Project Voltron - Part One

Daytime at Galaxy Garrison… The sun shines brightly upon the enormous spaceship like command center.

A tall blonde haired man in his early 40’s dressed a clean white lab coat and the usual scientist-like garb, browses the fiction section of the Garrison Library and Archives. The man awkwardly rushed pulling books halfway out of their places on the shelf and them pushing them back in with a disgusted grunt. The blonde-haired man stood back rubbing his goatee temporarily resembling ‘the thinker,’ but his face looks agitated as he tried to find the book he was looking for. Being relatively tall, just over 6’ 1” he was easily able to reach most of the books near the top of the shelf that he thought was the one he was looking for.

“I could have sworn it was here somewhere…” he muttered to himself as he continued searching, looking at covers and bindings, pulling one book and with a disgusted look replacing it where it originally had been. His eyes darted left and right, up and down as he searched. What seemed like a futile effort resulted in the discovery of a dusty brown book way at the top of the shelf, in a corner, and of all things… misplaced.

“It figures.” The lab coated man grunted as he pulled up a stepstool, got on it and reached as far as his tall gangly body could stretch to grab the dusty old book. He was just able to get a hand on it when it fell out of place and into his hand. The book rested there only briefly then it overturned and slippped through the space between his thumb and index finger. It fell upon his head and then to the floor with a loud papery thud.

Cursing under his breath and rubbing the sore spot on his head, the lab coated man got down from the stepstool and turned to pick up the book. It had fallen open to reveal a sketch of a giant robot-like figure drawn on the right page and some archaic text to the left. The text was very foreign but was somewhat recognizable. He had to do more research.

“Who’s back here?” A woman’s voice nervously called out from around the corner. She turned the corner to see the tall lab coated man picking up the old and dusty brown book.

“Oh, Dr. Loran, it’s you.” She sighed with relief putting her hand to her chest to rest her fluttering heart. She was obviously not used to people being in her section of the building, but the librarian should have guessed the doctor would be there. He was the only usual sight in the archives now and then.

The Librarian just stared at the doctor as he left in a hurry. “Light reading?” she thought to herself with a odd look then shrugged her shoulders and walked back to her desk. She didn’t even bother to ask him if he was going to check the book out. He would return it, he always did.

Dr. Loran quickly rounded a corner and down a hall to the exit of the archive area of the Garrison Library. For the doctor, this was a very important piece of fiction. It was his biggest curiosity. The thoughts of such feats of technology that he thought the book held were too much for him to resist not taking a look. Dr. Loran, slowed his run to a brisk walk as he made his way to the exit of the library. Upon reaching the exit, he set off the alarms. It was then that the doctor realized that he forgot to check the book out. He turned to look at the not so welcoming face of an intimidating looking security guard approaching him with a grimace of contempt which then changed to a half smirk. Although the emergence of the smirk was slightly comforting to the doctor, it didn’t take away from the guards threatening visage. The guard’s eyes looked at him just visible under the typical policeman type hat. Surprisingly, this guard was as tall as the doctor, but much more solidly built, only adding to his threatening stature.

“Forgot to check out again, eh?” The Security Guard with a gold plated name tag emblazoned with the name “Joe” asked somewhat lightning up as he saw who it was leaving the building. “You know this is the fourth time this week… I can’t keep calling the departments to make sure they know you got the book.”

“Uhm… Sorry… I guess I…” Dr. Loran said with some embarrassment as he tried to explain the situation.

“What’s your number?” Joe asked him giving up on the doctor’s explanation with a sigh. He would let the doctor slide again… if many of the library departments trusted him so much; he wasn’t much of a problem… just an inconvenience.

“Um… 435-276-17.” The doctor said with a sigh of relief as he knew he was going to get out of trouble again. Thank goodness for trust.

The Security Guard grunted. “I should have known already. I had to have heard it a million times.”

Picking up the phone, Joe held out a solid looking hand motioning Dr. Loran to give him the book. Dr. Loran complied and gave Joe the book. Joe quickly looked at the tag on the book’s spine and proceeded to dial the Archives Dept.

Dr. Loran stood there somewhat embarrassed for having set off the alarms for the fourth time. The book was being verified by the Archives Manager, who just happened to be the lady who saw him bolt out of the aisle with the book that that Joe was calling about.

“Uh, Yeah… This is Joe at the front door; I have Dr. Loran here with a book that he forgot to check out…” Dr. Loran was waiting nervously for the approval of the book. He had to get it back to his office… for the doctor, it was very important.

“Yeah, that’s him.” The Guard chuckled. “His number is 435… 276… 17.” Joe paused to wait for the verification. “Okay then… I’ll tell him.”

Joe put the phone down and handed Dr. Loran the brown book. “You’re free to go.”

