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"And this way, you'll see a set of pictures ordered chronologically, showing the progression of man into space. As you can see, some of the first devices invented for the purpose were somewhat primitive, but over the years, we've greatly improved our success rate." The stewardess was dressed in something akin to a stewardess uniform, with
a short dark skirt and uniform blouse, and her hair was braided. She drew an appreciative glance from Mike and Joel, but aside from a quick mental notation on their part, they ignored her for most of the tour.
The guided tour lead them into Kennedy Space Center, though most of the buildings that the two men were interested in most certainly were not on the tour. Still, they were just waiting to get to a particular point before slipping away from the group. Joel managed to smuggle in what little gear they could carry, including a controller for the ETRTV. Now it was just a matter of getting to Gypsy and Cambot before they ended up caught.
The plan had been worked out hastily, but it wasn't halfcocked. They were waiting to get to a junction point and slip into the ventilation system. From there, they had the ETRTV homing them in. Once close to it's position, Joel would have the little device lead the way to the big hanger across the way -- it was the only place the remnants of the SOL could possibly be where it wouldn't be in the way. And it was presumably where Gypsy and Cambot were as well.
Outside the fence, waiting in the car, Tom and Crow watched a little screen that had Mike and Joel's location on it. They didn't really like being left out of the action, though they also didn't want to be caught and dissected or some other odd and unhappy thing. So they sat in the car, watching the screen and breaking into the occasional argument.
"Wolverine would kill Batman."
"Do you have some circuits loose?! Batman can kick anyone's butt, and everyone knows it."
"Suuuure, Crow. Once he's finished washing his tights."
It wasn't hard for the desperadoes to slip away; in fact, it was a lot easier than either had expected it to be, and it left them wondering just where their tax money was going to if NASA didn't have decent security. They weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, however. Flushed red from excitement and humming the Mission: Impossible theme, Mike and Joel slipped into a closet.
Above was a grate, and Mike didn't have too much trouble reaching up and unlatching it. Once finished with that, he boosted Joel up to look around.
"Doesn't look like anything major, security wise," Joel commented, looking down.
Mike replied with an affirmative sort of sound, straining a bit to keep the other man aloft.
Joel took his time, though, before pulling himself up into the shaft. It was a lot bigger than he thought it would be... most vent shafts were narrow and required belly crawling. This one allowed a little more head room, though. He looked down at Mike, who was in search of something to stand on so he could pull himself up as well. "C'mon, it isn't that hard."
Mike shot him a look, pulling a step ladder over. "Hey, not all of us are under 150, you know." He climbed up and got a grip on the edge, and after struggling for a long moment and having Joel help, he finally managed to get himself up. Catching his breath, he sighed, "Okay, time to lose some weight."
Joel snickered, starting along the narrow passage. He moved as quietly as humanly possible, and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Isn't this about the time you start fattening up for winter?" He asked, ribbing his partner mercilessly.
Mike followed after a moment, rolling his eyes with a quiet chuckle. "Least I won't fall over in a good wind, pal."
"You do know what they say about the oak and the reed, right?" Joel took a quick glance at the ETRTV controller and turned off at a branch way in the system.
Mike grinned slightly, following. "Yea, but how many houses do you see made out of reeds?"
"Huh..." Joel edged around a grate, looking down. No one. He continued on the way; they didn't have too far till they reached the ETRTV. "Got a point there."
"Of course." Mike paused a moment to wipe his forehead off. One would think it would be cooler up there, but apparently NASA didn't much care for heavy air-conditioning usage.
Joel smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Maybe this time... but you won't win next time."
"Go ahead and believe that, Joel," Mike replied, perfectly deadpan. "I won't dash your hopes on the rocks too badly. They say that's bad for self-esteem."
"Oh the abuse I tolerate." Joel groaned in mock agony. "You're worse than the 'bots."
Mike gasped in shock, taking a precious moment to hold his hand over his heart. Theatrically, he sniffled, though he kept his voice down. "A mortal wound, thou hast struck me!"
"Let me put you out of your misery before you go too Shakespearean." Joel kept crawling, humming again. A brief moment later, Mike followed his example.
"How can you honestly think that Terry Farrell is better than Helen Hunt?" Servo's voice trembled in righteous fury. "At least Helen Hunt didn't play someone with a worm inside her!"
"Helen Hunt?! Oh please," Crow grumbled. "Besides, it wasn't a worm, it was a symbiote."
"Faaaaaaan-bot!"
"I am not a fan-bot!"
"Next thing we know, you'll be taping pointed ears on your basket," Tom snickered, hovering up to look at the screen. They were almost there.
