Ayam

Patience

Ask again, Zim.

Zim groaned, pressing his hands to his forehead. "Ayam, not again. Please. They don't listen. None of them do. I beg them on the table, I beg them from the cell, I ask every day. They just continue like they never heard me. If I cannot have my pride, let me be silent at least. Asking does nothing."

Ask again, Zim. Ask the next person you see.

"Why?" Zim whined. "What will be different this time?"

My Name.

"Eh?" Zim cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? I haven't said anything yet." Dib paused in front of his cell. "Look, Zim, what's going on with you? Really. These last two weeks you haven't been... well... you. The old Zim wouldn't be asking us to let him go every day."

Zim didn't answer. He continued staring at the wall, his head tilted at an angle. Dib rolled his eyes. "Right. You go ahead and pretend I'm not here. I'll just go be somewhere else if you're gonna act like this."

Dib had only taken three steps when something clicked in Zim's mind. The power that had swept through him when he'd heard the name of Ayam. The slow process of giving up his pride. The deep, warm cleansing he'd felt afterward. It could all come together!

"DIB!" Zim bolted up and placed his palms flat against the glass. "DIIIIIB!"

Dib turned back, annoyed. "What is it?"

Zim stared at him. "Please release Zim."

Dib glared. "Again? Really Zim, this is getting pathetic. You know the answer by now. There's no way—"

"Ayam says release Zim."

Dib paused, a puzzled expression crossing his face. "Ayam? Who is Ayam, Zim? Who've you been talking to?"

Zim frowned. The Dib didn't know Ayam? But—

By another name.

He blinked. Ayam had more names, that's right. Immediately he sent out tendrils of consciousness onto the human internets, combing through lists of names relating to Ayam. Nothing. He tried Eyam. Iyam. Only when he entered "I Am" did he find what he was looking for.

"Cornerstone, Light of the World, High Priest, Bridegroom, Savior, The Good Shepherd, Prince of Peace, Yeshua, Jesus, Lamb of God, do any of those sound familiar?"

Dib's face had completely drained of color. He stood there, swaying slightly. He whispered, "You've got to be kidding me. This is some kind of cruel hoax."

Insistently, Zim repeated, "Release Zim, He said so!"

"He did not!" Dib shouted, kicking the glass as hard as he could. "He did not! There's no way he would tell anyone to release a menace like you back into the world!"

Zim gaped. "Wait, you KNOW Him?"

Dib's lip pulled back into a sneer. "Know Him? I spent the last several years asking Him to help me take you down. And now that I've got you, you suddenly tell me I've got to let you go because he says so? Real convenient, Zim. Real freaking convenient. How did you find out about Him? Who told you? Who told you I prayed, huh? Gaz let it slip, didn't she? Well guess what, I'm onto your tricks. You didn't hear anything from anyone. You've just gone crazy in confinement. Know how I know?" He pressed his face against the glass. "Cause you're an alien! God did what He did for HUMANS. You don't even have a soul, you're half machine! If I hear you ask one more time to be let go, I'll have them pull your teeth one by one and cut out your tongue!" With that, he shoved himself away from the glass and stomped off.

Zim stared dully after that. He felt his heart sink. "Well," he croaked, "What was the good of that? What now?"

Now, Zim, I teach you the next thing you need to learn.

"What's that?"

Patience.

....

Days passed. Every day, Dib came down to see Zim, with a glare that dared him to ask again. Every day, Zim looked up from the ground with a tired expression, and said nothing. And every day, Dib left, with a troubled look on his face. Eventually, he began coming down with the troubled look already on his face. Dark circles sprouted under his eyes, and his scythe-like hair drooped a little further every time Zim saw him.

One day, Dib dragged himself into the room and palmed the security lock. Zim shivered, mentally preparing himself to be pulled away for more testing. Instead of going to Zim, though, Dib merely turned and shut the opening behind him. He then turned to Zim and stared at him in silence for several minutes.

"I think," Dib finally croaked, his voice hoarse and raw. "That I'm supposed to get you out of here. And that I'm supposed to give you Tak's ship. And that I'm supposed to go with you, and help you do something."

Zim blinked. His antennae raised. "Are you serious?" His heart quickened.

Dib glared. "I wouldn't be in this state if I were kidding, Zim. I've been having this dream over and over and over again where you and I are in space, in Tak's ship, and I'm showing you something in a book that looks an awful lot like a Bible."

Frowning, Zim accessed the internet again. Bible, yes, that was what the humans had called the Records.

His eyes rounded. "That... that makes sense!" He grabbed Dib's shoulders. "Dib, that makes sense, we can take the Records and translate them into my language for Irk! But I need you to help me find other ways of saying what we have no words or concepts for, because you understand them better!"

Dib stared. "You're... planning on bringing the Bible to your planet. That's what I'm supposed to help you do." He turned and rested his forehead against the glass. "This is insane."

"YOU'RE calling something insane? Dib, maybe Ayam sent you the dream!"

"He's never done anything like that before, why now?"

"Because you're the only human who knows anything about Irkens AND the Records! I mean, I assume you know about the Records if you speak to Ayam..."

Dully, Dib nodded.

"Please, Dib. Release me, in the Name of Ayam. Let me go, and come with me so we can send the Records to my race!"

Again, silence. Then Dib straightened himself, running his hand through his scythe and muttering, "I do not BELIEVE I am doing this, after ALL the time I spent... be ready at any time, okay?"

"Okay." Zim smiled. "I'll wait for your signal."