Birth of a Pilot

“Leon?”

A short distance away from the entrance crater, Leon watches the horizon for any sign of the Starwalker. Angelo’s been going so fast and looping around so much, according to Mia, he must really be having fun out there! Maybe he was right about being okay. Leon just hopes he comes back soon. 

In the meantime, he talks to Mia every so often, both casually and to get updates on the situation with Angelo. Sometimes, Misty would join in too. The geoprocessing plant worker figured out that there was more to Leon and Mia’s presence there than just collecting rocks, but after Mia explained the situation to her, she’s been really understanding of their plight. Right now, it seems that Mia has something on her mind.

“Yeah? Is something wrong?” To be honest, Leon can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off, but Mia hasn’t reported anything of the sort, until now.

“The Starwalker’s been keeping an eerily consistent speed...”

Worry starts to set in for Leon, but he chooses to ignore it. “I’m sure there’s nothing wrong, right? After all, you guys said that its programming should cover up to 55 mph!”

“I was thinking the same thing...” Mia trails off.

Leon vaguely hears Misty’s voice in the background. “Are you guys talking Earth miles or Martian miles?”

“Huh?” Leon and Mia react almost simultaneously.

“What’s displaying on the screen right now is Martian miles. The low gravity makes vehicles and stuff slower.” Misty explains. “We don’t usually have a reason to see what the speed would be like on Earth or on the base, but if you really need to, it’s liiiike 8/9ths or 9/8ths the speed or something." There's a short pause. "9/8ths! It’s 9/8ths.”

“If it’s 9/8ths, then he’s definitely going over 55. I think? Let me do a quick calculation.” Leon hopes Mia’s wrong, but she sounds right. “...60. He’d be going 60 mph.”

“But… Maybe Rachel meant she programmed it for 55 Martian miles per hour!” Leon desperately clings to the thought that things are going okay. They have to be okay.

“Leon, I hate to say it, but they didn’t even put windshield wipers on it! And with the way the captain and Jun said she reacted, I don’t think she was expecting it to go this fast!” Mia shatters his delusions. “I think he might be stuck!” 

“He’s stuck…?” Leon’s voice peters out in a whisper. He can only stand there helplessly as his brother is in trouble. Everyone’s hard work will go to waste, and at the end of the day, Angelo is his responsibility. He has to get Angelo out of there somehow! But how?

“Maybe! If we could only get in contact with him...” Mia laments.

“I’m pretty sure you can connect to him from here if you want!” Misty sounds much closer now. 

“But since Romero’s already connected to him, we’d have to get his permission, right?” Mia asks her.

“You’re right…”

Leon attempts to brainstorm ideas to get Angelo out of the robot. “Misty, is there a rope back at the plant? I was thinking maybe I could lasso him down! I know it’s not one of my best ideas, but it’s something.”

“It… it’s something, alright.” Mia agrees. “But considering how fast it’s going, you’ll only have one chance.”

“What if you take one of the trucks?” suggests Misty. “They’re in the garage along with the ropes you need! I’ll even throw the keys in the air chamber for ya~!”

“How fast do they go?” Leon needs to know if he’ll actually be able to catch up.

“80mph.”

“In Earth miles or Martian miles?” asks Mia.

“Does it really matter~? It’s faster than the robot!”

“True.” Mia can’t argue with Misty’s logic, and neither can Leon.

“I’ll open the garage door for you, Leon! Don’t forget to check the air chamber!”

“Got it!”

“I’m also gonna get someone in the garage to find a rope, so I’ll need to borrow that headset for a few, Sweetie!”

“O-okay!” Mia stammers. “Good luck, Leon.”

Those are the last words he hears from either of them before communication switches off. He can see the door within the entrance crater begin to part. As soon as it opens wide enough, he crams himself through and makes a beeline for the air chamber. He sees Mia holding a key before dropping it and walking back into the other room, where Misty is talking to someone over the headset. Leon quickly retrieves the key, and looks around for where the trucks are parked. There’s a code attached to the key designating which truck it belongs to, but luckily he doesn’t have to memorize that, because he figures it’s the truck that someone is currently placing a rope on.

