Authorz Note #1

Wassup mah fellow readerz? Hope you're all well and good.

Well, took a month, but chapter three is finally here! Yay, I guess? Idk. Here we will be continuing the story of the brand new character and how his arrival to Earth will play out. Not much else to say other than that. So, here it is! Hope youz enjoy it!

A rapid amount of shaking and rumbling fills the inside of Apollo 53's space module. The immense heat from the flames of re-entry boils the exterior of the machine and in turn, causes the interior to be blistering as well. The astronauts seated inside hold tightly onto handles attached to the roof and brace themselves as they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

"Whew! It feels like the Sahara Desert in here! Am I right, Alden?" One of the eager spacemen inquires, wiping sweat off his visor... wait, what? There shouldn't be any sweat on his-

"Ugh! Tell me about it, Collins! This thing might as well be a sauna at this point! MAN, it's hot in here!" The other spaceman responds. Using the fabric of his spacesuit as a fan while still sipping on his frozen baggie of coffee from earlier. He squints his eyes in order to get a better view of the bright blue planet ahead. Which is only minutes away from them at this point. "Thank the stars that NASAPlace's technology has advanced as much as it has over the years! Or we might not be back on Earth for, like, another couple of HOURS!"

"Amen to that, brother! Not only that, but if this was decades ago, we'd be landing right smack in the middle of the ocean. Waiting forever for a recovery crew to come pick us up. Thankfully, that ain't the case anymore. All we gotta do is manually direct this baby back to the space center and BOOM! We're home free!" Collins explains.

"If that ain't music to my ears, I don't know what is! Haha!" Alden gleefully says back. Halfway done with his coffee.

"Speaking of music, I could've sworn I heard something rhythmic coming from the Earth while we were on the Moon. Did you hear anything?"

"Uhhh... YEAH! As a matter of fact, I think I did. It sounded really eerie... yet kinda groovy at the same time." He moves around in his seat and snaps his fingers as he recalls that snazzy tune in his head.

"I know, right!? Man, I wish I woulda had my phone on me when I first heard it. I coulda made that my ringtone! It was just that horribly good! Darn it all!"

"Eh. I'm sure you'll find a new pop or techno song that sounds just like it. Trust me."

Collins looks down, saddened. "But... I don't want another horrible song as my ringtone! I want what we heard earlier! Ah man. It's just so unfair."

"Wow... you really wanted that as your ringtone that badly, huh?" Collins looks up and slowly nods his head. "Huh... hm... well, that's too bad then. Uuuuuh-OH SHOOT! Take a look! There's the center! We're about to land this thing!"

About five minutes pass, and the astronauts are ready to land the module back at the NASAPlace Space Center. Slowing down the spacecraft's speed by a considerable amount, the two astronauts direct its movements simultaneously using two individual levers onto a special connection structure that, well, connects with it. Once attached, it locks the module in place and allows the two men to safely exit the machine. Thus ending their... strange journey.

As the two make their way out, stepping onto a podium that they didn't know was there, a sudden erupting sound of clapping, cheering, and praising fills up the building. Everybody at space center stops what they were doing to give their respect to the brave and courageous astronauts who risked their lives to traverse and explore the barren space rock. Even though it's already been done before in the past. Several times by this point.

Regardless, the two wave their hands in response to the overwhelming amount of support from their fellow space peers. Amongst this, taking his last couple of sips, Alden finally finishes sucking up the frozen contents of his little baggie and tosses it aside. Accidentally hitting the nearby janitor's head. Who then gives him a dirty look. Not noticing this, he continues waving and even blows kisses towards all of the workers. How he even managed to use a straw while wearing a helmet the whole time is beyond anyone's comprehension. Even mine.

"Thank you, fellow space worker people! We're both very grateful for all of the hard work you've done on getting us back on that rock. We know that we could go there anytime we want, thanks to modernized technology, but where's the fun in that, right?" The crowd all nod their heads in agreement. "I mean, you can only go to the Moon so many times before you start getting bored. Like, what's so special about it, anyway? It's not even made of cheese!" A small amount of them laugh at his little joke. While others, including the janitor, scoff at his pitiful attempt at humor.

