim supplied to a glaring James. "But if you want, I will just go ahead of you guys so no one gets hurt. Our treaty only covers GIR, Rouk, Wren, Rachel, and I. It mentioned nothing about you."

I raised an eyebrow to that. "Why do you say that?" I asked him.

Zim kicked GIR through the door way and he squealed happily all the way down. Zim then walked to the door and looked at me. "Because I have the feeling your boyfriend trusts me as far as he can throw this ship." he said and stepped out onto the floor and started to slide down.

"Good answer." James said looking down into the darkness. He then motioned toward the void. "Shall we descend also?" he asked with a smile.

I sighed not really happy about going down there. "We might as well since we are the only ones up here." I said.

We stepped out onto the floor carefully. It wasn't as dark as we thought it was so we could see a little at where we were going while sliding down the floor. It could have been because the spheres had followed Zim down into the room. James slid to the bottom before me and caught me as I came down.

Looking around at where we were I noticed that the whole wall at the bottom was full of what looked like control panels. Wren was at one control like panel at the far end and she seemed to be getting a little frustrated. She pushed a few more buttons before she started muttering to herself. I turned my gaze toward Zim who was checking something in one of the three chairs.

"What are you looking at Zim?" James asked.

"Hm?" He said looking at us. "Oh, well. I believe the former crew." He replied and turned one of the chairs around to face us.

Sitting in the chair was a full skeleton. A few strips of hide revealed that the bones were bleached white where they weren't covered. Deteriorating cloth hung from the bones and the chair. From the full form of the skeleton it looked almost humanesk. There were a few loose bones here and there that were out of place but the skull looked almost fully human. Though my judgment may not be the best. I'd not studied human anatomy much at all and had only seen a skeleton in our science class room and in pictures.

"Wow...That's pretty gross." I said stepping back unconsciously.

"Yeah, but not the worse I've seen in my life," he replied. "They've been here a while too. I'm no anthropologist of any type but I'd say that they died where they sat and that they've been here quite a while."

"How do you know that?" James asked.

"Wren said that the shutdown system was on."

"And how did she know that?"

Zim just shrugged. "She said she would explain everything as soon as she got the ship working and we are away from here."

"Right..." I mutter rolling my eyes. I was getting really tired of the run around from Wren about this whole mess. It was making me very uneasy being left in the dark, quite literally.

"Gods be damned!" Wren suddenly shouted in frustration taking everyone by surprise.

Wren's P.O.V...

Everyone suddenly turned their gazes onto me and looked at me like I'd grown something else with all my changes.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I have to go to the engine room to get the systems back up. It has been too long since the last time this thing was up." I explained. "That or I just need to go down there and check to see that everything is where it is supposed to be."

They all looked at me like I was just a little crazy. Then together they replied with an "Oh..."

"Okay... One thing first though Wren." Rachel said.

"What?" I asked almost whining because I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back up to the lift.

"Why is the floor tilted?"

"Because the bridge is the head of the ship." I replied simply.

"I know that." she said.

"Rachel, I mean it as in, the bridge is the head of the ship."

"So that means what exactly?" James asked.

I sighed and felt as if I should just start banging my head off a wall. "This ship is in a form. The form is of a dragon. A western dragon to be exact. No real species traits that I can tell from the outside of course." I said calmly. "Right now the head is hid under the wing of the ship."

"So you're telling us that the ship is in the shape of a dragon?" Rachel asked.

I sighed again. "Yes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find a way to get up this floor to get to the lift so I can get to engineering." I said a little annoyed.

I went back to thinking of a way out of the room. I heard James and Rachel whispering in the background but I ignored it. I knew sooner or later the guards would come back and that was a bad thing. There was only enough energy to open the outside door, but not to close it. So we were open to any and every attack that they could throw at us when they were ready. And there was no way to track if anyone was coming on board or not or where they would be on the ship.

