The darkness of space holds many secrets, it is not unusual to encounter them on a journey of exploration such as this one.  It was pure serenity for the Commander now.  Nothing, absolutely nothing was happening now.   The Commander couldn't believe it, no blips on the scanners, and the usual communication noises coming from the consoles being operated by a few of the crew.  He stood with his arms crossed like King Tut, in the middle of the bridge of the SS Explorer looking out into the stars.  He was tall and somewhat lanky in stature,

*     *     *

      On a planet not too far away, nighttime graces the land.  The moons shone high in the sky causing an eerie yet beautiful luminous glow from the trees and lake.  The sky was a crystal clear midnight blue with white speckles in its wide expanse.  It was the perfect night to use the telescope.  That is exactly what a young boy was doing, he stood at the front gates of a large silver castle.  He was short and thin, and wore large glasses, His hair was brown and slightly long.  This gave an unusually androgynous appearance to him.  He was a member of the Voltron Force, one of the original five space explorers.  The castle he was looking at, was one of the most technological advances of the times on this planet.  It was practically indestructible.  It was set in front of a desert  and right in front of a volcanic chasm.  A lake surrounded its front and sides and the forest was not too far ahead.  A large bridge crossed the lake from the castle gates to the boundary of the dense forest.  A little path could be seen parting the forest where the bridge meets it.  At the end of this bridge and the beginning of this path, a large metal column stood arching right over the bridge's entrance.  On the top of this large metal column was a large metal lion black in
color. By the way the lion was sitting, it was waiting patiently,... for something to happen.  The boy stared at the Black lion for a while, and then he was joined by a beautiful young woman wearing a frilly pink dress and a flat, silver, crescent shaped crown on her head.  She sneaked up on the boy and right in his ear she said, "BOO!"  The boy started yelling "NGAAAHH!" and when he started to run, he tripped over himself and fell off the bridge into the water.
     "Pidge!"  the woman gasped. When Pidge resurfaced she apologized to him.  Pidge splashed her.
     "How dare you splash a royal princess!" the woman said in a snobby disgusted tone, but she was only kidding.
     "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't give me a reason to, Princess."  Pidge said floating toward the bridge.  Pidge grabbed the bridge which was low enough to the lake, and pulled himself up onto it.
     "What are you doing out here?" said the Princess.
     "Oh, just catching up on a bit of astronomy,"  said Pidge.  "It is a good night for it too."
     "I can see that," the Princess said as she looked up to the night sky.  "So many stars out there, It's unbelievable."  The Princess looked around at the surrounding environment.  "I never knew Arus could look so serene at night," the Princess said.
     Pidge grabbed the end of the telescope and started looking at more stars, then he pointed it to one of the moons of Arus.  "Look at this!"
he said as he motioned the Princess to come toward the telescope.  The Princess approached the telescope and took the viewing end in her hand, she then looked into the telescope to see a small silhouette on the face of the moon.  "Hmm, I wonder what that is," the Princess replied, "Do you have any better lenses?"
     "No, just this one." Pidge said "I can't find the others."
     "We will just have to let Coran look at it with the castle's scanners," the Princess said.
     All of a sudden, a loud screaming came from one of the front windows of the castle.  The scream said in a very curt manner, "PRINCESS ALLURA!  GET BACK TO YOUR STUDIES AT ONCE!"
     "Uh, Oh!  Hurricane Nanny is on the loose again!"  giggled Pidge.
     "Great!" the Princess sighed, "Doesn't she know how to speak in any other volume except loud?"
     "Ooooh!  That was some remark, If Nanny heard that she would kill you!"
     "DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE!" Nanny yelled at the top of her lungs.
     "ALRIGHT NANNY!" the Princess yelled back, "I'LL BE UP IN A MINUTE!"
     "NOW!!"  Nanny yelled, "AND DON'T GET SMART WITH ME YOUNG GIRL!"
     "She has a voice loud enough to wake the dead!" Pidge giggled.
     "You haven't heard her blood curdling scream yet,"  the Princess said grimly.
     "Don't tell me anymore, I don't want to know!" Pidge said imagining what kind of scream he thought would come out of Nanny.  He instinctively put his hands over his ears.  This made the Princess laugh.
     "AND YOU, BOY!"  Nanny started to yell again, "GET IN HERE, YOU ARE SOAKING WET AND IT IS COLD OUTSIDE,...  I DON'T WANT YOU TO CATCH COLD!"