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that, buddy. Did you already forget what I found?" Collins holds out the box of tools he had found on the Earth's satellite. The crowd gasps with surprise. They'd all thought this would just be another round-trip. With a tremendous waste of resources and no new discoveries. It seems as if they were all wrong. Well, actually, that can be considered debatable. "Sure, the Moon isn't the most EXCITING thing in the universe, but once and awhile you find cool little nick nacks like these on it! Speakin' of which, EDDIE! Where you at, man!? I gotta show you what I found!" Collins runs off the podium, with Alden and most of the crowd following suit. Except for the janitor, who curses under his breath.

"I haven't busted my back making major contributions to this lousy organization, just to be treated like THIS! The complete and utter DISRESPECT in this place is just unbelievable! The trash can was right next to me too! Grrr..." He utters, walking away in the other direction.

Inside the module, the mysterious new alien, accidentally made a stowaway by the astronauts, begins to slowly awake. After having been smacked by the module's hatch, he grasps his head in pain.

Once he regains his senses, he looks around and finds himself in a small room. With a strange scent that catches the attention of his nose. Looking behind him, he immediately gags and almost throws up after discovering what the source of it is. Holding his mouth, he backs up against the door, as a strange oval-shaped seat infests the room with an unspeakable odor. Not wanting to be in the room any longer, he turns around and attempts to open the door. To no avail, however. Confused and disgusted, he grabs tightly onto the door handle and frantically pulls on it with the little amount of strength he has at the moment. Still nothing.

The trapped alien spends the next couple of minutes trying to free himself from the foul-smelling waste-disposal room. Pulling as hard as he can on handle. After awhile, he grows frustrated and starts kicking the door. When that doesn't work, he starts punching it. Both actions almost break his limbs.

As a last resort to try and liberate himself, he decides to try and harness some of his enigmatic power. Which he does. However, as a spark begins to alight on his hand, it quickly diminishes and a sudden rush of agony surges throughout his body. So much so, that he clenches onto his body and falls to his knees. While also closing his eyes and groaning loudly. The being tries to quiet himself down, in order to avoid drawing attention to himself, but finds it extremely difficult.

This power he possesses, which seemingly acts as his life support, appears to be at an extremely short supply. As evident with his immense pain. Thus, utilizing it at the moment would be like removing his own heart from his body. It would be a grave mistake. One that he could regret forever. The alien gives himself a minute to recuperate, before standing back up again.

Shaking his body in anger, he raises up his right fist once again and prepares to smack down the door. Although, before he could swing it forward, he catches something off the corner of his eye. He looks down and to his 'surprise', he discovers the lock to the door. The darkly-colored alien facepalms and curses himself subconsciously. Not hesitating for a second, he unlocks the door, opens it and dashes out of that horrid room. Breathing heavily afterwards.

'W-Well then. That's... the end of that. Whatever that was.' The being assures himself, refusing to look back at the bathroom. He exits the module via the hatch, where he ends up inside the actual space center itself. Which, luckily for him, the particular part he's standing in seems to be devoid of any people. Though, that's certainly not going to be the case forever. 'I don't know where I am, but I know I can't stick around here for long. If these creatures catch me, there's no telling what they'll do to an intruder. Let alone someone that's not of their own race.'

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he does a quick search of the room to see if he can find anything to use as a disguise before making his escape. No dice. However, inside of a smaller, separate room attached to the larger room, is a row of lockers. Searching through each and every one of them, he comes across a particular locker belonging to someone named A. Berman. Hmmm. Anyhow, in it, he finds a spacesuit complete with boots, a helmet, and a tinted visor. The outfit is a bit too large for him but seeing as the other storage units are filled with nothing but random garbage, it's his best bet for now.

The being takes a moment to put on the oversized suit. He's barely able to fit his arms and legs through without the sleeves and pant legs slipping off every two seconds. Once those are on, he places the boots on top of his own boots that he already has on. Squishing his feet in extremely painful ways. Then, finally, he places the helmet onto his head. Stuffing his 'antennae' inside and closing the visor shut afterwards. Overall, it's a tremendously uncomfortable cover, but it's either this or being caught and repeatedly smacked by space module hatches for eternity. Both of which are highly inconvenient yet possible outcomes.