The ETRTV came to life with the soft whirl of mechanical parts. The camera lens attached to the top of it zoomed in, and up above it, the tiny screen showed the wall that the ETRTV was looking at. Joel smiled, glad to see that his little invention responded to the delicate commands he keyed into the controller.
Mike watched as well, silently. Joel's ingenuity never ceased to amaze him, from the 'bots to the little pen/torch they had to use a turn back for a grate that was stuck. From this point on, they didn't say a word to each other, and it wouldn't be more than ten or twenty minutes until they were reunited with Gypsy and Cambot.
Joel told the little machine to go to the door and exit. From there, they watched as it made it's way down the hall, scouting ahead for the two humans in the ventilation system. Most of the people working in Kennedy were on a lunch break, though the ETRTV passed an office or two that had people working away at computers. Still, the little device was designed well, and it was quiet enough to get past without anyone noticing.
An elevator at the end of the hall proved to be what they were looking for. From there, they would have access to any floor in the building, and to the exits on the other side. Joel nodded Mike ahead, then took some time to get the ETRTV as hidden as it could be before following.
From the elevator shaft, there were limited options as to where to go. Were they to go up or down, they would have to abandon the ETRTV. After so much effort in finding the frequency, the little machine had only done a minuscule amount of work, but the homing signal it provided ensured that finding their way through
the maze in between floors wouldn't give Mike, Joel and the recon more
trouble than strictly necessary.
Mike opened the grate to the elevator shaft, sticking his head out to look and see where the car was. Nothing down... he craned his neck and looked up, then scrambled backwards, wide-eyed, as it settled to a stop just outside of the airway. "Holy..." the farmboy panted, hand over his heart for real this time.
"Close call?" Joel asked, looking past him for a moment, then settling back against the wall.
"You could say that, yea." Mike managed to catch his breath after a time, leaning back as well. It wasn't half as cramped in there for Joel, who seemed to be perfectly comfortable all scrunched up, but Mike hated feeling so constricted. "I think I'm retiring from the secret agent stuff once this is over."
Joel chuckled, glancing over. "Make that both of us. It's fun and all, but I think it's more fun making stuff to do it better."
"Yea." Mike absently retied his shoe, fidgeting. He hoped that elevator car would get out of the way sometime soon. "Know what sucks, though?"
"What?"
"We went to Chicago and risked jail time and it didn't do us any good."
"Yea, that sucked. Know what was cool though?"
"What?"
Joel smiled, looking over at his partner. "The ocean."
Mike tossed a glance over, holding his gaze for a long moment. "Yea... that was definitely cool."
"Think you'll get married someday?" Tom asked this, sitting in the drivers seat of the Cavalier with a yawn. They had long since passed the argument stage and the griping stage, and now they moved on to a little reflection and introspection.
"Yup! She's gonna be beautiful, and she'll have really long legs and long hair and bright white teeth, and--" Crow started chattering.
"Yea, yea," Tom interrupted, then sighed. "But what about personality?"
Crow contemplated that for a moment, thoughtfully. "She'll have a really good sense of humor. And she'll be really friendly."
"I think I'll marry a girl who can sing." Tom looked at the screen, then back at the world outside. "That way we can sing duet."
"She'll have to like to bake cookies..."
"And she'll have to like Joel and Mike."
"Definitely."
"Think they're okay in there?" The red 'bot fidgeted as well as he could, more worried than he would let on in front of Crow.
Crow looked towards the hanger. "I hope so. I hope we'll be on our way home with Gyps and Cambot in an hour, and we can all go home and not ever worry about it again."
"C'mon," Joel whispered, gesturing Mike out from behind a dumpster. They had finally gotten outside; the hanger was so close that they could see the detail in the building. One last leg of the journey now, and they would be successful in their mission..
The last run was in the open. There was no cover between them and the hanger, and it wouldn't take much for them to be spotted. Neither man had given any thought to getting back out... there would be time enough for that later, and right now they had more to worry about getting in.
Mike eyed the distance, working it out in his mind to the best of his abilities. The fastest route would probably take them less than a minute, but it was still less than a minute that they would be out in the open and vulnerable. After looking over the entire route, he said quietly to Joel, "I think it we took a straight shot from here to the corner, we'd have the best chances."
"Agreed," Joel replied, noting the path himself. He looked across the lot, noting that no one was watching. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming himself, then looked to Mike, who was in the process of doing the same. "Ready?"
Mike nodded seriously, looking from Joel to the building. Another breath, try to keep up. Don't stumble, don't look back, just get to the building.
Another breath.
