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It took the wayward travelers a day and a half to get to Minnesota, and they shacked up in Joel's apartment. His restaurant and patents had done well by him, and he had a three bedroom apartment in a quiet complex. Joel really had no interest in getting a house; he would rather invent and tinker than do yard work and general upkeep. The 'bots had immediately gone to wreaking havoc and spent innumerable hours playing with the inventions he had made since the last time he had visited the SOL. Most of them were just toys, such as electronic squirt guns that aimed themselves and a few other odds and ends. He was careful to put the more serious stuff away.

Mike mainly kept quiet, still trying to get over the culture shock. He had protested a few times about Joel using his money to take care of them, but Joel had more than he knew what to do with, and a lot of making up to do. In truth, Mike didn't have a much of choice but to accept Joel's goodwill. He was financially devastated thanks to the 'bots, and for the most part there were very few things he could count on. He could always go to his parent's house, but now that they had come up with the idea to take on NASA and the federal government, he knew he didn't want to drag his folks into it.

So he didn't say much, and devoted his efforts to planning. Mike was good at planning when he wanted to be, and as a big fan of Tom Clancey, he felt sure he had some grasp on the secret agent business. He was more than willing to leave the high-tech stuff to Joel and concentrate on stealth procedures.

After take-out from Hardees and most of a twelve pack of Dr. Pepper, the four of them sat at the kitchen table. Three days had passed since they had gotten to Minnesota and the outskirts of St. Paul, and there were quite a few papers spread out on the warm oak surface, all with some aspect of planning. Mike took charge without even knowing he had done it. "Okay, we know that they have guided tours at Kennedy, and we know that they have pretty tight security," he said, almost to himself. He had that far-off look that screamed of deep thought.

"And I know that with enough clever computer work, I could probably find out at least something about the buildings not on the tour," Joel added. "Did you know that the internet was actually a government project? It was originally created to link different bases and labs across the country so that if WWIII ever happened, they would still be able to coordinate."

"Really? And here I thought it was all eBay's idea," Crow shot back, jokingly.

"Or Microsoft's," Tom groaned.

"I didn't know that." Mike smiled a half-smile, still in his planning mode. "Question is, though, are they still linked by the net?"

"No." Joel shook his head. "The internet servers were turned over to the private industry. The government set up another network using high-speed fiber-optic cables, which work better since they don't depend on the phone system and they can be independently linked... if one server goes down, the others can keep going." He put his laptop case up on the table and opened it.

"But if it's an independent system, how would you tap into it?" Mike leaned forward, trying to get a look at the laptop.

Joel took it out and opened it, the tiny white lettering reading "Macintosh PowerBook" on the very bottom edge of the screen. Hitting the start switch, he looked between the other three with a faintly embarrassed grin. "Well, I kinda..., um, well, I know where the cable runs..."

"Can you actually tap it without them knowing?" Mike asked, eyebrow raised in skepticism.

"I think so." Joel smiled, reaching into the case and pulling out what looked like a black PVC t-joint and a few loops of cable. "I was thinking about it on the way back here; if I could splice their line and wire in my own connection, then reconnect them before they noticed, we would have access to the government network."

"Yea, but wouldn't they notice you?" Crow leaned over, looking at a schematic for the black PVC joint that Joel had called up on the laptop. Inside would be wire connectors, a breaker switch, and something resembling a spark plug. "And what are all those things?"

Mike and Tom both made their way over, taking a look over Joel's shoulder, and he pointed to the wire connectors. "What I'm going to do is attach one end of the original fiber-optic cable here. Then I have a homemade split wire, and our length will come out here," he pointed to the branch off part of the joint, "and I'll reattach the original to the other end and it'll continue."

"What if they find it?" Tom queried, hovering back slightly.

Joel grinned. "See that?" He pointed to the spark-pluggish thing, "That'll be sealed off. When they open up the PVC or if they cut the wire, then it'll send an electrical signal via remote. At the other end, I'm going to rig it to set off an acidic reaction so it can eat it's way backwards through the cable."

"Can't they trace it?" Mike looked close at the schematic, pretty impressed so far by Joel's ingenuity. "Just follow it back to us?"

"Nope!" Joel shook his head. "I'm going to have it connecting to the major internet line through Chicago, and then use the net to get it here. Only problem with that is, it's only a one-way linkup. We can see everything they send over the line, but we can't send any information back... just watch and hope that we get something useful."

Mike paced the kitchen for a moment, thinking. If there were some way to get the information sent over the line rather than playing file fishing, it would cut their time dramatically. "Do you know anyone personally working for NASA?"