Nonetheless, now ready to flee the massive facility, and overcoming the instability of the painfully massive boots he's wearing, he walks over to a set of push-open doors and leaves the room.

He's now in a long grey hallway with pinkish-purple lights illuminating from the walls. Standing next to the doors he exited from, are two workers taking a breaking from... whatever they were doing. They notice him and give him a suspicious look. As if he doesn't belong here. Suppressing his fears and perspiration, he takes a deep breath and casually walks by the two workers. Saluting them as he does so. They watch him walk down the hallway, still bearing suspicious looks, as they then look at each other.

"Uhhhh... was that supposed to be one of 'em new trainees or somethin'? Guy's a little too small for this line of work, if you ask me.' One of them asks the other.

"Errrr... uhhhhhh... mmmmmm... nghhhhhhhh... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" The other guy starts twitching out for some reason as he struggles to answer his friend's question. His fellow co-worker backs up a bit as this occurs and has a look of concern/fright is on his face. Before his head explodes, he finally responds to the query. "I dunno."

"... Ok." He looks both ways before abruptly running away in the opposite direction. Far away from his friend.

Further down the hallway, the disguised alien continues searching for the exit of this weird place. He opens a random door to his right, which has nothing but more spacesuits in it. Closing it, he opens another one next to that one, which has nothing but random canisters inside. Next to that, is yet another door, which he opens. Only to find it filled to the brim with little baggies of frozen foods and drinks. At the sight of this, he growls softly and immediately slams the door shut.

He starts thinking to himself. Judging on how high-tech this place seems to be, it's safe to assume that the security must be as well. There's a possibility that the exit could be hidden, to prevent any outsiders from coming in or out of here. He decides to see if that's true. As he progresses down the hallway, he looks all around to see if he can find any sort of hidden panel that could open a secret door, gate, or anything of the kind. Making sure to get a good feel of the walls, tiles, and even the lights that somewhat brighten the corridor. They don't really though. Which makes seeing another pain in the neck.

When that's of no use, he then checks inside and under the various garbage cans that are scattered all around the vicinity. That, for some reason are labeled 'Top Secret ¡NasaPlace! Trash'. Unfortunately for him though, all he found in those were some Deelishus Weenie wrappers and a ton of broken coffee mugs with brown hearts on them.

The being then tries the regular doors again. Going inside every room he finds along the way. Trying his absolute best not to run into anyone else. Both figuratively and literally. Stepping out of another empty room, he goes to open the next door, which has a red plaque next to it that reads 'Mission Control'. However, as he swings it open, he finds himself in a bright red room filled with monitors, control panels and... people. LOTS and lots of people. Not wanting to be spotted by any of them, he quickly goes to close the door.

"Hey, you! Yeah, I'm talking to you! Come over here!" An overweight creature shouts, who's practically drowning himself with his coffee-filled mug. Almost tempted to run away, the disguised alien decides to play it cool for the time being. In order to maintain his cover. As stupid as it is, he hesitantly closes the door and walks over to him. "Hmmm..." the obsese man gives him a menacing glare, as he sizes up the small 'astronaut'. Which causes the latter's fear to arise once again. He raises his hand and slowly waves it at the man. "Say... are you apart of that new pack of trainees we took in last week?" Not even thinking about it, he nods in response. If they truly believe that assumption, then that'll only add to his deceptive cover and should guarantee his escape from this place. Probably, anyway. "Huh. Ya know, no offense, but I don't remember any of you being THIS tiny. I mean, to be fair, you're a good 3'6, 3'7. But-"

"EDDIE! You in here? Hey, have any of you seen Eddie?" Collins blusters, barging into the room. Which gains the attention of everyone. The undercover alien included. "Oh. Hey, director guy. You seen Eddie around? I wanna show him-"

"Your moon tools, yes we know! I'm in the middle of a conversation here, Collins. Can't you see?" He sways his mug over to the so-called 'trainee'. Who instantly recognizes the spaceman. It's hard to forget someone who gave you the smacking of a lifetime.

