(( I woke up earlier to write this before work. I hope it's good, but I'm tired so it might not be. XD ))

Although it was Monday, things had been slow for the past few days. Besides those suits coming to inspect Zurg the other day and the experiment she had found in the air vents, the rest of the days that passed had felt like a blur to Jo. Even though it was her third week on Planet Z she felt like she'd only been here a week. She hadn't explored as fully as she'd been planning to, or learned as much as she'd wanted to about Zurg and his staff's lifestyle. But she found great pleasure in spending time with the grubs, and so far had only met a scarce few brain pods who didn't rub her the wrong way. Still, she felt like there was so much more she was missing out on--excluding the evil aspects--so when Zurg had suggested yesterday that he show her the defense moons today, she had been thrilled at the thought.

As soon as Jo had finished lunch, she made her way to the Throne Room, knowing that she would find Zurg there alone. He said that he would be expecting her around that time and would have shooed his minions away, so she ambled through the doors with a big smile plastered on her face, dressed in a spare gray jumpsuit. (She hadn't cleaned out all the slime stains on her regular jumpsuit yet.) She still found the Throne Room an interesting part of Zurg's palace and one she wouldn't mind spending more time in, but that was for another time and place. But just as soon as she opened her mouth to greet him she closed it shut, spotting him sitting on his throne, fast asleep.

He was snoring, though she hadn't noticed that when she first entered, his special pair of glasses she made for him still on his face. He had a hand propped up, one side of his face reclining in a palm, while he had a pile of papers on his lap and still clasped in his other hand. Jo had to smother a giggle. Poor Zurg, he seemed like he was overworked. And now that she'd gotten the chance to live with him for two weeks she could understand why he came into the sanctuary so tired now.

She wasn't sure whether she wanted to wake him up or not, but she couldn't resist doing something now that he was asleep. He just looked so exhausted--but so adorable at the same time--that the mechanic hatched a plan in her mind. Carefully, so she wouldn't wake him, she made her way over to his throne, pausing only when she was a few feet away from him. Carefully leaning over one of the armrests, she drifted a hand over his free cheek, clasping it tenderly. Then, she leaned forwards and kissed his cheek, lingering close for a moment as she stroked his face.

She didn't know whether he would wake up or not, but she hadn't been able to resist showing him a rare side of affection. He would probably need ten minutes to recharge his batteries--or at least he said he took ten-minute naps sometimes--so Jo slid down to the floor and decided to wait, resting her back against his throne as she stretched her legs out before her and closed her eyes, simply enjoying the silence ad the fact that Zurg was nearby.

((It looks very good to me! Productivity and what not!))

Yes, sirree. The Evil Emperor Zurg had succumbed to his bodily needs and crashed, right there on his throne. On his lap were a bunch of important papers; read: bureaucratic submissions awaiting a pending review by yours truly. After about the twentieth page of reading legal jargon and droning on details Zurg just couldn't hold out any longer. Give the guy some slack! It's not easy being a dictator, you know. That said, the Evil Emperor (for all his paranoid worth) had not heard Jo enter and she was free to sneak in a kiss.

That vile, vile temptress.

"Mmmph..." He stirred at the unknown, moist contact and grudgingly opened his eyes. Ugh, how long had he been asleep? Wait a minute. Something touched him! With a jolt the Evil Emperor snapped open his eyes and drew out a spare, personal blaster. "Who--What--When--Where--Why!?" Seemed someone got up on the wrong side of evil this fine afternoon. Zurg narrowed his eyes when he was greeted with nothing more than an empty chamber and he slowly peered over the side of his armrests. "AHA!" All he saw was a patch of brown and the Evil Emperor pressed the barrel of the weapon into the clump of... hair?

Uh-oh...

"Jo?" Zurg removed the gun from her head and frowned. "Oh, it really is you. I'm terribly sorry." How embarrassing! He was about to give Jo a good zapping! "I hadn't recognized you; colour-blind and whatnot." He set the blaster down and put the papers away with his glasses. "I must have been asleep. I really didn't hear you come in! Was I snoring loudly? Oh, I'll never get rid of that awful habit. Something about congested airways. Ah, well."

Once he was situated, finished rubbing his eyes and making sure he hadn't drooled, Zurg stood up and stretched. Some bones and armour popped, but he was ready and awake.

"Hmph, today feels like Monday." He grumbled, rubbing his lower back. "Only a Monday would give me a cramp. What's on the evil agenda today, Jo?"

"Hmmm?" Lucky for him, Jo had almost dozed off herself, so she didn't notice that whatever he'd pressed into her hair had been a blaster. Talk about a lucky break! "Oh, you're awake, Big Z! I waited; I didn't want to interrupt your power nap."

She got up and sat upon one of the armrests, grinning down at him. "You sure were snoring, but it's not like I'm any better! Besides, you need your rest. You work too hard." She patted his shoulder, letting her fingers drift along his arm for a moment.

