*     *     *

     Meanwhile, on the bridge of the SS Explorer,  the crew is struggling to keep control of the ship.  The ship starts to shake again.
     "Captain, we have just lost the mess hall!"  The Helmsman said as Captain Newley was struggling to get into the tactical post he fell once got up and seated himself.
     "We’ve got trouble!"  Captain Newley shouted over the rumbling.  "There is a large object heading toward us at a high velocity!  It looks to be a robeast!  We need to get out of here now!"  The Captain turned to the Helmsman.  "No can do, the engines are down! We’re sitting ducks!"  The Commander entered.  "What the hell is going on!"  The Commander yelled.
     "There’s a robeast out there,  It caught us by surprise."  The Captain shouted, "We need to get Voltron out there, Now!"
 Conduit piping, and wiring were falling out of the ceiling.  A fire was starting off to the Helmsman’s side.  The Commander staggered to the com-link.  "Voltron Force ready for launch, Jeff?"  the Commander yelled.
     "We’re ready, Commander!"  Jeff said over the link.
     "Well then go! Can’t you see we’re under attack!"  The Commander yelled again.
     "All right, All right! We’re going!"  Jeff said in astonishment.
     Inside Vehicle Voltron, Jeff was reading his scanners.  "Okay, the robeast will be off to the port side of the Explorer, we have to intercept it before it can do more damage."  Jeff said to the crew of fifteen.  They all turned back toward the Explorer and the see a horrific sight.
    "Do you see that?" Lisa said.  They were looking at absolutely nothing.  Nothing was actually cutting off chunks of the Explorer’s hull.
     "Commander, It just looks like the hull is coming apart."  Jeff said amazed at what he was seeing.
     "There’s a robeast out there, we have it on our scanners."  The Commander yelled over the link Jeff could hear the sounds of the ship being ripped apart by whatever it was while the Commander shouted into the communicator."
     "So, Vehicle Voltron has come to play." A voice was heard from out of no where.
     "This robeast must be invisible,"  Jeff said, "But we can make quick work of that,… ready to form Voltron!"
     "Activate interlock!"
     "Dynatherms, connected!"
     "Infracells up!"
     "Megathrusters are go!"  Jeff  commanded.
     "LET’S GO VOLTRON FORCE!!"  they all shouted.
     All the fifteen vehicle ships started to combine themselves together at Jeff’s continued commands.
     "Form feet and legs,…"  The commands were executed.
     "Form arms and torso,…"
     "And I’ll form, the head!"  At Jeff’s command his ship connected to the rest of the mighty robot.   Then the final ship, the VT Falcon Fighter, connected itself to Voltron.  Voltron then went through his "start-up, karate-like actions."
     "All right, let’s do a multi-scanner sweep of this area.  I want to be able to see this robeast.  Jeff commanded.
     "I’m not picking up anything on infrared or ultra-violet."  Cliff said.
     "I can’t find it with radio and thermograph frequencies either.  Krik added.
     "We have to pick up on it somehow!"  Jeff wondered.
     "I’ve got it!"  Chip shouted, "Turn all your scanners on to sonic wide band."
     They all did so and found a very red and yellow blob in a blue and black background.
     "We’ve got it now!  Form Blazing S…" before Jeff could finish his command, there was a tremendous jolt off to one side, soon he heard Chip and Marvin yelling.  The control panel in front of Jeff sparked and caught fire.  Jeff rushed to put the small blaze out with a mini-fire extinguisher.  Jeff then heard Lisa gasp.
     "Oh my God! Chip and Marvin have been severed!!"  Lisa exclaimed.  Jeff looked off to the side and saw the two connected ships that made up one of Voltron’s arms rotating away from them, the severed joint was making sparks.  The sonic wide band scanner blinked red and yellow several times more.
     "Chip! Marvin! Are you guys okay?"  Jeff yelled.  He didn’t get a response.  "Answer me!"  Jeff yelled again now almost at a panic.
     Several more jolts were felt throughout Voltron’s frame.  Jeff heard Cliff curse as his controls shorted out.  There were dents and twisted metal on the frame and Jeff was now having a hard time keeping Voltron straight.
     "We’re here," Marvin said, "But Chip was hurt badly, he needs help!"
