From Janitor to Astronaut: A Survival Guide
The Saviour
By: Karen Walker (Serris)
Beta/Edited: Stephanie Watson (SLWatson)
2000



Awareness came to Joel in a stiff muscled mass.  His neck ached horribly as his lifted his head from the table, and a small computer chip stuck to the side of his face.  Wiping the little piece of some dismantled computer from his cheek, he listened to it hit the floor with a tiny metallic clink, before looking around the room he had made his building base.

It took a long moment for the inventor to realize that the lights were back to being bright, and with the heavy jacket, his hands and his face were the only indicators that told him the temperature was up.  Shaking his head and pulling off the thick coat, he wondered if the two doctors had taken mercy on him, but the absence of his creation tipped him off to believe that he might have been successful.

Stretching his sore, taut muscles, he started his way out of the room and into the hallway.  As he looked around, he tried to figure where the robot might have gone, but the ship was large, and he didn't know it well enough to have it memorized yet.  So, he started walking, first down the left side of the hall, and after he finished that, he'd go down the right side.

The Satellite of Love seemed like an endless loop of cooridors and half empty rooms, all of which were hard for Robinson to decipher, but in a pinch he knew he could find his way back to some landmark or another.  Still, he couldn't help but wonder why a company would spend millions to build a satellite, and then use it for the storage of horrible things like hamdingers and old catalogs for Sears and Roebuck.

Shaking his head, he picked up one of the stray magazines... Mad Scientist Digest.  He smirked slightly, figuring that Dr. Forrester had left it behind until he realized why the satellite seemed to be in the shambles; Larry and Clayton had somehow managed to sneak onto the SOL and turn it into their own.  They had stolen the ship from the Institute and shot Joel into space for some wierd experiment they had concocted.

Harshly throwing the magazine against the wall out of hate, or spite, or some horrible emotion that boiled in his blood, Joel shook his head.  Kicking a piece of broken plastic across the room, he angrily shoved his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit. "Why me?  Of all the people who work at that place, why did they pick me?!" He asked into the air, his voice growing in intensity and volume.

"Anger doesn't suit you," a high-pitched, raspy female voice answered from behind the inventor.  When Joel turned, he came face to face with his own creation; a purple robot with one large, yellow eye.  From the head, a black piece of conduit was connected and reached across the room and out the door.

"Hey, you can talk!" The man exclaimed, looking over the machine.

"Uh huh," she answered, nodding her bulky head, "And I can sing!"  She started into an off-key version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" before Joel held up a hand.

"That's great!  Are you the one that got the piece of scrap up and running again?"  He looked around, anxiously, a grin playing on his lips.

"That's what you built me for," the robot answered, leaning her head forward and nuzzling Joel's shoulder like a small animal would do when first seeing their parents.

The inventor responded by running a hand over the top of her nose, "Well you're doing a great job...  Hey, what's your name, anyway?"  He gave a somewhat bemused look, though the robot hadn't looked up to see it.

"Name?"  She tilted her head a bit quizically, "I don't have one."

"Well, let's say we give you one, huh?"  He looked over the violet 'bot, walking around her a few times as he massaged his chin a bit.  "Well, there's a lot of purple," he commented, before walking in front of her.  "I always liked the name Gypsy.  What do you think?"

"Rose!" She bounced her head up and down, excitedly.

"You like Rose better?"

"No, no, no, no!!  Gypsy Rose, Gypsy Rose!" She exclaimed, nuzzling her creator once again.

"Sounds good to me," he replied, petting the loving robot once again.  "Well, Gypsy, how did you find your way around this place so fast?"  Joel asked, looking at her yellow eye.

She slithered back away from him. "It's simple!  I'll get you back to the control room," she offered, and started out before Joel could answer her.

She was a fast robot, Joel thought as he followed the metal creature down the hallways.  Somehow she had managed to map the SOL out into her mind and traverse it with ease that only Joel could hope for.  He followed her, trying to note his way between the two points, but he figured he'd be doing a lot of exploring if he hoped to know his way around as well as her.  Still, he desired in the back of his mind to be at home in his own bed, but the satellite hadn't proven to be a bad place to stay... just disconnected.

Returning to the control room, Robinson watched as Gypsy circled around the console and started back out the door with her amazingly long tail.  Baffled, he looked after her for a moment, standing behind the console before deciding to protest, "Wait, don't go," the lonely man then added, "stay a while and we'll talk or something."