I started to tap my chin in thought when I felt someone pick me up bridal style. Meaning an arm was in the crook of my knees and one around my back. I panicked and threw my arms around the shoulders of the person that picked me up. I looked up surprised to see that Zim was the one who had picked me up and he was looking really smug.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" I asked slightly scowling, panic lacing its way through my voice.

"Well, my pack has 'spider legs' as GIR puts it. I am the only thing that I can think of that can get you up to that lift. I'm going to have to go with you of course." he replied. "I prefer your company to that of Rachel's and James'."

I looked away blushing. "Oh." The blush disappeared when I turned and looked at him again. "Next time warn me why don't you."

Zim laughed at that and I smiled back. He extended his spider legs and started up the floor. I was really thankful at that moment that this Zim was taller than the Zim from the show. I was also pretty thankful that he was stronger than he looked.

Rachel's P.O.V...

We watched as Zim picked Wren up and then left with an insane SIR and muse in tow. For some reason I smiled absently. I was glad to see Wren doing something and not moping about what she had done right after the attack.

Earlier James had pulled me into a corner to talk to me about Wren. We were both discussing if we could really trust her more than we thought.

"Back to the subject." James started to say as he brought his attention back to me.

"I think we can trust her. To me she seems normal. As normal as she can be really. Her external appearance has changed but I'm really worried about her mental status. With this change and killing all those guards, it would have to have fucked with her mind some. And anyway I actually think I remember her saying something about a type of ship like these from a dream before." I said. "I use to tease her because she said it was shiney silver and I would say 'Shiney! Shiney! Shiney!'."

"I only trust her if you trust her. But I don't trust Zim." James said with a frown.

"I know how you feel." I said. "I don't trust him much either, but if Wren trusts him right now..." I didn't finish and just sighed shaking my head. "That and even if I don't trust him, GIR is the way we got out of the cells. If it wouldn't have been for those two, I'd still be in a cell and you'd be dead."

"I'd rather not want to think about that," James shook his head also but then began to grin evilly.

'Uh oh...' I thought. 'What's he up to now...'

James showed me exactly what he was up to when he leaned down and gave me a light kiss on the lips. I looked surprised and James smiled at me. I blushed and looked down.

"You just had to do that didn't you?" I asked finally looking up at him through my bangs.

"Well, I thought since maybe we had some time along, we could catch up on some things. Since this was an ironic situation to be left alone without anyone around, and since we know nothing about this ship and how it works, I find this to be much better than doing nothing at all." He said smiling. "And personally if something does happen. I like the thought of your kisses the last thing on my lips."

I playfully glared at him while leaning back against the wall behind me and said, "I hate it when you make sense. And that was very corny."

"But..." James started to say playfully pouting.

"But that's what I love about you." I whispered and looked at him fully leaning my face up toward him. "Still don't think this is the time or place for this though."

"What better time though? We never know what will happen soon."

He smiled, leaned down and kissed me again. I only returned it with a smile.

Wren's P.O.V...

Zim had let me down when we got to the lift. I had to adjust the sheet though that was around me and muttering the whole time about not having anything that was decent to wear during a time like this. Zim was chuckling at this and I started to blush. To try and save face I sat down so my back was toward him as I started to play with the lift's wires.

'Damn... What's gotten into me? I have never acted this way around anyone before.' I thought. 'I hope I'm not starting to like him... Wait... I think I am starting to like him! Crap! Why me?' I became completely aware of Zim as he hovered out of my light as I worked. This only made me blush deeper.

Finally I finished rewiring and getting my blush under control. I stood up, brushing the dust off the back of the sheet. "It will take a while to get there. I placed the coordinates and it should stop." I said without looking at him. Instead I watched GIR fly into a wall after missing Rouk.

After a pause of silence Zim looked at me and asked, "How do you know so much about this ship?"