"Ohhhhh. Hey there, little fella! You must be one of those new recruits! I think we met last week! You remember me?" He asks, gleefully. The astronaut is unable to see beyond the tinted visor, but he's being given a dirty look under that helmet right now.

'Hmph. I haven't forgotten about you, rūøkø. Or our little trip here. Don't you worry.'

"Awww, he must be shy! Don't worry, buddy! I ain't gonna bite ya!" Collins kneels down and tries to give the smaller being a hug, causing the latter to back up a bit.

'I'd rather not...'

"Ah, leave him alone, Collins. The kid's new around here. He's probably still taking it all in." The director says, taking in another 12 ounces of caffeine. Which, after every sip, the mug somehow magically refills itself. "So, anyway. What's your name, son?"

Confused, the alien lifts an eyebrow. 'What's a... name? Is that like an occupation or something? Are they asking me what my job is? Shouldn't it be obvious?' In response to his query, he points to his spacesuit. Which puzzles the two men, as they look at each other and then back at him.

'Huh? Why're you pointing to your suit, bud? I'm asking you what your name is.'

'My name? What could a name be... hmmm. Oh! They're probably asking me what my Įmëh is. They call it a 'name' here? Huh. Strange.' Realizing that he's actually gonna have to tell them out loud, the alien tries his best to utter his name to them. However, as he attempts to, he struggles to even get a single letter out of his mouth. He's been like this for some time now, which makes this a lot harder than it looks. He takes a deep breath. "S-S... S-S... S-S-"

"S-S? Huh. You know, that doesn't sound very United States-e-an. You from another country or somethin'?" The obese monster asks him.

'What!? No! That's not my Įmëh! It's-'

"Ah, that's alright, son. We accept anybody here at NASAPlace. Anybody that knows what they're doing, anyway. Don't ever feel like you're out of place here." Smiling, the director puts his hand on his shoulder, but then quickly removes it after something underneath the 'trainee's' spacesuit pokes him hard. "Ouch! Man, whatcha got under that suit!? Spikes!?" His hand feeling as if it's on fire, he pours coffee onto it and starts licking the heck outta it. Not sure how that makes it any better but... ok.

'Uh oh. I forgot that I still have my stabilenzer on. I -uh- better make my leave now. Before they start getting anymore suspicious.'

'S-S' tries to scoot away from them while the director's not paying attention. Noticing this, the crazed astronaut grabs ahold of his arm and brings him in closer. In a friendly yet obnoxious manner. "Hey, where ya going, man? We still haven't been properly acquainted yet! Wanna see what I found on the Moon?' Taking out the box of tools from his pocket, he shows them to the smaller being. Which strikes his attention right away.

'What!? That's what I was looking for back on that barren wasteland! I spent HOURS looking for those! If you wouldn't have found them, I wouldn't be here right now!' His rage building up inside, he breaks the hold of the spaceman. 'I almost DIED because of you and you have the nerve to flaunt them in my face!?' Infuriated, the disguised alien is no longer able to hold himself back and attempts to lung at him. 'Grrr! Why you-!'

"Hey, Collins! The media wants to talk to us. Come outside." The other astronaut from earlier walks in, interrupting their little 'conversation'.

"Oh. Alright, Alden! Sorry little buddy. Looks like we're gonna have to continue this another time." Before he's given a chance to return the smackdown back to the astronaut, the man walks away from him. Causing the alien to accidentally stumble onto the floor. "It was nice talking to ya! Even though you didn't say much. Enjoy your stay at NASAPlace!" The spaceman walks out of the door and closes it. Following his fellow space adventurer outside to talk to the mindless reporters about their little 'trip'.

"Hm. That Collins sure is something. Huh, S-S?" The director asks the fallen 'trainee'. Who takes a moment to stand back up again. Once he does, he walks past the director and makes his way toward the door. "Eh, sorry this wasn't the most pleasant of meetings, son. Hopefully things'll be a lot better next time we see each other. Take care out there." Swallowing another large dose of caffeine, he waves his mug goodbye to him as he trudges his way out of the room.

