Published February 2, 2018

"Universe Electric"


Every atom, of every body, attracts every other atom, both of its own and of every other body, with a force which varies inversely as the squares of the distance between the attracting and attracted atom.… Does not so evident a brotherhood among the atoms point to a common parentage? Does not a sympathy so omniprevalent, so ineradicable, and so thoroughly irrespective, suggest a common paternity at its source? … In a word, is it not because the atoms were, at some remote epoch of time, even more than together—is it not because originally, and therefore normally, they were One—that one in all circumstances—at all points—in all directions—by all modes of approach—in all relations and through all conditions—they struggle back to this absolutely, this irrelatively, this unconditionally one? ~ Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka


Pidge wished her family could see Olkarion's amazing creators and creations. Matt would be fascinated by the planet's evolutionary abilities. The way the Olkari manipulated their environment to their advantage without harming or destroying it put Earth to shame. It looked like magic, yet had entirely reasonable scientific explanations (though Pidge was pretty sure she was the only one of the paladins who understood these explanations).

It only got weird when Ryner started making it sound all philosophical. Sure, science was a way of understanding the world, and yes, Pidge knew that the universe naturally tended toward order, but she never thought of it in the terms Ryner used.

Then again, the idea of everything being connected was kind of like Voltron. It was the principle of distinct parts forming a whole—like the Trinity, which Lance named whenever he made the Sign of the Cross; or the body of Christ that Saint Paul talked about in his first letter to the Corinthians.

The Olkari saw their leader, Lubos, as their head, almost the same way Voltron saw the Black Lion and its Paladin as the team's head. But it turned out Lubos had given up on them, had quit being their leader in order to be the Galra's puppet. Fortunately, Shiro and Ryner were quick to rally the Olkari warriors and lead them into battle.

Of course the other paladins wanted to fight the cube weapon head-on rather than test its abilities and pick out its weaknesses. They were going to hurt themselves, their lions, and the Olkari because they did not take the time to observe, analyze, and draw conclusions. Pidge suspected a pattern from the moment it absorbed their laser and blasted it back to them. Why should they expect a different result from the same cause?

Seeing Lance and Keith use their freeze rays and heat rays made Pidge wonder and wish her own lion had an extra power like that. Coran's stories and their own experiences had made them aware of certain affinities between the lions and various natural forces. Keith and Hunk had both found that they could unlock larger versions of the usual weapons by inserting their bayards into their lions when Voltron formed. All Pidge could do as the left arm of Voltron was hold up the shield, which was important but not exactly remarkable.

Then again, as the Green Lion fell to the surface of Olkarion, Pidge could not help thinking that shield capabilities for the individual lions would be nice.

When she regained consciousness, she heard Ryner talking to her, saying they could fix her lion but she had to do her part to bond with it. Pidge had thought they understood each other well enough. She talked to it the way she talked to Gunther, or Rover, or the space caterpillars (some of whom had moved in with her). Their bond was pleasant, efficient, and usually sufficient for whatever situation they faced. If not mutually beneficial, it was at least positive for both of them.

Had she ever acknowledged how much she needed the Green Lion? How much she depended on it? Pidge closed her eyes and focused, reaching out with her mind and her heart. "Come on, girl. I need you." She could still hear her teammates' cries of distress. They had shifted from trying to find out if she was alright, to shouting that they needed her help. They were interdependent, as ready to request and accept help as they were to extend it.

"Remember what I said," Ryner reminded her. "You, the lion, the Olkari, we are all made of the same essence."

What happened in the next few moments was not something that could be understood with reason or explained with words. It involved emotion, intuition, instinct, and knowledge, but was more than any of them. Pidge understood how her own essence connected to that of the Green Lion, and how the two of them connected to nature and to the other lions and paladins. The Green Lion knew it could utilize that connection to nature, and showed Pidge what to do and how to do it.

Vines seemed kind of random for an elemental superpower, but when Pidge thought about it, they were actually fitting for her. She was someone who could plant herself in places where she was not supposed to be, and found ways to thrive there.

"The spirit of the Olkari resides in you." Hearing Ryner say that that, Pidge came closer than ever to understanding what it meant when a Bible book or a priest talked about someone having the Holy Spirit inside.

The whole team complimented Pidge's achievement when they debriefed for Allura and Coran. "Imagine if we took the Green Lion to Earth!" Hunk was excited at the prospect. "You could revegetate dying environments, make food grow during famine. Heck, with Green's plant power, Blue's water power, and Yellow's land power, we could fix Earth's whole agricultural system!"

Pidge tried not to laugh at his enthusiasm. Those were pretty smart and altruistic ideas. "I'll add that to my list of things to do when the war is over."

Basking in the glory of their victory ended abruptly when Zarkon's ship found them. Unfortunately that was also when the exhaustion of having been awake and active for so long finally hit the paladins.

When the chase finally seemed to be over for the time being, Shiro suggested a new strategy: they should go after the Galra instead of waiting for the Galra to find them. Pidge decided to tell the others about the algorithm she had been constructing. She could not tell whether their bemused reactions were from a lack of comprehension or simply surprise that she, the youngest, would be so forward-thinking and technical. Either way, they irritated her.