"Not really. I sort of know the guys that they sent when they were looking at the ETRTV I invented, but I think they were probably from the FBI or something and just working for NASA at that point," Joel sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"ETRTV?" Crow sounded less than impressed with the acronym.

"Extra Terrestrial Rough Terrain Vehicle," Joel snickered. "Basically it was a really heavy duty remote controlled toy truck with a camera, motorized arms, and some electrical sensor stuff."

Mike blinked. "How much did they buy it for...?"

Joel laughed, "Seven figures. It only cost me $231 to make it, too... and the most expensive parts were the mini-cams and the sensors."

"Oh God," Mike groaned, flopping down in a chair and giving Joel a look. "You sit there and make a neat toy, they buy it for massive amounts of money... I can't even get more than a minimum wage job." He shook his head, laughing, "I'm impressed."

"Eh. I just kinda got lucky, really." Joel shrugged, modestly. "Some guy who worked for NASA some time back saw it and we started talking. Next thing I knew, I had three guys in black suits knocking on my door. They were polite and all, but I don't think they would have left without the ETRTV, so I just said the first number that came to mind, the guy wrote a check, and they walked out with it."

"This guy still work for 'em?" Servo asked.

"Nu uh. He's retired."

"Would he help?" Mike sat up straight again, looking hopeful.

Joel rubbed his eyes. "I doubt it. He was one of those do as you're told and ask no questions types. I already thought about it, but it's not worth the risk."

"What about the... RT.. ER... um, the toy truck with arms?" Crow looked at the laptop thoughtfully, "Why couldn't you use it?"

"Already under their control. I'd have to be able to bounce a signal off a satellite and they probably changed frequencies..." Joel's voice trailed off as he got a look of realization. "But I could scan and wait until I have the right one, and I do have a satellite phone."

"You gain control, have the robot find Gypsy and Cambot, and have them tap into the computers direct to send the stuff we need!" Mike finished, grinning brightly at the new idea.

"Better yet, why not have the thingy just free 'em?" Servo suggested. "You wouldn't even have to go in. We could just watch from outside."

"Better to go in ourselves. There's only so much you can do remote control." Joel typed a few things in on the laptop, minor design improvements on his fiber-optic cable splitter.

Mike nodded in agreement. "Yea. If something went wrong, we might have to compensate with a trick that the ER... um, ET... no, the--"

"ETRTV," Joel tossed in.

"That thing wouldn't be able to pull off," Mike continued, unfazed. There were tons of things they needed to find out, but with some clever thinking, they could probably pull it off. First of all, what if the high-tech toy couldn't find the other two 'bots? Could they find another way to get the information? If someone found the ETRTV, would they be able to trace the signal back to them? More questions than answers, but they were at least a little closer to a solution.

The rest of the evening was spent quietly. The 'bots watched TV in the living room, riffing away as usual. Mike sat in a recliner, reading a book he had stolen off of Joel's shelf and thereby was completely oblivious to the world around him. Were someone to yell fire, he probably wouldn't even hear them. Joel worked at his workbench, the bright lamp over it on so he could see to connect wires, solder pieces, and finish his cable splitter.

He generally didn't think when he invented. Most times it was as though his hands moved for themselves, guided by a force beyond. Sometimes they were toys, sometimes gizmos to make life easier; times like this he had more thought into it, though, for this was something very important.

Still, he hadn't thought when he had created the 'bots. One moment they were nothing more than odds and ends, and then next they were living beings, capable of thought and feeling. He was never able to do anything quite so extraordinary since then, though he had made some nifty little gadgets. They were his crowning achievement and the more time he spent with them, the more he realized just how badly he had missed having them around. It was almost as though a gap had been filled inside of him. Joel had no family left, no wife or children; in all honesty, the 'bots were the closest thing he had to family and now that they were there, he found himself wondering why he didn't rescue them before, or worse still, why he left them when he had the opportunity to bring them to Earth.

There were a million reasons, but at that moment, none of them seemed to hold up. At the time, he had been having some trouble financially, he had just lost yet another girlfriend, and when he went back to the SOL, it was more to escape than anything else. But then he got there, and saw the 'bots and that he had been replaced. It hurt quite a bit to think that they didn't need him around, and as odd as it sounds, that they didn't seem any worse for wear. After years of wondering what happened to them and worrying about them, it was a harsh smack to see that they had been okay all along and that he wasn't needed. So when the time came, he convinced himself that they would be fine and they would find their own way.