“Thank you, sir…” the doctor said politely, you shouldn’t be rude… especially to a threatening looking guard with a face that can turn milk sour with the slightest frown.

“Call me Joe.” The guard replied. “I have a feeling you are going to be a pain in my side.” Joe laughed causing Dr. Loran to laugh with him although somewhat uncomfortably.

“No problem, but don’t do this again… There are such things as checkout counters you know… I suggest you use them.” Joe quipped.

“Yes, sir.” The doctor said as he turned and quickly walked out of the library.

Joe watched as the Doctor practically ran out the door nearly knocking people down in the process. Joe shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and laughed inwardly. “That man has to get a life.”

In the lab complex that Dr. Loran was en route to, another scientist was busy with his own projects. A medium sized medium build man with dark hair and a full beard. His eyes framed by a pair of glasses did not give any intention of the true nature of his actions nor would they reveal any contemplation or mood. The apathetic looking face peered closely at a circuit board as he operated on it with a precision soldering gun.

“Ah, Debbie…” the scientist said without looking up from what he was working on, “it’s about time you got here.”

“Sorry Dr. Strasburg. I got held up in my biology exam,” Debbie replied sheepishly in a lilting British cockney.

“Keep in mind miss, your tardiness can reflect upon your record.” Dr. Strasburg stated bluntly, still keeping his eyes on his work. “Is biology is more important to you than robotics?”

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m trying to get both subjects under my belt so that I can be of better assistance to others.” Debbie said, looking at the ground feeling guilty about being late. Dr. Strasburg did this all the time to her. Even if she was on time the doctor was always on her about what she did or didn’t do last time.

“Professor Randolph Page, sir.” Debbie replied looking up now feeling intimidated by what the doctor might do to blemish her biology record. He did it once before during one of his ‘mad scientist moments’ and things didn’t go right. Dr. Strasburg was a moody, bossy, and two faced creep that she wished she would never have to deal with again after this internship.

“Fine, go to your station for now and I will give you something to work on in a moment.” Dr. Strasburg said still not looking up from his work but managing to lift a hand waving her away.

Debbie went to a small table in the corner of the room that had been scattered with tools. She had sworn the table had been cleaned and organized before she left but now she had to do it again. Debbie proceeded to clean the table… again when Dr. Strasburg, still not looking up from his work, chimed in condescendingly. “Oh, and clean up that mess you made yesterday.”

This infuriated Debbie. She was beginning to lose her patience with Dr. Strasburg. But she kept herself from losing her composure by telling herself that it was just a test to see what her tolerance limit was. Even though he had been constantly nagging and bossing her around almost to the point of abuse ever since she started (which was about a month ago), it was the only thing that kept her composure intact.

She sighed and proceeded to place the tools back in the proper boxes and places where they should have been and where they were when she left. She assumed that Dr. Strasburg was in one of his moods when he couldn’t find a specific tool and decided to rummage for it here. But she dare not confront him about it. There were a couple boxes on the table that were in the way. She knew they went in a closet like room that seemed to also be a drawing room for some of Dr. Strasburg’s creations. But no matter when she was in there the only thing she saw in regards to these ideas were put away in cardboard tubes with numbered labels on them, no descriptions. Debbie dare not ask Dr. Strasburg about any of them for fear of heat of Dr. Strasburg’s rather volatile temper. Avoiding the doctor’s wrath, she decided to put the boxes of tools and other items in the closet without asking… She wouldn’t turn the light on, just use the light from the entrance. The tools were near the door anyway. So she strode silently to the door with the two boxes. One box was under her arm, and the other supported by the other arm against her chest. Debbie struggled to open the door, but managed to get it open without too much trouble. Looking quickly back at the doctor, she saw that he didn’t notice anything. She never knew what upset that man anymore. When Debbie turned back to put the boxes on a nearby shelf, she noticed a light on and one of the tubes sitting open next to a drawing table as she put the first box away. Curiosity got the best of her at this point and she moved a little closer putting the second box on a shelf further into the room. Debbie could make out the general shape of one large robot in the center… along with three other smaller ones below it. A few gizmos, computer cards, and wires littered the drawing in specific areas. This must have been what the doctor had been working on… it may have explained his temper as well. He seemed to have been working on it for a while. Maybe Dr. Strasburg was just stressed out. Just as she began to gain some respect for her instructor, she turned around only to see the scowl of Dr. Strasburg in her face.

Startled, she jumped back and knocked over the drawing table and the items on it. Debbie hit the ground hard the items fell to the floor around her.

“Look what you’ve done you stupid girl!” Dr. Strasburg spat with a rage Debbie had never seen before.