     "Oh don't be such a worry wart!"  Pidge said under his breath.
     "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"  Nanny yelled defensively.
     "She's got ears like a hawk too!"  Pidge said to the Princess.
     "PRINCESS!!!"  Nanny yelled again.
     "All right, All right, I'm coming!"  said the Princess hopelessly.
     Pidge started to put his telescope away.  "I guess I'm done for the night too, if Nanny has anything to say about it."  Pidge sighed.  Pidge took the rotating knobs off the telescope, put the lens caps on, and laid the telescope in its case.  He snapped the case closed and turned to the castle. Just as he did that the Black Lion in the monument moved.  Pidge turned to look at the lion.  It was looking up at the moon with the dark spot on it.  Pidge started to shiver because of the cold, but he also felt a weird presence around him.  All of a sudden the lion stared roaring loudly.  The thing about that was, the lion wasn't on, or at least he didn't think that Keith had activated it yet.  If the Force was
needed Pidge would have been notified long before the lion started roaring.  Pidge stared at the lion for a while watching it majestically sit
there roaring at the moon.
     "I'd better go tell Keith that there may be something wrong with his lion." Pidge thought to himself.
     Pidge squished into the castle in his wet shoes, leaving the lion roaring outside.  He walked through the main chamber and into the control room.  To see the Voltron Force (except the Princess) looking at the monitor.  The monitor showed the dark figure on the moon being replayed as it was there and then it suddenly vanished.  The scene replayed several times until Coran, who was sitting at the controls, spoke up.
     "I believe that this has nothing to do with Zarkon, Lotor, or anyone else from planet Doom.  It seems to be some other type of entity."  Coran said thoughtfully.  "I have never seen any of the Doom ships move that quickly before."
     "You think we're being visited by aliens," said Hunk oddly.
     "Oooh, Aaaaliens, Scaaaary. Lance said sarcastically.
     "I don't know," said Keith somberly, his face without expression whatsoever, "Zarkon's witch Haggar is known for creating new robeasts all the time."
     "Hey Keith!" Pidge interrupted still soaked, "Your lion is making quite a racket out there! Maybe you should go check on it."
     "That lion hasn't been activated, I still got the key!" Keith said "You must be hearing things, Pidge."
     "No, Keith, I'm serious it's deafening out there."  Pidge exclaimed.  They all walked outside and looked at the Lion Monument.  Sure enough the lion was still roaring at a painful volume.  It roared for five more minutes, and then it stopped.  Then, it was incredibly quiet.  The lion moved back into its resting position.  Lance looked at Keith, "What could have caused that?"
     "Do you think the aliens could,..."
     "Knock it off, Hunk!" Lance interrupted.
     "I don't know about you, but it's cold out there."  Pidge said still a little wet from his encounter with the Princess.
     "THAT IS BEACAUSE YOU ARE SOAKED."  exclaimed Nanny, who within one second grabbed Pidge's ear and pulled him inside, ranting about catching a cold and what not.  Lance and Hunk followed them in laughing.
     "I don't know, it's almost as if it is telling us something,"  said Keith still staring at the lion.
     "King Alfor would know." Coran said, "I've seen this happen before, but I can't remember what it was all about."
     Just then Nanny and Princess Allura came running up to the rest of them, Allura was the first to join them followed by a tired and panting Nanny following behind.  "What is going on, I was about to start my studies when I heard one of the lions roaring so loud, it almost broke the windows in my room." Allura asked in amazement.
     Coran started looking at the lion in amazement, "The Sonic Roar?... Could it be?"  Coran thought, I haven't heard that ever since the time Haggar put the spell on Voltron.  "Princess, I must speak with you in the Royal Library privately."  Coran said very nervously.  His face was almost completely white with fear.
     "Coran, what is the matter, I've never seen you like this."  said a very concerned Allura.
     "I will explain later, right now we must make preparations!"  Coran said in his authoritative tone.
     "Preparations, for what?" Keith asked Coran interrogatively.
     "I don't know, but you must trust me." Coran said solemnly, "It may mean life or death to many."

*     *     *

     In space, a small ship was zooming away as fast as it could,  Two women were aboard, one was a beautiful brunette, very slim and dressed somewhat sensuously.  The other was an old craggy looking witch, with a dark gray face and warts and pimples.  She wore a robe which made her look like a monk.
