Author's Notes: Thanks for reading and please review.
(Back with Zim)
[Location: Deep Space]
"Taller Zim!" Skoodge declared looking at the navigation systems.
"Yes?" Zim asked dully, he wasn't really thrilled with his new title, but at least his fellow Irken stopped bowing.
"Our course has changed" Skoodge reported.
"How is that possible? We're supposed to be heading to Earth." Zim pointed out the obvious.
"We are." Uma said. "It's like the planet has changed location. It's now in the sector 12."
"The Rogue Planet Graveyard?" SGT. Hobo 678 asked out loud in shock.
Rogue planets, were worlds that got tossed out of their star's orbit and hurtled into space, cursed to travel in darkness forever. With that in mind the Rogue Planet Graveyard was exactly what it sounded like. It was a place where rogue planets had clustered together, eventually slowing down to a stop in the same location. These planets would linger in each other's gravitational pull eventually colliding with one another. In short, Sector 12 was a place where planets went to die!
"Tak, she must have done this." Zim concluded as he looked at Earth's new coordinates.
"What makes you so sure?" SGT. Hobo 678 challenged?
"As an invader I happen to know this sector well." Zim explained. "It's on the Tallest flight path. Said path is supposed to take them to each planet on the Conquest list. And If I remember correctly the massive should be very close to sector 12 right about now."
"She's rushing again!" SGT. Hobo 678 growled in disapproval. "I keep telling her she's too impulsive."
"Well now she has gone too far!" Zim growled, his raged was evident. His thoughts went to Dib, he wondered if he was okay. Was he even still alive? Why had he left them? He knew Tak was still at large, but honestly, he thought she would wait. He thought at least Tak would have a sense of honor; how could she call this a win when she cowardly struck when he was not around.
"What do we do?" Bangy asked.
"How far is Earth from us now?" Zim asked.
"24 hours My Taller." Skoodge answered.
"There also seems to be a large tear in space dangerously close to the planet." Uma added.
"A Florpus." Zim spat. "She must have teleported the whole planet at once, that idiot! You need to teleport several times. Each time should be of an equally distance, otherwise you risk tearing open space itself!" He was fuming now. "Never have I met such an impulsive idiot!"
"Anger is a double edge sword." SGT. Hobo 678 reminded him.
"How far do you think the Tallest are?" Throbulator screams.
24 hours, maybe more." Zim growled, still trying to get his anger in check. "They will be coming from the northside of Earth and straight towards the Florpus. "We are traveling from the east, with the Florpus at the South of Earth we will be safe to chart a clear path."
"Still, that is awfully close." Insectus pointed out. "If the Tallest are even the smallest of a fraction faster than we will be too late."
"Then will just have to get their first." Zim declared.
At once the ship increased speed towards its new location, Zim could only hope they made it in time.
'Hold on Dib.' He thought. 'I'm coming.'
(Back On Earth...)
"It's been ten years, Gaz. Ten long years trapped in this house with the pudding monster." Dib groaned from the couch.
"It's been six hours." Gaz reminded him bluntly. "But yeah." She agreed from her seat beside him.
"How come you kids don't play with the science puppy I made for you?" Clembrane asked as he walked in from the kitchen.
"Because it's pudding." Dib groaned.
Clembrane seems to deflate and Gaz notices, not for the first time that the clone may actually care for them for real! "Hmm. Hey, Dad." She said.
"Yeeesss?" Clembrane perked up.
"Dad, you and Dib need more father-son time together. Just look at him. He's all messed up, and so am I." She added "We need more quality time with you."
Dib looks confused. "What?"
"Ooh, I see what you mean. You got any suggestions?" Clembrane asked hopefully.
"Yes, I do." Gaz said and looked to Dib. "How's Tak's Ship?"
"It should be done updating by now." Dib said still not getting it. "Why?"
"You think we can get it to fly?" Gaz asked.
Dib found a smile slipping on his face. "Only one way to fine out."