     Jeff listened to these words and then heard the Commander over the link, "Jeff!  What’s going on out there?"  He noticed that the blob was moving toward the Explorer again.
     "Commander!  Look out!"  The blob impacted the Explorer with a tremendous force a large explosion rocked throughout the ship.  But it still remained.
    On the Explorer, sirens went off and large flashes of light and clouds of smoke filled the bridge.
    "Sir, There is extensive damage to the fusion reactor, it's going critical!"  Ensign Sparks shouted over all the noise.
    The panel that Newley was working at exploded in his face.  Newley was thrown to the ground unconscious.
    "Newley?"  Hawkins shouted.  There was no response, and the commander was too busy to check on him.
    "We have to get the reactor stabilized."  Hawkins shouted.  "Sparks, cut all power from the reactor."
    "But, Sir, the robeast?"  Sparks shouted.
    "We still have Voltron…"  Hawkins said.  "…cut the power now!"
Back outside the Explorer…
     "Jeff we have to go get Chip and Marvin!"  Rocky yelled.   For Jeff seconds ticked by in an eternity as he decided what to do.
     "We have to save the Explorer."  Jeff commanded.
     "But, we can’t just,…"  Rocky was interrupted.
     "We have to! Chip and Marvin have to wait, there are more people on the Explorer."  Jeff said with frustration in his voice.
     "You’re just going to let them,…"  Rocky was interrupted again.
     "Cool it Rocky! Let Jeff do what he has to!"  Lisa screamed.
     Vehicle Voltron flew around to the back of the Explorer and started to push.  While on the Explorer, The Commander was trying the sonic wide band scan, when he saw the figure moving towards the ship.  The Commander was waiting, He pushed a few buttons and the Explorers side lasers were mounted and powering up.
     "Come on you son of a bitch! Just try to hit this ship one more time!"  The Commander charged the weapons to 160% of its full power capacity.  He had the lasers tightly focus on the red and yellow blob heading towards him he felt the nudge that Voltron made as he was about to fire, not loosing hope that the lasers would hit the target he pushed the button to fire.  In an instant all the guns fire a continuous barrage of thin but powerful laser lights.  He heard an explosion outside, and soon he was relieved to see the red and yellow blob shrink as it moved away.  He stopped the firing lasers and sank back into the tactical chair.  He went back to the com-link, "Jeff can you hear me?"
Hawkins asked worried that they were lost in the battle, there was no response for a while.   "Reading you loud but not so clearly, Commander."  Hawkins was relieved again.  "Are you all okay?"
     "No sir, Chip and Marvin are missing, we have to go find them."  Jeff said.  The commander breathed a sigh of exhaustion and worry.  Losing members of the crew were bad enough.
     "How much damage has Voltron sustained?"  the Commander inquired.
     Jeff looked at his smoking control board and charred flight controls.  Jeff had to tell the Commander the truth.
     "Voltron has sustained extensive damage, my flight controls are nearly burnt to a frazzle and we are,… sing,… rm,…"
     "Jeff repeat that again you’re breaking up."  Hawkins said.
     "…. Lost, fli,…ntrol, I can’t,… Voltr,…"  There was a loud crack over the link.
     "Jeff come in!  I can’t read you, come in!"  The Commander yelled into the link.  Hawkins the pushed some more buttons to call up the rear view scanner, he saw a badly damaged Voltron going into a flat, forward roll.  The black void was starting to lift, revealing a large planet very close to them.  The Explorer was jolted once more.  More sirens and red lights sounded and flashed respectively.  "Sir we have just entered a planet's atmosphere, it just appeared out of nowhere!"  Both Voltron and the Explorer were caught in the planet’s gravitational pull.
     "What?!" Hawkins said as he saw the planet in front of him get larger and larger.

*     *     *

     At the Castle of Lions, the Voltron Force was in the recreation room, talking about recent events.
     "I don’t think Haggar is faking this one,"  Keith said,  "I’ve never seen Haggar act so weak before."
     "Maybe it is an act.  We might be getting ourselves caught in a sneaky trap by Zarkon." Hunk muttered with suspicion.
     "I must admit, even I’m confused on this one."  Lance stated,  "It has been a long time since we had defeated them.  Do you think that Haggar would actually turn good?"
