Published February 10, 2017
"Drive It Like You Stole It"
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. ~ Isaiah 61:1
Shiro urged everyone to be cautious as they disembarked on the unknown planet. When Pidge asked what he was thinking, he acknowledged that his previous crew had been captured by aliens, and vowed not to let the same thing happen again. He really did seem to care about Sam and Matt. Pidge remembered that they had been friends with him long before the Kerberos mission. Assuming that he was still the good and trustworthy person he was before the mission, he must miss them. She wondered if he felt at all guilty for losing them, and whether such a feeling was justified.
The Blue Lion indicated, through its monitors and through its telepathic communication with Lance, that they would be able to breathe on this planet. The gravity was also similar to Earth's, suggesting it had the same density if not the same size. It was an incredible feeling, to know they were the first humans to see this place. Perhaps this was how explorers of past ages had felt when they came upon unfamiliar territory. The castle was a clear indication that intelligent beings lived here, or had lived here at one time, but no one from Earth had ever set foot on it before them.
The identity scan they triggered in the castle foyer startled and confused them. It could not possibly recognize them, yet it granted them entry, as though it had reason to trust them. Perhaps the scan was intended not to control but merely to record who entered the castle.
The fact that the two parties could understand each other was astonishing, when they stopped to think about it in the midst of all the other astonishing discoveries. Perhaps these aliens (or were the Earthlings the aliens in this situation?) had some kind of telepathic communication that allowed them to perceive their meaning. Pidge thought fleetingly of Pentecost, one of the few Bible stories that had stuck with her from conversations with her family, but she doubted the Holy Spirit was behind this communication.
Hearing Allura and Coran's story evoked a mixture of empathy and fear from Pidge. She understood the pain of losing one's family, and yet feared that her own loss might someday match Allura's. There was a very real chance that Sam Holt was dead or would die before Pidge reached him; and there was a definite possibility that this Galra Empire that Shiro and the Alteans spoke of with such fear might someday invade Earth, as had almost happened a short while before.
Allura called the pilots of the mechanical lions "paladins," a term Pidge knew mainly from playing video games set in medieval-style worlds. She understood it to mean a kind of knight or warrior, usually belonging to some official order.
She was thrilled by the possibility of finding her own lion, a technology with a personality that complemented hers. What she had sometimes thought might be arrogance and recklessness, Allura called intellect and daring. Her father had said that he expected her to be part of something great. Maybe this was it.
The planet where Allura and Coran sent them to look for the green lion was covered with vegetation. Normally such an environment would irritate Pidge, but after being in the barren desert for so long, the sight of the river, plants, and cute little alien creatures was surprisingly welcome. Pidge could tell Shiro enjoyed these sights too, and no wonder, if he had been imprisoned for the past year.
Pidge did not mean to open up to Shiro as they went down the river. She was really just venting, talking through her thoughts the way she used to with her family members. She felt embarrassed and disheartened when Shiro laughed. But hearing him quote her father encouraged her and made her more willing to trust both Shiro and herself. Looking back on the past day or so, she realized that if she had stopped along the way to worry about what could do wrong, she would not have traveled this far.
Hearing Shiro tell her, a moment later, "Go. Be great," gave her a surge of joy. When she had decided to go to the Galaxy Garrison, her mother had been accepting and reasonably encouraging, but it had been obvious that she was afraid, reluctant, and just barely holding on to hope. Shiro, on the other hand, seemed to believe she was up to the task. It was almost like hearing her father give his blessing on her endeavors.
Finding the green lion was like finding the ultimate birthday present. It was full of alien (in both senses of the word) mechanisms that promised hours of examination and experimentation, the kind of hands-on work Pidge had missed while staying at the Garrison.
It was almost as if the universe were trying to make up for what it had taken from her, or give her a way to recover what she had lost.
Her exhilaration wore off when they regrouped at the castle and found that the fight they were preparing themselves for was coming much sooner than they had anticipated. She got her first glimpse of a Galra alien when Commander Sendak contacted Princess Allura, and now the newly-formed team faced their first big decision since leaving Earth. Part of Pidge wanted to leave, ensuring everyone's freedom, so she could continue tracking Sam and Matt; but that would not be fair to Arus's inhabitants, when Sendak had threatened to destroy the planet. Unless they took action to stop Zarkon's forces, the Galra would continue taking prisoners just like Shiro, Sam, and Matt. So Pidge voted to stay.
With the four other paladins divided, Shiro deferred to Allura for a decision. She spent about ten minutes in what Coran said was an artificial intelligence chamber, which apparently stored her dead father's memories. When she emerge, she had changed out of her regal gown into a combat jumpsuit, and told them it was time to fight, that they were destined for this role, that they were the universe's only hope. It was all bigger than any of them could really comprehend, but Shiro echoed Allura's commitment and determination, and the younger Earthlings had enough faith in him to follow.
Receiving their suits of armor fostered a more positive kind of excitement. Pidge knew from experience how changing clothes could influence one's attitude and sense of self. Each suit altered itself to fit the paladin that donned it. The result was that they all became more confident.
The bayards Allura gave them were another technological mystery. Clothing that stretched or shrank to fit its wearer was one thing, but the Earthlings found it difficult wrap their minds around the idea of a weapon whose very form was undetermined until its owner received it. Pidge found her own bayard very satisfying. Like her, it was small, sharp, versatile, and full of surprises. Anyone who underestimated her or her bayard was bound to regret it.