Now when he looked back, it struck him as a selfish thing to do. Yes, the time he spent on the SOL really was the best of his life. But things were different from when he was there. Pearl was in control and it seemed like a lot of the real light and warmth about the atmosphere had died. He was waiting for them to ask about it, wondering how he would reply. How he would justify leaving them behind.

He would never do it again.

Looking down, he realized that the connector was finished. He hadn't even realized when he was off in thought that he had been working the entire time. Glancing over, he noticed Mike still had his nose buried in a book, and Tom and Crow were offline, racked out on his living room floor. He tested the connector with an ohmmeter, finding it worked how he expected it would, then turned off the bright light.

Mike looked up; he had been using it to read instead of the mellow lights in the high ceiling. It was one of the few things that could tear him away from a book, aside from forceably taking it from him. "Finished?" he asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Joel nodded, holding up the little t-joint. "Yep. Works like a charm."

"Good," the farmboy replied, setting the book aside and standing. Another bad aspect of being lost in a different world was being in one position for hours on end. He stretched, various joints cracking in protest.

"Owwww..." Joel cringed at the sound. "Geez, that sounds like a giant bowl of rice crispies!"

Mike grinned. "Where do you think they got the sound effects for the commercials?" he asked, picking the snoozing 'bots up.

Joel offered to take one, and Mike handed him Tom. Joel headed off, opening the door to the room that the 'bots had claimed for their own; if they had their way, each would have their own room and Mike would be on the couch, but as it was the arrangement worked pretty well. He put Tom down on the bed and Mike walked to the other side, carefully setting Crow down. After they were both tucked in, Mike flicked the lights off and stepped out into the hall quietly, not wanting to disturb them. A moment later, after making sure they were okay, Joel followed.

"Least they aren't trying to stay up all night," Mike yawned, leaning on the off-white wall momentarily.

"Yea," Joel agreed, echoing the yawn. "It's impossible to sleep when they're up."

Mike smiled a bit, more than a few memories of midnight attacks on his sleeping form running through his mind. They had made him over a few times, tried once to shave him bald, and repeatedly crashed cymbals over his bed. Where they got cymbals was beyond him, but he knew better than to ask. "Yea. Never know what they'll do to you."

Joel laughed, "I remember once they ducttaped me to the bed and tickled my feet with a goose feather. I was begging them to stop, and I finally had to bribe them with cookies."

"Oh man..." Mike shook his head, chuckling, "Between that and their face painting, I'm amazed we made it out alive."

"Me too." Joel smiled, walking back to the kitchen. Mike followed, and Joel sat down at the table, looking over the plans. "We'll have to go and tap into the line. I'm still trying to work out what to do to keep the system from going down while I put the router on."

"Hey," Mike said, totally off-topic, and leaning against the kitchen counter, "Did you really mean all that stuff you said back on the SOL when you came back, or was that a cop-out?"

Joel blinked. He didn't mince words, did he? Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, "Honestly?"

Mike nodded. He had been wondering how someone could completely act different from the first time they had met to the second. It didn't stem from any sort of anger or resentment, more from curiosity.

"I think I was kind of jealous," Joel admitted, speaking slowly. "I expected the 'bots to be alone, and I thought I could just go and get them. I finally managed to get the escape pod I got away on modified so it would make the trip, things were going kind of rough down here, and if I got there, maybe I would stay instead."

"'Cept you were replaced," Mike interjected, picking up a warm and half-finished can of pop from where he had left it earlier and taking a sip.

"Exactly." Joel nodded, setting the paper down and leaning back in his chair. "I wasn't mad, really. More hurt than anything. They seemed to be doing just fine, and I thought, 'Well, it's not like they need me anymore', so I updated the systems and hightailed it out of there."

Mike nodded again, but didn't say anything. The past few days had given him a chance to get to know the man he had replaced on the SOL, and it didn't take him long to consider Joel a friend. When it came down to it, they were the only two humans on Earth who understood what the other had been through, and he had no wish to throw that away over something that had happened in totally different circumstances.

"Did they say anything?" Joel asked, breaking into that train of thought, sounding very much like he was afraid to find out.

"Not much," Mike opted for honesty, "I know it bothered them, but they didn't say anything to me about it."

Joel winced. The last thing he had ever wanted to do was hurt the beings he himself had created. Taking another deep breath, he looked up at Mike. "I'm not leaving them again."

Mike smiled slightly, replying very simply, "I know."

And with that, both of them turned back to their respective roles, feeling better. Mike headed off to the bedroom he had ended up with, and Joel went back to work on the plan.