'Thanks for the concern...' He replies, sarcastically. The undercover alien shoves the door open and slams it shut. He leans against the red plaque next to the door and promptly facepalms. Him losing his cool just now could've easily blown his cover, which he quickly realizes. In any other situation, he wouldn't have allowed himself to act in such a foolish way. Especially in something dire like this... or at least, try not to anyway. This isn't the first time he's gotten into a predicament like this, but this one especially has gotten him all riled up. 'Grrr! I might as well just tell everyone that I'm an insane killer alien! Here to end all life by violently hugging everyone's face until a baby BURSTS from their chest! Or something crazy like that...Gahhh! Just get over yourself already, or you'll be done for if you keep this up!' The being demands of himself, clutching his fists in anger. He takes another breather before proceeding with his escape.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the two astronauts walking toward the other end of the hallway. Presumingly toward the exit to this place, since one of them mentioned 'outside'. He decides to follow them for a bit, making sure to keep a good distance from the duo. Maybe they're the key to his escape? Them practically guiding him toward freedom would sure be a nice reliever. Well, if that were the case anyway. Once the spacemen finally reach the doors, the being's equivalent to a stomach drops as soon as they open them. Out there are dozens upon dozens of similar-looking creatures to everyone in the facility. They seem to be holding some kind of weird black sticks in their hands. Sounding to be some kind of voice enhancers, as evident with all of them talking into said sticks.

Instinctively, he knows that it's farrrr too risky to leave through there. They'll most likely want to pull him aside and talk about boring space-y things. They might even want to get a look at the 'man' behind the mask. That's a BIG no no right now. I think it's easy to understand why at this point.

Turning around, he decides to go back to his first plan. Search for a hidden exit. As redundant as it may be, in his mind, it's his only way of getting... yeah, you know. He does the same thing he did before, touching everything around him, in hopes of uncovering his ticket to liberation. Spending a couple more minutes doing this, his hand goes over a door that's warm. Very warm. He stops himself and examines it. Attached to the door is another plaque that reads 'NasaPlace Janitorial'. The alien finds it strange that a janitor's door would be as hot as it is at the moment. Grabbing ahold of the handle, he goes to open it, when somebody puts their hand on top of his.

"Ahem." Somebody utters behind him. Freezing in place, he slowly looks back and sees someone in a white shirt and green pants. Holding a mop and bucket to his side. "Can I help you? Are you lost by chance?"

'Ah, great. I'm gonna have to make up another excuse to get myself out of- wait. I mean... yeah, I am actually lost. So, uh... maybe this guy can help me out? It's worth a try, I guess.' He nods his head to the janitor. Before the man responds to him, he squints his eyes and gives the disguised alien a skeptical look. Similar to the ones he's been given before. Looking to his left and right, the extraterrestrial's concern begins to grow yet again after the man doesn't say something back right away.

"Say... you're with that pack from last week. Andy, right? Hm. Would you mind lifting up that visor? I wanna make sure I'm not confusing you for someone else."

His fear now through the roof, he points to his helmet and waves his other finger no. Hoping that the man will simply dismiss his own request. The janitor puts his hand on his chin, stepping forward and taking a closer look at the helmet's visor.

"What? Is it stuck? I can help you with that." The janitor extends his hand out and goes to pull it open. This startles the 'trainee', who steps backwards and shakes his head. "Hey, what's wrong? I'm just trying to help you. Hold on, I think got it now." Grabbing onto the helmet with one hand, he uses the other to try and pry the visor open with the broken handle of a dustpan. All while the smaller being attempts to push him off. "Anddddd there we go!"

'Ohhhhhh no.' He groans, while subconsciously freaking out. With his visor open and his face now exposed, he assumes the worst to happen to him right now. The janitor will most likely alert the security guards, who'll then remove his cover and take him to somewhere that no-one will ever find him. They might torture him, try to dissect him, steal his lifesource, or who knows what else. Maybe they'll actually smack him to death with a hatch. He closes his eyes, expecting his doom. 'W-Well then... hurry up and get it over with already. Guess my time really is up after-'

"You? What're you doing here, agent!? This is NOT the time or place right now!"

