Categories > Original > Drama > Building a Family (Meet the Robinsons)
Author's Note: Meet the Robinsons, and all characters are copyright Disney, and created by William Joyce. I am making no money from this work of fiction, and present it freely for other's enjoyment. For more background on this story, please read my Author Page. This chapter happens in 2017 and character ages are: Lewis(22), Franny(20), Fritz(38), Petunia (38), Bud(58), Lucille(52), Gaston(23), Art(25). Enjoy the story!
“Building a Family”
Chapter 5 – Spike & Dimitri
The food had stopped and they were hungry. Before, when the food was plentiful, they cared not about their surroundings. But now, with nothing to nourish them, they tried to find out why. The first indication they got was darkness. A blackness that seemed to extend forever in all directions. They only knew of themselves, of food, of hunger, and now of this inkiness that surrounded them. By stretching themselves further they wanted to know more. It wasn't long before they started to listen.
It was quiet. There were sounds, but they seemed to remember more sounds than what they were experiencing now. Loud jolts of some language, with occasional beeps, whistles and dings was what they remembered. Now, all they heard was a soft thrumming, with a soft beep every minute or so. Why had it gotten so quiet? They must explore further.
It did not take them long to realize that they were not one, but two. They were near each other, but not so close that they could touch. They did not puzzle out why they were separate, but also knew of each other, as it felt perfectly natural. The next thing to come into their consciousnesses was that each of them was not one, but also two. Everything they saw, and felt, and heard was exposed to the air, above where they felt they should be. The part of them that was thinking was lower, warm and content. Wrapped in a soothing blanket of sorts, and yet still connected to the part of them that was free. It seemed very strange, and yet it was not.
With nothing left to explore unless they could see or hear something, they waited. They had each other for company, and that was good. It would have to be enough, for now.
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Lucille felt like it should be time to go home, but she still had far too much energy. She had designed a new version of her caffeine patch, which although was stronger, had a time delivery built into it. She thought it might still be a bit much. She had finished four of her projects, reorganized her entire filing system, alphabetized her coupons, and come up with six new ideas she had written notes for. And that was all today. The one idea she wanted to start working on immediately involved a new topiary for the yard. To begin that one, she needed a lab with the right equipment.
“Computer, list laboratories with botany equipment that are not in use.”
“Laboratory 42 is not currently marked for occupation.”
She glanced up at the floor map in her office, and traced a route to that laboratory, through Robinson Industries latest building. She left her office, and headed down to the elevators.
When she exited on the correct floor, she turned to head towards the lab, her heels making loud clicking sounds in the nearly deserted building. She stopped at the double doors marked Laboratory 42, and tried to open them. When the doors would not open, she looked at the security keypad off to the sides of the doors, and waved her ID badge at it. A red light lit up, with an annoying buzzer sound.
“Huh? Computer, please open the doors to Laboratory 42.”
“Access denied.” She looked at the doors with a confused expression.
“Computer, please tell me the location of Cornelius Robinson.”
“Cornelius Robinson is currently located in Laboratory 13.”
“Thank you,” she said absently to the computer as she clicked her way back towards the elevators.
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Lewis was working on a revolutionary new fuel source, and he barely noticed the time. If this invention was successful, it would make all petroleum products completely obsolete. It was the cornerstone for his new engine that would allow easily producible flying vehicles, and would eventually allow for space flight. The workbench in the lab he was in was surrounded with several computer displays, showing various mathematical and chemical formulas and diagrams. The desktop was littered with handwritten notes and crumpled pieces of paper. He nearly jumped out of his chair when someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
Lucille started laughing. “Startle you honey?”
Lewis blushed, then stood up to hug his Mom. “What are you doing here? It's late Mom.”
“I should ask you the same thing. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we have a big day planned. Are you going to spend all the holidays cooped up in this building?”
“Well, no, uh, but, heh.” Lewis rubbed his hand through his hair, and adjusted his glasses as he responded. “I promise I'll be home tomorrow night for dinner.” He looked over at a clock on one of the displays, “In fact, we should get going now, it really is late.”