When they found out Keith and Allura had left, Pidge could not help thinking they were kind of hypocrites, considering the fuss they had made when she tried to leave. Even if their intentions were for the good of the team, they still debilitated it. At least when Pidge tried to leave the team, she had been considerate enough to tell everyone about her decision, so they could look for someone else to pilot her lion. Keith and Allura's departure caught the team completely off guard, leaving them unprepared to help the Taujeerians or, when necessary, fight or escape the Galra.

Saving the Taujeerians was like repairing Noah's Ark with the floodwaters already in sight. If Team Voltron had been even a few hours later, all the Taujeerians would have died. And they had merely gone there on a whim, because Pidge had decided to test out her "Galra-finder," as the others called it. It was sobering to remember that for every planet liberated, every alien race they saved, there were countless others they had missed, and were missing, and would miss. Pidge hoped her "Galra-finder" would help them find places where they needed to be, but they could only get to the ones closest to their present location. The Galra Empire was too vast, and the number of people in distress too numerous, for them to help everyone. But they had to push such disheartening thoughts way in order to focus on those they could save.

Despite the intense stress of the battle, a few good things resulted from it. They confirmed that Allura and Keith were not Zarkon's means of tracking them, and learned that a lion could sense and respond to its paladin over a vast distance. Pidge held herself back from saying "I told you so" when they realized her hypothesis of Zarkon tracking them through the Black Lion was accurate. Now that they had identified the root cause of the problem, they could work toward finding a solution. While Shiro tried to strengthen his bond with the Black Lion, Coran and the remaining paladins set out to find more scaultrite so they would be able to travel better.

Pidge did not plan to buy anything besides scaultrite from the mall. She was already amassing a collection of souvenirs from the various places they visited. But seeing the video games in the Earth store brought her back to Earth, where she and Matt would have saved up for weeks, months, or years to be able to buy a new edition of a game.

Objectively, buying the game seemed a little childish, but they had been away from Earth for so long, something as normal as a video game seemed precious. Pidge had not played video games since learning that her father and brother were missing. She had not had the time or interest. Mercury Gameflux II would help her relax and have fun in what little free time she had. It would also be the perfect thing to bond over with Matt when they reunited. That way, if he did not want to talk (which was possible considering the trauma he had experienced), they could still spend time together.

The ship was so sophisticated, it did not occur to Pidge and Lance that it would not have an adequate point of connection. Coming to that realization was maddening.

"Perhaps it's for the best," Allura suggested, not without sympathy, her hair bobbing in the ridiculous braids the mice had plaited. "We'll have other things to focus on soon enough."

Pidge bit her tongue to refrain from telling her off. Allura didn't know what she was talking about. Altea probably never had anything like video games. The Alteans probably used technology like the gladiator to simulate battles.

Hunk patted Pidge's shoulder sympathetically. "I need to get Kaltenecker situated, but once we've got some free time, I'll help you find a way to set it up."

"Thanks," Pidge mumbled, resigning herself to waiting.

Allura spoke up again. "Pidge, would you help me untangle my hair?"

"Fine." Having nothing else to do, Pidge ambled over to help. Running her fingers through Allura's ridiculously long locks, Pidge was reminded, for the first time in a long while, of how much she missed having long hair, especially in the first weeks after she cut it. She was used to her short hair now, and had forgotten the pleasant feeling of long, clean locks.

Pidge hoped that her hair would not return to the length it had once been until after she found her father and brother. She wondered how long their hair would be, or if they would have beards. Would she even recognize them? Would they recognize her? She pushed those thoughts away, and focused on undoing Allura's hair.

By the time they arrived at the coordinates Ulaz had given them, Pidge had let go of her disappointment about the video game. She was excited to see what the Blade of Marmora's headquarters would be like, since the base had been so technologically impressive. She was not disappointed by their ingenuity: the asteroid fragment was located between three deadly celestial objects, making entry and departure extremely dangerous and challenging even to a highly skilled pilot. This made Pidge's excitement turn into dark apprehension, though not as strong as Allura's outright suspicion.

It was Keith who insisted they had to go forward, disregarding the risk. It was quite a turnaround from the mistrust he had shown when they first started to look for the Blade of Marmora. But then again, Ulaz had sacrificed himself to save them, so it made more sense to trust the shadowy organization now.

Still, the atmosphere on the Castle-ship remained anxious and apprehensive as they waited for Shiro and Keith to return. Hours passed by without being able to contact them. To help pass the time, Hunk, Lance, and Pidge worked on getting the video game system set up, but they could not fully distract themselves when they felt they ought to be ready for whatever action turned out to be necessary.

Their anxiety finally crystallized into alarm when the Red Lion began attacking the asteroid. Keith's recent discovery that it could sense the danger he was in from a distance made them think he must be in need of rescue. They prepared to attack as soon as the path was clear; but when they were about to intervene, Shiro successfully contact them and said they were bringing people for them to meet.

Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora, said they needed to begin planning their attack on Zarkon right away, but Coran and Allura insisted that Shiro and Keith also debrief about their trip to the asteroid. They were both reluctant to talk about it, and took turns filling in the story.