Joel gave the signal, and the two men took off as fast as they could. Joel was faster, naturally, but he kept pace with Mike anyway, who wasn't exactly running at a snail's
pace. Halfway across, then three quarters, and finally they got to the door of the massive hanger. Joel reached for the latch.
It was locked.
"They're at the hanger." Crow's voice had some concern worked in it, as he looked at the screen and commented. "Why aren't they going in?"
"I dunno," Servo answered, hovering up to look out over the center. They couldn't see the hanger from the angle they were at, but he looked anyway. "Hope they're okay... what if they get caught?"
"We rescue 'em," Crow answered, solemnly.
The metal latch didn't yield. It held fast, leaving the two trespassers open to being spotted, and the chances of that kept growing for every second they were visible. Joel worked feverishly at it, trying to slip his pocket knife in between and slip it free, but the blade was too wide. Mike kept an anxious eye out, getting jittery.
It was then that the inventor came up with an idea. He fished through his pockets, finally coming up with the ball-point torch. There wasn't much left to the battery, but with any luck he would be able to coax enough of a beam to cut the lock and get them in. Fumbling with nerves and the fear of getting caught, he unscrewed the cap...
The door opened.
Mike leapt back, eyes wide, and brought his fists up instinctively. Joel's reaction was similar, though he dropped the pen torch, and got ready to make a run for it. They couldn't fail this close to their goal...
A scrawny looking scientist with a pair of wire-rim glasses looked between them. "Oh! Oh my..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
Mike reacted quickly, grabbing the scientist by the collar and pushing him against the wall, as Joel grabbed for the phone. They had no intentions of hurting the man, but if they were to be caught now, there would be no chance to escape. Two beings they loved in front of them, and two behind them proved to be too much to risk. "Drop it," Mike said softly, trying not to sound too threatening. He was built tall enough and strong enough to make good on a threat, and the last thing he needed or wanted was this little guy screaming.
"B-but..." The scientist stammered, wide-eyed with fear.
"We don't want to hurt you or anyone else," Joel said, keeping his voice as quiet and soothing as he could. "We're just here to make sure our friends are okay."
Slowly the little man nodded, and Mike let go of his shirt. The scientist shakily readjusted his glasses. "Um... actually, Miss Gypsy has been ex-expecting you, and she sent me to come and let you in before you destroyed anything else." He hastily held up his hands. "Her words, not mine."
"You're joking..." Joel raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"No, nonono." The man's Adams apple bobbed up and down a few times, and he peered at Joel. "Joel Robinson...?" He then looked over at Mike, who wore a look of complete and total bemusement. "And Mike Nelson, right?"
In unison, both men nodded dumbly. How the heck could she have known? Had they crawled through the vents for nothing? Gone to Chicago for nothing? Well, yea... that trip hadn't ended up with any real purpose, but the rest of it? Finally Joel got his voice back. "Is she here?"
"Oh yes, she's wonderful," the scientist replied, motioning them inside. "She corrected several new designs for shuttles, and devised a better fuel, and she's even upgraded our networking systems." He turned and walked back into the hanger, moving with a nervous kind of speed.
Joel followed, and Mike caught up after scratching his head in total confusion. The inventor stretched his stride to keep up with the quick man. "You mean, she knew the whole time?"
"Yes, and she wasn't very happy about how you decided to crawl through the air conditioning system instead of continuing the tour. She wanted to surprise you, but you guys were gone too quick." White labcoat swishing behind him, the man walked through a door that partitioned the hanger.
Mike skipped a few steps to catch up, looking around in amazement. It looked even bigger on the inside, and there were pieces of shuttles and rockets all around. In a wonder that dated back to long before his own jaunt into space, he thought about the astronauts he had admired, and about how they had been among childhood heroes. Perhaps they had taken these rockets and shuttles into space. For a moment, he almost forgot that he had more space experience than any of them, and remembered a time sitting in the living room of his parents house, watching the shuttle launch. Then he followed into the other half of the hanger and stopped.
"Gypsy!" Mike and Joel both cried at the same time. The purple 'bot was there, talking with another scientist.
She looked up, the single eye glowing bright. "Joel! Mike!" Gypsy temporarily forgot about how much trouble they had caused in the past weeks, and took in the sight of them. Joel, who had created her and given her years of love and happy memories, and Mike, who had made her laugh and given her someone to watch out for... both there, not more than a few yards away. She slithered her way over, and Cambot appeared from behind some crates, buzzing over as well.
Joel put his arms around her as well as he possibly could, laughing just for the sake of it. "How have you been? Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," she reassured, in her high-pitched voice, nuzzling his shoulder with her massive nose. Joel stepped aside, and she nearly ended up knocked over by Mike. "Oof!"
