To Which Our Future Holds (A ZaDr Story)

Chapter 32

Zim walked out of his base as he looked around "Ash Smeet!" Zim called out as the rippling wind carried his voice. Zim twitched his anteni when he heard a call return "Coming!"
Zim turned to see a tall boy who looked to be in his teenage years. He had dark black hair that was styled into a swooped mohawk, and had bright golden eyes that glinted behind two large round lenses that had been modified with irken tech. The boy wore a sleek black uniform that covered him from his neck to his boots, over top of it was a light grey vest that came down to his forelegs in the traditional dress-like irken style. Zim narrowed his eyes "You're not trying to avoid doing your chores are you?" The boy smiled "No Zim I'm coming." Zim tilted his head as he picked up a strange tone in the boy's voice. "Is something wrong Ash smeet?" Ash looked away, the nervousness less hidden in his voice. "No I'm fine." Zim crossed his arms, his anteni twitching suspiciously. "Do not lie to Zim Ash smeet, what's going on?" Ash looked out over the craters edge. "I was just thinking about Earth, that's all." The harshness from Zim's tone dropped as he walked over to Ash "Do you want to talk about it?" Shaking his head Ash gave a nervous smile "Maybe after I get all my chores finished." Zim nodded "Very well then Ash smeet, let's get to work."

"Hey Zim?" Ash asked. Zim looked up from his work, he was currently milking a tall horse like creature. It was a dark purple color with a cream belly. On its side was a smooth black parallel stripe that went from its front leg down to its long tail that had a row of teal  bioluminescent spots on it. From the top of the creature's head to the base of its neck the creature had a mane of long black feathers that seemed to shift a rainbow of colors in the light. Patting the creature Zim responded to Ash's question "Yes Ash smeet?" Ash stroked the creature's long, pointed, bird-like snout. "How Long do you think it's been?" Ash asked. "How long has what been?"
Ash rubbed the creature as it leaned its head into him, closing its three pairs of eyes. "On Earth, how many years do you think it's been?" Zim furrowed his eyes as he continued to carefully milk the creature. "It's hard to say, Earth has a much quicker orbital pattern than Renata-Jayr does." Zim said, referring to the dead planet. Ash sighed and continued to stroke the creature, "That's alright, it doesn't really matter all that much anyways." He muttered. With having finished milking the creature Zim turned to Ash "I've got all the honeymilk so you can take her back to the field, but if you want to know about Earth we could ask the computer." Leading the creature away Ash shook his head "I'm good thanks."

With the Whenipeks all milked, Zim and Ash both went about their separate chores for the day. Zim tended to the garden which was filled with various native fruits like the purple crescent shaped Thorn Fruit, small yellow grape like Star Berries, and the round blue night lemon which tasted just about how it sounded. The garden also contained various vegetables like the white striped Vera Root, and a sweet, pink, pear shaped vegetable that was filled with flat gold seeds. Also among the garden where leafy foods which on Earth would be considerd your 'greens', but due to the planet's atmosphere they stood in various shades of purples to blues.
After watering the plants and picking the ones that were ripe Zim checked on the hive of Glowbees, the creatures where extremely friendly and made a sweet pink honey and wax. The hive was not very large and had a bunch of the round fuzzy yellow creatures fluttering around it. With Zim's approach one of the Glowbees came over and landed on his head, the small glowing orb on the end of its tail dangling in front of his face.

Ash's job was to tend to the different creatures that they had, he first went and fed the Ziik birds. They where a small dark blue duck sized bird with about twice the wingspan. Their underbelly was covered in thick warm cream colored plumes, and when they opened their wings they were a fan bright orange, yellows and greens, atop jet black feathers, the patterns meant to distort predators. After feeding the Ziik birds he carefully collected the small grey eggs from their nests.
When he finished with Ziik birds he turned to the lacequbus, which were long thin dainty looking creatures. They had dark red to orange scales and white spines that hovered over their backs, tails, and head in a way that always fascinated Ash. They had one large eye on their forehead and had three pairs of legs, two in the front and one in the back. The pair of Lacequbus chirped excitedly as Ash approached, probably hoping to go for a ride, as Zim and Ash used the creatures like horses due to their impressive speed and surprising strength. Ash poured them fresh water and stroked their necks, his attention favoring the darker orange male over the lighter female.
After feeding all the creatures Ash took a round checking the fencing to insure it was still sturdy. With all his chores finished Ash returned to the base where Zim awaited preparing food.

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