     "Haggar!  I don't know what I am going to do with you!"  yelled the brunette.
     "I can't! I can't!  The evil spirits will get me!  I know it!" Haggar yelled in worry.
     "Alright! If it will help I will cast a spell of protection over you!  Now stop whining and turn this ship around now!  Yelled the brunette in Haggar's face "The evil spirits won't get you!  They have to go through me first!"
Haggar looked up at her, "You would do that,... for me?  You would lay your life down for mine?"
    "It is all a part of the transformation.  As soon as the spell is completely lifted you will return to me."  yelled Haggar's friend,  "We must return to Arus, you will be safe there."
    "What about the Voltron Force?"  If they see me, they will kill me!"  Haggar whined.
    "Stop it!!" and with that Haggar's friend slapped her across her craggy old face.  Haggar was thrown by the impact and she rolled across the room hitting the other wall,  Haggar was hyperventilating and tears were rolling down her baggy eyes.  "I,... can't,... do,... this!"  Haggar cried.
    "Oh, I'm sorry." Haggar's friend said in frustration.  "I didn't mean to hit you so hard."
Haggar's friend knelt down and hugged Haggar in comfort.
    "Haggar, soon you will be able to fight the evil spirits, and then the Goddess at the end of the Universe will join our conciousnesses again.     "But you must trust me."  Haggar's friend said.
    "I will take us back to Arus.  Then you will, in front of the Voltron Force and the spirit of King Alfor, completely release the spell you put on Voltron."  The young Haggar said.
    "Voltron? He's just a robot. Are you sure this will work?" old Haggar asked weakly.
    "I am certain. Now get up and sit in the co-pilot's chair." The young Haggar commanded lightly.
    "I don't know why you insist on flying there, I could just spin a little magic and we would be there in no time."  The old Haggar said.
    "Haggar! No magic! You know what the Goddess said.  No magic unless it is an emergency.  It will let the evil spirits know where we are."  The young Haggar warned.
    "What about the prophecy of the evil one?  Do you know what we will be doing?"  old Haggar asked worriedly.
    "Haggar, there is a way to avoid this from starting," young Haggar said.  "But we must be very careful, anything could happen from this point on."
    "But how will we know what to do?  If anything can happen I don't want to go into the situation ass first!"  old Haggar said.
    The young Haggar looked at her old and ugly counterpart with amazement.  "Ass first?" the young Haggar asked in humorous astonishment.  Then the young Haggar burst out laughing.
    "What's so funny!"  the old Haggar inquired annoyingly.  "Stop laughing at me!"
    "Oh Haggar! I think the curse on you is starting to wear off!"  the young Haggar said laughing and with some excitement, "It was so funny to hear that phrase coming from you."
     The old Haggar was not getting the joke, so she sat in the co-pilot's chair sulking while the young Haggar just kept on laughing.
     "Yeah, Yeah, Laugh it up!"  The old Haggar said flatly.  This was too much for the young Haggar and she burst out laughing again.
Old Haggar looked out the window to see something big and blue and green.
     "AAAAHHHHH! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!  WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!!!"  Old Haggar yelled being scared to the point of nearly fainting.
     "Oh my! I didn't know we were already upon Arus." young Haggar said as she looked ahead then with little effort realigned the ship so that it was parallel to the ground.  Then she landed the ship in a glade just about 50 meters from the Castle of Lions.
     "You fly like a mad woman!" old Haggar yelled,  "I don't know how you convinced me into this."  They exited the ship old Haggar was still complaining about being nearly killed, and how the young Haggar landed the ship to far from the castle.
     "Oh, don't be such a big baby!  The walk will do you some good!" young Haggar said apathetically.
     They both walked the fifty meters, old Haggar trailing behind and complaining of her age.  When they finally reached the Lion Monument, a bright light shone on both of them.  The Black lion was leaning its head down with its lighted eyes watching them carefully.
     "That lion scares the living crap out of me!" old Haggar stammered.
    "Don't worry, it won't bite you." young Haggar said comforting her scared counterpart.  They walked across the bridge to the front castle gate.  Just then the water around them started to move.  The castle alarms went off with a loud clangor, all of a sudden old Haggar was being lifted from the ground by some type of water monster.  Young Haggar quickly went to her aid, but she couldn't get the monster to loosen its grip on old Haggar.  Soon old Haggar saw the Voltron Force running out of the castle gates then everything went black.