Keith told them about his knife, which the paladins had seen him use before. He had even used it to spar with Pidge when she practiced with her bayard on the training deck. What they had not known was that under the cloth wrapping was a purple symbol, which matched the one on Ulaz's blade. Shiro told them about the trials Keith had chosen to undergo, risking his life for the sake of gaining knowledge about his connection to the Galra.

"Knowledge or death," Pidge repeated. She understood the value of truth, especially concerning one's identity and family, but even she had never risked that much. Then again, many scientists had done so, either out of pride or for the sake of progress.

They mentioned mindscapes, though they did not reveal what they had consisted of—perhaps it was too personal. Finally, though, they got to the end of the story, and the discovery they had confirmed: Keith had Galra heritage.

Pidge was surprised, but not scandalized. She remembered what Ryner had said about everyone and everything having a common origin. Her surprise was mostly scientific in nature: this was the first known case of humans procreating with aliens. Even that was not as hard to believe as it might once have been. "Considering all the interplanetary cultural exchanges that we've learned about—the Blue Lion being on Earth, the sphinx that played chess, alien malls having Earth merchandise—cross-reproduction doesn't seem that far-fetched."

"This explains everything!" Lance exclaimed. "Your piloting skills, your death wish, the way you felt the energy field around my lion—heck, even the mullet looks like fur!"

"Knock it off, Lance!" Pidge barked. Once he backed off, she turned to Keith again. "So … was it worth it?" she asked, uncharacteristically timid.

Keith had been trying to appear put-together, holding on to the known facts, but at this question he seemed lost. "I don't know. I didn't learn as much as I hoped—like how the knife ended up in my family. All I confirmed was that … my family and I aren't who I thought we were."

Pidge looked at him with empathy. She had some understanding of how he felt. She had also harbored a secret about her identity and her family; but she had always known who and what she was, whereas he had to go through the process of finding out. "You know this doesn't actually change who you are," she said. "It just changes what we know about who you are."

Keith nodded slowly. Pidge was not sure if he grasped what that really meant, but he seemed to know her deeper meaning. Their opinion of him was unchanged, for better or worse. They still saw him as their friend and ally.

When the Blades proposed a prison break to find Slav, the reclusive genius who invented the gravity generator, Pidge immediately volunteered herself for the mission. Shiro agreed without asking why. They both knew it would be an opportunity to gather intelligence pertaining to Sam and Matt.

As she ran through pictures of prisoners, Pidge wished she had a photograph of her father. If only she had carried one in her backpack, along with the one of herself and Matt. For now she had to settle for limiting her search to her brother. Hopefully finding one would lead to the other.

The facial recognition technology identified Matt out of hundreds of inmates in the Galra prison system. Instead of a location, the most recent data was a log report and some security footage. It seemed he had not gone to the prison camp with her father, as Shiro had hoped when he injured Matt. Instead, he had been in prison, until some rebels broke in and took him with them. Pidge did not know whether this was good or bad for him. Of course being a prisoner of the Galra was bad, but she had no idea what these rebels were like.

She wondered what Matt was doing now. Why did the rebels take him? Was he still with them? Were they holding him prisoner? Was he fighting the Galra? Had he found a way to return to Earth? Did he dare return without Sam or Shiro? Did he even know what had happened to either of them? Had he heard about Voltron?

What would the Holt family's relationships be like after they reunited? Would they automatically click, the way they always had after extended absences? Or would they each be so different that they no longer interacted or connected the same way? Would being together feel strange and novel, or ordinary and natural?

How would Pidge's relatives interact with her crew? She considered both groups of people as family, but Shiro was the only one who had overlapped them. Would they want to return to Earth right away, or stay in space to help in the war effort? Pidge could picture Matt tinkering with Hunk and Sam swapping military stories with Coran. She could imagine herself being addressed by both of her names, depending on who was speaking. The scenarios were easy to envision, though they made her heart ache, wanting them to be real. She contented herself with the knowledge that after this battle—hopefully the final conflict in the war—she would be able to devote more time to her search. Then she would find out whether these hopes could become a reality.


Author's Notes

Music: "Universe Electric" by Angie Miller.

I combined two earlier chapters, "Defying Gravity" and "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand," because I realized one was much shorter and they were both pretty much about the same thing. This means readers who reviewed my most recent update might not be able to submit a review on this chapter; but you can submit it under a different chapter. Sorry about any confusion this may cause. Thanks for your feedback!

To read about Pidge and Keith sparring, check out my short story cycle about Keith, "Make Straight His Paths."

The sphinx and chess game were in the VLD comic, issue #4, which focused on Pidge.

I was not sure whether to put Pidge and Keith's interaction after the Trials of Marmora in this cycle or that one; what do you think?

Pidge's differentiation between who Keith actually is and their understanding of who he is, is an allusion to Rachel Held Evans' memoir Evolving in Monkey Town, in which she realizes that doubting/questioning one's knowledge of God is different from doubting/questioning God himself.

I'm going on a hiatus for Lent, February 14-April 1. Take care until then!