Chapter 16: Chemical Trail

Dib stepped out of Tallest Red's quarters, his gaze still on the little red pastry in his hands. This was a bloody nightmare. Worst case scenario full stop. Red was already onto him. Mind you the Tallest was a ways off about what Blue really wanted and who he was conspiring with, but it mattered very little if every step he took was watched.

Slowly, unable to control himself, caring little that all the guards in the hall were watching him, a sneer covered Dib's face as he crushed that stupid red cupcake in his hand. The pastry's innards crumbled to the floor while the frosting clung to his hand like visceral.

It was a waste but satisfying, nonetheless.

Shaking his hand after the deed was done, caring little if frosting splattered onto the ceiling or walls, Dib quickly then made his way out of the central chamber. If the guards reported the cupcake destruction back to Red or not, he found he didn't really care.

...

Prowling down a random hall, ignoring the way his head was starting to ache as he got farther and farther away from the Tallests' chambers and immediate danger, Dib felt a tightening in his throat. His eyes were even blinking faster. He had told himself that he just needed to go for a walk and clear his head, then it was back to it. He needed to scout the area. Review plans and edit them accordingly. This was merely a hiccup. Still, he felt shaky as if he had barely escaped from that wendigo all over again. He didn't know if he wanted to claw at the walls and wail like a lost child or laugh hysterically at his terrible luck. Maybe he needed to do a bit of both.

Either way, Dib needed a dark place to mourn his circumstances and then he'd pick himself back up … like he always did. He always had to pick himself up repeatedly. It all seemed never-ending and after the loss of Earth … he was tired. Just so tired.

Nonetheless, if he was going to give in to his misery for a little while, he wouldn't be able to do so in his assigned room. Tallest Red couldn't be everywhere, but bugging his assigned room was probably an easy task for a Tallest. And Dib couldn't let just anyone see him having a good cry without being labeled as defective. Plus, it might help to have a little headquarters set up somewhere.

After pulling up his apparently outdated map, Dib didn't get far before he was leaning against a wall, panting and sweaty. Now, his pak was beeping at him about low blood sugar. Great. Just fantastic. Part of him now regretted not eating the stupid cupcake while another part of him seemed deeply satisfied with the petty revenge. Mostly, he just hated his new body. Not only did it ache like he was still a teenager with growing pains, but it also couldn't take the same abuse as his old body had. He could live off black coffee for days and forget two or three meals with little consequence in his human body. It took longer to heal and sleep was a requirement, yes, but being human still felt superior to this constant need for calories. Overall, he still kind of wanted to claw Zim's face off for making the choice for him, to become irken, but it was a means to an end he supposed. He just had to power through this … or not.

And with that, Dib felt his knees giving out, vision getting spotty as he sat against the nearest wall. He had no idea why the Shorters revered the Tallers if the taller irkens couldn't skip a meal or two without collapsing, but then again, irkens really didn't seem to have fat stores as humans did. So, maybe being taller was a show of resilience or something?

So, just when he wondered if this pack was going to send out a distress signal (something he'd rather die than let happen on this ship full of locusts), Dib's vision was suddenly filled with red.

His mind immediately imagining someone like Tallest Red, Dib was relieved to see it was merely a set of red optics, from MiMi specifically. The small bot was lifting his dipped head up so she could peer at his face. He didn't know if he had reached out mindlessly through his comms or if she was watching him. Either way, he found himself slurring, "Oh, MiMi … It's you. Imp-impeccable timing."

The little bot tilted her head, shaking it slightly as if chiding him for his stupidity.

"Y-yeah. W-work-acholic. W-what can I say, except g-got any snacks o-on you? A-anything e-except r-r-r-red cupcakes will do," added Dib, laughing weakly as his mind started to drift.

MiMi shook her head again like Dib was an idiot before crawling over to his pak to coax out the ex-human's pack legs. Dib didn't even question her ability to control his pak, his vision unfocused as he watched his pak legs drag him down the dim halls. Then, just when his mind started fading in and out, he found himself before a private servant-drone's quarters. MiMi already had the door open and was directing him to the small berth inside.

The room was little more than a bed and desk. Nonetheless, Dib found himself gracelessly sinking onto the small bed as the SIR unit plugged in his pack. The room was obviously unused, with dust on most of the surfaces, except for where MiMi was prying off the paneling that is. It seemed like she was using the room as a kind of headquarters. The changeling might have commended her hard work on that, asking if she already had a connection to their team outside, but she was gone, leaving the ex-human alone in a tiny room.

Sitting there, confused, Dib could only murmur, "Ok … I'll just … wait here."

…

"Did you see that new Advisor? I think his name is Cobalt or Lapis or something. How did no one know about him? He's so tall that he even overshoots Advisor Dimm. In fact, he's probably tall enough to…," the short service drone lowered his fungleberry flavored drink so he could lean in and whisper this part to the other servant-class irken, "… to challenge Tallest Purple's placement."