Passing by the glass window on his way to the truck, he can see Misty doing some kind of cheer while Mia puts on her headset. It’s unclear whether she’s cheering for Mia or Leon. However, the cheer is cut short by some kind of commotion, as two men chase each other in the background.

Leon continues on his way to the truck, as communication cuts back on between him and the other room.

“Hey Mia! What was that all about??” he asks.

“I have no idea! Romero was running away from some guy.”

“Was that Karl…?” Misty muses in the background. “I think it was! Wooo! Go get him, Karl!”

“I made it to the truck!” Leon reports. He places the rope in the passenger’s seat and straps himself in with the seatbelt. Thrusting the key into the ignition, he carefully navigates through the geoprocessing plant until he has a straight shot at the doorway. The door opens up again.

“Thanks, Misty!”

“No prob~” She chimes. “Go get your bro!”

“Will do!” With that, Leon slams on the gas pedal and speeds out of the entrance crater, accidentally ramping it. It felt cool!

By this point, he can see the Starwalker quickly approaching on the horizon. He begins to drive towards it, but then he realizes that it’ll be a pain to reach Angelo and not have his lasso tied. He wraps it around his own waist as an estimate. It’ll be a lot looser on Angelo, but it should do.

“Leon, did you run into car trouble?” Mia sounds perplexed. “What’s going on?”

“Nope, I’m just tying my lasso! It’s better to do it now than later.”

“Okay, cooool.” Leon can tell she’s still not certain about this concept. “Angelo should be coming up on you in a few minutes.”

“Got it.” Leon takes the freshly-tied rope in his left hand. “I’m headed over to him now.” He swerves over to the left, away from the Starwalker, planning to make an arc and catch up to Angelo from behind.

“Hey Mia, I’m gonna go check on Romero’s lab real quick, okay?” He hears Misty’s footsteps as she leaves.

The Starwalker now runs ahead of Leon and his truck. Leon presses down on the gas a little more to gain speed, but as soon as he gets close, the robot begins to turn left.

“No, don’t run away…” Leon pleads, knowing his brother can’t hear him. He keeps pursuing, from its left this time. He’s able to approach it again, and this time, the Starwalker doesn’t turn. The truck begins speeding past it as Leon tries to gain enough headway to attempt to lasso his brother.

When he feels like he’s gained enough distance, he stops and twirls the rope. The right moment could pass by any second. Angelo gains up on him. Finally, Leon casts the rope.

It misses.

“Almost. A lot better than I anticipated, since I never lassoed before. I’m gonna try and get a little closer.” He tells Mia.

“Be careful!” She warns. “It’s good he turned, though. You guys were heading near some ice!”

“Glad we didn’t keep going that way!”

“What the--? Someone’s asking to join the call! ...Misty?” Mia wonders aloud.

Leon hears a clicking sound from within his helmet, and the dial tone chimes not one, but two times. 

“Misty, is that you?” Mia asks.

“Hiiiii, Sweeties! I brought your friend!” Misty must be calling from Romero’s room! “And I called 911!”

“Nice!!” Leon knows he’ll need all the help he can get.

“...Were you t-trying… Were you trying to lasso me?”

“Ángie!” It feels like an eternity since he last heard his brother’s voice. “I missed you so much! We’re gonna get you out of there, bro, okay? You’re going to make it!” Keeping that hope alive is bound to make it come true.

“I hope so. I’m kind of on a time limit right now.” Angelo sounds unusually calm for his situation. “The fuel should be running out s-soon.”

“How much do you have le--?” Mia stops herself. “Oh right. No fuel gauge.”

“Yeah…” 

“We need to start thinking fast, then. Leon.” She directs. “While we come up with something, you try to see if you can lasso him again.”