“OK, we can get going home. I just had one question to ask you. I was thinking of working in Lab 42, but the computer wouldn't let me in. You know anything about that, dear?”
Lewis frowned and turned to one of the displays, typing in several quick commands, “Hmmm, Lab 42 should be available. It was last assigned to Doctor Evans. He was reassigned to Aerodynamics, at his own request. I even have the release form on file here saying that the lab should be cleared. I'm not sure what's going on, but I can look into it tomorrow.”
Lucille nodded, hugged her son, then grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the Lab, “If I don't take you home, Franny will be very cross with me. Come on.”
Lewis let himself get dragged out of the room.
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Franny opened her eyes groggily when she heard the bedroom door open and close. “Ermh?” she asked, just as Lewis leaned down to give her a kiss. She flopped back, and listened to Lewis get ready for bed. He slipped into bed next to her, and put his arms around her.
“Good night dear.”
They both fell asleep rather quickly.
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Several times of light and dark had passed by now, and yet there wasn't any more food. Both of them were getting worried. During the light times, they had heard more voices, and now the words seemed to make sense. They had no idea why or how, but the meanings of the words seemed to pop into both of their minds. None of the voices addressed them directly, and they were both trying to conserve strength due to the weakness they both felt. They knew they were some sort of “experiment”, and they had heard the words “Robinson” and “terminate” most frequently. It scared them.
They comforted each other with their minds.
They waited.
And they hoped.
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People had been in and out of the house regularly on this day. It was to be expected, however, as it was Christmas Eve, and everyone was trying to do get everything set up at the last minute. Franny had spent several hours that morning working with the band. She felt confident that they would be able to perfectly do the carols she had be practicing with them. She was wrapping presents at the moment, while Laszlo and Tallulah played in the same room with a few toys. Except for a few tug-of-war fights, they had been well behaved today.
When she finished the last present, she looked at the clock and sighed. Her husband should have been home already, and there was no sign of him. She picked up the struggling twins and left in search of Lucille.
She found her Mother-in-law in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the Christmas dinner they had planned.
“Have you heard from Cornelius yet today?” Franny asked, both toddlers squirming in her arms.
Lucille looked up and smiled, “No, sorry dear. If he's still at work, we'll probably have to go and drag him out of there by force.”
Franny laughed and nodded, “If we call him, he'll just say he's on his way, and we'll never see him. I know him by now, I trust.”
Lucille agreed emphatically, “OK, I'll go gather who I can. Can you see if Uncle Joe is willing to watch after the kids while we go get our wayward family member?”
“Sure,” Franny left the room to go see Uncle Joe, with the two giggling twins.
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Lewis was buried in his equations again. He could feel that he was right on the verge of getting his new fuel to work. It was close to his old method of using carbonated soda, but it would actually produce energy several magnitudes higher than his first idea. It was also able to be synthetically created in mass quantities with a lower percentage of energy loss than even he thought possible.
The door to his lab banged open, and this time he did jump out of his chair and spun around to see his whole family rushing in. Mom, Dad, Franny, Fritz and Petunia, and Gaston all rushing over to his workbench.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” they all shouted, as he held his had over his chest, slowing down his breathing. They were all decked out in red and green clothing, with holly and tinsel covering all of them.
Lewis tried not to laugh, as he sputtered, “What are you all doing here?”
“Making sure you don't miss Christmas, son. Now, drop whatever it is you're working on. It can wait at least a day or two, and come home with us for dinner.”
He nodded as he started to move away from his workbench.
“Oh, before we go, honey, did you remember to look into that Lab?”
Lewis smacked his hand to his forehead, “I'm so sorry, Mom, I forgot. There's probably nothing I can do about it now, but gimme just one sec.” The rest of the family glared at Lucille, and she shrugged sheepishly. Lewis typed a few more quick commands into his terminal, muttered softly, then typed a few more commands.
Lewis looked back to the rest of the family with a wide expression on his face. “Um, most everyone should be home for the holidays, but the computer says that Doctor Evans is IN Lab 42 right now. This is really strange.”
