Alternate Lives

Voltron?

Galaxy Garrison

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Wasabi says.

“You heard Commander Iverson.  We need to bond as a team,” Fred says, “We’re gonna grab Ryan, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls…”

“I’m juts saying this here, right now, on the record.  This is a bad idea,” Wasabi says as the lights turn off.

“You know for someone in a space exploration program you don’t have much of a sense of adventure,” Fred says as they sneak down the halls.

“All of your litter adventures end up with me in the principal’s office,” Wasabi argues, “Oh man.”

When the two reach Ryan’s door, they see him sneak out and run off.

“Where is he going?” Fred asks.

“You come up here to rock out?” Fred asks once they find Ryan on the roof.

“Oh Fred, Wasabi.  No, um, just looking at the stars,” Ryan replies.

“Where’d you get this stuff?  It doesn’t look like Garrison tech,” Fred says.

“I built it,” Ryan replies.

“You built all this?” Wasabi asks in disbelief.

“Hey.  Stop it!  With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system,” Ryan explains.

“That right?  All the way to Kerberos?” Fred asks, Ryan sighs, “You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up.  What’s your deal?”

“Second warning, Wasabi!” Ryan exclaims as Hunk touches his stuff again.

“Look, Ryan, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets,” Fred says.

“Fine,” Ryan sighs, “the world as you know it is about to change.  The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.  Stop touching my equipment!” Ryan screeches as Wasabi tries again to touch the computer.  “So I’ve been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter."

“Whoa.  What?  Alien?” Wasabi asks confused.

“Okay.  So, you’re insane.  Got it,” Fred mutters.

“I’m serious,” Ryan protests, “They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron’.  And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have ever heard it.”

“How crazy?” Fred asks.

Suddenly Iverson’s voice rings out over the PA, “Attention, students.  This is not a drill.  We are on lockdown!  Security situation Zulu Niner.  Repeat all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

“What’s going on?  Is that a meteor?” Wasabi asks noticing a streak in the sky, “A very, very big meteor?”

Ryan pulls out a pair of binoculars, “It’s a ship.”

Fred grabs the binoculars from Ryan, “Holy crow!  I can’t believe what I’m seeing!  That’s not one of ours.”

“No.  Its one of theirs,” Ryan says.

“So, wait.  There really are aliens out there?” Wasabi asks.  The ship crashes and the trio see Garrison vehicles deploying to check it out.

“We’ve got to see that ship!” Ryan exclaims running off.

“Wasabi, come on!” Fred exclaims following Ryan.

“Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever,” Wasabi mutters before following the two.

Ryan, Fred, and Wasabi watch from a cliff as the Garrison soldiers set up a lab.  “Whoa!  What the heck is that thing?” Fred asks seeing the ship, “And who the heck is she?”

“Fred!” Ryan hisses hitting the older boy.

“Ow!  Right alien ship.  Man, we’ll never get past all of those guards to get a look,” Fred says sadly.

“Aw man,” Wasabi says sarcastically, “Yeah, yeah I guess there’s nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?”

“Wait.  They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed.  Look!” Ryan says frantically typing on his computer.

“Hey!  What are you doing?” the man on the screen asks.

“Calm down, Tadashi,” Commander Iverson says, “We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.”

“You have to listen to me!  They destroy worlds!” Tadashi exclaims, “Aliens are coming!”

“That’s Tadashi!  The pilot of the Kerberos Mission!” Fred points out, “That guy’s my hero!”

“Guess he’s not dead in space, after all,” Wasabi remarks.  Ryan just stares at the screen in shock.

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Commander Iverson asks.

“I don’t know,” Tadashi replies, “Months?  Years?  Look, there’s no time.  Aliens are coming here for a weapon.  They’re probably on their way.  They’ll destroy us.  We have to find Voltron.”

“Voltron!” Ryan exclaims looking at Fred and Wasabi in surprise.

“Sir, take a look at this,” one of the scientists says, "it appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”

“Put him under until we know what that thing can do,” Iverson commands.

Tadashi panics, “Don’t put me under!  No!  There’s no time!”

“What are they doing?  He’s a legend.  They’re not even gonna listen to him?” Fred says confused.

“We have to get him out,” Ryan says.

“I hate to be the voice of reason, always, but weren’t we just watching on TV because there was no way past the guards?” Wasabi asks.

“That was before we were properly motivated,” Fred says, “We’ve just got to think.  Could we tunnel in?”

“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” Ryan suggests.

“Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary, little late night snack,” Wasabi says.

“No,” Fred says, “What we need is a distraction.”  Suddenly explosions happen around the ship.

