Episode 3-Switched (Part 2)
(Back with Zim…)
One look from Mark and he knew he was in trouble.
Zim took a seat at Scamooch's usual spot and leaned in close to whisper to the boy. "Elma told you didn't she?"
"Of course she did." Mark whispered harshly. "We have to be careful not to say sensitive information around him!"
"Won't matter." Zim revealed.
"What!" Mark almost said too loudly, none of the other cadets had arrived just yet but Mrs. Bean did give them a weird look before continuing to grade the papers in front of her.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Mark whispered harshly, his eyes never leaving the teacher.
"Because while our physical brain waves have swopped our PAKs stayed behind on our own bodies." Zim explained.
"So?" Mark asked not getting it.
"Our PAKs are like a second brain Mark, my entire life is recorded on that thing." Zim explained further. "That's why Goalit and I weren't going to switch with anyone it's too risky."
"Great now you tell us!" He whispers harshly. "He knows all of us now!"
"I know." Zim whispered back. "But we can't do anything about it now."
Mark knew he was right, right now they needed to make sure no one suspected a thing.
And they were already doing a horrible job.
"Scamooch is there a reason why you are whispering with this human filth." Mrs. Bean asked.
Zim thought quickly as he rose to attention. "Ma'am Mark is my snitch, yeah that's right, and he was just telling me how some students were acting suspiciously. I didn't want to get you involved until I had all the evidence."
"Oh I see." Mrs. Bean said. "Very well carry on." She then looks to Mark. "I never knew you were a snitch."
"Yes Ma'am." Mark answered as he too stood at attention. "My home is crowded with mine and my cousin's family living together. I was hoping I could sell some information in exchange for a bigger house."
"I see." Mrs. Bean said with a smirk. "Keep it up and you just might get one."
"Thank you ma'am." Mark said as they sat down, and not a moment too soon for at that moment the rest of their human class mates started filing in.
Including Scamooch who held himself up quiet perfectly, yes it was very obvious to both Mark and Zim that the cadet had been spying on the older Irken way too much during the school hours.
"You even walk like me." Zim said as he sat down. "I have to say I'm impressed, you would make an excellent Invader."
"Zim do not encourage him!" Mark whispered just low enough to not be heard.
"Hey don't say his name!" Scamooch hissed. "Are you trying to get me found out? That's the real plan isn't it?" He accused. "Get yourself a new body so you can sneak up on the Tallest unnoticed."
Zim scoffed. "Please if that was the plan I would have chosen a taller Irken."
Scamooch couldn't help but smile. "Really? I thought you would be use to such a thing. I mean weren't you shorter than me at one time?"
"Yes and I certainly don't miss it!" Zim growled.
Scamooch snickered as his face shifted to Mark, suddenly a look of realization kicked in. "You're one of the leaders aren't you?" he whispered.
Mark froze. "No-No I'm not." He stuttered.
"Yeah you are Cade name Zinger right?" Scamooch asked. "Wait how do I know that?"
Mark had gone a ghostly pale. "Stop it, make him stop Zim."
"Scamooch can't help it Mark." Zim told him. "The longer he is attached to that PAK the worse this is going to get."
Scamooch's eyes suddenly widen. "That's right this is your PAK which means-"
"The longer we stay in each other's bodies the more likely the PAKs will correct the problem." Zim finished.
"Wait what do you mean correct the problem?" Mark asked, he didn't like the sound of that.
"We are not born with these bodies." Zim explained. "The bodies are created for the PAKs which our conscience is downloaded into."
"So what you're saying is The PAKs are the real Irkens and the bodies are just a tool for you guys to get around and absorb nutrients?" Mark asked.
"Exactly." Zim and Scamooch said together.
"Does Dib know this?" Mark asked.
"Yes he stole my PAK off my body once, when we were in Elementary school together and it latched on to him. My PAK then began to take over, using Dib as a new vessel, Dib's Mind was nearly erased entirely." Zim explained. "Luckily he managed to get it off otherwise Dib would be nothing but an empty shell today."
"Well then there's you're solution." Mark said. "Since you're both Irken the PAK's will slowly turn you back to yourselves."
"It doesn't work that way idiot!" Scamooch cried looking fearful.
"But you just said-" Mark began, but Zim cut him off.
"When a PAK is attached to a new body there is no guarantees. Every time a PAK attaches it downloads the Subconscious into the physical brain of the body. A defective is created when something goes wrong with the download."
"Sometimes it's the PAK's fault." Scamooch cut in. "it's too old and faulty."
"But sometimes it mean the Body is not full compatible to the PAK." Zim went on. "That's why Computer Brains chose our bodies for us. They are more likely to pick a body that is compatible to the PAK."
"So what you're saying is while you're Physical brain may not be compatible with Scamooch's PAK." Mark asked.
"Exactly." Zim and Scamooch said together.
"So what will happen?" Mark Dared to ask.
"Well one of two things could happen." Zim explained. "If we are not too different from each other and only slightly Incompatible Our PAK's will use its memory banks and the memory of the brain it is currently hooked up to and keep everything that lines up, and toss what doesn't. Then our PAKs could redownload and everything could be perfectly fine physically."
"But mentally Zim could lose the very thing that made him defective in the first place." Scamooch added. "Without complete compatible Zim could lose certain emotions that his PAK did not communicate with my brain."