“Computer, what experiment is currently ongoing in Laboratory 42?”
“Access denied.”
“What?!? Computer, Robinson override, access code 'Mildred'.”
“Access denied.”
“Oh, no. We're getting to the bottom of this right now.” A determined look overcame him as he looked at the rest of his family. “I may need your help.”
They all followed him as he stalked out of his lab towards the elevators. Nothing ever seemed to be normal with the Robinsons. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.
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They were fighting to even stay conscious at this point. It was light right now, and they heard the voice that was mostly in their thoughts, although they were past being able to understand it. The beeps and whirs surrounded them, and they slowly faded away.
Was this the end?
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Lewis stood outside the door to Laboratory 42. His badge wouldn't open the door either. All of them could see the light coming out from under the double doors, so someone should be in there. He banged loudly on the doors, shouting as well, but there was no answer.
Gaston stepped forward, “Stand back everyone. No door was made yet that I couldn't get through.”
The family saw him setting up his largest portable cannon that he brought with him everywhere, and scrambled to both ends of the hallway, their hands clapping over their ears.
“FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
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Doctor Evans had checked with the computer recently. and that dratted Robinson was STILL in the building. He was hoping he would have a few more days, and he could get his last readings, and then get rid of the evidence. The experiment he had created was almost dead, and he wanted all the scans right up to the point of death. He was busy copying all the readings into a PDA when he heard the banging on the door. He looked up, fear in his eyes. They had found him! No! Not right at the moment of his triumph!
He moved to the terminal, and started deleting all his files, his hands shaking as he issued the commands.
He had almost finished all of them when he was knocked off his feet. He could barely hear anything through the ringing in his ears, and he seemed to be under his workbench. He rolled over and saw several people entering the lab. It was over. He closed his eyes and wish he had died in the explosion.
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They felt the shockwave pass through them. Was this death? No, there seemed to be even more voices, but they had a hard time understanding all the shouting. What was going on?
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Fritz helped Bud drag the guy in the scientist coat out from under the workbenches as Lewis stalked in, looking around the lab, his face angry. “What's been going on in here?” Lewis demanded as he looked at all the computers and wiring hooked up to two large plants in the middle of the room. Both plants had what looked like identical young teenagers lying in the pots, unconscious, wearing no clothing of any type. Lewis moved over to the terminal and typed a few commands. He growled and banged his fists against the terminal. Franny and Lucille moved over to the teenagers, checking them carefully.
“What are you doing here? Talk to me!” Lewis demanded of the scientist. He shook his head groggily, and looked up at Lewis.
“You can't save them, they were supposed to die anyway. There's nothing you can do.” Evans started laughing, which turned quickly into a maniac's laughter. Lewis looked at him, disgust crossing his face.
Gaston had finished putting his cannon away, and walked into the lab. He saw a small PDA lying near the workbenches where Bud and Fritz were holding up Evans. He walked over and picked it up, turning to hand it to Lewis. “Will this help, little brother?”
Lewis smiled at his brother, then started tapping on the PDA. Evans had stopped laughing, and groaned audibly.
“Illegal genetic experimentation, Mark? Exactly the research I denied you several months ago? Why?”
Mark Evans looked up and narrowed his eyes at Lewis, “You have no idea what you tried to stop. This is vital research, and your small mind just discounted it out of spite for me!”
“You're crazy! Dad, call the police. Mark, you're fired!” Lewis walked over to where his wife and his Mom were looking at the teenagers. They both looked up at him.
“I think they're dying. Are these kids actually plants?”
Lewis nodded at his wife, “According to these notes, yes. And I think I can get the machines started again. I hope, in time.” Both Lewis and Franny moved over to the machines near the kids, looking at the PDA that now contained all the information to hopefully keep them alive.
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Gaston had found some rope and tied up Mark Evans, both him and Fritz watching him in the hallway. Everyone else was helping Lewis with the machines hoping to make heads or tails of the strange life support before the poor kids died. Fritz and Gaston explained what had happened to the police that arrived. The police took Mark into custody, saying that they would get statements from Cornelius as soon as possible.