“Is that the aliens?  Is that the aliens?  Are they here?  They got here so quick!” Wasabi exclaims.

“No, those explosions were a distraction, for him,” Ryan says pointing to a guy on the ground sneaking into the lab, “The Garrison’s headed towards the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side.”

“No way!” Fred exclaims looking through the binoculars, “Oh, she is not going to beat us in there!  That girl is always trying to one-up me!”

“Who is it?” Wasabi asks.

“Go-Go,” Fred exclaims running down the hill.

“Who?” Ryan asks getting up.

“Are you sure?” Wasabi asks chasing Fred.

“Oh, I’d recognize that blue streak anywhere!” Fred shouts.

“Who’s Go-Go?” Ryan asks still confused.

They reach the lab to find that Go-Go already has Tadashi out of the cot.  “Nope.  No, you…No, no, no.  No, you don’t.  I’m saving Tadashi!” Fred exclaims stopping Go-Go.

“Who are you?” Go-Go asks.

“Who am I?  Um, the name’s Fred,” Fred replies, “We were in the same class at the Garrison,” Fred says when Go-Go gives no look of recognition.
“Really?  Are you an engineer?” Go-Go asks confused.

“No, I’m a pilot!” Fred exclaims, “We were, like, rivals.  You know, Fred and Go-Go, neck and neck.”

“Oh, wait.  I remember you,” Go-Go says, “You’re a cargo pilot.”

“Well, not anymore.  I’m fighter class now, thanks to you washing out,” Fred says angrily.

“Well, congratulations,” Go-Go replies as they start moving.

“Oh, man.  They’re coming back and they do not look happy,” Wasabi says looking through the binoculars, “We’ve got to go.”  They all run over to Go-Go’s skimmer, “Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?”

“Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?” Ryan asks.

“No,” Go-Go replies before taking off.
After a wild ride, they arrive at Go-Go’s house. 

“It’s good to have you back,” Go-Go says.

“It’s good to be back,” Tadashi says.
“So what happened out there?  Where were you?” Go-Go asks.

“I wish I could tell you,” Tadashi replies sadly, “My head’s still pretty scrambled.  I was on an alien ship, but somehow, I escaped.  It’s all a blur.  How did you know to come save me when I crashed?”

“You should come and see this,” Go-Go says.

“What have you been working on?” Tadashi asks.

“I can’t explain it, really,” Go-Go replies, “After being booted from the Garrison I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place.  It’s like something…some energy was telling me to search."

“For what?” Tadashi asks.

“Well, I didn’t really know at the time…until I stumbled across this area,” Go-Go explains, “It’s and outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings.  Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival that happened last night.  Then, you show up.”

“I should thank you all for getting me out.  Fred, right?” Tadashi says extending his arm.  Fred shakes it.  Tadashi turns towards Ryan and Hunk.

“The nervous guy’s Wasabi.  I’m…” Ryan pulls of his brunet wig and glasses revealing to Tadashi a very familiar mop of unruly dark hair.

“Hiro!” Tadashi exclaims hugging his brother.

“Wait, who are you?” Fred asks confused.

“I’m Hiro Hamada,” Hiro explains, “I was trying to figure out what happened to Tadashi because the Garrison lied to us.”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens.  Where are they now?” Wasabi asks, “Like are they coming?  Are they coming for us?  Where are they at this very moment?”

“I can’t really put it together.  I remember the word ‘Voltron’.  It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but I don’t know why.  Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do,” Tadashi explains.

“Well, last night, I was rummaging through Hiro’s stuff,” Wasabi says, “and I found his diary.”

“What!  Hey give me that!” Hiro says grabbing his backpack from Wasabi, “Why were you looking through my stuff?”

“I was looking for a candy bar.  But, then, I started reading his diary.  And I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line,” Wasabi explains.

“Frown who?” Go-Go asks.

“It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element,” Wasabi clarifies, “only, this element doesn’t exist on Earth.  I thought it might be this Voltron.  I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

“Wasabi, you big gassy genius!” Fred exclaims

“It’s pretty fascinating, really.  The wavelength looks like this,” Wasabi says pulling out a paper that he drew it on.

“Give me that,” Go-Go says snatching the paper from Wasabi.  She holds it up to a picture of canyon and it lines up with the rocks.

They go to canyon and follow Wasabi’s machine to a cave.  “What are these?” Tadashi asks.

“These are the lion carving I was telling you about,” Go-Go says, “They’re everywhere around here.”
Suddenly Fred touches a drawing and they begin to glow.  “They’ve never done that before,” Go-Go says.  Then, the floor opens up and the group falls in.