     "I still remember that time I saw Haggar split into the two entities she is today, I say that she is being honest with us this time.  Keith concluded.
     The Princess burst through the rec. room door all excited.  "Keith! You won’t believe this, but we have found Voltron’s manual and repair bay!"  Allura gasped exhausted from her running.  "We can now bring Voltron back to his original self again."
     "Who said Voltron was broken?"  Pidge inquired with an equal look of confusion to match.
     "He’s not broken, he can now operate under his own power once Haggar has lifted the curse she put on him."  Allura exclaimed.  Coran entered the room.  "She is right, Keith.  Voltron was originally meant to be sentient," he verified.
     "Hey!  Was Voltron originally able to talk too?  Pidge asked.
     "Yes, he was.  Soon he will be able to do these things again. "  Coran said.
     "What about us?"  Lance spoke up, "If Voltron can operate himself, he won’t need us."
     "On the contrary, Voltron, if my memory serves me right, always preferred the Voltron Force to be with him, just in case of an emergency.
That was the reason the Voltron Force was created."  Coran replied.
     "Well it’s good to know we won’t be left out."  Hunk said.
     "Okay, if Haggar’s going to release the curse on Voltron, let her do it."  Keith said.  Just then, all the castle alarms went off.
     "What the,…"  Lance shouted as he was sitting in a chair right underneath one of the alarms.  He jumped out of his chair and nearly fell forward when it went off.  They all ran to the Control Room and looked at the monitor already showing two objects entering the Arusian atmosphere.  Immediately Keith recognized at least one figure but he wanted to be sure.
     "Coran, magnify the spinning figure on the left."  Keith commanded.  Coran pushed a few buttons and to Keith’s dismay he now recognized it clearly.
     "That’s Vehicle Voltron!"  The Princess gasped.  "They’re out of control, they’ll crash!"
     "That Voltron is missing an arm,"  Pidge exclaimed.  "Oh No! Chip!!"
     "That’s not the worst of it," Coran said, "The other ship is the SS Explorer.  They are both in trouble."
     "And we have enough time to save only one."  Lance added.
     "Pidge, I know this is going to be hard, but there are more lives at stake on the Explorer.  We will have to save that one."  Keith said solemnly.
     "But what about,…"
     "Pidge, there’s no time!"  Keith said, "Let’s get to the lions!"
    And so the Lion Voltron Force went into action, scrambling to their transport tubes.  And soon the lions were on their way as the morning sun started to grace the land with its light.  At the Castle, Old Haggar was still asleep, her eyes then opened, she got up slowly and looked out her window, she saw a glint of light in the sky moving downward.  "The boy is dying,…" she thought.  Old Haggar quickly got up and went to search for young Haggar.  As Old Haggar waked out of her room to find young Haggar waiting for her.
    "We need to combine our magic powers for this one, it’s an emergency." Young Haggar said.  "I know, I also know that the boy in the     Vehicle Voltron Force is close to dying."  Haggar added, "We need to work fast!"
    As they both exited to the back of the castle, the Lion Voltron Force had surrounded the Explorer and moved in underneath to support the falling ship by means of  a five lion piggyback.
    "We’re in position." Allura said.
    "All right, fire retro-rockets, we need to slow this thing down."  Keith commanded.  All the lions, fired their rockets and the upward thrust was enough to slow the descent of the large spaceship.
    "It’s working!" Lance said.  "The ship is slowing down."
     While that was happening, Vehicle Voltron was plummeting towards the ground at terminal velocity.
    "There is nothing we can do now!"  Cliff shouted over the link.  "Everyone BAIL!"
    Lisa was struggling to find the seat ejection lever that was supposed to be at her left side.  It was still there but bent outward from her seat.  The other members of the Vehicle Voltron Force had ejected.  Lisa heard Cliff over the temporary com-link for all the seats.
    "Tangor, clear!"  "Rocky, clear!"  "Shannon, clear!" "Cinda, clear!"  All of the Voltron force reported their safe status to the commanders, all except for one.  "I think I'm gonna be sick!"  shouted Ginger as her seat tumbled in the air end over end.