At that, the other service drone nearly dropped the mixer he was carrying, his pak legs catching it as he slapped a hand over his companion's mouth, the pink-eyed irken hissing, "Keep your voice down, Blurtt. If a Taller heard you, you'd be out of an airlock before you could finish those snacks. And why are you eating those now? You're on shift."

"Because," replied the irken and he popped open the bag of Smorkel-bitts chips, "Apparently the whole shipment of Smorkel-bitts was raided yester-cycle. The entire ship and its crew are just gone. They barely had time to get out a distress signal. So, I'm eating my chips now before anyone snags them from me."

The other irken hummed in acknowledgment of the idea, asking, "Who'd be foolish enough to steal a shipment of snacks coming directly to the Massive? Can't be the Resisty. Those idiots barely know how to fly a ship for that matter raid one of ours."

"Don't know. I heard the enforcer class muttering about sending out a few sectional patrols to investigate. They think it's the chimera ship that attacked the Delk Trade World," added Blurtt.

"Strange. I wonder what species lack the intellect to do that? You don't steal snacks from Irkens and get away with it," replied Milc as they started down the darkening halls again. He just wanted to get rid of this stupid mixer and get his own Smorkel-bitts before they were all gone. And why was he the one carrying it and not Blurtt?

"Probably some nobodies that accidentally achieved space travel, but the real strange thing here is that Cobalt guy. I still can't get over it. I'd have reported in for a placement change the second I got over five feet, but he shows up now when he's towering over almost everyone on the ship? It's super weird," replied Blurtt, spitting crumbs at his companion as he spoke with food in his mouth.

"Not as weird as these servant halls. Only half the lights turn on down here. Why is there a kitchen down here anyway? It's obviously unused," muttered Milc, eyeing the failing lights wearily.

"It does have a use: a place for old mixers and kitchen equipment," said Blurtt as he stared down the hall, not the least bit worried. "I think they stuff old, failed experiments down here too."

The other irken didn't even get to question that when suddenly there was the patter of small feet echoing before them … then a set of red-slitted eyes were glinting down the hall. Both servant-class irkens stiffened immediately. Neither got to properly panic when the thing was suddenly upon them, having rushed down the hall like a rabid weasel.

Blurtt, thinking fast, threw his drink hoping for at least a few extra seconds to flee while Milc threw the whole mixer. Strangely, this caused the figure to immediately stall, catching the drink with minimum spillage while simply sidestepping the heavy mixer as it crashed.

Both irkens, antennae up straight in a show of fear and surprise, watched in fascination as a strange SIR unit pulled the drink closer and popped open the lid as if to inspect the contents. Then, seemingly satisfied with the remaining contents, the scary SIR threw her glare up at the two servant-class drones and put out her hand. Obviously, she was demanding the bag of chips as well.

The chubbier irken's horror slowly morphed into contempt as he pulled his bag of Smorkel-bits into a hug, snapping, "This is my last bag!"

MiMi, obviously done with this entire interaction, stepped forward and slapped Blurtt before stealing the chips right from his hands. She didn't even waste the time to see if the irken would react, her form already disappearing down the darkened hall.

Holding his cheek, obviously shocked and upset, Blurtt gaped, "B-but that was my last bag. Why would a SIR even need snacks?"

Milc, picking up the now-broken mixer he had thrown, shrugged, "As you said, they put rejected experiments down here. Must have been some horrible snack-stealing failure."

Blurtt could only frown, already missing his snacks.

…

Dib, head in his hands, sat there on the small bed, wondering if MiMi would be coming back in a timely manner. Part of him wanted to believe that the SIR was very practical, but at the same time, he had met Tak's Spitter. The thing had an attitude a mile wide and had a serious beef with him. So much so, that he never got the bloody thing to truly fly for him. Honestly, if he had, would he have still been on Earth when it was destroyed? Or would he have been out there traversing the stars while fulfilling one dream after another?

Sighing into his hands, telling himself to stop thinking about things that could have been, Dib perked up when the door opened again revealing MiMi and a hand full of snacks. Pilfered snacks by the look of them, but he still considered it a kinder gift than eating the cupcake Tallest Red had tried to give him.

Taking the offered drink and chips, Dib ate them slowly, not wanting to bite himself. He couldn't quite identify the flavors, but since Earth, he hadn't given much thought to what he was eating anyway. He ate what people gave him, be it Zim, Gritt, Tak, or Sizz-Lorr. He never questioned what it was, flavors feeling meaningless to him, but today he found himself speaking softly, "Not the flavor I would have picked, but it certainly isn't boring. What is this?"

