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Lil stood outside of the coding room, smiling warmly and greeting each smeet as they entered into the smeetery proper. They would be the first living being the children saw, the first non-robotic voice. Welcoming new clutches into the world was one of Lil’s favorite parts of their job. They had seen countless new Irkens walk through that little door, centuries after centuries. They said the same line in the same tone every time, made the same small nod to dismiss them as the next child followed behind them. Although no script was required of custodians, Lil followed one of their own making nonetheless.
Today was the day that went off-script and changed Lil’s life as they knew it.
The interruption in the script was sudden and clinical. A message from their PAK instantaneously inserted into their thoughts. Big, bold words, simple and succinct.
IRK SMEETERY CUSTODIAL SUCCESSOR ENCODED
Lil stood there, mouth agape, going over the impromptu information again, and again.
It made sense that they’d finally be given a successor after seven hundred and eighty years serving as Irk’s smeetery custodian. They supposed it was getting close to that time - to spend the next ten years preparing this smeet before obligatory decommissioning. But even knowing that this day would come couldn’t prepare them for this moment. Did their predecessor feel this way when they were chosen?
Their thoughts were yet again interrupted by the pneumatic hiss of the coding room’s door sliding open. Lil’s eyes remained fixed, unblinking, at the door they had watched for centuries.
A smeet like any other stepped into the threshold of the door just big enough for them, naked except for their newly-installed PAK. There was synthetic amniotic fluid still drying on their skin, little patches visibly glistening. They shifted their weight from one foot to the other, tapping small fingertips together as they leaned their head forward to cautiously look from side to side.
Lil’s breath caught in their throat when their red eyes flicked up to meet theirs. This was it. This was their successor.
The smeet blinked once before looking over their shoulder back into the coding room. Eye contact broken, Lil directed their attention to the child’s PAK. They needed confirmation. A thin cable extended from Lil’s own PAK, quickly seeking out the small data transmission port located near the underside of the smeet’s PAK. Their curled antennae flicked upright as the connection was made, an almost indignant expression on the little Irken’s face. Lil hardly noticed, instead entirely focused on reading their new apprentice’s data before setting about a proper introduction. The incoming data projected itself into their brain, telling them exactly what they needed to know -
IRKEN SMEET. GESTATIONAL STATION 6.12. DESIGNATION - ENTERTAINMENT, COURTIER
It. It wasn’t them. This wasn’t their successor. Lil squinted at the smeet as the cord retracted back into their own PAK, trying to make out what this meant. Perhaps the smeetery brain read the coding wrong? That hadn’t happened before. Maybe the data was corrupted? Lil shuddered. That had happened. But if that was the case, the courtier-to-be’s data would have been unreadable. Lil’s own PAK would’ve been infected. This was something new.
As they thought, the smeet retreated back into the coding room, door remaining open. Lil blinked hard. They opened their mouth to direct the child back to them, but closed it after hearing a tiny voice from within.
“S’not your turn anymore.” The smeet was talking. But to who? Another smeet should’ve been encoded by now. If there was another clog - another shudder passed through Lil’s body, panic spurring them out of silence.
“You need to come out now,” they called, voice echoing in the hallway outside the coding room’s door. There was no immediate reply. Two seconds passed before a strained “‘kay,” answered. There was a shuffling for a moment, with another strained “come on,” muttered under the smeet’s breath. A half-dragging, half-stumbling sound followed, getting closer as the smeet returned to the small room’s exit.
The smeet emerged backwards, leaning back as it dragged something out into the hallway’s fluorescent lighting. The little courtier had their arms wrapped around another smeet’s torso, dragging them from under its armpits. They stopped once they crossed the threshold, leaving a bit of room for the next smeet to step over them and leave the room. The courtier gently lowered the other smeet to the floor, it falling forward and just barely catching itself with its hands despite being sat down delicately. Both hands shot to Lil’s mouth as they finally got a clear look at it.
It was half the size of an average smeet, in both height and weight. It’s thin arms shook as it barely supported itself from falling forward the rest of the way onto the floor. It’s head trembled as well, and it was frankly surprising that the underdeveloped body was managing to hold up its head. Minuscule antennae laid flat against its head, tightly curled and unnaturally small. It probably could hardly hear them, or smell, or sense anything with them for that matter. The only thing it could rely on was its eyes, the same shade of red as the smeet standing above it.
Lil had raised Zim, disgracefully short for a former invader. They had overseen the development of an even shorter smeet centuries prior when they first started working in the smeetery alone; but Mera had faded away into obscurity, like one would expect from one so small. But this smeet now before them? It was the most pathetic thing Lil had ever seen.
