X-Ray

There was a day when I realized the complete and utter payment that an Irken had to give when they became Tallest.

We had grown at the same rate for a long while. Occasionally there were different spurts, but strangely enough we kept neck and neck with each other. I wonder how different other Irkens would have been if they had someone who saw eye to eye with them. Both ways, actually and the mental one. Spork said Irkens did not have friends. And as much as that was not true for either of us, there were plenty of Irkens of which that could fit them to a T. I was glad not to be them. And even though I never took advantage of it at first, I became especially glad for my height.

I could defend myself, Spork taught me that much and more. He could beat me, not that he was stronger. He was just more... tactical minded, I think were the words he used. As long as he avoided my punches, he was fine. Although I could never see how he could win by pushing against a certain point on my spine, or at the base of my neck.

"Cheater!" I shouted, finding myself on the ground. It did not hurt at all, but something had to be up if I was on the ground and he was standing above me like he had won. Well, he had, but I still could not figure out how he could flip me to the ground.

"I'm not cheating!" he frowned, fists against his hips as he stared down at me. "You can't say that every time you loose Pur, people will think you're a sore loser."

"Maybe I am," I groused, sitting up and trying to rub my right shoulder blade and hitting my pak. "Anyways, Spork says it all the time when he looses and people say it's true."

"That's because he can pull their spines out of their eye sockets," he reminded me, giving me a hand back to my feet. I pouted, because whenever we spoke about Spork, he always either had to mention his 'brutal' strength as he puts it, or say how stupid the second Tallest is. Even if it was true, which I never thought it was (at least the stupid part), I would never have said it to Spork's face. Because of the whole pulling spines out thing. "Any ways, 'looses'?"

"Not physically," I assured him, because he was beginning to look a bit freaked out at the thought of Spork loosing a fight. Nope, the only person he lost against was Miyuki and she never had to worry about it becoming physical. A bit relieved, he shook his head.

"I'd teach you about it Purple, but if I do I'd probably be doomed," he took a step back with a grin. "So, want to try again?"

"No!" I shouted, wondering why he always said things that made me think he had lost his mind. "I'm going to get some curly fries! At least they won't knock me to the ground!"

He changed his mind eventually. To show me, that is. The pressure points. He did not teach them all at once. It was annoying. He would jab me in one and I would be on the ground, as he with a giant grin would explain where he had just whacked me. I might have punched him in the face, but he would have dodged it and if he did not, I really did not want to break a tooth or something. If Spork punched someone's head it would fly off. If Spork wanted it to, of course. There were the times, like with Ecnal, that Spork only wanted to hit hard enough to hear the sounds of pain the scientist would emit. I never understood why Miyuki thought they were such good friends.

"If you poke me one more time Red..." I warned, hating the feeling of my pak between me and lying flat on the ground. "I mean it! It's getting annoying!"

"You are a wuss," he taunted, helping me up as he always did. So when I went up, he went over and I slammed him into the ground.

"Who's the wuss now!" I exclaimed, finally gaining a victory. Looking back, I know it was a dirty move, but sometimes it was hard to tell the way Spork taught me. A grimace showing up on his face, his eyes squinted up at me and I realized what I had done. "Oh, oh! Sorry! Sorry! Are you okay?"

He sat up a bit shakily, glaring over at me. "I'm alive," he mentioned, "but who knows for how long..." he muttered.

I'd killed him! "No!" I gasped, pulling him to his feet. I had to take him to the medical center! I could not have killed him! He protested as I pulled him to his feet.

"Pur, no, I'm fine," he pushed me off, leaning back against the wall and looking winded. "Sarcasm, remember? Sarcasm."

"Oh," I stared at him, not certain as to whether he was telling the truth or not. It was hard to tell, with sarcasm. I still do not understand why and when he does it. It seems like a spur of the moment thing, to me, but he is so good at it that cannot be right.

After that he took a more conventional way of showing me. By actually telling me that was what he was doing and then merely placing a finger there. It was hard to see when it was on my back, but he just shrugged it off.

"It's easier to find these places on us," he said off-handedly and I, trying to see how high on my spine his finger was, stopped and looked back to his face.