"It's Monday noon, and that means it's tour time!" Jo reminded him. "You were going to take me to see the defense moons today!" She was eager to be off. She wanted to get in his dreadnaught again and she wanted to see just what those defense moons could do.

"Unless you've got a lot of work to go through." She glanced down at the papers. "I could help like I helped with your budgeting!" she offered.

Tour time? Oh, that's right. He had promised that, hadn't he?

"Defense moons, was it? That would explain why I had 2pm scheming bumped to 3pm." Oh, well. The Evil Emperor was going to fix his schedule later; right now Jo was eager to see his defense moons! His top secret defense moons that no minion on Planet Z had access to. She should consider this a grand honour! "Don't worry about those papers. In fact."

Zurg picked them all up, stacked them neatly and proceeded to crumple them into a ruffled wad. And once he was pleased with his makeshift paper ball he aimed it one of the hole's in the floor and let it fly.

Swish!

"That takes care of that! Let's go, Jo. Time is wasting!" And he was off, walking down the stairs and already heading to leave the Throne Room. She better hurry up!

She watched the wad of paper fly into one of the holes and grinned. "Looks like you're taking a leaf outta my book: out of sight, out of mind!" She jumped down from the throne and followed him, hugging his arm close.

"How long will it take to see all the defense moons?" she asked curiously, checking the time. It was a little after noon and if they'd need three hours that meant that those moons must be pretty big. How exciting!

"Let's just say that I've learned the ways of your laziness, but don't say that around the minions!" Cosmos forbid the minions find out that Zurg was slacking on his end. With her arm around his and the mechanic in tow, the Evil Emperor more than happily led them down a hall. "Oh, not too long." He replied with a lax gesture. He was probably still sleepy. "I'd say the smaller moons won't take long themselves. We should be done by tonight at around... oh, I want to say 20:00. Give or take a half hour."

After about ten minutes of walking they would arrive at an (surprise, surprise) elevator and Zurg made sure to summon it once they stopped. "We'll see the smallest moon first, followed by the second largest, and finally the largest. You know, to keep things orderly from the least time-consuming to the most." He remarked, stepping back as the elevator doors swung open.

"Ladies first! And this time, it's not me."

"Your secret's safe with me." Jo winked, patting his arm. She rested her cheek against his arm. "And we'll be dine by 8 tonight? Sounds good to me! I hope Chef saves me some cubes for dinner."

Jo nodded, finding that a good idea. It was interesting already to hear that the moons of of varying sizes. She rolled her eyes as the elevator arrived. "Thanks, Big Z, but you should have rethought your palace plans. You have too many floors and too many elevators!"

Despite that, she entered first, leaning against the wall with her hands behind her head. "I'm betting this is going to be one long elevator ride, huh?"

Zurg gasped in both mocking and alarm. "But Jo!" He smiled deviously. "I thought you just hated those space cubes! Something about not having a, what do you say, taste~?" Ohoho, he knew Jo would come around. A smart person would take what they got and eat it without question. She was finally such a person. "And rethought?"

He entered after her and tapped a few buttons, the last one only he could press. "As if you people would be accustomed to using grav-lanes and warping through space and time. I don't have a strong enough insurance policy for that just yet!" The doors closed with a hiss and they were gone, descending into the deep bowels of Planet Z itself.

Knowing Jo she would have noticed all the levels they passed, the dial at the top flickering from number to number. But it's when the dial flicked off was what she should have been paying attention to. Not soon after that the air became very heated; humid, even. It was damp down here, wherever here was, and even when the dial no longer worked the elevator was still going down. Down into the unforeseen abyss of the planet.

"We're almost there now. Shouldn't be too long." Zurg stated.

"Don't rub it in," she cautioned. "Just because they're not tasty doesn't mean I'll boycott them. If I'm hungry, I will eat, you know!" But she did elbow him with a small grin. "Chef told me you asked for some recipes to be improved, though. I don't remember whether I thanked you for that. So, thanks."

She laughed, balancing her weight against the railing behind her. "Well, when you put it that way.... we're all primitives compared to the likes of you!" But she fell silent as the doors closed, and she did indeed watch the levels that passed them by.

Her glance occasionally drifted to the dial, then to the floors speeding past them. But then she did frown when the dial switched off and the temperature changed. She felt hotter now, and the air was stifling, yet still they sped down.

"How much longer until we reach wherever we're going?" She frowned at his repose. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Yes, yes. You're all a bunch of monkeys compared to the likes of me." He rolled his eyes playfully. There was some truth to those words. "And you'll see." A very cryptic response if there ever was one.

Soon the elevator slowed to a feathered halt and the doors swung up. Before them was another hall, as expected, but the metal was dark and flat. Everything seemed rather uninviting and again, the air was so muggy that Jo would most likely find it hard to resist pulling on her jumpsuit to peel it from her sweating skin. It was like a jungle down here!