    "Lisa!  Jeff! Ge’out of there!"  Cliff yelled.  Lisa was still pulling on the ejection lever but since it was bent outward she had virtually no leverage on it.  She wanted to see if Jeff made it out safely.
     "Jeff, Have you ejected yet?"  Lisa asked hoping he had made it out.
     "Lisa! What are you still doing down there?"  Jeff yelled, "Get out of there now!"
     "I’m trying but the ejection lever is bent."  As Lisa said this she started banging on it.  It moved halfway to release position.  Parts of the outside of Jeff’s ship were coming off.  Jeff tried his ejection lever after he cleared some debris from the control board to try to regain control of Voltron.  The only problem was there was no lever to try.  It must have come off when they were in battle.
     "Lisa! Get out of there!"  Jeff yelled.  "I can’t eject!  Save yourself!"
     Lisa heard this and she couldn’t believe it.  "What do you mean you can’t eject!!"  She shouted over a sudden rush of air that was now coming into the inside of her ship.  Vehicle Voltron was so damaged that he was breaking up in the atmosphere.
     "What do’ya mean ya can’t eject!!" Cliff repeated Lisa.  "Get your ass out of there before ya bloody crash!!"
     "I lost the release lever!"  Jeff said, There’s nothing I can do, now go Lisa!"
 Of all the jokes she’s endured from him, and all the bad things he says sometimes, this was the worst.  "I’m not leaving you Jeff!"  Lisa replied stubbornly.
     "Lisa! Have you gone mad?" Cliff shouted over the link.
     "Lisa I’m serious!  You have to eject!  That’s an order!"  Jeff commanded frustratingly.
     "But,… Jeff, I can’t leave you to die!"  tears were staring from her eyes.
     "I don’t want you to die either, you have to go, now!"  Jeff said trying to put some sense into her.  "Please!"  Jeff said finally, and for a minute there was silence and then Lisa returned to working on the lever.  A few more bangs on it and it would release the seat, leaving her beloved Jeff behind.  Cliff and the others were flying below them with crossed fingers, hopefully at least one would be safe.  Lisa banged on the lever once more and soon, before she could say anything more to Jeff, she was in the air.  Her seat was flipping end over end nauseatingly.  Jeff sat in his chair waiting for the crash he was comforted to see that Lisa had evacuated safely.  All of a sudden there was a bright light in front of him.
     "Do not worry, look into my eyes and you will not be harmed." The light said, soothing and warm.  Jeff looked into the eyes of what looked like a beautiful goddess.  A brighter flash and then total darkness…
    Soon after Lisa had ejected her chute opened giving her full view of Jeff’s ship as it broke away from Voltron just before the robot crashed and flipped several times with about 40 yards between them on the grassy, rolling plains. Smoke inundated the whole scene as she saw Jeff’s ship a twisted and mangled mess.
     "Jeff!!"  she screamed. Lisa's cries could be heard in their helmets and some bowed their heads in memory as she cried, others could only watch as the smoke rose from Vehicle Voltron.
 Lisa looked out as she slowly descended, the Explorer was being lowered by five robot lions into a nearby lake.
 Lisa, for a moment, was snapped out of her sorrow.  "We’re on Arus?"
     Cliff looked up at the sound of Lisa’s voice to see what she was seeing and sure enough, the sight of the robot lions told them they were on Arus.
     The Lion Voltron Force after setting the Explorer in a nearby lake noticed the explosion.   They also noticed the 12 floating dots in the sky.
     "Oh no! One of them must not have evacuated in time."  Lance said.
    "Where are the other two ships?"  Pidge asked worried about his brother.
     Commander Hawkins looked out at the rising smoke and pounded his fist hard onto the Tactical control panel in frustration.  He saw the robot lions head toward 12 floating dots in the sky.  The Commander tried to contact them but the link was dead.  Immediately the Commander went to try and evacuate as many people as possible from the Explorer.  Captain Newley was also getting up rubbing his head.
     "Ow,… What happened?"  Newley said as he struggled to his feet rising like a swamp monster out of a heap of metal and circutry.  Newley looked around to see the bridge in a shambles.
     "Oh, that ro-beast happened."  Newley said.
