Joel Robinson was laying on his back on the floor on Deck 14. Propped up above him was the single occupant emergency escape pod 'Deus ex Machina'. The precious vehicle was in the process of being modified.

It was the same escape pod that Mike Nelson had uncovered while working as a temp under Dr. Forrester in Deep 13.

Unfortunately the unavoidable trial of 'Mike v the Universe' made it impossible for Mike to relay the message to Gypsy or Joel, or anyone else. But as it turned out the failure to communicate then was going to pay off now.

"Screwdriver." Joel held out his hand as he asked for the requested tool.

"Screwdriver." Mike confirmed as he placed the tool in Joel's outstretched hand.

"Monkey wrench."

"Monkey wrench."

"Hand."

"Hand." Mike grabbed onto Joel's hand pulled his new, creative, inventor, Gizmocrat, laidback friend to his feet. "So, how's it looking?"

"Pretty good." Joel turned to admire his work. "Just a few more modifications and it'll be able to carry all six of us back to Earth."

"Man, how long has it been?"

Joel was wiping his greasy hands on an old white rag, grease spots marred his seldom worn teal jumpsuit. "Since what? Since you've been here or since I've been here?" He asked with a smile.

"Both."

"Well, if my math is correct you've been up here for almost six months. And I've been up here for almost six years."

"Six years?"

Joel nodded casually.

"Man, how do you stand it?"

"The bots help. Alot. They keep things interesting and they gave me someone to talk with. Not to mention the nice library tucked away on the eighth deck."

"Don't you miss your family? You never talk about them."

"Neither do you." Joel commented quickly.

"Touché."

"Anyway," Joel changed the subject. "we should be out of here in maybe three weeks. After I reinstall the heat shield, all I'll have to do is modify the oxygen tank to give us an ample air supply to make the successful re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere."

"I'm so glad you're up here." Mike almost gushed. "There's no way I'd be able to do anything this complicated. At least be able to do something so complicated RIGHT, anyway."

"'Correctly'." Joel teased playfully.

"Yeah, yeah. 'Correctly'." Mike put his hand on Joel's shoulder. "So, should we see that the bots are up to?"

"Yeah, I don't like it when they're quiet for so long."

"Are they really that bad?"

"Sometimes." Joel tossed the dirty rag onto the tool bench as he and Mike passed it by. "Once they filled my pillow with pudding and tied Gypsy into a huge knot down in engineering."

"They did not." Mike laughed at the very idea.

"Did so. Ask Gypsy to show you the scar."

"Scar? A robot can scar?"

"I had to cut her apart and solder her back together! Poor thing..."

The two humans, one blonde and in a green jumpsuit, the other a brunette in a teal jumpsuit, walked onto the bridge of the ship and stopped fast. Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo had completely filled the bridge of the ship with large, neon orange racing track and were preparing to take off from the starting line. The starting line located near the ceiling of the ship, about twelve feet in the air.

"Crow! Servo!" Joel called for his two robots. "What in the blazes are you two doing up there?"

Crow yelled down at Joel. "Racing! What does it look like?"

Mike replied casually. "Suicide."

"Mike's right!" Joel agreed with his calm, decisive, patient, good humored friend. "You're going to kill yourselves, get down here now!"

"'Correct'." Mike quipped at Joel.

Joel gave Mike an amused smile. "Yeah, 'correct'."

"Okay!" Crow yelled again. "Here we come!"

"NO!" Joel shouted concernedly at the incoming robots. "Not THAT way!"

"TOO LATE!" Crow blurted as he went flying down the track past Joel and Mike at a dangerously high speed.

In a gold blur the sarcastic bot when rocketing down the track and went flying off the track, crashing against the wall.

"Oooooh!" Joel and Mike commented sympathetically as they looked at Crow's mangled body laying on the floor.

Mike grimaced a little. "I'll get him."

From above Tom started yelling out in excitement and fear as he came flying down the track just as fast as Crow. This time Joel was ready and he grabbed ahold of the rocketing red robot before he suffered the same fate as Crow. "Gotcha'!"

"Aww!" Tom whined. "Whatcha' do that for?"

"Because I love you." Joel replied dryly. "And I have enough to do without having to repair you two 'knuckle-knobs'."

Mike had cleared away some of the orange track as he made his way over to Crow. "Crow buddy, you okay?"

"No..." Crow admitted. "That hurt..."

"Well, now you know better." Mike tried to look on the bright side as he picked up Crow's dislocated arm. "Here. Let me help."

Joel put Tom on the floor next to Crow. "I want you two to clean up this mess and then you have to go to bed."

"Aww..." Tom and Crow whined in unison.

Mike was still greatly amused by how childlike and innocent the bots acted and how much Joel was like a father to them. "I'll help, alright?" Mike volunteered as he popped Crow's arm back in its place.

"Yeah sure..." Crow agreed as he sat up and checked his damaged arm.

"Fine." Servo didn't sound impressed.

Joel shook his head. "Great, thanks Mike. When you're done I could use your help back on Deck 14. I'd like to finish installing the heat shielding tonight."

"No problem. See you in a few minutes."

As Joel walked down the corridor he passed by Gypsy. "Hey Gypsy."

"Hi Joel." She made her way over to Mike. "Hi Mike."

"Hi Gypsy."

"Just so you know there's a meteor shower heading our way."

"Meteor shower?" Mike gathered up a large bundle of the toy track in his arms. "Are those common?"

"Not really." Gypsy followed as Mike proceeded to put the tracks back into Servo's cabin down the opposite corridor. "But we do have a storm shelter in case things get rough."

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll tell Joel." He patted Gypsy's nose. "And you two," he focused on Crow and Tom. "bedtime."

Crow snarled at Mike. "You're not my real father!"

"No, but I'm-" The sound of hail striking a tin roof filled the deck. "Gypsy, what's the noise?"

"The meteor shower!" She shouted.

The entire Satellite of Love was rocked back and forth violently as the meteors of various sizes and speeds bombarded the lone orbiting craft.

Mike fell to the floor, bumping his head hard on the corner of the desk just before he hit the floor.

Gypsy, Servo and Crow all panicked as their world spun upside down and inside out. The lights flickered for a moment before blacking out entirely. The shaking finally stopped and Crow sat up slowly.

"Is everyone okay?"

Servo coughed as small particles of loose dust metal rained down on the bridge. "I'm fine."

"Cambot?" Crow looked at the orb shaped camera who had managed to avoid getting rocked thanks to his hovering.

Cambot nodded his whole body to signal 'yes'.

"Gypsy?"

"I'm okay." She lifted her large purple head up from the dropped cables that fell from the ceiling.

"Mike?"

No response.

"I said, 'Mike'?" Crow repeated.

Gypsy answered for him. "No." She was leaning over Mike.

...to be continued...