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They started to feel their surroundings again. The first thing they did was make sure that each other was OK. When they opened their eyes, it was the strangest sight they beheld.
The family had gathered around the experiments after the machines started working. The two teenagers started to stir, and woke up, their eyes still glassy. Lucille was the first to speak, “Can you talk?”
“Are you angels?” one of them asked. “We thought we were dead.” the other one stated.
Everyone was shaking their head at them, “No, we're the Robinson Family, “ Bud said. “How are you feeling?”
The twins seemed to be getting stronger by the minute. The glassy look left their eyes, and they were now smiling at the people surrounding them. They glanced at each other and both stated in unison, “Can you take us out of here?”
Lewis smiled at them, as he put his arms around his family, “of course.”
The two young teenagers' smiles were the best thing any of them had seen in a while.
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It took until the next day to figure out how to move everything to get the pair out of the laboratory, and to the Robinson household. Christmas dinner had been ruined, but it wasn't a problem. Art had made sure to get a bunch of leftover chicken from his work to feed the whole family the next morning. When they finally arrived at the house, both of them asked to be put outside, if it was possible. After they were placed on both sides of the front door, the family sat out on the front porch to talk with them.
“Well, we need some names for them,” Gaston exclaimed.
Franny looked at them carefully, and added, “Well, no offense, but they look like they are stuck in the pot like one of those plant food spikes?”
The rest of the family laughed, including the two new additions. The one of the left spoke up, “I like that. Can I be Spike?” The rest of the family nodded while laughing, while the one on the right crossed his arms.
“Excuse me, I like that too, but we can't BOTH be called spike.” They glared at each other.
Art broke in, “I remember visiting a garden in New York that had a lot of plants, and some of which looked like you two, well, sort of. Anyway, it was called Dimitri's.”
The one on the right perked up, “I like that name. Dimitri.” Everyone smiled at that.
Lewis stood up, “Well, I happen to think this is now the most unusual Christmas ever. But I'm glad we were able to save Spike and Dimitri, and they wanted to come stay with us. Now, I think I know what we need to get them as their first Christmas gift,” he finished with a smirk on his face.
Everyone looked at him expectantly, and he grinned even wider, “How about a pair of tee shirts?”
Everyone laughed.
“Building a Family”
Chapter 5 – Spike & Dimitri
The food had stopped and they were hungry. Before, when the food was plentiful, they cared not about their surroundings. But now, with nothing to nourish them, they tried to find out why. The first indication they got was darkness. A blackness that seemed to extend forever in all directions. They only knew of themselves, of food, of hunger, and now of this inkiness that surrounded them. By stretching themselves further they wanted to know more. It wasn't long before they started to listen.
It was quiet. There were sounds, but they seemed to remember more sounds than what they were experiencing now. Loud jolts of some language, with occasional beeps, whistles and dings was what they remembered. Now, all they heard was a soft thrumming, with a soft beep every minute or so. Why had it gotten so quiet? They must explore further.
It did not take them long to realize that they were not one, but two. They were near each other, but not so close that they could touch. They did not puzzle out why they were separate, but also knew of each other, as it felt perfectly natural. The next thing to come into their consciousnesses was that each of them was not one, but also two. Everything they saw, and felt, and heard was exposed to the air, above where they felt they should be. The part of them that was thinking was lower, warm and content. Wrapped in a soothing blanket of sorts, and yet still connected to the part of them that was free. It seemed very strange, and yet it was not.
With nothing left to explore unless they could see or hear something, they waited. They had each other for company, and that was good. It would have to be enough, for now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucille felt like it should be time to go home, but she still had far too much energy. She had designed a new version of her caffeine patch, which although was stronger, had a time delivery built into it. She thought it might still be a bit much. She had finished four of her projects, reorganized her entire filing system, alphabetized her coupons, and come up with six new ideas she had written notes for. And that was all today. The one idea she wanted to start working on immediately involved a new topiary for the yard. To begin that one, she needed a lab with the right equipment.
“Computer, list laboratories with botany equipment that are not in use.”