"We thought you were in trouble, and we went to Chicago, and then we came here, and we thought we would look for you--" Mike started babbling, pausing for a second to kiss her on the nose before continuing, "--And then we climbed up and I nearly got beheaded by the elevator, then we though we'd gotten caught..."
Joel listened as Mike continued exaggerating on the story, standing aside with Cambot and smiling. The camera bot bumped his leg, and he smiled all the wider for it, kneeling down to carry on his own one-sided conversation.
After another few minutes, the scene settled down somewhat, and Gypsy introduced her new cohorts. "Mike, Joel, this is James..." She nodded to the little scientist who had startled her humans outside. "And here we have Tod and Joe." She then nodded to two other men who were smiling. "We work together."
"What do you do?" Joel asked, finally taking a moment to look around. The place was pretty darn neat.
"Everything," the purple 'bot replied. "Worked on the space shuttle, and on the computer systems, and I even found a way to save them money on fuel."
"She's been an angel." A deep voice echoed through, causing almost everyone to turn around and look to see who it was. A man in a black suit and tie walked over, eyeing Joel and Mike. "You two, however, have caused a great deal of grief."
"This is Mr. Janson," Gypsy said. "He's the supervisor here."
Mike looked at his feet, shuffling nervously. "We didn't mean to cause trouble..."
"Which is why you aren't locked in prison right now," Janson answered, curtly. "If Gypsy hadn't done so much for us and defended you two so strongly, you would be behind bars."
Joel and Mike exchanged a glance, and Joel spoke up, clearing his throat nervously. "Well, if there's any way we can make it up..." His voice trailed off, and he shrugged slightly.
Janson looked between the two men, lips pursed. "If we ever hear anything about either of you again, I will personally slap the cuffs on. If you so much as breathe a word about any of this, you will be locked away for the rest of your lives, and I will swallow the key."
The dynamic duo exchanged a glance, but they didn't dare say a word. If their intuition was correct, then the government knew about everything. About the Chicago run, the ETRTV... everything. And, if anything this man was saying was true, they had a chance of surviving it without imprisonment. Mike tossed a glance of serious appreciation at Gyspy. She had to have put forth a lot of hard work and moneysaving for these people to have that sort of pull.
"Here's the deal," Janson broke into their thoughts. "Gypsy here has done a lot for us. She's also managed to keep you two desperadoes from getting in too deep. Now you can visit for as long as you like, but once you leave this complex, I don't want to see either of you any where near here. Got that? No tours, no calling, not even a postcard."
Mike nodded quickly and Joel answered for them, "Yes sir."
"If you go to the news, if you go to the paper, you'll be fried. If you so much as mention this in a drunken blur to a deaf mute, you'll be fried," the besuited man continued. After listing another couple of taboos, he finished, "Got all that?"
Once again, the guys nodded. "Yes sir."
Janson nodded himself and turned to walk out, leaving the men and the 'bots to talk. Once out of view, they relaxed, and Mike let out a breath he had been holding for quite awhile. "How...?"
Gypsy would have smiled if she could have. "I figured out who had jumped on the government network, but you did a good job scrambling the signal back, Joel... I couldn't send a message. And I have access to all of the security cameras here, so I knew you were on a tour. I was waiting in the main building until you decided to get into the vents, then I had to come back here to finish something on a timetable."
"Wanna see Tom and Crow?" Joel grinned, just wanting to enjoy their time together before they had to head back home.
"I would like that," Gypsy answered, laughter in her voice.
"I did so tell you that she'd pull it off!" Tom's voice echoed well ahead of him.
"Did not!" Crow's higher voice didn't sound so strong, but it didn't matter.
They continued on that track until they stepped in, then they both shut up for a moment. Tom finally spoke up, a tiny little quaver in his voice, "Yo, Gyps."
"Hey guys," she said, watching them to make sure they didn't break anything, purely out of reflex. "How do you like Earth?"
"It's kinda neat," Crow replied, as casually as he could. "Has it's charms, I guess."
Gypsy nodded. "That's good."
A silence fell for a brief time, as the two little 'bots looked around and their humans stood back and watched. A pin dropping could have been heard in the massive hanger, and the silence itself seemed to roar in white noise, as a moment of quiet settled in. Then there was motion. Crow and Tom moved across the distance like a blur of red and gold, throwing themselves at the two other 'bots and chattering away a mile a minute. For a moment, the hanger sounded like the SOL had not all that long ago.
Joel and Mike exchanged a look, smiling. After all of the risk, it was worth it to see everyone happily reunited. Then Joel walked over to join the fray, and Mike watched a moment longer, before turning to complete a personal mission of his own.