 <<< The sky was dark, old Haggar could tell she was on Arus because of its tell-tale landscape.  Something behind her was on fire.  She could feel the heat of the inferno, it was very close to her.  She looked behind her and she saw Vehicle Voltron on fire!  Vehicle Voltron was all mangled and twisted and damaged.  This sight would have usually pleased her but she was only horrified.  She looked up at Vehicle Voltron's head, there wasn't one!  Vehicle Voltron's head suddenly lie next to her the robot's eyes were distant, "Help me." Voltron said weakly.  Old Haggar knew that neither of the Voltrons talked, but this one was talking to her.  "I don't understand." She said back to the once mighty robot hoping to get an answer.  The book...  the block... the key... Voltron's eyes dimmed and went out.  "What?"  old Haggar asked in complete confusion.  She had no idea what the robot could be telling her.  All of a sudden Vehicle Voltron's facial features changed to a mix of two other more sinister looking faces.  The robots eyes went from a distant dim yellow to a fiery deep and bright crimson.  Two voices emerged from the robot, one vaguely familiar the other unrecognizable.  "Time is running out!"  The robot said, it looked as if the robot had been possessed.
    "What do you want?"  Haggar managed to say in fear.  "We only wish one thing... the destruction of the alliance!"
    Why was Vehicle Voltron in all of this?  She only put the spell on Lion Voltron.  What could these beings speaking through the robot want with the alliance.  She recognized one of the faces when a voice nearly shouted in her ear.
     "Come Haggar! We have much evil to do!"  a grim voice shouted to her. "No!  I don't want to go back!  I want to live again!"  old Haggar cried to the voice.  Zarkon suddenly appeared in front of her.  "You will obey me old witch!"  Zarkon commanded flatly.
     "No! I don't want to! You can't make me."
     Zarkon's laugh could be heard loudly, multiplying and growing louder.  The laugh was deafening.  Haggar covered her ears, she saw her beautiful counterpart turn back into her ugly form "Haggar help me!!" the transforming young Haggar screamed.  "I can't!  I can't!"  Haggar heard herself saying.  Zarkon appeared in front of her again.  "DIE YOU OLD WORTHLESS WITCH!"  Haggar screamed and tried to run away but Zarkon grabbed her shoulder Haggar screamed in horror.  She soon found herself in a bed surrounded by her young counterpart and the Voltron Force.>>>

     The young Haggar was shaking the old Haggar, "Haggar! Wake up!  The old Haggar screamed as she bolted upright in her bed.  Old Haggar looked around the room, to see that she was safe from Zarkon and the evil surrounding her.  All the old Haggar could do was cry.
     "You had another nightmare again didn't you?"  young Haggar asked hugging the old Haggar and trying to comfort her.  "It's all over now, you're safe."
     All the old witch said was "When will it end?,... When will it end?"  Old Haggar repeated this question over and over as she was being comforted.  The Voltron Force just looked at each other.  Now they were convinced that this was no trick on Haggar's part.
     Even the mice watching from the chandelier were convinced.  Coran walked into the room.
     "Princess I must see you in the Royal Library."  Coran repeated.
     "Do you think she will be all right?" The princess asked the young Haggar.
     "No, I don't think she will be all right until the transformation takes place."  The young Haggar said,  "She needs all of you to trust her, your father, and even Voltron."
     "My father?" Allura gasped.  "But my father would never hold a grudge on someone, even if it was Haggar."
     "Allura, please! This is urgent!"  Coran had a sting to his tone of voice.  Allura turned and walked out of Haggars' room.
     "Coran, I must say that you have been acting strangely lately."  said a concerned Allura.
     "I am looking for a book, I can't find it in the Royal Library."  Coran said, "King Alfor has probably hidden it."
     "That book, whatever it was, could have been destroyed in the transformation of the castle."  Allura replied.
     "None the less, we must check your father's tomb.  We may need that book."  Coran had a very serious look to his face.
     "Why is this book so important?"  Allura asked, bothered by Coran's seriousness.
     "It is Voltron's Handbook, it was the manual used when the mighty robot was originally built.  It contained all of your father's notes on Voltron and his system."  Coran said.
     "Is there something wrong with Voltron?"  Allura asked.
     "No,... not yet."  Coran said solemnly.