Debbie looked down as she began to look up only to notice one of the drawings up close. The drawing did not have Dr. Strasburg’s name on it. The name on the drawing was one of a Dr. Robert H. Loran. Her eyes darted to another one as she continued to rise from her rag doll like position. She saw the same thing when she looked at most of the other drawings on the floor. When she was almost halfway up, she was yanked up by her arm by Dr. Strasburg and practically slammed against a wall with her arm painfully held behind her back.

“I won’t tell…” Debbie began but was interrupted by a violent tug of her hair.

“You’re hurting me!” Debbie shouted as she tried to pull her hair out of the doctor’s grasp.

“You’ll be in for worse if you talk!” Dr. Strasburg threatened. “You’re career here in the Alliance is already over. I don’t think you’d want anything worse than that.”

Dr. Strasburg violently released his grip on Debbie and shoved her out the door of the room.

All Debbie could do was to grab her things and quickly stumble out the door of the lab nearly in tears.

* * *

Dr. Loran was practically back to a full sprint as the thought of the discoveries that the book he checked out could possess. Dr. Loran practically lived and breathed this kind of work. The thought of a living robot with it’s own artificial intelligence was astounding to him. He wanted to see if the legend could aid him. If anything, the ‘tale’ this book told would inspire him to finish his latest project successfully. He would have been done sooner had his first project not been taken away from him without any explanation what so ever by Garrison Command. All he knew was that it’s head man was not the most trustworthy of men. He ran toward a large metal door leading to the many labs, workstations, and scientist’s offices. Pulling his keycard out of his pocket (and nearly flinging it across the hall in the process as it almost flew out of his hand) he ran into the wall with the card entry key. He couldn’t stop himself, he was too curious to know what the book he had would contain. Finding the book was like finding the Holy Grail of technology. He needed to know more.

The door opened with a hiss and not waiting for it to open all the way he dashed through it partially open. He continued down the hall at a full sprint toward his lab. It practically pained him that it was rather far away because it was so large. Being one of the head scientists in the Garrison (and well respected by many of the Garrison’s top brass… with some exceptions) he was able to grab himself one of the huge labs for major projects… like building robots. He couldn’t wait for the future discoveries that were in store… all he had to do was round a corner and past Dr. Strasburg’s lab.

Dr. Loran bounded around the corner only to see a dazzling looking woman heading right for him. Under the influence inertia he couldn’t stop himself before he ran head long into the woman just as she looked up at him with no time to react. The spectacular and comical collision of the two resulted in an independence day of paper and other things including Dr Loran’s coveted book into the air. Both of them fell to the floor. Dr. Loran being the taller of the two landed on top of Debbie in a rather compromising position.

“Get off of me!” Debbie shouted, pushing Dr. Loran off of her roughly. Debbie gets up off the floor staring daggers into Dr. Loran’s eyes. Dr. Loran sat up feeling a little threatened.

Without a word, the doctor picked up one of Debbie’s papers and handed it to her. Debbie snatched it back from him rather violently to display her dislike for the situation. After all she had been through; she did not need more inconveniences.

“You’re Dr. Loran!” Debbie said with some amazement. There she was, looking at a mentor that she’d only heard stories about before.

“Yeah, I’m Dr. Loran.” The doctor said rolling his eyes. “Thank you for picking up the book. But I must be on my way now.”

“No, wait!” Debbie said stopping him. “You are one of the people that got me into robotics. I admire your work.”

“Yeah, yeah… people tell me that all the time.” Dr. Loran said not looking at her, dismissing the comment as usual.

“I don’t do internships or co-ops if that is what you are asking.” Dr. Loran muttered. “My work is not student level.”

“I know.” Debbie started picking up papers again. “But I would really appreciate your guidance in this field. I am having so much trouble with my class work.”

“I am a scientist, not a tutor.” Dr. Loran said quickly and was about to walk off.

“But I need help and you are the best… not like my instructor.” Debbie pleaded openly. She had to gain the doctor’s trust she wanted to know what he knew.

“Oh? And who is your instructor?” Dr. Loran asked unable to contain the curiosity.

“He said he is going to report me to Professor Page!” Debbie spilled; the whole recall of the situation was too much for her. All she could do was vent now.

“Did you say Professor Page?” Dr Loran asked. His attention to Debbie was now peaked.

“Yes doctor.” Debbie said still sobbing but sounded as if she was recovering from the torrent of feelings that had previously flooded her mind.

Dr. Loran started thinking about the situation. He and Dr. Strasburg did not get along well at all. And it was a while since he had a chat with the Professor. Dr. Loran was beginning to think about having some help around his lab and what better way to anger Dr. Strasburg than to take a student he couldn’t teach and give her the status of Dr. Loran’s protégé.

“Okay Debbie… I was thinking about having a chat with the old professor. Would you like to come with me?” Dr. Loran asked with a smile.

Dr. Loran turned around rolling his eyes. He was beginning to wonder if taking her in was really a good idea or not.