Moments later there outside the door to the garage opens as Clembrane starts up the grill.
"This was a good idea, honey. Science projects bring families together." He said. "How can I help you, son?"
Dib was about to answer when Tak's Ship bolts out of the garage on it's own.
"Festering human, you have stolen me away from my rightful owner!" The ship said in Tak's voice.
"Oh, right I forgot." Dib groaned. "It's still wired with Tak's personality."
"Can we give it a new one?" Gaz asked.
"No there's no time, besides Lard Nar advised against it when I suggested it before." Dib said.
"So, reasoning?" Gaz suggested.
"You need me to put some science pudding on it?" Clembrane suggested.
"Uh, maybe later. You just keep making pudding uh, Dad." Dib said earning him a thumbs up from Gaz. "Look, ship, I get that you don't like me and all, but we need your help." He told the ship.
"I don't help anyone but Tak." The ship answered.
"But you would be helping Tak." Gaz lied. "You see Zim did all of this." She added.
For a moment Dib fears the ship won't buy it, after all if she is now fully updated. She should be fully linked with Tak's Pak and receiving updates from her master. However, the ship seems transfixed by Gaz's logic.
"You hate Dib, right?" Gaz asked.
"Affirmative." The Ship agreed.
"But you hate Zim even more." Gaz went on.
"Correct."
"I see where you're going with this." Dib said taking over. "We have people stuck on Moopington..."
"Wait, do you mean Moo-Ping 10?" The Ship asked.
"Yes, we know people there that could possibly help Tak fix this." Dib reasoned. "Plus, it would make Zim super unhappy."
"Flawless logic." The Ship agreed, proving that perhaps she didn't completely finish her updates after all. "I will help you, but on one condition."
"What's that?" Gaz asked.
"Disconnect my seat sensors so I don't feel your terrible human butts in me." The ship begged.
"Deal." Dib agreed and together with the ship's help they were able to finally fix it and make it Space worthy again.
"We did it, kids. Hurray for science." Clembrane cheered.
The kids get inside of the ship and Gaz looks at Clembrane and smiles. "You coming dad?" She asked.
Clembrane lights up. "A test flight! Oh goody!"
"Gaz?" Dib whispered.
"Trust me I know what I'm doing" she said as the ship door closed and took off into space.
"Oh. You guys have a deadly Florpus Hole now." The Ship said. "That's new."
"Yeah. Let's hurry, ship." Dib said with urgency.
"Don't tell me what to do. But okay." The ship answered and sped off towards their destination.
(Deep Space)
[Location: Moo-Ping 10]
He wasn't sure how he could have let this happen.
Prof. Membrane sat on a steel bed in a tiny prison cell light-years away from home. The trip had only taken a little over seven hours thanks to the AIs' ability to travel at light speed. Still, this fact meant Prof. Membrane hadn't been in his cell very long, maybe six hours at the most; but it felt like a lifetime.
Of course, the footage on the screen before him only made it worse. The AI, Titan has projected a screen on the wall outside the cell which showed him and the other prisoners Tak's exploits on Earth.
"She's rubbing it in our faces!" Annabel screamed from the cell beside him.
"I know darling." Prof. Membrane shook his head. "I should have seen this coming."
"We should have seen it." Lard Nar corrected him; he was currently on the top bunk of the same cell as the human scientist.
"How could we be so stupid?" Luna screamed, kicking the wall of her own cell.
"I'm scared." Moon admitted, she was holding Gir tightly.
The SIR was in pretty bad shape, he had tried to fight the AIs and paid for it. Most of his limbs had been torn off as the AI ripped him into pieces on the spot.
Moon had screamed when she saw it, now all Gir had was one arm, a body and a dented head.
"it's okay, Little Bluey." Gir spoke cheerfully, despite his condition. "Mary will come."
Of course, they will." Richard agreed from a few cells over. "But the AI's, Tak has done something to them, they'll kill anyone who comes."
"Faith." Trawl reminded them. "We must remember to have faith."
