• A New Discovery


    February 24, 2311. That was the day when my life would change forever. My name is Noel LaFontainé. Around that time, I was only a mere 15 year-old teenager going to Catholic high school. I lived in the countryside just outside of Paris, France. Little did I know that I was going to be a pilot. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, then let me do the honors to explain things more clearly.

    It was a beautiful day. The buildings were clean, the trees and flowers were gorgeous, and the atmosphere was fresh. Class was in session and we were learning about World History.

    But I wasn't paying attention to any of that as you see that I was thinking about something other than the wonderful nature or the events of the past. I had a dream about going into space just like my father did. Going up to see the stars, traveling to other places around the world, and have a robot for that matter. I bet that he had a wonderful time having all of those opportunities. Just thinking about it made me want to live up to what he had done.

    JULIEN (whisper): "Noel, it's your turn to read."

    I was wondering what my friend was talking about. Then I had noticed the teacher was looking at me. Luckily, Julien pointed out to where we were.

    NOEL: "Uh...On June 15, 2008 media reports circulated saying Russia had set up a military base near the village of Agubedia in Abkhazia's Ochamchir district and had deployed heavy armor there. Russia's Defense Ministry denied--"

    Thankfully the bell had rung, which meant it was time to go home. As I was getting my important items in my locker, Julien and my other friend, Serge, came up to me and asked me a question.

    JULIEN: "You were daydreaming again. What was it about?"

    NOEL: "You know exactly what I'm daydreaming about! I've always told you everytime you ask."

    SERGE: "Being a space pilot?"

    NOEL: "Thank you, Serge."

    JULIEN: "At least I daydream after I'm done reading out loud."

    NOEL (sarcasm): "Ha-ha-ha. You're hysterical."

    JULIEN: "Come on, we all know that education is important for us."

    SERGE: "That's true. Also, you know that he is always watching our every move."

    (Author's Note: This the part where I meant that I have nothing against Catholics)

    NOEL: "Am I the only one who's atheist in a Catholic School?"

    JULIEN: "Keep it down! You'll get in trouble."

    NOEL: "Trouble? Well, since you have warned me, I have been tempted."

    Julien could tell that I had the devil's smile on my face. I couldn't help but rebel at any chance I've got.

    NOEL (shouting): "Attention all boys and girls of St. Paul!"

    Everyone in the hallways turned their attention towards me.

    NOEL (shouting): "My name is Noel and I'm an atheist!!"

    There was utter silence from everyone. It was yet another mischievous achievement that had made my day. The teachers weren't too happy about that little outbreak. Three months worth detention cleaning the entire school, and only by myself, was my punishment. This wasn't the first time I've had detention. I guess you could call me a troublemaker.

    Three hours have passed and much to my surprise, Julien and Serge waited for me. We all would usually walk home together after school. While that was going on, we were passing the Eiffel Tower as its projector was showing the news.

    FEMALE REPORTER: "There has been the recent release of a new project by St. Jacobson Company. Our reporters had gone to Tokyo, Japan and have brought us this footage."

    My friends and I stopped to watch the projector. It showed the Captain, who looked like a young adult, giving out information.

    CAPTAIN: "We have worked years and years on this robot. His job is to track down any enemies trying to interfere with the peace. His name is Steel Trojan 42 and he is an important member of the organization like every other robot."

    The projector had then showed a picture of the robot. It was covered in white metal with accents of red, blue, and purple. To me, it was another work of art that I would love to see in person.

    JULIEN: "Don't tell me you wanna fly that robot, do you?"

    NOEL: "Of course I do! Do you know how awesome it would be to fly inside a robot?"

    SERGE: "And dangerous?"

    NOEL: "Dangerous? Yeah right! I could control any kind of robot easily."

    JULIEN: "Noel, what he means is that doing all those things you dad did have complicated turning points."

    NOEL: "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

    JULIEN: "Look, it's getting late. See you guys on Monday."

    SERGE: "Bye, Noel."

    As Julien and Serge waved goodbye, I continued watching the projector. It was currently showing the new robot flying through the sky. Just by looking at it, whoever was flying inside was a very lucky person.

    Few moments have passed and I had finally reached to the countryside of Paris. As I entered the cottage, I saw my grandmother rocking her chair.

    NOEL: “Hey grandma, where’s mom?”

    GRANDMA: “She’s been wondering where you’ve gone to.”

    NOEL: “I had another detention but get this! I saw the news on the Eiffel Tower’s projector and they were showing a new robot created by the St. Jacobson Company! It’s looks really awesome!”