     "We had better check the ship, there may be people trying to get out."  Hawkins said.  They both left the bridge and proceeded to search the ship.  As Captain Newley walked he couldn’t help but wonder where the armada disappeared to.  He walked by one of the outer windows and saw the column of smoke rising in the distance.  Then it hit him, he knew what happened.  Captain Newly stood there for a while, and then proceeded with the evacuation.
     All of the Vehicle Force Team (or whoever was left) had safely landed.  They all gathered and watched the smoldering Vehicle Voltron, the lion ships landed behind them.  They exited and walked to the group solemnly gathered together.  The Princess could only try to hold her sorrow back as well as the rest.  As they approached, they were greeted whole-heartedly.
     "Keith, It’s so good to see you and the Lion Force again."  Lisa said as she approached him everyone could tell she was very distraught, they had to admit she was now trying hard to maintain her senses.  A noise could be heard from far away, it sounded like the sirens of emergency vehicles coming closer.  Within a few minutes they were on the scene and immediately putting out the fires on the remains Vehicle Voltron.
    Tangor was still staring at the destruction in front of him intently watching for something.  Ginger after about a few minutes joined him.  She and Jeff were the only ones who really knew him well.
     "He’s still alive."  Tangor said through gritted teeth and with clenched fists.
     "Easy, big fella, Ginger said trying to comfort him.  "There’s nothing we can do."
     "I KNOW JEFF!  HE CAN'T BE DEAD!"  Tangor snapped.  Ginger could only stare at him amazed.  Tangor shook his head to clear his mind.
     "Listen, Ginger, I’m sorry,…"  Tangor apologized.
     "No, there’s no need.  I know how it feels to lose a good friend."  Ginger said.
     "No,… he was like a brother to me,"  Tangor said, "He helped me through the Academy when no one else would,… because I was different."
     This was not like Tangor at all, Tangor never shared his thoughts with anyone too much.  Ginger knew that all too well, but Ginger and Lisa were the ones anyone could talk to, for comfort in hard times.  But Ginger knew that Tangor, under his threatening large and muscular frame and gruff exterior was very kind and noble.
     "Jeff was constantly defending me from those who didn’t like me,… only because I was a Drule.  I went through Academy training, and I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Jeff."  Tangor continued, "I promised him that I would return the favor for all he has done for me.  I never got the chance,… I’ve failed him."
     "Don’t beat yourself up like that, Tangor."  Ginger said, "It will only hurt more."
     "And so it should."  Tangor muttered gruffly.
     "No, it shouldn’t."  Ginger said being very brave to stand up to Tangor,  "And I’ll make sure I make you know that!"  Ginger concluded somewhat comically standing nose to nose with Tangor as if she wanted to fight.  Tangor had to bend his head downward even more to see her.  Tangor could only smile at this, because she would actually win this one.  Tangor threw up his arms, "All right, you win.  I’m happy now. Satisfied?"  Tangor with faking toughness.  Ginger started laughing, but suddenly stopped when Tangor went rigid.
     "What’s wrong Tangor?" Ginger asked.
     "I hear something,…"  Tangor said.  Tangor looked to the place where Jeff’s ship lie.  He saw an arm move and a piece of wreckage pushed out of the way.
     "Jeff IS alive!"  Instantly Tangor ran toward the wreckage.  Lisa and Krik, saw Tangor run to Jeff’s ship.  Lisa saw what Tangor had seen and also started running towards the wreckage.  Within a few seconds Tangor was already there.  The whole group was now walking toward the wreckage to see what all the commotion was about.  As Lisa ran closer, She saw Tangor trying to lift a heavy metal panel off of Jeff.  "Oh my God!"  Lisa exclaimed as she approached.  Lisa turned to the group.  "We need help over here!"  Lisa shouted.  They all ran down to see if they could help.  Lisa knelt down by Jeff.  She could see clearly that Jeff was loosing blood, and was about to go unconscious.
     "Jeff!… Jeff!  Listen to me!"  Lisa shouted at him.  "You must stay awake!  You hear me?"
     Jeff muttered something incomprehensible.  Tangor was trying hard to lift the panel but it was tied up in all the wiring strewn all over.
    Tangor yelled in pain as his hand grip slipped lacerating Tangor's hands.  The panel almost came crashing down on both Jeff and Lisa.