“Laboratory 42 is not currently marked for occupation.”
She glanced up at the floor map in her office, and traced a route to that laboratory, through Robinson Industries latest building. She left her office, and headed down to the elevators.
When she exited on the correct floor, she turned to head towards the lab, her heels making loud clicking sounds in the nearly deserted building. She stopped at the double doors marked Laboratory 42, and tried to open them. When the doors would not open, she looked at the security keypad off to the sides of the doors, and waved her ID badge at it. A red light lit up, with an annoying buzzer sound.
“Huh? Computer, please open the doors to Laboratory 42.”
“Access denied.” She looked at the doors with a confused expression.
“Computer, please tell me the location of Cornelius Robinson.”
“Cornelius Robinson is currently located in Laboratory 13.”
“Thank you,” she said absently to the computer as she clicked her way back towards the elevators.
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Lewis was working on a revolutionary new fuel source, and he barely noticed the time. If this invention was successful, it would make all petroleum products completely obsolete. It was the cornerstone for his new engine that would allow easily producible flying vehicles, and would eventually allow for space flight. The workbench in the lab he was in was surrounded with several computer displays, showing various mathematical and chemical formulas and diagrams. The desktop was littered with handwritten notes and crumpled pieces of paper. He nearly jumped out of his chair when someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
Lucille started laughing. “Startle you honey?”
Lewis blushed, then stood up to hug his Mom. “What are you doing here? It's late Mom.”
“I should ask you the same thing. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we have a big day planned. Are you going to spend all the holidays cooped up in this building?”
“Well, no, uh, but, heh.” Lewis rubbed his hand through his hair, and adjusted his glasses as he responded. “I promise I'll be home tomorrow night for dinner.” He looked over at a clock on one of the displays, “In fact, we should get going now, it really is late.”
“OK, we can get going home. I just had one question to ask you. I was thinking of working in Lab 42, but the computer wouldn't let me in. You know anything about that, dear?”
Lewis frowned and turned to one of the displays, typing in several quick commands, “Hmmm, Lab 42 should be available. It was last assigned to Doctor Evans. He was reassigned to Aerodynamics, at his own request. I even have the release form on file here saying that the lab should be cleared. I'm not sure what's going on, but I can look into it tomorrow.”
Lucille nodded, hugged her son, then grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the Lab, “If I don't take you home, Franny will be very cross with me. Come on.”
Lewis let himself get dragged out of the room.
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Franny opened her eyes groggily when she heard the bedroom door open and close. “Ermh?” she asked, just as Lewis leaned down to give her a kiss. She flopped back, and listened to Lewis get ready for bed. He slipped into bed next to her, and put his arms around her.
“Good night dear.”
They both fell asleep rather quickly.
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Several times of light and dark had passed by now, and yet there wasn't any more food. Both of them were getting worried. During the light times, they had heard more voices, and now the words seemed to make sense. They had no idea why or how, but the meanings of the words seemed to pop into both of their minds. None of the voices addressed them directly, and they were both trying to conserve strength due to the weakness they both felt. They knew they were some sort of “experiment”, and they had heard the words “Robinson” and “terminate” most frequently. It scared them.
They comforted each other with their minds.
They waited.
And they hoped.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People had been in and out of the house regularly on this day. It was to be expected, however, as it was Christmas Eve, and everyone was trying to do get everything set up at the last minute. Franny had spent several hours that morning working with the band. She felt confident that they would be able to perfectly do the carols she had be practicing with them. She was wrapping presents at the moment, while Laszlo and Tallulah played in the same room with a few toys. Except for a few tug-of-war fights, they had been well behaved today.
When she finished the last present, she looked at the clock and sighed. Her husband should have been home already, and there was no sign of him. She picked up the struggling twins and left in search of Lucille.
She found her Mother-in-law in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the Christmas dinner they had planned.
“Have you heard from Cornelius yet today?” Franny asked, both toddlers squirming in her arms.
Lucille looked up and smiled, “No, sorry dear. If he's still at work, we'll probably have to go and drag him out of there by force.”