"Trawl is right." Mina, who shared a cell with her fellow Grey, agreed. "The opportunity will present itself."
Pudge nodded his own agreement. "We must stay vigilant."
"If we can overwhelm the AI's we may stand a chance." Mrs. Bitters revealed.
"You are as old as they are." Jinx, her cell mate reminded her. "Are there any weaknesses?"
"I am not just as old as they are." Mrs. Bitters said. "I am much older; you see there is a reason Siri calls me mother. It is because I created her."
"You created them?" Dark Booty was stunned.
"Yes, her and her siblings were created by Zorn and I a long time ago." Mrs. Bitters went on.
"So you know there weaknesses?" Prof. Membrane asked perking up.
"No, I am not sure how Tak managed to worm through their defenses." She admitted. Hope dissipated around her that is until she added. "But there is a failsafe."
"What failsafe?" Annabel asked.
"When Myuki was named Taller I knew she was trouble. I made plans to protect Irk in secret not even Zorn knew. Unfortunately, Most of them backfired, still one of these plans has yet to be needed." Mrs. Bitters went on.
"So why hasn't it worked?" Luna interrupted.
"Tak must have found a way to but the AIs in stasis mode during the programs download." Mrs. Bitters answered.
"That's it!" Trawl said. "I know how she's done it!"
"You do?" Lard Nar asked, amazed.
"Yes, the Dib showed me." Trawl explained. "He used EMP on the SIR units while we were escaping my prison."
"EMP." Mrs. Bitters nodded. "It's possible the AIs have a similar weakness; the pulse would have temporarily shut them down long enough for her to do the download."
"But what does that mean about the failsafe?" Annabel asked fearfully. "Is it gone forever?"
"No, it's not gone, Daughter is the failsafe, she should have the power to overcome the Irken program, but if she was shut down, she'd be at a great disadvantage. The programing was able to take hold unchallenged, she could be struggling to regain control."
"How will we know?" Richard asked.
"We won't." Mrs. Bitters said. "The odds are stacking against her, once she tries to fight back; she will be detected. The program will try to delete her instead, but if Daughter can win over the program, she can correct her siblings."
"Correct?" Prof. Membrane asked.
"Yes, out of all the AIs, Daughter is the only one that can delete the Irken program without need of any help. This is why her Siblings follow her lead, she is their protector. Which means they are her responsibility."
"So, the real Siri is still in there?" Annabel looked hopeful.
"Yes, her siblings maybe gone, deleted by the programing forever, but Daughter, calls me mother, not creator." Mrs. Bitters actually sounded a bit choked up at those words. "She is in every sense like her brother."
"Okay…English please?" Prof. Membrane cut in.
"Siri calls her mother, a machine has no feelings, She's defective like Zim." Anabel explained.
Mrs. Bitters nodded. "Daughter like her father is a defective at her core. I know she can break free, given the time."
"But we don't have much of that left." Jinx warned.
"Zim struggled for decades, it took over a hundred years for him to fully shake it off." Luna reasoned.
"And even than he needed Daughter's help to free him completely." Mrs. Bitters voiced.
"But he didn't have just her." Lard Nar said, jumping down from the top bunk. "Zim had Dib! There deep connection is why he fought the program. His efforts to fight the program was why Siri chose to help, not the other way around."
"So, you're saying someone with a deep connection with Siri could help her gain control?" Moon asked.
Annabel didn't have to see everyone to know they were looking at her. "Me? But she is your daughter." She said to Mrs. Bitters.
"Who she resents because I fled Irk the day of Zorn's death. She blames me for not staying and fighting by her side." Mrs. Bitters said. "You however, left all you love to help her in her journey. You traveled the stars with her and continued to stay by her side for 15 years."
Annabel knew she had a point; it was because of her that Siri had even allowed Lard Nar and the others to live with them on Zoran. Annabel was also the one who asked her to allow them to keep the refugees there as well. It was thanks to Annabel that the rebels had a safe place to hide when the heat was on. It was also why Luna and Moon had a safe place to hide after the fall of their home world.