'Then when WILL be the... hold on a minute. What did you just call me?' Before he has the chance to react, the janitor begins pushing him down the hallway.

"I will be in contact with you another time. I'm sorry, but I can't be seen with you right now." They both reach the other end of the corridor. The cleaner slides a part of the wall back and presses a button behind it. A passageway opens up, revealing a way outside. "Go through here. I would've taken you to the back door, but the lack of proper funding prevents us from using it. Things have really gone downhill here recently. Especially after all that's happened to the city."

'What is going on right now? Oh yeah. I forgot about checking for a back door. Huh. Guess it doesn't matter now.' Moving forward, he walks out of the building and finds himself in an empty parking lot. Before he walks away, he takes a moment to look back at the janitorial creature.

"Be safe out there, my boy and keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing from you soon." He tells him, waving goodbye. The passageway closes and the man heads back to the janitor's closet. Picking up his mop and bucket and storing them back inside. He then walks toward the end of the room, where a small space shuttle remains idling. Generating a lot of heat. "I thought I lost you for a moment there, old timer. Imagine losing all of my hardwork to the hands of somebody that doesn't even appreciate you. That would break both of our hearts. You have more purpose than just sending monkeys into space. Don't you forget that." The man whispers, caressing the machine.

Outside, the stranded being is left alone with thoughts. His very baffled thoughts. 'I... um... wow. That... just happened. How did he not... I mean my visor is... with my face... you know what? Not even gonna bother. Just gonna keep on going.' Ignoring... whatever that just was, the bewildered alien closes his opened visor. Afterwards, he takes the time to look at everything that's around him.

While doing so, he right away takes notice of a massive city gleaming in the distance. Tall structures, including buildings, tower over his semi-small stature. Large boards bearing advertisements are practically screaming at him to buy whatever they're selling. All of these things, for some reason, appear to be damaged. As if something recently happened here. Like a battle or something. Among this, various deafening noises can also be heard within the metropolis.

BEEP-BEEP! HONK! REV-REV! SCREECH! SKRRRRT! CRASH! KABOOM!

These sounds... sound vehicular to him. Very much so, in fact. Which strikes his curiosity. 'So, it seems that they have their own modes of transportation here. Good. Considering that NYT's still stranded on that stupid rock, I'm gonna need a way to get around this place.' While pondering to himself, the being spends the next couple of minutes heading toward the strange city. Still retaining his cover from the facility. 'I know he's gonna hate me for this, but it looks like I'm gonna be stuck on this planet for now. Which I already don't like. But I swear, once I have the means to return to space, I WILL get him back. No questions asked.' The alien rolls up the right sleeve of the spacesuit to look at the sleeve of his actual outfit. Where a small device attached to his arm can be found. He lets out a loud sigh at the sight of it. 'I just... hope he forgives me after all's said and done. I know I owe him big time for all that's happened.'

Halfway into his walk, he hears a vehicle approaching from the road nearby. With his life source at an all time low, he'll need to conserve his remaining energy for later on. Choosing to take a huge risk, he flags down the driver of the aforementioned vehicle. It slows down, stopping right in front of him. The passenger's side window slides down.

A man wearing a red and black plaid shirt and cap reveals himself, smiling at the supposed hitchhiker. "Hiya there, little spaceman! I like yer little suit you got on! You in need of a ride home 'er somethin?" The stranger asks, speaking with some kind of an accent. The alien assumes it to be native to this planet. When he nods his head, the man unlocks the right-side door and gladly accepts him inside of his pick-up truck. He steps inside and closes the door after he sits down. "Welcome aboard! Oh, by the way, you wouldn't happen to have any spare change for gas, would ya? I'm really runnin' low here." Not totally sure what 'gas' is, he shakes his head. "Ah, darn. The last guy didn't have nothin' either. Nobody ever does these days. No worries though. Anyway, where ya headed to, partner?