MiMi pinged him the likely flavor causing Dib to offer a sad yet amused smile to MiMi. He really wanted to pat her head, but would that be wrong? Irkens weren't the physical affection type, but Gir liked it so maybe MiMi would as well.

A hand slowly reaching forward, as if to let her know she could pull away, Dib patted the small bot on the head. She tilted her head as if confused, but didn't stop him. His smile was a little more genuine, the ex-human muttering, "Thanks for helping me MiMi. This day has truly sucked. The Tallest are both insufferable. I have no idea why Zim placed them on a pedestal for as long as he did. Plus, Red's smarter than he looks. He's already suspicious of me, so that's inconvenient."

He continued to pat that small metal head, glad for this simple moment during a very stressful day. In fact, he was starting to feel tired. Not surprising, he supposed. His stomach was pleased and his pak was at least getting a charge.

Wondering if it would be too forward to ask, Dib whispered, "I know you're ripping open the walls and such, but could I sleep here ... just for tonight? I feel safe sleeping with an ally nearby. Plus, I'm feeling strangely tired."

The bot slowly nodded her head, going so far as to pull a foamy pillow out of a cabinet so that the small bed would at least be passable with Dib's long legs.

Taking the pillow cube, Dib smiled and stated softly, "Thanks. Glad to know there's at least one person on my side."

Then, almost too quickly, Dib was curled up on the small bed, his body in an almost fetal position so that he could fit comfortably. MiMi, ever the loyal guard, stood there and watched. In fact, she made sure Dib was deep into sleep mode before she plugged into the many wires in the wall, comming her master.

"MiMi … did you find him? The blocker reported that he was in a bad way?" asked the clipped tone of none other than Tak, the female irken curled over her communicator in a dark place. It was like she was hiding somewhere, her face barely revealed with the communicator's light.

The small bot nodded, before sending a burst reply.

"Idiot … never knew how to watch his sugar intake. I thought humans liked sweet things. Then again, Dib has always been a single-minded workaholic. It's honestly ironic that he never realized how much like his father he was," continued Tak, replying to the data-burst. "Huh, Red might be onto him already? Well, MiMi, see if you can lay down some fake leads for that fool. We can't have Tallest Red figuring anything out. At least not yet. It wouldn't be in my favor. Any other news?"

The SIR sent another burst, the irkenette nodding. Yet, before she could respond, she hissed in pain and curled into herself. Even light years away, one could hear the popping of joints and the shifting of bones. It was an unpleasant sound.

MiMi, even with the few emotion circuits she had, actually seemed concerned. She immediately sent another data-burst to her creator, a soft electronic whine escaping her.

Gritting her teeth, obviously in agony, Tak waved off her SIR's concern, "No, no. I don't need you at my side. I need you there to mind Dib and the plan. This pain is to be expected since I'm rushing things. I don't have years and years to make this work like Zim did. But, that does bring up my other concern: did you manage to drug Dib? We won't make the same mistake as Zim and let him wake when taking his blood. Dib might finally catch onto how valuable he is, and I don't need him throwing a wrench into this."

Turning her small head in Dib's direction, the changeling out cold, MiMi nodded before digging out a medical gun from another cabinet. It had been one of the first things she pilfered while on the Massive. She knew her duty and would uphold it until the end.

"Good, good. Gather some more samples and then send them over. Don't take too much. We still need Blue functioning…"

Functioning…

Functioning…

Functioning…

"Functioning is questionable at best. It's like that Ring Cutter Tallest Zim took was barely meant to fly. I wonder why it was built so sparingly. It was as if it was only meant to last its maiden voyage," pondered Skoodge as he reviewed the files they had salvaged from the base on planet Dirt, his ship at cruising speed as they headed to Planet Hoth.

At this speed, they would likely only be a stellar day behind their Tallest. He'd like to push the engines harder, but he wanted to keep a slow enough pace in case the ship Zim was piloting crapped out on him and he needed to be rescued. The chem trail that ship was leaving was beyond concerning. It wasn't going to last.

"That seems most likely, especially since the AI noted for the ship's schematics was a simple B-Class Flyer. It probably was designed for distractions and considered disposable. The question is why it was being disguised as a Kex vessel. Just being Irken in design would have given it a higher degree of protection from other species, especially since the Kex's reputation has diminished after they attacked the Massive," said Chip, the SIR unit plugged into the ship's controls as they browsed over the data collected from Planet Dirt.

"And the Kex paid dearly for it … though seeing something like this, I wonder if the Kexitans' claim to not be involved with the attack could carry some weight?" questioned Skoodge as he tapped his chin, his antennae perking up as he moved on to other files. Most of these files were a disjointed mess, barely legible even with Chip actively trying to recover them.