"Why?"

He blinked and then seemed to consider it. "Because we're tall," he said slowly, as if he did not want to say it. It made no sense to me.

"I thought taller was supposed to be better!" I exclaimed in surprise. I did not push it because of the look on his face. It scared me.

"It's supposed to be."

It was not him that explained it to me. I found it out for myself. We are tall. I remember Miyuki once saying something like that was not how we were supposed to be. Being... stretched out, I guess, means it is easier to hit a pinprick then on a smaller body. I would be okay with that, except that is not the only thing. We were never supposed to be so tall. Our race... I don't understand it. It's just that we cannot be that way and the fact that we are might give us power, but to him, it takes a lot more away.

Again, I have to be thankful I was trained by Spork. If I were not, the same thing would be happening to me too.

I never thought twice about going to his room and distracting him when he was supposed to be working on an assignment Miyuki gave him. Well, I did, but it was more on the fact that he was supposed to be doing his work, more then actually wondering why he called me. I should have been wondering about the times he did decide to focus on his work – and whether he was actually doing that.

Sometimes I am such an idiot.

"-and then he said that the entire things was stupid! Can you believe that?"

"No. Can't believe it at all."

"And then Ecnal was all like, slow down, and Spork said something I think was offensive and threatened to kick him in the legs!"

"In front of Miyuki?"

"Well... no. Actually, she came in right then and heard it."

"Ah! I wish I could have seen the look... Pur, I forgot to read this... this thing. Mind coming back in a few hours?"

"Whuh? Uh, okay."

Now it is obvious what I should have known. I guess that is always the case, right? He tells me that looking at things in retrospect you have the entire view of what you know as opposed to while you are learning it, or something like that. So that must be the answer. But what about the things you thought you knew, or that you should have seen? Or anything like that?

Because when I found out, everything should have been obvious.

"Red?" I questioned, peeking into the room. He was still lying there, back towards the door. A hand came up and seemed to wave me off, but I decided that meant he was comprehensive enough for my presence and came inside. "Don't you have class with Miyuki today?"

"I'll get there," he responded in an exhale. It sounded a bit strained to me. But there was no reason why. He looked fine and nothing was going on that was stressful or anything. So... I must have imagined it. I stopped next to his bed and peered down at him.

"You're already late!" I informed him, pointing down at his face. He stared blankly at my finger for a few moments and shut his eyes.

"I don't care."

"Red!" I exclaimed, poking him in the side. Maybe once or twice a week, I could understand, but it really was not fair to do that continuously to her! My irritation was not expecting the reaction it received. His mouth opened slightly, entire body clenching up, before he bit down on his lip. "Red?" I withdrew my hand quickly, wondering what I had done wrong. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" he tried to exclaim, but it was weak. My antennae barely caught it. "Go away Purple, I'm... thinking."

"About what?"

He did not respond right away, did not even seem hesitant about telling me. He did not have anything to say. Which meant that he was not thinking about anything. He was lying. Which meant that he was... In pain? But there was nothing hurting him.

"Red, what's wrong?"

He would not tell me, no matter how many times I repeated it, or whether my voice escalated into a squeak.

"Red! Please! What's wrong?"

Maybe he would have told me if I had threatened him with telling Miyuki, but I was not thinking of that then. Something was wrong. So I just ran to get Miyuki.

"-really been so long since Nyth died?"

"So I hear. He was a nice kid."

"Smeet, smeet. Where did you pick up these outlandish terms?"

"Arra takes off to some weird places now. Not good to... Actually, where is Lak now?"

"...He has been in constant contact with Kriket – Purple?" she turned away from the screen as soon as she saw me. "Can this wait for a moment? I have some important issues to discuss right now, I will be with you as soon as I can."

"B-but Red!" I exclaimed. She could not put him on hold! Not when he really needed her anyways! Maybe my words, or the subject of them, got across a message my face could not seem to portray. He would constantly say I called galactic failure too many times for anyone to take it seriously. Whatever that means.