Hoping that he'll be able to understand him solely through his movements, the disguised being points ahead of them. The driver follows his finger, which leads to the concrete jungle off in the distance. He looks back at his passenger and gives him the a-ok. "Okie dokie! Hang on tight, city boy. We're rollin' out!" The man stomps his foot onto the accelerator and they both floor it down the road at a ridiculously high rate of speed.

'U-Um. I hope this guy knows what he's doing, because I'm starting to have second thoughts about all this.' Peering over to his right, he sees the stranger sticking his head outside of the driver's side window and sticking out a weird red appendage out of his mouth. Luckily though, he's at least focusing on the road and gripping tightly onto the steering mechanism as he flies down the street. 'Well, I mean, as long as we make it there in one piece, hopefully I'll be able to find some much needed solutions to my annoying problems. That's if we do, anyway. I'm not even sure if I'll survive this ride or not.' He says to himself, as the driver begins loudly hooting and hollering like a madman.

Elsewhere.

At the Membrane Labs laboratory across town, the world-renowned Professor Membrane is hard at work on a new experiment. The famous scientist examines the blueprints to his newest project carefully, making sure everything is as it should be.

"Alright, that section seems to be in order. That angle seems to be correctly positioned. That area appears to be-BOOHOOWHAAAT!?" The professor shouts, grabbing onto the scythe on top of his head tightly. "This can't be! I've carefully followed all the necessary steps to creating this earth-shattering creation! Everything should be PERFECT! How... HOW CAN THIS BEEEEEEEE!?" He drops the blueprints and screams at the top of his lungs. Flailing his arms out and somehow causing the whole building to begin shaking violently.

"P-Professor sir! I-I-Is there s-s-s-s-omething I can help you with!?" A fellow scientist with pointy blue hairs asks, struggling to keep his balance as the facility continues rumbling.

"Help!? There's no-one in the entire UNIVERSE that could help us now! Not while my glorious new invention remains INCOMPLETE!" The professor yells into the poor man's face. Who quickly backs away with his hands up. "As long the world is unable to see my life-changing creation, we're all doomed! Do you hear me!? DOOMEDDDD!" Parts of the ceiling begin to crumble and fall apart as the angered professor continues with his hissy fit. The debris crushes a few unfortunate scientists who happen to be standing at the wrong place.

"P-P-Professor! Please! S-S-S-Stop!" The scientist manages to leap out of the way just in the nick of time as a piece of concrete almost falls on top of him.

"NEVER! I shall persist in my justifiable bellowing until- oh wait." Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, he takes out a square ruler from his lab coat and carefully measures it again. Discovering that problem was, in fact- "Oh, I see. The diameter was a bit off. No biggie." All of the insane rumbling comes to a halt once the professors calms down. Though, some people are still trapped under some rumble. Oh well, can't save 'em all.

"Ummm. You know sir, you've been keeping this project under wraps for some time now. If I may, what exactly are you working on?"

"I'm glad you asked! So, as you know, I've been working on this mysterious experiment for sometime now. I'd say, roughly, around a decade or so to be precise. "

"A decade? Wow, so this must be a huge project then."

"Indeed it is! In fact, it's exactly 98% complete! Would you like to see the final result?" The eager yet still somewhat terrified scientist nods his head. "Alrighty then! Let me just... do this... and that." Slapping together the final pieces to it, Professor Membrane prepares to unveil his longest worked-on creation to his peer. "I present to you… SUPER DUPER TOAST!" He holds it up in the air, triumphantly.

The scientist's expression goes from excited to deadpanned in a matter of seconds. All this time, effort, and unnecessary screaming was spent on... this? "... That's it?"

"That's it? Of course this is it! After the remarkable success of Super Toast, it would only make sense to have a successor to my brilliant idea! So, what do you think?"

"..." He walks away, not bothering to dignify that with a response.

"Hm? What? Do you find my brilliance boring? Hmph! Then good day to you, sir! I'm sure someone around here will appreciate my-"

"Um, Professor? Not to rain on your parade or anything, but haven't you been working on a far more important project?" A bald-headed scientist inquires, pointing to a table across the room. On it, are various pieces of cylindrically-shaped metal, along with some kind of a power-source on the middle of the table.