*     *     *

    Commander Hawkins, Cliff, and Rocky were eating their lunch, they were eating sandwiches because their cook, Sam, did not have much other food supplies left in the refrigerators except for an abundance of Breakfast Surprise.  Commander Hawkins had just completed eating a rather large sandwich that he made (he hadn't eaten for five hours).  Rocky was making his third sandwich and Cliff was watching Rocky put it all away in amazement.
     "You eat like a pig, Rock."  Cliff said humorously.
     "Yeah? Wanna make somethin' of it?  Rocky said lifting a fist.
     "Rocky, You wouldn't 'it me, not in front of the Commander."  Cliff warned.
     Rocky put his threatening fist back down on the table, Cliff had clearly seen through the scare tactic.  "I'm gonna save dis sandwich for later."  Rocky said smugly looking at Cliff who then looked at the Commander in shock.  All the Commander could do was shrug his shoulders.
     "Rocky 'as been acting weird lately, 'asn't e?"  Cliff asked the Commander.
     "I'd say so." Hawkins replied, "I think it's because of that noise problem."  The Commander was trying to get them to talk now that it looked like their break times were over.  They both looked at Rocky who was now staring up at the ceiling.
     "'Ay! Rock! Wake up, will ya?" Cliff waved a hand over Rocky's eyes.
     "Do you guys hear somethin'?"  Rocky said to them both.
     "I don't hear anything." Cliff said.
     The Commander was now looking around the room.  Then the Commander caught a bit of the sound Rocky was hearing.
     "Yes, I think I know what your talking about now." Hawkins said to Rocky.  "It sounds like a digital transmission."
     "Yeah, dat's it.  It sounds like one of dem old modem type things."  Rocky said.
     Now that Cliff got a description of what they were hearing, he started to hear it to.  "That, sound 'as been comin' from the land ships."   Cliff said as he made a positive identification.
     "That sound must be all over the ship."  Hawkins supposed, "Do you think someone is trying to contact us?"
     Meanwhile on the bridge of the Explorer,  Captain Newley had taken his command post.  He was going to send a message to planet Arus to expect them within the next few days.  They needed supplies badly (especially food, the Captain was no longer going to put up with Sam's explosive Breakfast Suprise.)
     The helmsman turned toward the Captain's chair.  "Sir, I'm getting an unusual signal over all frequencies.
     "Let's hear it."  Captain Newly commanded.
     "Aye, sir."  The Helmsman turned to the console he was stationed at.  He punched a few buttons and soon the digital transmission could be heard over the bridge speakers.
     "Can you determine the origin of this message?"  The Captain asked.
     "No sir, it seems to be coming from everywhere, it also seems to be intensifying."  The Helmsman said.
     "The person at Communications turned to the Captain.  "How come he is getting the transmission?  I don't hear a thing over the sub-space channels."
     All of a sudden, the bridge lights went out and the alert siren went off.
     "What the...?"  Captain Newley said looking around the bridge.  The Helmsman spoke up, "We have lost all power."
     "What about the armada?"  The Captain asked calmly.
     "Sir,... The armada is gone!"  The Helmsman said in amazement.
     "What?  How can a whole armada disappear?"  the Captain asked in wonder.
     "I think the Armada lost us."  The Helmsman replied, "I am not getting any co-ordinates from anywhere.  It's like we are in a limbo."
     "Send out a distress call, maybe someone will hear it."  the Captain said to the Helmsman.  There was a beeping noise at the console in between the communications and the helm.
     "Someone man that station!" the Captain yelled.  The Captain went to a com-link, and opened the PA.  "Commander to the bridge!"
     Back at Sammy's the sound was getting louder.  It was so loud that the Commander almost didn't hear the PA.
     "Mama Mia!" Sam shouted over the noise, "Would a somebody stop a da screeching!"  The Commander started to feel a rumble underneath his feet.  Another siren went off.  It was the one he rarely heard but knew it well.  "THE HULL IS GOING TO BREACH!!  EVERYONE OUT NOW!!"  The Commander shouted, everyone just heard enough to understand and soon they were all out of the mess hall.  Just as the large doors closed, the Commander saw the whole mess hall get sucked into a black starless void.  He was just glad that
there were only four in that room.
     "What in bloody 'eck is going on?" Cliff exclaimed.
     The Commander was walking to the bridge.  "That's what I'm going to find out."