"Can't talk," came her reply, called from down the hallway, "I have to get some work done, you know.  It's my job."  He voice faded long before her tail left the control room.

Sighing, the builder leaned his elbows on the console and set his chin in his hands, looking over at the camerabot who watched his actions so carefully.  The small robot clicked and whirred, as if trying to talk to his human counterpart, but Joel never seemed to understand what he was trying to say.  So, quite simply, he panned in to get a close up of the man, then backed away to watch him quietly.

The peace and serenity were absurd to Joel.  Even when he was at home he could pick up the phone and call someone, despite the fact that he was usually a loner.  Why did he have such a problem with needing companionship, then?  Probably due to the fact that he was floating aimlessly in orbit around the Earth, and he couldn't leave even if he tried.

Maybe NASA would save him, he wished, moving over to look out the window.  Lord, he would have given anything to see the stars so brightly from his apartment window.  They were always his escape as a child when he wasn't able to build things, but as an adult, they were his captor.

Shaking his head, he made his way back towards his room, followed by the filming robot.  He almost drug his feet as he went, his head dipped nearly to his chest, and a hand rubbing the back of his head.  Boy, it still hurt from when he smacked it against the wall, but the last thing he'd probably find on the ship was a bottle of tylenol, so he chalked it up to experience and flopped down on his homemade hammock.


Sleep took the man a lot faster than he had expected, and when he had just started to dream, a voice was there to wake him up.  He didn't want to get up from the warm bed, but the tone was urgent, and when he opened his eyes, Gypsy was hovering over him.  "Joel!  Joel!" She nearly yelled, looking down at him.

"What?  What is it, Gypsy?  Something wrong?"  He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes as the robot bobbed anxiously.

"The doctors are calling," she squawked, starting out the doorway.

"Hey, maybe they're bringing me home." He smiled, jumping up from out of the hammock and running out into the hallway.  The jog was a bit slippery in just his socks, and he wasn't exactly sure where his shoes had went, but if he was getting off the space locked prison, he didn't care.

Barely skidding to a halt at the console, he smacked the red button. "Yes, sirs?" He asked, catching his breath.

"Ah, Joeline," Clayton snickered. "I see that you've made yourself at home.  Perhaps you are smarter than I thought.  What do you think, Larry?"

The other scientist laughed a bit viciously, "Him? Smart?  Ha!"

"Well, anyway," the lead doctor continued, "how did you get the place warmed up?  You don't seem to be freezing your toes off right now."

"I built this robot, sirs..."  He looked over at Gypsy, who was standing just out of view of Cambot.

"What robot?" Forrester and Erhardt asked in unison, then Clay continued on to say, "I don't see any robots."

"This one," Joe offered, looking back at Cambot for a moment, then to Gypsy.  "Come on, girl," he said, frowning a bit as she shook her head shyly.  "It's alright, nothing's going to happen.  Just come right over her," he smiled, moving over a bit as the purple robot slithered in front of Cambot.

"What?!"  The mad scientist glared at sight, mustache twitching, "Touche, Joel.  Just wait, though... you'll be writhing on the floor when you find out what we have in store for you."  Smaking a button, the communications channel was cut and once again Joel was alone with his robots.

"They're mean," Gypsy Rose nearly muttered, starting back towards the door.

"Wait, Gypsy, don't go yet.  Can I ask you some questions?" The inventor asked, walking over and stepping into the hallway with her.

"Sure, Joel, go ahead."

"Well, for one thing, how do you know my name?  I never told it to you..."

"Huh..."  She snorted a bit as if he should know the answer.

"Alright, then how did you know about the doctors?"  He stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop.

"Jooeel..." The violet 'bot looked at him, tilting her head. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yea, yea, I'm fine. What about my shoes?  Where'd they go?"  The man crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.

"I took them off for you," Gypsy said, moving around him and starting back down the hallway.  "And you programmed me to know who you are, and who they are," she finished, disappearing around the corner.

Joel looked completely baffled, staring at the wall that his machine had passed by.  He didn't really remember programming anything like that into the robot, let along the lines of code that would give her the ability to run the ship.  How could she know things that he didn't?  Shaking his head and giving a bit of a sigh, he decided that he wouldn't take a good thing for granted and stepped back into his room, ready to finish his well-needed nap.


Disclaimer:  The story concept was orginally by Lisa Jenkins, but I'm not trying to replace her fic, just give a different side of the situation.  In fact, I absolutely love her fic, I just couldn't bear the thought of it being unfinished.  Also, all characters belong to BBI and I am making no money from this fic.