Franny laughed and nodded, “If we call him, he'll just say he's on his way, and we'll never see him. I know him by now, I trust.”
Lucille agreed emphatically, “OK, I'll go gather who I can. Can you see if Uncle Joe is willing to watch after the kids while we go get our wayward family member?”
“Sure,” Franny left the room to go see Uncle Joe, with the two giggling twins.
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Lewis was buried in his equations again. He could feel that he was right on the verge of getting his new fuel to work. It was close to his old method of using carbonated soda, but it would actually produce energy several magnitudes higher than his first idea. It was also able to be synthetically created in mass quantities with a lower percentage of energy loss than even he thought possible.
The door to his lab banged open, and this time he did jump out of his chair and spun around to see his whole family rushing in. Mom, Dad, Franny, Fritz and Petunia, and Gaston all rushing over to his workbench.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” they all shouted, as he held his had over his chest, slowing down his breathing. They were all decked out in red and green clothing, with holly and tinsel covering all of them.
Lewis tried not to laugh, as he sputtered, “What are you all doing here?”
“Making sure you don't miss Christmas, son. Now, drop whatever it is you're working on. It can wait at least a day or two, and come home with us for dinner.”
He nodded as he started to move away from his workbench.
“Oh, before we go, honey, did you remember to look into that Lab?”
Lewis smacked his hand to his forehead, “I'm so sorry, Mom, I forgot. There's probably nothing I can do about it now, but gimme just one sec.” The rest of the family glared at Lucille, and she shrugged sheepishly. Lewis typed a few more quick commands into his terminal, muttered softly, then typed a few more commands.
Lewis looked back to the rest of the family with a wide expression on his face. “Um, most everyone should be home for the holidays, but the computer says that Doctor Evans is IN Lab 42 right now. This is really strange.”
“Computer, what experiment is currently ongoing in Laboratory 42?”
“Access denied.”
“What?!? Computer, Robinson override, access code 'Mildred'.”
“Access denied.”
“Oh, no. We're getting to the bottom of this right now.” A determined look overcame him as he looked at the rest of his family. “I may need your help.”
They all followed him as he stalked out of his lab towards the elevators. Nothing ever seemed to be normal with the Robinsons. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.
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They were fighting to even stay conscious at this point. It was light right now, and they heard the voice that was mostly in their thoughts, although they were past being able to understand it. The beeps and whirs surrounded them, and they slowly faded away.
Was this the end?
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Lewis stood outside the door to Laboratory 42. His badge wouldn't open the door either. All of them could see the light coming out from under the double doors, so someone should be in there. He banged loudly on the doors, shouting as well, but there was no answer.
Gaston stepped forward, “Stand back everyone. No door was made yet that I couldn't get through.”
The family saw him setting up his largest portable cannon that he brought with him everywhere, and scrambled to both ends of the hallway, their hands clapping over their ears.
“FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
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Doctor Evans had checked with the computer recently. and that dratted Robinson was STILL in the building. He was hoping he would have a few more days, and he could get his last readings, and then get rid of the evidence. The experiment he had created was almost dead, and he wanted all the scans right up to the point of death. He was busy copying all the readings into a PDA when he heard the banging on the door. He looked up, fear in his eyes. They had found him! No! Not right at the moment of his triumph!
He moved to the terminal, and started deleting all his files, his hands shaking as he issued the commands.
He had almost finished all of them when he was knocked off his feet. He could barely hear anything through the ringing in his ears, and he seemed to be under his workbench. He rolled over and saw several people entering the lab. It was over. He closed his eyes and wish he had died in the explosion.
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They felt the shockwave pass through them. Was this death? No, there seemed to be even more voices, but they had a hard time understanding all the shouting. What was going on?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fritz helped Bud drag the guy in the scientist coat out from under the workbenches as Lewis stalked in, looking around the lab, his face angry. “What's been going on in here?” Lewis demanded as he looked at all the computers and wiring hooked up to two large plants in the middle of the room. Both plants had what looked like identical young teenagers lying in the pots, unconscious, wearing no clothing of any type. Lewis moved over to the terminal and typed a few commands. He growled and banged his fists against the terminal. Franny and Lucille moved over to the teenagers, checking them carefully.