I sighed at that continuous question that kept popping up and looked down toward my feet. The blood had started to dry on them and was flaking off. I looked up into his face and searched his eyes. Sighing again I replied, "I know so much about this ship because I've had so many dreams about it. It was something I loved to do, dream that is. I was always a dreamer and I was always thinking of things. I created my muses and a few other things while dreaming. This ship was an idea I had created from the basic idea of a dragon. I was obsessed with them so I had thought, 'Why not'."

"Dragons?" Zim asked. "You mentioned that before."

"Yeah. Dragons are myths that are on Earth. It was a very large creature with leather wings, four legs, a massive tail, and could breathe fire. Dragons always differed from person to person though." I said. "I based the ship after the myths and a show too. A show that had living ship in it called a Leviathan. At least I think that's what it was called."

Zim gave me a questioning look. "What show?"

"Eh, another time. I have enough to explain now about the ship." I said. "The ship was a rough design in my head and a slight description, but that was all. I was startled when I had woken from several nights sleep with the picture of this ship set in my mind. It was a large silver ship in a dragon form. There were huge wings that could fold up when not in use. The neck and head could move. Four legs and a tail were added to the body and could also move. It would move like an actual animal and not at all as a full machine. The ship could grow though because it was a living ship."

The lift stopped and the doors opened. I looked at Zim with a smile. "Told you." I motioned for him to follow. His steps soon matched mine and he waited for me to finish my explanation.

"It could grow?" he asked, urging me to finish.

I nodded. "What other people don't know is that this ship is also biological. Basically a bionical machine. Sorta like Rouk except more machine."

"Ah..."

"The ship could grow larger and more detailed, but only if it liked its crew. That is the bio part of the ship at work. It can feel the moods of the crew but only to an extent on the moods when it's young. It could also enter one's mind to talk to the person or actually skim through their thoughts at older ages. The ship could supply the crew with their needs without taking on supplies sometimes. It's good to have a backup though in case the ship couldn't supply everything. The ship would only supply them though if they kept a bargain. The bargain being that they started it off and kept it in working order." I turned a corner and opened a door.

"So that is how the ship supplied the crew." Zim murmured close behind me. "But what happened if the bargain wasn't kept?"

I looked over my shoulder at him. "My, aren't we the one full of questions." I said smiling.

He blushed a little but asked again. "But what happened?"

"The ship would terminate all life forms on it." I answered straight faced and serious.

"Wow..." he said.

I only nodded and stopped at a panel.

"I'm guessing there is more but you can tell me that later." He said.

I smiled and nodded again in agreement then got to work. Several times I lost track of what I was doing but remembered as soon as my hand landed on a switch or button. I soon realized that the power source just needed a kick start.

"Oy..." I muttered and walked over to another panel and looked over it.

"What?" Zim asked worried.

"The only way we can get this thing working is if we kick start it." I said with a sigh and place my hand on yet another panel.

The door opened to the inner room revealing a very large vertical engine. It was glowing a dim green color and I gave a happy sigh.

"What's this?" Zim asked in awe and studied the engine.

"That," I said pointing to the engine, "is a Plasma Energy Core. Used for flight and the weapons. It is also used for simple things too. The wings were used as the engines and would actually beat to move the ship. The wings could also recharge the engine if it got low."

"Wow..." He murmured.

I shook my head smiling and started looking at the core and its components. Then something caught my eye. A cord, the main cord in fact, was cut. No power was flowing through it so no power was actually getting to the ship from the core. Which was also why it was only glowing dimly, no power was circulating through any of the ship. It should have lit the whole room but it only cast a faint glow.

"Zim!" I yelled, "I believe I've found our problem!"

He came around from the other side of the core. "What is it?"

"A cut cord." I said harshly. "The crew didn't die because of an accident or because of the ship. There was a traitor on board and now it all makes sense..."

Zim's eyes widened startled.

So another chapter revamped. I'm not sure how much though seeing as it was pretty hard to add much more to this chapter. I hope everyone's not disappointed.