VINDICATION

Chapter 67: Monkey-dance in the Middle

****This chapter is dedicated to Zoe, my new reviewy-peep of DOOM!!! *lurves*


777 sighed and shook his head as he sat at a console next to Dib’s bed in the sick bay. “There’s just one problem, Zim…and it’s a big one.” He indicated the monitor that was littered with Vortian characters, which were in the process of being translated into Irken. “I can break down the codes into Irken so that your machines can process the data properly; however, in order to input the proper codes into the device inside your human’s head, the input must be in this ancient form of Vortian. And it would take me weeks to modify these computers to supply archaic Vortian code for their output.” He sighed again, rubbing his knee. “I’m sorry, Zim…I know he doesn’t have much time left.”

Zim gazed at Dib’s pale features, his squeedlyspooch twisting inside of him. “Is there nothing we can do? No possible way around it?”

777 rubbed one of his horns absently. “I’m at a loss.”

Groaning, Zim buried his face in his hands and sat down on the edge of Dib’s bed. “You don’t understand…I can’t lose him.”

The Vortian’s expression was sympathetic, and he reached out and squeezed Zim’s shoulder, knowing that the gesture wouldn’t really be much comfort. “I’ll do everything I can to help…”

Zim nodded absently. He stood, walking over to the Irken-made EEG and frowning when he saw that there was an increasing amount of abnormal activity in Dib’s brainwave patterns. Not only that, Dib’s heart rate was starting to fluctuate. Zim clenched his fists anxiously, then wrapped his arms around himself. What was he going to do?

Feeling a tug at the hem of his uniform shirt, Zim looked down and saw GIR, minus the Earth-warrior costume, looking up at him and offering him a rubber piggy. Zim smiled weakly, taking it and patting GIR on the head, his antennae twitching. GIR had been so much better lately, far more functional than when Zim had first received him. And fortunately, he didn’t have to bother with the behavioural modulator he’d used the first time; by Irk, what a mess that had been…he was amazed that none of the humans in the Earth library had reported any of those strange occurrences. He would have thought that having wires attached to someone’s brain would have been a little more—

Zim’s thought processes halted, and he looked over at 777. “What if we put something in between?”

777 blinked at him, quirking a horn. “How do you mean?”

“We could link up my SIR unit with a data canister, hook the canister up to the Irken computers at one end, to the device at the other, and have it translate the codes from Irken to archaic Vortian in the canister before sending it on to the device. Would that work?”

The Vortian’s brows shot up in amazement. “Genius!” 777 nodded. “Get me a data canister, I’ll do the modifications. It should only take me a few minutes.”

*

Once the wires were hooked up from the computer console to GIR, and from GIR to the device in Dib’s head, Zim knelt down in front of his metal companion, his expression grave.

“GIR…I need you to change these letters and codes for us. The Irken codes are going to come into the data canister, and then you have to change them into the very old Vortian codes you’ve just learned.” He held his breath for a long moment, then let it out slowly. “Do you understand?”

“YES, MY MASTER!” GIR saluted, his eyes glowing red.

Zim nodded. “Good, GIR. Very good.” He patted GIR on the head, then leaned closer. “You cannot fail, GIR. If you lose your concentration, Dib could die. You know that, don’t you?”

GIR’s eyes turned back to their regular turquoise, and he nodded. “Yes.”

Zim took one last look at Dib, then nodded to GIR. “GIR, start translating the codes.”

“YES, SIR!!”

As the Irken codes began transmitting down the wires into the data canister, Zim went back to the EEG and the heart monitor, holding his breath for a long moment. The activity on the EEG monitor was beginning to slow down, as was the rate of Dib’s heart. His human was dying.