“What are you doing here? Talk to me!” Lewis demanded of the scientist. He shook his head groggily, and looked up at Lewis.
“You can't save them, they were supposed to die anyway. There's nothing you can do.” Evans started laughing, which turned quickly into a maniac's laughter. Lewis looked at him, disgust crossing his face.
Gaston had finished putting his cannon away, and walked into the lab. He saw a small PDA lying near the workbenches where Bud and Fritz were holding up Evans. He walked over and picked it up, turning to hand it to Lewis. “Will this help, little brother?”
Lewis smiled at his brother, then started tapping on the PDA. Evans had stopped laughing, and groaned audibly.
“Illegal genetic experimentation, Mark? Exactly the research I denied you several months ago? Why?”
Mark Evans looked up and narrowed his eyes at Lewis, “You have no idea what you tried to stop. This is vital research, and your small mind just discounted it out of spite for me!”
“You're crazy! Dad, call the police. Mark, you're fired!” Lewis walked over to where his wife and his Mom were looking at the teenagers. They both looked up at him.
“I think they're dying. Are these kids actually plants?”
Lewis nodded at his wife, “According to these notes, yes. And I think I can get the machines started again. I hope, in time.” Both Lewis and Franny moved over to the machines near the kids, looking at the PDA that now contained all the information to hopefully keep them alive.
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Gaston had found some rope and tied up Mark Evans, both him and Fritz watching him in the hallway. Everyone else was helping Lewis with the machines hoping to make heads or tails of the strange life support before the poor kids died. Fritz and Gaston explained what had happened to the police that arrived. The police took Mark into custody, saying that they would get statements from Cornelius as soon as possible.
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They started to feel their surroundings again. The first thing they did was make sure that each other was OK. When they opened their eyes, it was the strangest sight they beheld.
The family had gathered around the experiments after the machines started working. The two teenagers started to stir, and woke up, their eyes still glassy. Lucille was the first to speak, “Can you talk?”
“Are you angels?” one of them asked. “We thought we were dead.” the other one stated.
Everyone was shaking their head at them, “No, we're the Robinson Family, “ Bud said. “How are you feeling?”
The twins seemed to be getting stronger by the minute. The glassy look left their eyes, and they were now smiling at the people surrounding them. They glanced at each other and both stated in unison, “Can you take us out of here?”
Lewis smiled at them, as he put his arms around his family, “of course.”
The two young teenagers' smiles were the best thing any of them had seen in a while.
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It took until the next day to figure out how to move everything to get the pair out of the laboratory, and to the Robinson household. Christmas dinner had been ruined, but it wasn't a problem. Art had made sure to get a bunch of leftover chicken from his work to feed the whole family the next morning. When they finally arrived at the house, both of them asked to be put outside, if it was possible. After they were placed on both sides of the front door, the family sat out on the front porch to talk with them.
“Well, we need some names for them,” Gaston exclaimed.
Franny looked at them carefully, and added, “Well, no offense, but they look like they are stuck in the pot like one of those plant food spikes?”
The rest of the family laughed, including the two new additions. The one of the left spoke up, “I like that. Can I be Spike?” The rest of the family nodded while laughing, while the one on the right crossed his arms.
“Excuse me, I like that too, but we can't BOTH be called spike.” They glared at each other.
Art broke in, “I remember visiting a garden in New York that had a lot of plants, and some of which looked like you two, well, sort of. Anyway, it was called Dimitri's.”
The one on the right perked up, “I like that name. Dimitri.” Everyone smiled at that.
Lewis stood up, “Well, I happen to think this is now the most unusual Christmas ever. But I'm glad we were able to save Spike and Dimitri, and they wanted to come stay with us. Now, I think I know what we need to get them as their first Christmas gift,” he finished with a smirk on his face.
Everyone looked at him expectantly, and he grinned even wider, “How about a pair of tee shirts?”
Everyone laughed.
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