"Like his love for GAZ!" Mark realized
"Yes I am not in I'm with a human female so when Zim's PAK tries to communicate with my brain it will not match that memory with it, and it will toss it in order to become compatible." Scamooch explained further.
"Which means we would lose the one thing that convinced you to turn against the Tallest." Mark concluded.
"Exactly, I would be a human hating blind idiot all over again." Zim said.
"And I might very well become more of a human lover than I already am!" Scamooch added. "And that's the best case scenario."
"And the worst is?" Mark dared to ask.
"We could be too different causing the PAKs to detach from our bodies, once that happens we will die in 10 minutes flat."
"Oh man this is bad." Mark realized. "This is really, really bad."
"Yes that is why we have to be switched back today." Zim said. "Otherwise either way it could be too late."
"And you didn't tell Elma this?" Mark asked.
"I didn't want to pressure her." Zim answered. "But Goalit knows the risk."
"Wait as in the Irken Scientist Goalit?" Scamooch asked.
"No." Mark answered, but Zim nodded.
"Yep."
"Seriously?" Mark asked.
"There is no point in lying." Zim reminded him. "He has my PAK he can check himself."
"So that's how you got into the science camp. I must admit that is very cleaver." Scamooch whispered as the rest of the cadets showed up.
"All right Class now that you are all here." Mrs. Bean said "Open your books to review questions section 80. These will be on your Test tomorrow, begin!"
"How can I do class work when I'm slowly turning into you!" Scamooch hissed to Zim.
"How do you think I feel?" Zim asked as he opened his book.
Mark couldn't help but groan as a sense of dread settled into the air, today was going to be a lot worse than he thought.
(Back with Elma…)
So the good news was that the dome had the parts needed to fix the Mind Switching Ray.
The bad news was that all the parts were very important!
"Do you really need the quantum destabilizer?" Professor Membrane exclaimed.
"Yes without that we can't control our depth!" Kornelius explained.
Elma rolled her eyes. "I know that that's why we're docking the dome."
"Docking the Dome!" Now even Crystal was concern. "What if we are seen?"
"We won't really dock at the docks." Elma said. "We'll move towards shore until we are just dep enough to be submerged, but not so deep that we slowly sink to a watery grave."
"I suppose that could work." Professor Membrane said thoughtfully, "But we'd have to be careful not to break this one, otherwise we could be stuck in one place far too long."
"In other words don't let Gir get this one." Goalit teased as he stirred the Dome to an ideal spot.
"Me?" Elma pouted. "The ray was in your possession."
"Really that's not how I remember it." Goalit said slyly. "What say you two?"
"Yep defiantly Elma's fault." Kornelius agreed.
"Always knew she'd get us in trouble." Professor Membrane shook his head.
"You guys are real jerks you know that!" Elma exclaimed as she went to stomp off.
"Elma we're only teasing." Goalit assured her.
"Yeah we're trying to lighten the mood." Kornelius explained. "Geesh, why are you so serious all the time?"
"Keep it up and you'll get wrinkles." Professor Membrane said as a matter of factly.
"Sorry." Elma admitted. "It's just what Goalit told us has me worried, What if they aren't compatible, and we don't make it in time?" She asked. "I don't want them dying being my fault." Tears threatened to spill down her face, but Goalit wiped her eye.
"I never meant for you to interrupt it that way." Goalit assured her. "Honest I was just hoping to lighten the mood."
Elma smiled. "I know and I appreciate it." She told him. "Now we're also going to need a few electrical parts from around the ship."
"Seriously?" Professor Membrane asked. "Now not only are we going to be in shallow water but we're going to have zero Comm support as well?"
"Might as well dig our grave now because at this rate we're gonna be sitting ducks." Kornelius agreed.
"I have an idea." Elma snapped. "Why don't we stop complaining and get to work."
Goalit winced. "You know I always seem to forget how scary you can be." He admitted.
Elma smiled sweetly. "Don't let my appearance fool you." She said. "I'm a woman, I was born dangerous."
"Oh I don't doubt it." Goalit seemed to agree as they reached shallow enough water. "That should do." He said.
"All right now we all so need some mechanical parts any will do really." Elma said going on with her list.
"You plan to bleed us dry don't you?" he teased.
Elma laughed, she liked Goalit when he was carefree like this. Back at the Science Camp their friendship was a strained one. Sure they all got along, but they all had to stay serious and professional at all times. Such rules made any friendship a stressful one, of course that was the point. The Irken Armada feared that somehow the humans had the power to convert even the most loyal subjects.
After all Zim was as loyal as they came, and still they converted him with what appeared to be ease.
Goalit sighed. "This is nice." He admitted. "I don't think I've ever been more relaxed."
"Me too." Elma agreed, and leaned in to kiss him.
This wasn't the first time they had almost kissed, yes it was obvious to both of them that the feelings were there. However something, or in this case someone always ruined the moment seconds before it happened.
"Hey love birds those electrical parts aren't gonna find themselves." Crystal teased.
Elma jumped back. "Right I'll go get those, you make sure we've gone unnoticed while you still can." She ordered Goalit before running off.
"You did that on purpose." He said, pointing an accusing finger at Crystal.
"Sorry Romeo, but we're on a time crunch." Crystal reminded him.
"Right of course." Goalit said, and just like that he was back to work.
Episode 3-Switched (Part 2) END!
Author's Notes: Thank you for reading and please review.
The next Chapter will be up soon.
Yours truly RoxieDivine ;)