“Already on it!” By now, Leon’s already a few seconds ahead of the Starwalker. Just a few more, and he’ll be ready to try again.

“Just a heads up!” Misty warns. “You guys might wanna start turning back around soon. It’ll be easier for the ambulance and stuff to reach you guys if you’re closer to base.”

“Good idea, Misty!” Mia talks like a real leader. Despite what she claims, Leon knew she was always capable of this.

Leon stops the truck once more. He swings the rope around. “I’m in lassoing position. Get ready, Ángie!”

He keeps swinging the rope. He casts it, and…

It misses. Badly.

“No!” If this keeps up, Leon’s going to have a lot more to think about than a failed cowboy career. 

“I think I’m going too fast!” Angelo theorizes. “I’ve been trying to brainstorm ways to slow down for a while, actually! I have one idea, but, it’s not that good...” 

“Any idea is good enough if it keeps you alive!” Misty has a point!

“Let’s hear it, Angelo.” Mia commands.

As Angelo details is idea, Leon follows him as the Starwalker turns around. “Okay, s-so the Starwalker stopped pretty abruptly when it still could, and if I don’t slow down before it runs out of fuel, then that’ll be bad. I was thinking… If I led it into the ice before it does, then it’ll s-slide, and I’ll be able to slide to a stop.”

“Good concept. One question.” begins the freckled ranger. “Can it even stand on ice? Those legs look like they’ll slip around.”

“That’s the problem…”

“Yeah, we want you alive and preferably unharmed.” Leon agrees with Mia’s statement more than anything he’s ever agreed with in his life. “Let’s try something else for now… Misty?”

“Yeah?”

“You were telling me about Karl’s robot earlier. Did you say something slowed it down?”

“Oh yeah!” Misty remembers. “It couldn’t handle carrying a lot of stuff at one time!”

Mia pauses. “Angelo, do me a favor and lower the robot’s arms as close as you can to the ground! Bring them in front of you!”

From his car, Leon witnesses Angelo obeying Mia’s directions to the letter. The Starwalker’s arms lower, and Angelo even elongates the arms so that they reach the ground. The claws begin to plow into the terrain in front of them, picking up small mounds of dirt around each. As the mounds accumulate, Leon realizes what’s going on and slows down his truck some.

“The speed’s coming down! It’s working!” Mia’s excitement is tangible.

So is Angelo’s. “I can see it from my end, too!”

“Ohhh. I think I get it!” Misty’s statement makes Leon realize how glad he is not to be the last one to catch on for once today. “You’re making him pick up a buncha dirt so he’ll slow down. Smart cookie!”

Mia giggles, then quickly composes herself. “Ahem. As long as Angelo’s safe, this’ll all be worth it. Leon, I was going to tell you to slow down with him, but you’re already doing so. Nice job.”

“Thank you!” Leon’s smile widens as the Starwalker gets slower, picking up a mound almost half its size.

The older Summers stops his truck, then carefully repositions it closer to Angelo, on his right. The robot also slows down to a crawl. It only takes Leon 18 mph to keep up with it. At this speed, he is determined to wrangle a rascal. Leon swings his rope a few times, and casts it out for the heck of it.

It lands.

“You caught me!” Leon hears Angelo’s laughter within his helmet, and from this close up, he can even see Angelo smiling. The pilot begins taking off his seatbelts. 

“Oh dang. The ambulance is coming through.” Mia notes.

“Looks like I called them for nothing.” Misty yawns, which makes everyone else yawn at different times. “Good work, team! I can tell people I did something useful today.”

Leon laughs. All the tears and the stress from today, everyone’s hard work and his own, it’s all worth it now. Angelo is safe, unharmed, and his friends were all able to protect him. After they go back to base, all of this will fade away like a bad dream. As soon as Angelo steps out of the Starwalker, they’ll all forget that it’s starting to pick up speed…

Wait, what?