What was left of the SOL wasn't much, but what he was looking for had somehow survived. Mike sifted through the debris that was slowly being categorized, and after a few minutes, he pulled out what he was looking for.
The binder had seen more wear than just the crash. It had once been white, but now the cover was streaked with dirt and carbon, and the edges were starting to peel. He held it carefully, stepping away from the crashed satellite to look it at. When he opened it, a million memories came back.
The first part consisted of hundreds of words, written in his less than neat handwriting. Words about life, about joys and sorrows, and about the simple things most people forgot to notice. About the 'bots, or his home... some of it written in just straight essay format and some of it poetry or prose. He smiled slightly, touching the somewhat brittle pages from years before; years ago when he had first been shot into space.
Past that were drawings that the 'bots had done, and in the back were pictures. Not pictures of skits, or of movies, but of daily life. Morning coffee, snoozing 'bots on a Monday, or a game of cards, each depicted something less than acted and more than simple photos. He didn't find it too surprising that he remembered these moments with more clarity than any of the movies he had been stuck watching, or any of the skits they had acted out. It was the simple things that meant the most, and left the most impression.
He didn't need to look up when he heard footsteps. He knew it was Joel walking over. "You okay?" the older man asked, stopping a few feet away and looking from Mike to the SOL with an indefinite expression on his face.
Mike nodded, a slight smile crossing his face. "Yea. Just needed to grab something. You?"
"Fine," Joel said, the meaning of the word as true as it could possibly be. "Gyps said that she's free to go whenever she likes... she's thinking about opening her own company, actually."
"Really? That's pretty cool." Mike walked over, not looking back at the wreckage. He had everything he needed to remember with him. "Next thing we know, we'll see her picture right up there with Donald Trump."
Joel turned his back as well and walked with his friend towards the group. The 'bots were now arguing about business commitments and stock portfolios. "If anyone could do it, she could."
"I know," Mike chuckled. "You really out did yourself with that lot."
"Naw," Joel answered, though the glance he tossed Mike was appreciate and proud. "I think they were always there, and I just got lucky enough to put the pieces together." He smiled at the thought, going over memories of his own. If he would share them with anyone, it would be Mike... one way or another, they were all tied together by fate, and the past several weeks had proven that it would never fade.
Mike had the same thoughts. He stopped before they reached the arguing robots and held out the binder without a word.
He didn't need to say anything. Joel looked at it for a moment, then took it gently. Without having to ask, he knew what it was... as the 'bots were his legacy, in a sense, this was Mike's. "Thank you."
"If you can't read the writing, tough." Mike grinned, jokingly. "I charge extra for translation."
"I'll find some chicken to decipher," Joel replied, deadpan. "I hear chickens charge a handful of seed per page of chicken scratch."
"Ah, but then you'd get the translation in clucks," Mike pointed out, walking again.
"I'll build a machine to translate the clucks to English."
"Only if you can read chickens minds."
"You're abusing me again."
"Tough."
The rain fell softly, hitting the windshield in a gentle patter. It was fall, but the rain was still fairly warm, and little wisps of mist rose from the roads surface, that had been warmed by the sun during the day. The windshield wipers of the Cavalier tossed the drops aside, swishing slowly back in forth, and the defroster hummed softly.
The bus terminal's lights cut through the rain and mist as Joel parked the car and he and Mike got out. After a drive of silence, it wasn't easy to break it, but the inventor finally said, "Sure you don't want me to take you?"
Mike nodded, holding up the bus ticket. "Yea. I'm already indebted to you for the rest of my natural existence."
"Don't worry about it." Joel smiled slightly. He understood the real reasoning behind it; Mike was going back home to his blood family for a little while, and there were some things a man had to do alone.
He would be back though... as strange as it was, his adopted family was the one he belonged with. In a few weeks, he would make his return and go back to rebuilding his life again. This time he didn't have to start alone, though. Mike walked towards the terminal, knowing that good-byes were pointless. But something crossed his mind, almost metaphysical; an echo, perhaps, from another universe, and he stopped. Turning back, he walked a few feet back towards the Cavalier. "You know," he said, voice cutting through the rain and making Joel stop as well and look up, "people always told me that I'd make friends in high school that I'd never let go of, and that I'd meet people at work that I would be friends with forever..." He smiled slightly, pausing for a moment. "But I think that one of the best friends I ever made was the one I missed by a few hours, and found again many years later. I think that's the one I'll hold onto."
A long pause hung in the air, and Joel slowly nodded. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he said the most honest thing that came to mind. "I understand."
"I know." Mike smiled brighter, then turned and walked off into the rain.
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