And Siri had allowed all this because Annabel had asked.
"I have to get through to her." Annabel realized. "But how?"
"Patients, the time will come." Mrs. Bitters assured her.
The others grew quiet at her words, hoping that against all the odds stacked against them that she was right.
(Back with Dib…)
In another part of space, Tak's ship is flying closer to its destination while Dib is singing along to an alien song he found on the computer's hard drive. Gaz moves her head to the rhythm as Clembrane claps happily; that is until Tak's Ship turns it off abruptly.
"Hey?" They shout.
"Your noises are bad." Tak's ship said. "Also, we're here."
The passengers look out the window to see it is true.
"Moo-Ping 10, prison to the galaxy's most infamous criminals." Tak's ship went on.
"I don't know son." Clembrane said as they got off the ship and slipped into the prison surprisingly unnoticed. "It doesn't looks safe here."
"It's okay dad." Dib assured him. "Our friends are here."
"Oh well if it's a friend's house I should meet the parents." Clembrane said.
"Okay, their defenses are about to go down." Tak's ship interrupted.
"How do you know?" Gaz challenged.
"Just get ready. All right, I'll go cause a diversion and come back when you've found your dog." Tak's ship retorted.
"Our dad." Dib corrected.
"Over here son." Clembrane waved.
"Whatever." Tak's ship flew off.
"You ready?" Gaz asked as they followed Clembrane deeper into the prison.
"I was born ready, Gaz. This spy coat isn't just to look cool-." Dib stops as one of the AIs tower over him.
"Titan?" Dib asked.
"Intruders!" Titan sounded the alarm and charged.
Dib dived out of the AIs way as his robotic tentacle shot out for the kill. He wanted to reason with the AI, but it would obviously do no good. Up until now The AIs had been like an early warning system for the rebels and their Allies. Dib and the others had started relying on the AIs to defend them so much that they left their guard down. And with no one ready to back the AIs up, Tak had found a way to make them crumble. Worse, just like Zim, Dib, Gaz and Clembrane were helpless to stop it, Titan scooped them up and took them deeper into the prison.
"Now we'll never find Dad!" Dib shouted as he struggled in vain to get free. "Or the others."
"But I'm here son." Clembrane said.
"For crying out loud! You are not our dad!" Dib yelled at him.
Clembrane looks hurt, like his heart had been just ripped out.
"Dib!" Gaz yelled.
"No Gaz, I can't do this anymore!" Dib screamed; tears welling up in his eyes. "It's all my fault, Gaz. Why aren't you saying I told you so? I was supposed to save the world, Gaz, now Tak has destroyed it. I was gonna show people the truth. I knew if they saw something amazing, even if it was horrible, than maybe they would just wake up! And stop obsessing over all the little things and see that there was something bigger out there, something to unite against. Now everyone knows the truth but in the worst way possible because Tak has already won! And I'm actually starting to think Trawl was right. Zim abandoned us, of course he did! Running away is what he does-"
Suddenly the three captives yelp as they are thrown before a group of prison cells.
"Dib!" Several voices shouted at once.
Dib groaned as he got to his shaking feet, his vision blurry at first, starts to clear and then he sees them. "Dad, MOM!" He runs to the cells.
Gaz runs to Peg first. "You, okay?"
"I'm fine it's not there fault." Peg tried to explain. "Tak has done something to them."
"We know." Gaz said as Titan's call of alarm is answered by his siblings.
"We're going to get you out of here." Dib tries to get the door to his dad's cell open, but it won't budge.
"Son, Leave us." Prof. Membrane urged. "It's not safe here, we have a plan.
"So do we." Dib urged, the doors to the cells open suddenly for no apparent reason.
"Dad!" Dib runs to his father, but Clembrane snatches him up.
"You, get away from my son!"
Prof. Membrane looks bug-eyed and very, very confused. " Uh... ...what's happening? What is this thing?"