    GRANDMA: “You really are my son’s offspring. But what did you do that caused you to have another detention?”

    NOEL: “I shouted out saying that I was an atheist.”

    GRANDMA: “That’s my boy!”

    MOTHER (sternly): “Oh really?”

    As soon as I heard her voice, I knew that I was in deep trouble.

    MOTHER: “And why did you do that?”

    NOEL: “Well my friend had tempted me to do so. Our family doesn’t have a religion anyway.”

    MOTHER: “Just because we don’t have a religion doesn’t mean you should be causing trouble in a strict school. The only reason why we put you there was because we could only afford that kind of school.”

    GRANDMA: “Did you tell her about the new robot?”

    NOEL: “Oh yeah! Mom, I saw this really new robot on the projector and it was really cool!”

    MOTHER: “Noel, I know that you love robots, pilots, and all that but I don’t want to risk losing you after you know what happened.”

    As mother mentioned that, my happiness transformed to sadness. A few years ago, another organization, Mary Bohemia, which was once partners with St. Jacobson, had betrayed them. On a mission to fight in a war, St. Jacobson and Mary Bohemia were offered to help out on the same side. Then, Mary Bohemia had released missiles and bombs to attack any St. Jacobson models. My father was one of them. He tried to save other members but unfortunately, he was eventually killed.

    MOTHER: “I don’t mean to be hard but you know how difficult it is for both you and me.”

    Mother started cutting carrots in the kitchen. Later on, the day had turned into night. As I went to my bed, I couldn’t sleep. All I could think about was about anything that had to do with pilots, robots, anything to do with St. Jacobson. I have come to realize that everyone that I’ve told about my dream have sugarcoated that I couldn’t do such a thing. Just thinking about it made me want to prove them wrong in any possible chance.

    The golden morning had come. I had to do my daily chores, which was taking care of the farm animals. Grandma had come out to see how I was doing.

    GRANDMA: “You’re becoming more and more like your father everyday. You’re always doing a good job on the job.”

    NOEL: “Thanks Grandma.”

    She could tell that I was still a bit troubled from yesterday.

    GRANDMA: “Don’t listen to what everybody else says about you and your dreams. If you wanna go for it, than do it. And if they have a problem, they’ll have to go through me.”

    I laughed a little. Whenever I was feeling down, grandma would always be there to make me feel better. The morning turned into the afternoon. Mom asked me to go to the city and get some bread. It was about 4 miles from the cottage to the entrance of the city itself.

    As I was making my way to where I had to go, I heard something coming from the sky. At first, I thought it was only my imagination. I continued to walk my way down, when all of a sudden, a crash came down!

    I had quickly turned to see what had happened! I had then tripped over and rolled down a hill! Eventually, I had scratches on my skin and was too weak to lift myself up at the moment. As I opened my eyes, I saw what I never thought I would get the chance to see while being in my teenage years.

    There it was. I saw white metal with accents of red, blue, and purple right before my eyes. It was none other than Steel Trojan 42 himself! As I had the ability to get up, I looked into the eyes that were green neon lights. His mouth was a golden colored speaker. Scratches were on the white metal that once shined on the projector. It was about 20 feet lower than the Notre Dame.

    Once the robot looked at me, he suddenly was starting to collapses. I ran as fast I could to get out of the way. As the robot reached the ground, the earth moved causing me to fly a foot above. I got up and rushed to the robot. I reached up to where his hand was laying. Just by looking at it, I could tell the hand was as big as the cottage itself.

    I then had wondered if there was a pilot inside the robot.

    NOEL: “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

    There was no response. My eyes turned to where it had the words “Gate” on a door. It opened itself up and had shown the way to an operating room. No one was in there. Could it mean that the robot was controlling his self? I wondered.

    Moments later, I returned to the cottage with a bag of bread. Mother had all ready prepared dinner and Grandma was waiting on the table.

    MOTHER: “Did something happen on the way?”

    NOEL: “Uh…no. I was distracted. I’m sorry, mom.”

    MOTHER: “Don’t let it happen again.”

    I wondered why neither my mother nor grandma asked about the sounds that happened to the robot. I tried to keep a low profile on that subject and tried to focus on what was going on right now.

    It seemed that the night was about to have a thunder & lightning storm. I had put all the animals in the barnyard and had engaged the protective shield over the cottage roof.

    As everyone was asleep, the sound of thunder and the image of lightning had begun. It was another ruff night for me. This time, I was a bit worried that the robot was still lying on the ground. So I got up from my bed and rushed out to the field where the robot had collapsed.