"Ah, yes. Project Instantly Charge Everything on Planet Earth. Or, ICE-OPE for short. It still needs a tremendous amount of tweaking, not to mention assembly. Ohhh, I am not looking forward to that." The professor facepalms, not looking forward to putting his newest, serious creation together. Understandably.

"Then it would be best to start now, sir. All of the blueprints and schematics are here and luckily for us, it doesn't need fuel in order to operate. Sounds like a win win for us, doesn't it?"

"Ummm." Wondering what time it is, he looks up to the clock on the wall next to him. It reads 10:00 AM sharp. Which puts a damper on his mood. "While not requiring fuel is always a plus in my book, the project is going to be put on hold. I feel bad for leaving my children at home by themselves. I promised them that I wouldn't be doing that to them anymore..." Professor Membrane frowns, though his expression in not visible due to the way his coat is. "Plus, they have no school this week. I'm sure they'll be bored without myself there to entertain them."

"Oh, well uh, we can always postpone it, I suppose. But sir, I just want to warn you. This is a rather large project. In fact, large is an understatement. If we wait too long, this could take months to finish putting together. Maybe even a year or so."

"Then... then..." The determined scientist, not wanting to further disappoint his children anymore than he already has, asserts him. "Then so be it. I'm the smartest man on this planet, I can get it done. My beloved spawns are what matter to me now, not some lousy contraption. Maddison!?"

"Yes, Professor Membrane?" A brunette scientist walks up to him, holding a clipboard in her hand.

"I need you to clear my schedule for the rest of the day. I will be going home early today. In the meantime, I need you three to start assembling Project ICE-OPE in my absence."

"Wait, what!? But sir! Since you came up with the blueprints, we'll need your supervision while we put together the-"

"Nonsense! You'll be perfectly fine on your own. Once I return, I will assist you with whatever you need. Now if you'll excuse, I have some parenting things to do! Off I go!" The professor marches his way out of the building, leaving them alone to work on the project. Much to their dismay.

The female scientist walks over to the table while the others follow behind her. She takes a look at both the blueprints and schematics resting on the table before doing anything else. "Huh. It actually seems fairly straight forward. As long nothing goes wrong, everything should be-"

BOOM!

The power-source of the project abruptly blows up in their faces. Literally. The explosion from it causes more parts of the laboratory to come falling down on-top of the trio. Trapping them and pretty much everybody else inside of the building. Will they make out in one piece? Probably not, but who knows!? Eh, they should be fine though... right?

To be continued…

Authorz Note #2

So, chapter three of 'The Last of a Doomed World' is finally DONE. FINITO! SE ACABO!

Like I mentioned in the first authorz note, with this chapter I wanted to show what the new guy's arrival to Earth would be like. And, well, it was… weird to say to the least. Kinda disgusting too with that whole bathroom scene. Not really a great first impression for the dude. But maybe the rest of his time on Earth will be better? Yes, no, maybe? Also, the good/not so good professor seems to be working on something big. Something other than a new Super Toast idea. What could be going on with that? Well, we shall see in future chapters to come.

Speaking of which, to give youz all a little tease, the next chapter will be taking a break from the new alien boi, and instead focus on… the canon characters! So yeah, for those who were wondering what the main cast are up to at the moment, the next chapter will be solely driven by them. So hopefully youz will be excited for that.

Also, have any of youz caught onto any of the references in the story so far? Like the names of astronauts, the name on that one locker, etc? Let me know if you did! You know, if you want to.

Anyway, If you have any thoughts on this joint so far, let me know by leavin' a review and tell me what you liked and didn't like about it. Along with things I can improve on in the future. As I said last time, I can't promise that next chapter will be out anytime soon, but I'll try to get to working on it as soon as I can. So if you're still interested, please give me time. Times are tough right now.

So that's all I have to say. Take care mah fellow readerz and stay safe!

Invader Zim and all related characters belong to Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon. This story was written solely for entertainment and I do not make a profit off it.