"Alright, you'll need to stay close." Zurg instructed, stepping off and looking around to ensure safety. "I don't particularly know all the passages myself, but I have confidence we won't get lost. I think." Holding out his palm and facing it downwards, a mechanism activated within it and a thin beam of radiating blue light shot to the floor, pulsing. It then zipped down the hall, lighting the way slightly, and apparently had no end. What was it and where did it go?

"A crude locator system, but it will suffice." The Evil Emperor turned his head towards Jo and shrugged at her. "You ready? It's a little ways away."

The elevator soon ground to a halt, the doors opening. It was even hotter down here, and Jo indeed picked at her jumpsuit here and there to unstick it from her skin. She followed him down, staying close like he instructed, marveling at the blue light that shot from his hand.

"Crude, but useful." She didn't find it that crude, but then again what did she know? She stayed close, following him down the hallways. She wondered why they'd gone down instead of up--they were going to see defense moons, right? But she trusted Zurg and followed without question, wishing she'd put on a pair of shorts instead of her jumpsuit now.

Good thing Jo wasn't afraid of the dark. It was plenty dark down here. Wherever here was, of course...

All around the halls reverberated with the sounds of deep, lumbering groans; like in an old, empty ship left to rot, or within a desolate, metal building. The storms above created a low, unending drone and the planet was almost as if it were alive down here. There was nothing but them in these dark, deep tunnels and the only light came from the Evil Emperor's palm.

"You're probably wondering why we're venturing into the planet." Zurg thought some conversation in this eerie underworld would cheer them both. He wasn't particularly fond of dark, spooky places himself. Especially ones that didn't have an end. "Sometimes, my dear Jo, we must go down in order to go up! Exquistitely maddening, no?" Something about his witty (you may disagree) phrase got him to smile and he just kept on walking faithfully.

No markings, no symbols; nothing on these tall, blank walls. It was like they were in a never-ending box that went on forever and forever. What was the point to this and what could be down here?

((Alas! I am going to bed, Jo. My body le hurts. Good night!))

Jo wasn't afraid of the dark no, but she didn't like being blind. She held onto Zurg's arm, her steps barely heard over the strange moans and groans coming from all around them.

"The thought did cross my mind," she admitted in a low voice, feeling a little easier at a conversation in this gloomy place. "And you're enjoying me being in the dark--both literally and figuratively--aren't you?"

She knew he liked to surprise her at times, and she did like them. But she also liked knowing what to expect when she was in strange, unknown territory and they could be attacked at any second!

(( Then that's my cue to go to bed too! Night! ))

"And be stuck in the dark with you?" Dohoho, he gave a hearty chuckle. "As much as I find the thought tantalizing, I certainly don't like being left alone for too long in the dark either!" Yes, you could say he was a big baby, but it was the truth. While Zurg didn't instinctively fear the dark, he feared what was in in it and that alone was reason to keep out of the dark entirely. He didn't have enough underwear to soil! And the fact that he didn't wear underwear only proved his point.

It would be another ten minutes or so, but the Evil Emperor just kept chatting all the while. It was for his sake as much as hers, and he found that time wasn't too intolerable with a good subject to linger on or two. He had asked her how the tour went with the grubs, what she thought about the brain pods, and if she found life on Planet Z an interesting one. He inquired about how she was doing, if anything bothered her, or if there was a hazard to point out. Basically tell the man your very thoughts and feelings, Jo-jo Bean! Zurg was nosy like that, and Kev must have got it from him.

They could be alien Jew lovers together!

"I can be such a blabbermouth, but I want to know about everything, Jo!" Hard to stop someone with no physical way of shutting them up to stop talking. Hopefully Jo didn't mind. Zurg could talk ears off when he was nervous. Which he was right now, to be honest. How long had it been since he was down here? What if he got them lost! Or worse, stuck! Could you even get stuck in here? Wretched planetary plates. Hopefully none shifted.

"Hmm. I feel like I've passed that wall before." He remarked off to the side.

All the walls looked the same...

Jo laughed at that, but continued to walk with him, taking comfort in his animated chatter and his presence. There had been very few stable things in her life up until now, but she could say without preamble that Zurg was one of them. Sometimes, no matter how strong people can be, having someone to support you and be your rock is always a comfort and pleasure in discovering.

Despite the darkness around them, Jo enjoyed their conversation. He had been so busy the past few days that they hadn't had a chance to have a proper discussion. So Jo told him all of her impressions on Planet Z--both the good and the bad. Though she'd seen him overlooking policy changes the day before, she didn't want him to change things for her sake. Equality was key in his evil business, but Jo didn't want to put him in a difficult position again like that breakfast so many days ago.

"Oh, don't think about it." She snorted and waved a hand. "I like it when we talk. It's not mindless chatter and we can hold a decent conversation without boring ourselves," she pointed out. Somehow, that always happened to her and Kev. It was so strange!

She frowned, poking his arm a bit. "Big Z, did you get us lost? Isn't that locator system working right?" Just imagine getting lost down here. What if they could never get out?!