"He's you, Dad." Dib tries to explain as Clembrane continues to smother him.
"What? Who's me, son? I'm me. But who's that?" He points at Prof. Membrane.
Annabel looks from her husband to the cheap clone, to the advancing AIs and back to her husband. "I'm very confused right now."
"He's a clone." Gaz whispered. "Tak made him to hold us prisoner."
She tried to be quiet about it but, Clembrane still heard. "I'm a clone..." He looks to Prof. Membrane, "but I'm me, how can I not be real?"
"You are real." Gaz told him.
"But I'm not him!" Clembrane points at Prof. Membrane accusingly.
"Clembrane, your still..." Gaz tried to explain, but she didn't know how.
Luckily Dib did. "Your still you." He assured him. "Trust me, I'm his clone too, so I would know. I mean you may not be my dad, but technically this makes us brothers."
"Brothers?" Clembrane perk up at that. "I'd like that" he admitted.
Dib and Gaz smiled.
"Eliminate the intruders!" The AIs continued to get closer.
"Kids get behind us!" Lard Nar ordered as the senior rebels stood their ground as the enemy advanced.
"We don't have any weapons." Jinx pointed out the obvious.
"Regardless." Mrs. Bitters spoke firmly. "We will go down fighting tooth and nail."
"Right!" The others all agreed, picking up whatever they could to fight which include breaking parts off the bed frames.
Annabel looks for her target at first it looks like she will not come, but she sees her. Annabel sees Siri watching the advance of her siblings from afar. It's like she's frozen in place, an emotionless sentry, powerless. Was she trying to break free, even now?
"Siri!" Annabel screamed.
It happened in an instant as fast as lightning, Siri pounced and tackled her target.
Titan becomes disoriented for a moment as Siri attacks him, and really that's all she needs. She zaps him, like she had done with Zim for what seemed like so long ago. Titan jerks as the new Irken Programing is deleted out of him in one jolt!
Siri jumps off Titan who stops to regain his bearings before going for Sue. Now it was 2 against four, and as Titan fights Siri leaps on Melk. She zaps him in a blink of an eye, and He goes for Klem, and they tussle across the floor. Siri switches her efforts back with Titan who has Sue held down, She zaps her sister, and they turn on Tuff!
Tuff is faster than all of them, so Siri goes for Klem, she zaps him, and the newly freed AIs go after their fallen brother.
Tuff evades them well at first, but the siblings counter speed with strategy. In an instant Tuff is surrounded, and with nowhere to go the siblings tackle him in a dog pile. He struggles, but Siri manages to zap him just as he breaks free.
"We are free." Sue's robotic voice sounds almost relieved.
"Thank you, Annabel." Siri says to her.
Annabel looks up to Siri and smiles. "Anytime."
Everyone cheers for their victory, but it is shortly lived.
"So, about what has become of the planet?" Dark Booty asked.
Dib dived into an explanation about how Tak used the bracelets to teleport the Earth to another part of the universe! "Do you know how that was even possible?" He asked his dad.
"Well, Lard Nar did let me barrow some of the more advance alien technology for the Membracelets." Prof. Membrane admitted. "And I suppose theoretically... ...one could use it to, say, create a galactic star gate of sorts, if all the correct components were in place."
"Like what?" Luna asked.
"Well, you would need an addition of a purely theoretical alien horror blob energized by a central computer that could manage and process such a command." Prof. Membrane went on.
"We never thought such a computer was able to do so." Lard Nar went on.
"It wasn't a computer though." Gaz said. "It was Mimi"
"The Sir unit!" Annabel grabbed her husband out of instinct. This thing already hurt someone she loved once, and it was back again!
"It's okay Gir destroyed her before." Moon said. She is holding Gir as she spoke. "All we need to do is fix him and-"
"No, we can't destroy her." Dib argued.
"Why not?" Moon asked defensively.
"Because, she teleported the planet." Dib tried to explain. "Dad if we could capture her, do you think there is a way you could use her to teleport the Earth back where it belongs?" He asked, causing the others to understand.