When Shiro recognized the ship as the one in which he had been imprisoned, everything about the situation shifted in Pidge's eyes. Her father and brother might now be within walking distance. She tried to hide her urgency, to seem like basic compassion made her want to look for other prisoners, but Shiro insisted they had to focus on their mission to find Keith's lion, for the greater good in this war they had entered.
At that point, Pidge put her foot down. She had to make them understand what was really driving her. So she told them who the Holts were to her, and made it absolutely clear that she would not stop searching now that she was this close, even if doing so required going against orders.
She thought that Shiro would figure out her true identity then. Though he might not remember her from the few times they had met when she was little, he must know that the Holts had only two children, one boy and one girl. But Shiro did not ask for clarification on this point, so Pidge assumed he had forgotten. It didn't matter now anyway. Knowing that his friends were her family was enough to convince Shiro to help her look for them.
As it turned out, all she gained from this detour was a reprogrammed Galra droid, which was nice to have, but a far cry from what she had hoped to find. They were, however, able to free several aliens being held captive, and directed them to an escape pod. Then Pidge came face-to-face with Galra sentries for the first time.
Pidge regretted not having examined Shiro's arm, when it seemed to move of its own accord as they tried to escape; but then Shiro seemed to gain control of it, and turned it on their attackers. Pidge was thoroughly impressed by his ability to fend off the guards. Though Shiro was mystified and clueless as to how he had learned to fight so well, Pidge decided it did not matter, so long as he used his abilities to help their team.
When Sendak's ship locked its tractor beam on the five lions, it occurred to Pidge that this might be the way she reunited with her family, by becoming a prisoner herself. But then her freedom would be so severely limited that she would have to count on luck or providence to bring her to wherever they were. And even if she found them, returning to Earth, to her mother, would be much more difficult.
But as she and the others slid into despair, Shiro, the one who had arguably suffered more than the rest of them combined, showed a sudden burst of determination. Perhaps he could not stand the idea of returning to Galra custody, but he did not bother pressing how unbearable that would be for them. Instead he reminded them that on top of their personal motives for fighting the Galra, they and their lions were the universe's only hope, which meant they could not afford to fail. His conviction was contagious, and the four younger paladins chorused their agreement.
What happened next was beyond anything any of them had ever experienced. It was almost as if every small instance of teamwork and camaraderie between any of the five paladins combined and intensified. The five minds and five vehicles all clicked and connected. Each of them was still the same size, but now they were part of something huge.
Voltron.
Pidge perceived her lion's place on the upper left side, as an arm. She could feel Shiro guiding as the head and Hunk supporting her as a leg. Keith's lion was opposite her as the right arm, the most agile part of the robot's body. Lance's lion was the leg underneath him. All these observations took a matter of seconds to process, but the strangest thing about them was how much each component and relationship made sense.
The closest comparison Pidge could draw to her emotions after the battle was the way she felt after being accepted to the Galaxy Garrison: she knew she ought to be happy and proud, but the work that lay ahead weighed down her sense of accomplishment.
Shiro noticed, and took a moment to reassure her that she need not give up her search. He even implied that they would help her. "Wherever they are, I know they're proud of you," he told her. Pidge smiled at him, still sad, but appreciative of his support. She was glad to have him around. He was no substitute for her father or her brother, but he was something like a representative for them, since he knew them so well.
The goal Allura and Coran proposed, and assumed they were already committed to pursuing, seemed even more intimidating than the one Pidge had set for herself. While she and the three younger paladins were dismayed by their words, Shiro accepted the challenge cheerfully. They shared his sense of pride and purpose, but there were still plenty of doubts in their minds.
Coran showed each of them a bedroom where they could stay in the castle, but instead of going to bed, Pidge took her computer and Rover to the infirmary, where the prisoners they had freed were now recuperating in healing pods. Finally alone, Pidge thought over what had happened since she left Earth. They had lost all sense of time, since days on Earth were based on the planet's rotation, but Pidge supposed it had been more than twenty-four Earth hours to their bodies. Unless even more bizarre events took place in the future, they would probably never experience so much in such a short amount of time.
All of the paladins and Alteans saw this team as a means to an end, but Pidge's goal was far more specific and probably shorter-term than their broad goal of defeating Zarkon and liberating the universe from the Galra Empire. She worried that helping this cause would distract and prevent her from searching for her family. But on the other hand, staying at the Castle of Lions and fighting the Galra would probably provide the most and best opportunities to find them.
She would stay with them and help them advance toward this goal, as long as doing so brought her closer to her own goal. But she would not stay longer than necessary.
On a whim, Pidge tried sending a message to her mother from her computer, but as she had expected, the distance between Arus and Earth was too great for the electronic signal to travel. So she had no way of telling her mother where she was or what she was doing. Hopefully, though, the Galaxy Garrison would leak enough information for her to piece together who she was with.
What would her family think of her when they learned what she had been up to, or if they saw her in battle? Would they be impressed by her new skills and technology, or appalled to see her engaging in violence?
She knew one thing for sure: if they ever returned to Earth with their lions, and told people what they had done to defend the universe, Iverson would go berserk when he learned what his deplorably incompetent former cadets had accomplished. That brought a satisfied smile to Pidge's face.
Music: "Drive It Like You Stole It" from Sing Street