The invader hummed in thought before deciding to put a pin in that idea, once again bringing up the grainy design specks of the Pak Blocker. This one file really bothered him, especially when he recalled the conversation he had had with Advisor Dimm about Zim's possible manipulation of his fellow Tallest. After losing two separate Tallests in a row, the Control Brains had introduced the idea of Co-Rulers. Tallest Red and Tallest Purple were the first set to try this form of leadership. It was a well-known fact that one Tallest was not meant to have true authority over the other and, grimly enough, they were considered each other's spare.

"A Blocker would explain some of Tallest Blue's odd behavior," said Chip, seemingly catching onto his Invader's train of thought. Not surprising, given SIR's received programming that was meant to compliment their Invader.

"The word odd normally has negative connotations, Chip. Are you saying you dislike Tallest Blue?" joked Skoodge, seeing if he could get some kind of reaction out of his SIR.

The small bot rotated his tri-optic three times like he was trying to understand the invader's light jest. Finally, titling his head in confusion, Chip simply replied, "It is impossible for me to dislike any Tallest. It is beyond my programming to do so. I am merely pointing out the simple observation that Tallest Blue performs differently than other Tallers. I would compare it to a Matron's care in the Smeeteries or a healer drone with high emotional intelligence training. There's just something … warm … about him. I haven't the proper knowledge to describe it, but I might compare it to imprinting."

Skoodge kinked his antennae in thought, dwelling on the SIR's words. There was truth there. Shorters were easily enamored by their Tallers which could be the final traces of imprinting that their species had evolved out of, but to call Tallest Blue warm? What did warmth even entail in an emotional context?

"It perplexes me as well," stated Chip as he replied to Skoodge's silence, the SIR turning back to the evidence before them.

"Not as perplexing as this base," finally muttered the Invader, getting back to the issue at hand as he stalled on an image of the smeet-room. "And I don't even know what to think of this space. It had smeet lexicons, a nesting area of blankets, and even teeth guards. The items were older, but not old enough to exist during the Blax Wars, when the Smeet-Matrons were temporarily dismissed."

Skoodge frowned at the thought of the Blax Wars, wondering how he had developed correctly at all without the matrons in the smeeteries. So many others … had not developed correctly. The correlation between mass-producing smeets and higher defective rates was something the Control Brains couldn't overlook after the Blax Wars had ended. Thus, the Matrons were returned to power which really irritated every Tallest afterward because it took a portion of power from them. The Control Brains could not be swayed in their decision once it was decided, noting the importance of smeeteries and smeets being raised loyally. After all, good soldiers are taught to be good soldiers at a young age.

Dwelling on the room, Skoodge reach down and opened a storage cube that contained a few key items from the strange base. Carefully, he pulled out a flowing length of silky blue fabric. The color was magnificent but clashed dreadfully with the rest of the ship's interior.

"I hope that's not going towards the new seat covers you promised me. That color will clash with my dashboard, and I refuse to be tacky," suddenly replied the ship's AI, her electronic voice brimming with sarcasm.

Shaking his head, not surprised by Ship's comment, the Invader handed one end of the fabric roll to Chip. The SIR could offer a critical observation of the item … and would probably dismiss Skoodge's worrying thoughts.

"I also found this. I grabbed some other oddities for inspection before we left, but for some reason, I can't stop thinking about this. It reminds me of -"

"Tallest Blue's favorite shade of blue," finished Chip, completing the invader's thoughts. "An oddity given that the color was rare before Tallest Blue's rise to Talldom. The combination of the Blocker's diagrams, this fabric, and Zim's access to the base are painting a worrying conclusion, Master."

Frowning, wondering if this was all madness and that maybe he was defective in the head for having such accusatory thoughts, Skoodge barely had time to brace himself when Ship suddenly stole control from him, pulling a hard right.

"Enough fashion critiques! We have company!" barked Ship, rolling and falling into camouflage mode.

Skoodge didn't even get to click on the forward-facing guns before his hands stalled … finally catching sight of the large and bulky mass that had popped up a few clicks in front of them. This thing was way beyond the Invader's weight class with only his small Runner vessel. In fact, what was before him was a leviathan. It was a monstrous conglomeration of metals and odd angles that did not belong together, like puzzle pieces forced into place. Yet it flew, powering forward with three different types of engines from three different species. Every Irken knew the look, the style, the madness of the design … it was a human vessel.

It wasn't the Ark but this ship was just infamous. The vessel was known as The Merciful.

Despite the ship's name, it made Skoodge's spooch sink. The only mercy that ship and her crew allowed anyone, was a quick death when they were done with you. And, to make matters worse, the humans had obviously caught onto the same trail as him. They too were following the chemical trail that led to Tallest Zim.

XXX

Paw07: A shorter chapter, but the more cliffhangers the better as far as I'm concerned. XD

Also, I have come to the conclusion that a lot of humans are suffering from space madness in this fic and I love that idea.