"Rixell, I will contact you as soon as I can," Miyuki smiled apologetically at the Irken on screen. The strange colour of his eyes attracted my attention for a moment, before I remembered how much I did not care about goldenrod eyes as opposed to my best friend.

"But – oh, all right. Uh, m'lady."

"What's happened?" she questioned me as soon as the screen turned black.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed pulling at my fingers in an attempt not to twine them together. "He won't tell me! But he is just lying there and I... I think..." I could not say it. In pain? Him? He was never in pain! I really wanted to be wrong and for Miyuki to tell me so. What I said told her something more that I did not know at the time as she straightened.

"Is he is his quarters?" she questioned and as soon as I nodded she strode out of the room.

Ever tried to keep up with the Tallest? The tallest of the Tallest? She had already turned the corner by the time I had managed to get out of the council room.

The guards would not let me follow after when he was taken from his room. I nearly tore my antennae out before Miyuki beckoned me into the waiting room.

"Will he be all right?" I questioned, keeping the waver out of my voice. "What's wrong?"

"It... is a condition certain Irkens get," Miyuki responded hesitantly, crossing her legs where she sat, as if not certain what would be best to say. "But it will pass. And he will become stronger for the experience."

That was good. He always wanted to be stronger. Physically stronger. That was the only thing he ever envied me for, was the fact that I was so strong. Only for this can I understand that.

"Condition," I repeated the word. Miyuki did not respond right away, seeming to be mulling over the word just as much as I was. "Is it... because he's tall?"

My question surprised Miyuki. "But you are tall, Purple," she pointed out with a small smile on her face.

"But Spork makes me do stuff all the time." I was just getting over the fact that the Tallest was calling me tall. Sounds weird, doesn't it? "Is it... because Red doesn't – or can't – hold... well, he said that our bodies aren't supposed to be all stretched out like this," I looked down at my elongated body and poked at my stomach. "And because of that, unless we, um, make ourselves stronger?" I was not quite certain where I was going anymore. "Our bodies are too... uh, weak to deal with the... stuff."

"That's right," Miyuki folded her hands in front of where she was sitting, staring back over towards the room he was in. "The Irken anatomy was not meant to be stretched out so. You used to feel the pain while growing, didn't you?"

I stared at her, for her knowing and for the fact I had forgotten how much pain I used to be in. Before Spork. And not only physical. Before him.

"It is not that Red is not active... goodness, sometimes he is too active," Miyuki sighed, shaking her head. "He just is not..."

"Strong enough?" My question did not seem right and Miyuki noticed.

"Just not the right type of strength for this," she corrected me.

"I don't understand."

In truth, I think I understood too much. I just did not get why that had to be the case for him. He, who just always... Seemed strong. I do not like seeing him weak. But I'd rather it be me then anyone else.

"Bodies can only take so much stress before they have to recuperate, Purple. Irkens can recoil into their paks, if they wish. But Red faces everyone, everything. He was strong enough to not want to run away from his pain." Was that a good thing? I stared at Miyuki for a moment as she stood up. "As long as he can face that pain, we do not have to worry about him. He will be all right."

Now I wonder whether she was trying to convince herself of that as well. But it was Miyuki. She knew what she was talking about.

I woke up with a spark right before she came in again, allowing me to enter his room. Looking down at him there, I started wondering how we kept getting into so many scrapes that ended up with one of us out of commission. Even if we did not do anything this time.

"I think... Miyuki wants me to be strong for you," I told him. He was shut down, but it did not matter. I wonder if he can really hear me in that condition. "I want to too."

I poked his hand, hoping for a reaction. Did Miyuki have to go through this? Spork certainly couldn't have. Not the Second Tallest.

"So I'll be here when you wake up, 'kay? Down this interwoven path of ours."

When he woke up, it was as if nothing was wrong.

But now I'm watching.

Anyone else think it is a good thing that Spork does not drink Powerthirst?

Also, I want to remind people about my plea on the previous chapter. If it is the only review you give, I am all right with that. I just want to know from those I have not heard from what chapter I did best. Thanks ahead of time!

Next Chapter: You - You and me are different. But different from what? Or who?