“I’m Kat,” the courtier said with a thumb pressed against her chest before pointing down at the whelp and continuing, “and that’s Kark.”
Lil slowly lowered their hands from their mouth at the same time that the cable from before snaked forward, hesitantly searching for the port on the smaller smeet’s too-large PAK. Lil bit down on their lip as its large frightened eyes followed the tendril, trying to flinch away but unable to move itself. Its companion, Kat, watched curiously.
Fists formed nervously at Lil’s sides as the port was found. They needed to do this just to be sure. There was a soft click as connection was made.
IRKEN SMEET. GESTATIONAL STATION 6.12. DESIGNATION - BIOENGINEERING MAINTAINANCE, SMEETERY CUSTODIAN.
CUSTODIAL SUCCESSOR. TRAINING TO BE COMPLETED WITHIN ONE STAR ORBIT
This was it. This was their successor.
Lil had Kark in their hands in moments. He was so tiny, the custodian could perfectly fit him in one cupped hand. The child stared at Lil, chest heaving as he started to hyperventilate. A sudden painful need to assuage Kark’s fears tore through Lil. Another smeet walked out of the coding room’s door and went ignored, following the hallway towards the noise where the rest of the encoded clutch could be heard chattering.
Somewhere in the back of Lil’s mind they registered the significance of the two red-eyed smeets’ gestational station. 6.12 had contained a zygote that had split into two separate embryos; identical twins. It was an uncommon occurrence, but not unheard of. Lil had seen many during their time as custodian, although the mortality rate for one or both incubating smeets was high. They had actually expected the smaller of the two 6.12 smeets to die as the larger twin absorbed the majority of nutrients within the amniotic tank. Lil was unbothered by the inevitable deaths of smeets. It wasn’t just part of the job, but better for the good of the Empire; less resources wasted on unfit Irkens.
But now, holding the smeet that they had expected to die, the thought of this particular child dying horrified Lil. They needed Kark to live, to do whatever they could to keep him alive. It wasn’t just the fact that he was Lil’s successor. It went deeper than that, into somewhere that had been locked up and sealed shut inside of them.
A weak whimper from Kark drew soothing purrs from the lone underground adult.
“Shh, it’s okay,” they gently cooed. “You’re okay, sweet smeet. We’re going to get you nice and healthy, okay?”
It had been nearly two centuries since they last talked so softly to a smeet, and even then their need to protect and care was nothing compared to this undeniable demand coming from an ancient and forgotten place in their very core.
A smeet’s bodysuit was withdrawn with Lil’s free hand from their PAK. Every time a clutch was born, they could expect at least one smeet to shun the bodysuits provided, causing Lil to forcibly wrestle the troublemaker into a suit they kept on hand. This one was far too large for Kark, though; they’d have to make a special one for the runt. Instead Lil tore at the fabric, tying two of the ends together into a tight knot behind their neck and shoulder. Lil had two actual slings from their days carrying Purple and Red tucked into a drawer in their personal quarters, but until they could get there, this would have to do for now.
Lil slipped Kark into the makeshift sling, making sure the smeet was safely nestled and sure not to fall out. The child looked about with wide eyes, looking less scared than before as he tracked the movement of the fingers nearly the size of his body. He looked up at his predecessor, both catching each other’s eye.
“Okay,” the small raspy whisper answered after a long pause. Kark kept eye contact with Lil as he nuzzled into the sling, pressed against their larger body. His eyelids drooped a little bit as a yawn escaped, but still stayed on the adult’s face. Lil smiled warmly down at the smeet, gently patting the small lump Kark’s body made in the impromptu sling’s fabric.
Without so much as a glance to the smeets gathering in the next room over, Lil started towards their personal quarters, mind cataloguing the needed supplies to keep the underdeveloped smeet alive until they could at least get him to stand upright without assistance. The smeetery brain could direct the rest of the clutch to the next step of getting settled in to life in the underground facility, just as it had done so before Lil started taking a more direct role in the raising of smeets.
Lil noted that Kat was following them, her bare footsteps slapping against the hard floor behind them as she ran to keep up with the adult’s longer strides, determined to stay near her twin. They saw no point in redirecting the courtier to her clutchmates. It could be dealt with after more important matters were taken care of.
Another smile radiating parental love graced Lil’s face as they took another glance at Kark. The smeet’s eyes were slowly fluttering shut, tired from the mere act of existing for not even the past thirty minutes. They’d allow the child a short nap, and keep an eye on his status until they could get to their quarters. Kark could rest easy with Lil watching over him.
They would keep him safe and sound with them. Always.