Zenon: The Zequel

(OVER PA) Repairs underway in Sector Five.

(OVER PA) Maintenance crew, report to Sector Seven

Are you sure we won't get in trouble for this?

You're forgetting, Neb, I'm still cashing in on those hero-major chips

I got for busting inky Wyndham and Lutz.

Uh-oh. Plank alert. Let's rocket.

Hey, will you ice?

How? We're about to be caught in a class-four restricted zone.

Zenon, Nebula.

You're keeping out of trouble, I hope.

Of course, Commander Plank. Enjoy your day.

You, too, kids.

We need a security detail.

(OVER PA) Repairs underway in Sector Five.

Let's go!

How thermo is this?

They actually let you play around in here?

No one's complained so far.

Most of this junk?

Snooze central.

But I was checking out this one monitor the other day,

and I accidentally invented a new game.

Do you wanna play?

Sure!

Great.

Ah! Here it is.

Okay, this is what you gotta do.

You move that mouse to make your bar go up and down.

See?

Then you gotta try and trap the little blips before they go off

and go into the bigger area.

Okay.

Isn't that so stellar?

Okay, let's go.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Okay, here we go.

Good! You're doing good!

This is so much fun.

Here we go! Here we go!

Oh, my goodness!

Ha! See, that's my point. Isn't this so much fun?

Exponentially!

It's gonna start over.

Okay it's going to start over. Here we go. Here we go.

Oh, my gosh! There are so many blips in there.

Don't let any...

Don't let any of them out!

Okay, concentrate! Concentrate!

Oh, my gosh, Neb, come on!

Oh, my... My point again.

There's one left. There's one left.

Don't let it out. Don't let it out.

Oh!

Commander, I've been talking to some of the crew, and I gotta be honest.

They're worried.

Look, I've been hearing all the same rumors you are,

but until something's substantiated

we have to continue with standard operating procedures.

Look, would you go into the...

Something wrong, Lieutenant?

What the...

Okay, go on okay!

I don't understand this. Nobody has a key but me.

Come, come on.

High five!

High five!

Someday, we're actually gonna find out what these little blips mean.

(SCREAMING)

Zenon!

No, no, I... I understand fully. Yeah.

Have a nice life, okay? See you.

What's wrong?

He dumped me.

Greg?

I mean, it's not like I expected that we'd be together forever.

I'm not a moron-major, but,

he dumped me!

How is that possible?

I bet Margie had something to do with this.

I'm not sure how, but she's down there, and I'm up here, and

she's probably been plotting to get Gregory to

jettison me and pay attention to her.

Either way, it's pretty hard to keep up a relationship with somebody

who lives 180,000 miles away.

Ask Plank and your Aunt Judy.

I know, I know! It's just...

Easier to be the dumper than the dumpee.

Well, look at the upside.

All the time you've been spending zap-padding Greg

can now be used to take further advantage of your free run of the Spay-Stay.

Zenon, I'm sorry, but after your little incident this morning,

I am revoking your restricted zone roaming pass.

Kindly hand in your RZRP to my office ASAP.

There is one more aspect of your punishment we need to discuss in person.

Look, we may have reached a greater understanding after

after your heroics with Wyndham and Lutz,

but I still have to maintain my authority around here, and, Zenon,

you emptied out my entire office!

And I lost my favorite shoe!

I said I was sorry-major!

I heard you.

Commander, I didn't mean any harm.

Tell that to my desk.

Commander, I really did not

mean to empty all the furniture in your office.

Yes, I'm sure you didn't, Zenon.

I seriously thought it was just a video game.

Nevertheless!

I firmly believe that the discipline of working down here

in the alien patrol lab will be good for you.

And truth be told,

you'll be performing a mission of mercy.

Your poor friend Orion's been working down here for five full years.

You know how many signals he's picked up in all that time?

None! Yeah. Zip, zero, zilch.

And I still have hope.

I mean, let's get real. To assume we are the only units in space,

I mean that is not only ludicrous, it's so arrogant.

I personally call it "rudeicrous."

Can you tell that he doesn't get a whole lot of human interaction down here?

Oh, yeah, I have no human contact, but then again, no alien contact. I'm all alone,

but not without hope.

Now, look, in my hardly humble opinion,

bidirectional telemetry is only a matter of time.

You know? Come in, come in. You know?

Okay.

Orion, I'm finally taking some pity on you.

Zenon's being assigned to a month of three-hour evening shifts

with a six-hour day on Saturdays.

Cetus-lupeedus, Commander!

You can do your homework. You can catch up on zap-post.

You simply need to be here.

But, why!

You said nobody's ever gotten any kind of signal from anywhere.

Whoa, whoa. Yet!

But what if today's silence turns to tomorrow's thunderous

call from the void?

Look, no lie, just last week, I uncovered evidence

of a new planet that may have formed a mere 20 AU

from Gamma Pictoris.

Yeah, see? Well, I...

I gotta get back to the command deck.

Orion, you show her the ropes. You get her acclimated, then, Zenon,

I expect you to report back down here at 1900 hours tonight.

What?

Oh.

Uh, okay, you ready for your tour?

Okay, um, look, uh, first thing you gotta know about, uh...

Excuse me?

The first thing you gotta know about are these babies.

Um, look, if they ever start rotating at an accelerated speed,

you come over here, and you sound the red alert...

Alien signal!

Alien signal...

Alien signal!

Alien signal. Alien signal.

Alarm clock.

Ah, congratulations, Zee,

you just survived your first shift.

You're in comprehension-mode-minor, Mom!

Watching coal turn to diamonds would be more stimulating.

Well, the month will be over before you know it.

Kind of like me and Greg.

Oh, what happened?

Oh, you know, I got the standard, "It's not you, it's me.

"I'd just rather be friends."

Don't worry, I am not so squashed.

But, still...

I know, honey.

I mean Greg, AP duty.

Anything else?

And now, onto the saga of the missing pop icon,

Proto Zoa. Where he's gone, no one seems to know,

but what is certain is that since his return

from microbe's triumphant concert in space,

Proto Zoa has not been seen in public, nor has he been in a recording studio.

While rumors of retirement are spreading like an oil slick,

no one inside Proto Zoa's camp is willing to confirm or deny anything.

So for now, all we can do

is watch, wait, and wonder

what would life without Proto Zoa be like

for his legions of loyal fans.

Cetus-lupeedus, he can't be doing this!

Why is he doing this?

He is not doing this!

He's on a break, a vacation, something.

What in the universe is going on these days, Mom!

(OVER PA) Attention. All hands to the mess hall for an emergency briefing.

Repeat, all hands to the mess hall for an emergency briefing.

Shhh.

Look, team, I'm sorry. I know you're all upset.

Me too.

But let's face it, we knew someone would step in to fill

the void left by the collapse of Wyncom.

I just never imagined it would be the US Military.

Military?

Yeah, what... Excuse me,

what does it mean having the military arrive to take charge of us?

All right, first they're sending up a squad to assess