     "Get out of here!"  Tangor exclaimed, "I don’t want you hurt too."
     "I have to keep Jeff awake! Or he’ll die!  Just be careful"  Lisa said not really knowing what she said to Tangor, she just knew that she couldn’t let Jeff die.
     "Easier said than done."  Tangor grunted as he tried to lift the panel again.  The ship wobbled and looked like it was going to collapse on top of them all.  All of those who were rushing to the scene stopped in their tracks.  Lisa then knew what she had to do.
     "Tangor! You couldn’t lift this panel even if it were smaller than your hand!"  Lisa said angrily, "You are probably one of the weakest aliens I’ve ever seen!"  Lisa was hoping she could get him angry.
     Now, Tangor, at this point was really getting pissed off.  It had been very common for him to hear this at the Academy, and now here?  You could tell he wasn’t going to take it anymore.
     With a loud yell Tangor gradually lifted the heavy panel off of Jeff.  The thick wires tying up the panel were breaking apart one by one.  The whole ship was wobbling uncontrollably.  The rest of the group tried to surround the ship and prevent it from falling on top of the three.
     "Somebody get me some rope!  I’ll see if I can try to keep it up from da back!"  Rocky yelled in his distinctive East Coast accent.  The
    Princess immediately went back to her blue lion to get some rope.
     "Hunk! Modok! I’ll need some help!" Rocky commanded.
     "I couldn’t find any rope but managed to get this cable!"  Princess said running back with some thick steel cable over her shoulder, she was having trouble carrying it but she eventually got it there.  Rocky took the cable from her and examined it for a few seconds.
     "Dis is even better, thanks Princess!"  Rocky said.  Rocky tied one end of the cable into a loop secured by two knots.
     "Hunk, Can ya get this around that small front wing near da nose cone?"  Rocky said handing the cable to Hunk and pointing to where it was to be thrown.
     "No problem!"  Hunk said as he whirled the cable like a lasso over his head.  Hunk threw the cable and got it to tie around the wing that was supposed to be tied onto.
     "All right!  Modok! Come help me pull on dis cable!"  Rocky commanded, and Modok got behind Hunk and Rocky and pulled on the rope.
    They pulled, it was a lot harder than Rocky thought it would be.
     "Ay! We need some more help back here!"  Rocky shouted.  Keith, Krik, Hutch and Shannon came to help.  Shannon took a look at the bottom of the ship.
     "I think it be no good,"  Shannon said in a light Irish accent,  "The thing’s stuck in the mud.  No wonder Tangor be havin’ a hard time!"
     "Well let us not stop trying yet."  Crik said, with an accent that somewhat resembled Indian.
     At the front of the ship Cliff was studying the structure of the ship.
     "Wolo, I need you to stand here and help me hold this end straight."  Cliff commanded.  Wolo rushed and put all the support he could onto that part of the ship.  All the rest were doing their best to hold up their end.
     Tangor lifted as hard as he could on the panel.
     "All right, Tangor!  Just a little higher and Jeff will be freed!"  Lisa shouted.
     "I’m going to loose my grip!"  Tangor managed to say.
    "Hang on, Tangor!"  Lisa exclaimed, "You must!"
    Tangor lifted the panel as much as he could.  Until, finally, Jeff was free and Lisa dragged him out.  Tangor dropped the heavy steel panel and ran out as quickly as he could.  The others in the front ran from the wreckage. The people in the back were about to let go.
Cliff ran in back of the ship, "Ok! Let it go." Cliff shouted.  They released their hold on the cable and the ship came crashing down unfortunately tipping towards the majority of the group from them.
"RUN AWAY!"  Cliff shouted as everyone screamed and shouted as they ran from the path of the rolling wreckage.  With a final loud crash the command shuttle stabilized.
    They all gathered toward the rest of the group.   Tangor's bloody hands cleaned and wrapped in bandages.  Lisa was hugging Jeff already on a stretcher.  Apparently the medics that arrived had stopped the bleeding enough to keep Jeff conscious.
    "Don’t you ever do this to me again! Ever!"  Lisa cried, and did not let go of Jeff for a while.  All of the people in the group started to applaud.