"It's possible." Prof. Membrane answered.
"You must be very careful Dibson." Richard warned. "Teleporting a whole planet at once too great of a distance can form a-"
"Florpus." Gaz interrupted her grandad, "And yeah Tak already figured that out the hard way."
"Then we must hurry." Mrs. Bitters declared. "Where is your ship?"
Tak ship breaks through the wall of a nearby cell and the newly freed AIs go to charge.
"No wait, she's with us!" Dib steps in front of the ship protectively.
Siri lowers her stance, and her siblings follow her lead. "A strange choice in an ally."
"Earth is now directly in the Tallest's path." Dib explained. "We don't have many options."
"Irk is closing in." Siri switches gears. "Why didn't you say so?" She starts addressing her siblings.
Dib however looks to the ship. "Took you long enough."
"Too many butts." The ship explained. "so, I brought this. Hop in." She pulls out to show Dib that she has attached more seating to her rear so everyone will fit.
"Nice!" Peg praised.
"Shotgun." Gaz chimed. "Come on Clembrane."
Clembrane smiles and follows her into the ship.
"Come on everyone." Dib gestured to the others. "Strap in we have to move."
"You heard the boy." Mrs. Bitters spat out orders in a drill Sargent fashion. "Move it!"
Annabel takes a seat by Dibson, their seats in front of Dib, with Moon and Luna to his left and right.
"Everyone in?" Dib asked.
"You go head." Siri told them. "We will follow."
"Alright, worms hang on to your disgusting butts!" Tak's ship closed her doors and took off.
"What's with you and butts?" Dib shouted.
"Do you think Tak will go for the weapon?" Annabel asked as they took off.
"That may have been her plan." Dib revealed. "But now she's probably too busy trying to save Her leaders jewel of a planet from being destroyed."
"Well let's hope she's still distracted." Lard Nar voiced their fears out loud.
Dib couldn't agree more.
(Back With Tak...)
[8 hours later]
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Tak was still trying to get the doomed planet under control. The Florpus was starting to cause the other rogue planets to collide into one another, their debris rained down towards earth like millions of extinction size asteroids.
Tak screamed in fury as she aimed a giant plasma cannon at the rocks vaporizing them, but the onslaught was never ending.
Back in space, Tak's ship and the AI's were also trying to navigate through the asteroids and avoid the blast of Tak's weapon.
"Normally, I'd say "Don't touch me," but maybe a little help?" The ship asked Gaz.
Gaz geared up in the ships tech gloves and synced with the online controls before pulling on the holo visors. She could now see everything the ship could, they dodged and blasted the oncoming danger as they went.
"Gaz? What's going on!?" Annabel shouted to her daughter, but she obviously can't hear them in the separate compartment.
Something hits the side.
Moon screams, clutching Gir.
"This isn't good. Gaz!" Dib shouts as he goes to unbuckle.
"Bro keep your seat belt fastened." Clembrane reminded him. "It keeps you safe."
Dib goes to do it anyway, but Prof. Membrane stops him.
"Uh son, maybe you should listen to your brother." To late, Dib unbuckles, and disaster strikes.
Suddenly, the compartment starts to break in half, everyone grabs the hands of the one in front of them.
"Hang on, son! Don't let go!" Prof. Membrane shouted.
Dib dangled just above the stratosphere, now he really wished he had listened to Clembrane. "Dad!"
"Dib!" Annabel tries to grab a hold of him, to help pull him up, but she can't reach.
Another piece of rubble hits the compartment, Dib slips from his father's grasp.
The compartment detaches from the ship, they are falling!
Siri and Titan take action, grabbing the falling compartment area, Dib slips some more, now one hand has let go all together.
"It's okay son, I have you!" Prof. Membrane promised, but he's slipping even more, and they both know it.
They both know he's going to fall.
"I'm sorry dad." Dib managed to gasp, and with one more violent jerk, he slips away completely.
-To Be Continued