By sunrise, Shiro was feeling better.
But Shiro’s head was still scrambled. He didn’t know where he’d been for the past year. All he knew was that aliens had captured him and he’d somehow escaped.
“Did anyone else from your crew make it out?” Pidge asked.
Unfortunately, Shiro only remembered bits and pieces. “I remember the word ‘Voltron.’ It’s some kind of weapon the aliens are looking for, but I don’t know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”
“Well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff—” Hunk began.
Pidge cut him off. “What were you doing in my stuff?”
“I was looking for a candy bar, but then I started reading his diary, and I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks like a Fraunhofer line,” Hunk said.
A Fraunhofer line, Hunk explained, showed how much energy something has.
“Hunk, you big gassy genius!” Lance said.
Hunk took out a drawing he made of the Fraunhofer line. Keith held it up to a map of a cave he’d been researching. The points lined up.
It was too much of a coincidence—the team had to visit the cave. But what would they find?
The cave was covered in mysterious carvings of lions. When Keith touched them, nothing happened. But when Lance did, they lit up.
Crash!
Suddenly, the ground beneath them opened, and everyone fell through.
At the bottom of the cave was a giant robotic blue lion protected by a force field. It towered above them.
“Is this it? Is this the Voltron?” Pidge asked.
Keith put his hand on the force field. Nothing happened.
“Maybe you just have to knock,” Lance said.
Lance pounded his fist against the force field.
To everyone’s surprise, the lion’s eyes flashed to life. The force field lowered. Then they each got a vision of five lions flying through space, forming one fearsome mega-robot. No doubt about it—the mega-robot was Voltron.
“Voltron is a huge, awesome robot,” said Hunk.
The lion opened its mouth, inviting everyone inside.
Lance wasn’t afraid—he felt connected to the lion somehow. He walked in and took the pilot’s seat.
The others followed.
“I think it’s talking to me,” Lance said.
He grabbed the controls, and the lion rose up. Then it leaped out of the cave and started to fly!
“It says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth,” Lance explained. “I think we’re supposed to stop it. The lion isn’t saying words. . . . It’s more like feeding ideas into my brain.”
The lion flew into space. As it did, a giant alien spaceship approached and began to fire lasers at them.
Lance pulled another lever. The Blue Lion dodged the incoming beams.
“Let’s try this,” he said.
The lion returned laser fire. The alien ship was critically hit!
Now it was time to lure the aliens away from Earth. Lance piloted the lion away as the ship chased them.
The lion flew fast—faster than any other ship they’d been on. Suddenly, Shiro recognized the edge of the solar system.
“It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds,” observed Pidge.
The alien ship was gaining when a wormhole appeared before them.
“I think the lion wants us to go through there,” Lance said.
“Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do,” said Shiro. “I say we trust it, but we’re a team now. We should decide together.”
Everyone nodded. They didn’t know where the wormhole would take them, but they had no other choice.
“Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow,” Lance said.
He piloted the lion into the center of the wormhole. It closed, and the alien spaceship was left behind.
