"Steady…." Ratchet quietly chanted.

"Jesus, Ratchet, I can do it!" Skye shouted, pressing down on the drill's trigger. She was working awfully hard; making sure that the left hind rocket on the hovercraft was in place correctly, calibrating the steering wheel. She tightened the last bolt of the engine with her wrench and sighed, wiping the moist, hot sweat from her tired face with an oily rag. Her copper locks of hair were pulled back into a ponytail, which was covered by a green bandanna. Her pale skin felt warm in the afternoon sun, making her coo in pleasure a little.

Ratchet, a Lombax mechanic, had been working on training Skye for a year now, and judging by her work, she had practiced the craft, worked with circuits, and easily understood the primary and secondary rules of being a mechanic.

He inspected her work on the hover car, making sure that everything was calibrated correctly, and smiled. "This is actually pretty good!" he exclaimed, looking up at Skye's enlightened face. He stood up and shook her hand. "Congrats! I thought you'd never make it this far. But you've definitely proved yourself worthy enough to work with me in the shop."

"Really?" Skye asked joyously. She couldn't believe it: her hard work as an apprentice was finally paying off! Maybe now Ratchet would tell her about all of the adventures he went on! It was her birthday as well, so she felt DOUBLE lucky!

"Ratchet, can I have a birthday wish?" Skye asked.

"What would that be?" Ratchet chuckled.

"I've heard from a certain sophisticated robot that you have a secret room where you keep all of the devices from your adventures."

Ratchet stopped. Darn Clank, he was revealing EVERYTHING to her nowadays, wasn't he? "Do I really have to show you it?" he griped.

"I wanted a birthday wish…" Skye's eyes began to water.

"Alright," Ratchet said, trying hard to keep her from getting upset. "I'll show you, but DON'T- under ANY circumstances- touch the devices. They're for emergencies only."

Skye found herself standing in front of a glass box that contained a device like a remote control with an antenna on it. It was smooth and shiny, with black plastic and different colored boxes that had words in a strange language written on them. "Ratchet… what's this?" she asked, pointing to the object.

Ratchet looked over at her. "That…" he gulped. "That is a Shrink Ray."

Skye stared blankly at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not at all," Ratchet grinned. "We had to use it on several occasions, actually. A lot of it was during the invasion of the Technomites."

"They exist?"

"I didn't believe so until I saw them for myself either, but yes. They DO exist." Ratchet placed a hand on her shoulder. "It also has more dangerous functions that I've discovered over the years. I wouldn't play around with it if I were you- you could make something blow up or disappear."

A short, mechanical figure appeared in the doorway. The voice was electronic, but seemed full of personality. "Ratchet, what are you doing?"

"Just showing her the collection, Clank." Ratchet put his hands behind his head as he stood and stretched. "What are you doing?"

"Dinner's out already."

Ratchet, without a moment's hesitation, raced towards the door, only to be knocked back by the robot companion.

"Ladies first. It is her graduation night and birthday, after all."

Skye helped Ratchet up off the floor and smiled. There was a small sparkle in her eyes tonight- something he hadn't seen before. A strange feeling welled up inside him suddenly, but he pushed it back into a small corner of his mind and soul.

Ratchet bit into another slice of chocolate cake, wondering how in the world Clank found the right flavor to make. "So Skye…. Um… how old are you now?"

Skye looked away for a moment and then looked back. "Eighteen."

"Really? You look so young! And you're a little taller than me. I mean, I'm twenty-three years old," Ratchet said, putting his arms behind his head. "Then again, it's normal to be a little over five feet for my species."

"I see," Skye murmured a little sadly.

"What's wrong?" Clank asked, tugging on Skye's dress.

"I don't know who my family is, exactly. My father died when I was little. I can't remember anything about mother."

"Oh… I'm so sorry…" Ratchet said, trying to comfort his apprentice by putting his arm around her.

She gingerly slipped through his arm and stood. "I better get to bed. We have a long day in the shop tomorrow." With those final words, she turned and walked around the corner.

Ratchet looked at Clank with a confused expression. "Have you noticed something odd about her recently?" he asked.

Clank nodded. "Looking at the security camera videos while she's sleeping, her brain patterns are seeming irregular, as if she's remembering something or having a vivid nightmare. She tosses and turns in her sleep and often wakes up screaming."

"Now that you've mentioned it," Ratchet said, "she's been telling me she hasn't been getting a lot of sleep lately."

"Exactly. That, linked with the fact that she hasn't seen her parents since she was little… maybe she's having a nightmare about what happened so many years ago to her father."

"I wonder who her parents really are." Ratchet thought for a minute. "Maybe we should be paying more attention to the actions of her brain waves. We can use a scanner to transmit them to a monitor."

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Ratchet," Clank responded. "She may get upset. Remember the last time she-"

"I don't need a recap of the horror film festival. Let's just keep a close eye on her, shall we?" Ratchet asked, cringing at the memory of Skye's ear-splitting pitches that she could only get to when screaming.

Skye tossed to the left and squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. The piercing pain in her mind was stressing her and pushing her closer and closer to the edge of her sanity. She screamed. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

She envisioned a needle plunging into her skin, her body squirming a little in disgust, and everything quickly becoming a hazy blur. In the distance, she heard a doctor's voice. "She's going to need treatment quickly- she's going to be in a coma for a long time."

"How long, doctor?" a female voice asked.

"Maybe five years at least- the damage is severe. We aren't even sure if she'll make it."

"What of her parents?" the woman's voice responded.

"Her mother was scalded severely and died a few hours ago. Her father… he died in the war and-"

Skye woke up screaming, the dark room around her becoming more and more friendly by the second. She calmed down and sighed in relief.

"Skye, are you alright?" Clank's voice sounded from behind her door.

"Y-yeah…just had another nightmare, that's all."

"I know- you talk in your sleep."

Skye prickled. "How long were you at the door."

"Long enough to understand why you're upset. Why don't you talk about it?"

"I don't know… I have no idea how long I was in a coma… I was taller when I woke up, that's all."

Clank stared at her. "Years must have passed you by. But why do you want to keep it secret?"

"All I know is that mother died of burns and father died in a war on another planet. Maybe I have a gene that'll give a clue."

Ratchet walked into the hallway. "H-hi, Skye," he greeted sleepily. "What's going on?"

"Maybe you guys can help me. Clank… do you have a device that does blood tests?"

"I think so… yes." He pulled out a device with a needle and a small electronic tab. "Just prick your finger and put a drop on the tab."

Skye followed the instructions Clank gave her and sighed, sucking her index vigorously. "What are the results?"

"Accessing…oh! This is interesting!" Clank exclaimed.

"What?" Skye asked, getting a little excited.

"According to the scan, your blood reads-"

BOOM!

"What was that?" Clank asked turning his head.

Ratchet became alert. "Sounds like it came from the secret room." He pulled out a few double-bladed wrenches and handed one to Skye. "Defend yourself- this is an emergency."