    Ginger ran to Tangor, "Oh! That was so brave of you!"  Ginger leapt up in front of Tangor and kissed him.  Then she giggled afterward as Tangor’s face started to turn a light shade of purple.  They both stared at each other for a while.  Then Ginger jumped up and down happily and ran toward the rest of the group.  Tangor just stood there.
    "Ay Tangor,"  Cliff said as he approached Tangor.  It was obvious that Cliff saw the whole thing.  "I think she’s got the ‘ots for ya."
Tangor walked away toward the group ignoring that Cliff said anything.  Tangor was still watching Ginger.
The group was split up into five groups, one group of three and four groups of two.  Lisa and Jeff were already riding back to the Castle of Lions in an ambulance.  The rest got to ride in the lions since they had no other means of transport now.  Tangor sat in the blue lion with the Princess, he was alone until Ginger boarded.
    "Well,"  Ginger said smiling ear to ear, "We meet again."  The Princess greeted herself to Tangor since she never really got a formal introduction.  Tangor bowed his head to honor a royal person.
    "Oh, Tangor there’s no need for that, I am only a regular person like anyone else."  Allura said.  Just then Cinda boarded the blue lion.  The com-link between the lions was on so they knew who was on what lion, so they didn’t leave anyone behind.  Marvin spoke up over the link.
    "Hey, how come Tangor gets all the women?"
    "Because Tangor is big and strong and heroic."  The women giggled as Ginger said this quite sensuously.  Tangor couldn’t help a smirk of confidence.  Soon all the women in the blue lion looked at Tangor and then they looked at each other.  The Princess shut off the link for a minute.
    "Let’s make a few people jealous!"  The Princess said in a cunning tone of voice.  Ginger and Cinda agreed.  The Princess turned to Tangor and asked if he would play along.  Ginger knew that Tangor wouldn’t, but to her surprise, he agreed.
Over the link they heard the others talking about recent events with Tangor and Ginger.  The women were now commenting on how good Tangor looked.  Tangor sat back and enjoyed it all.  Ginger turned to Allura.  "You know, Tangor is a really good masseuse too."  Ginger said.
    "Oh, really?"  Allura asked, "Tangor, my shoulders feel a little tight from carrying that cable, could you rub them for me."
    "Certainly."  Tangor said quietly.  Tangor moved forward and stared to rub the Princess’s shoulders gently.
    "Wow!  He really is good!  I can never get a good back rub from Keith."  The Princess slightly stressed.  Ginger and Cinda giggled quietly.
    Allura accentuated that by moving the blue lion back an forth in the air.
    "That lucky bastard," Cliff said over the link, "I’d kill to be in Tangor’s place right now."  Some laughing was heard over the link.
    "Princess, you are wobbling off course."  Keith said.  "Oh, am I,… goodness!  I’m sorry Keith but I was just enjoying myself, something you
hardly ever do."  The Princess said stressing her words.
    "Whoa! Keith she really got you good!"  Hunk laughed.
    "Cool it, Hunk!"  Keith snapped.  "And pay attention, we’re approaching the castle!"
    "I think someone’s seeing the green eyed monster of envy."  Lance quipped.
    Keith was fuming, Cliff was riding with him.  "Cheer up Keith, I know Ginger to play these games all the time.  Cliff said.  "I’m just surprised to hear that Tangor is playing along with them."
    They approached the lion’s landing areas and were soon heading into the castle.  The Princess made an announcement to them in a tour guide manner.
    "Okay, people.  Coran has the emergency units tending to the Explorer right now.  I have just got word that everyone on the ship is all right and they should be here shortly."  Allura said, along a few cheers from the group.  "Right now, I’m just wondering if we can fit you all into rooms for the time being."  She turned to Nanny who was now standing next to her.  "Nanny, could you check on that please?"  Nanny nodded and exited the room.  "If any of you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask me or my servants for help.  In the meantime the rec. room is open for your use.  Or, if you want, you can take a swim in the lake."  I hope your stay on Arus will be an enjoyable one especially with all that you went through.  We will also see what we can do to repair Vehicle Voltron with your help."
    Cliff stepped forward, "In absence of the commander, we ‘umbly accept your offer."
    "Good!"  Allura said and they formally shook hands.

TO BE CONTINUED,…