    There had to be some possible way to have him recharged again. That was when lightning struck down on him. I moved as quickly as possible to not get hurt. I then took a closer look. The robot turned his head and the neon green light opened. When he looked at me, he got up and stood almost 80 feet tall above me.

    STEEL TROJAN 42: Who are you?

    I was surprised that he could talk fluently in my language. So I answered to him.

    NOEL: M-My name is Noel. And you had collapsed after landing on this field. Are you all right?

    STEEL TROJAN 42: I feel better now. I am Steel Trojan 42. I am a robot that’s—

    NOEL: Trying to look for enemies around the world and such. Before you ask, I saw the news.

    STEEL TROJAN 42: If it makes it any easier for you, just call me Steel for short.

    NOEL: You should go back to the station. It’s not safe out here for now.

    STEEL TROJAN 42: I mustn’t do that, for you see I have to do my orders. I shouldn’t do anything else until I’m finished with my duties.

    NOEL: But look at yourself! You’re all scratched up and before you know it, you’re going to rust out here! Just return home safely.

    The robot looked at his feet. I was expecting something to happen but there was nothing.

    NOEL: What wrong?

    STEEL: My rockets aren’t operating. They’re the only things that can help me fly.

    NOEL: Shouldn’t you have someone controlling you to operate?

    STEEL: I used to have someone to control me until they wanted to create robots that work on their own. They have tested me to see if I could work without a pilot. It had approved up until now. So as of right now, I might as well be stuck here until they come and get me.

    NOEL: Well I can’t let you stay at my house! You’re too big!

    STEEL: Maybe right now, but there is a control where I can turn into a portable cube.

    My eyes were wide. Seriously?! Impossible, I thought.

    STEEL: If you don’t believe me, get into the operating room.

    Steel had turned around and kneeled down. I climbed up to where his back was where the gate was. It opened by itself as it had a motion detector. I climbed inside and sat on the controller’s chair. I looked at all the buttons and controls. Unfortunately, they were all labeled in Japanese so I couldn’t figure out.

    NOEL: Uhh…tell me which control it is exactly.

    STEEL: It is labeled “Seigyo Shukushou”.

    NOEL: Do I look like I know Japanese?

    STEEL: Sorry, I’ll translate it for you.

    At the window in front of the controls, he used his neon green lights and showed the Japanese characters translated to “Diminué de Contrôle (Shrunken Control)” and translated back. I had then carefully tried to match the characters with the label. After I pulled the lever, an alarm started to go off.

    VOICE: Evacuation countdown ready to begin. Ten…nine…eight…

    NOEL (freaked out): Steel, what’s going on?!

    STEEL: Get out of the operation room right now!

    I quickly jumped out of the operation room and ran a bit far from Steel.

    VOICE: …Three…two…one…shrinking form ready.

    My eyes were seeing the impossible! Steel was morphing into a portable cube himself! After his morph was complete, I was lucky enough to catch him right when he was falling from midair.

    NOEL: Steel, you still there?

    STEEL: I am and don’t worry. I’ll be back in my normal form only if you press the red button on one of the side.

    NOEL: A red button. Couldn’t they think of something more original?

    I snuck back into my bedroom safely and put the cube on the nightstand. The morning had come and I was getting ready for school. Eat my breakfast, brush my teeth, get dressed, and go to school. As for Steel, I brought him along because one, I didn’t want him to be lonely. Two, if my mom found out, I would be in so much trouble!

    As I arrived in the city, it seemed that there were two strange men who were wearing sunglasses were following me. One looked like a middle-age adult with dark brown hair, a beard, and was wearing a cameo vest and pants. The other was a young adult with platinum hair, a beret with orange stripes on the side, and was wearing a white polo and jeans. As I turned around, the two men looked away. I then turned to my forward attention. The more my pace became faster, the more they were catching up with me.

    When I started running, they started to chase after me. I started to take different directions and turning points to confuse them. It had worked! As soon as I got to an alley, it seemed that no one was behind my route.

    NOEL: Ha-ha! That’ll teach them not to mess with Noel LaFontainé! Right, Steel?

    STEEL: Um…sure, I guess. But those guys who were following you seemed familiar to me.

    NOEL: Whatever. There’s no chance that they can catch us now!

    MAN’S VOICE: Oh, I’m not so sure of that.

    The voice didn’t sound familiar to me. I turned around and it appeared to be the two men who were following me. It seemed that they had found my hiding spot.

    MAN #1: You have something that we’ve been looking for and we would like to have it back please. We’re not going to harm you. Just give it back and we’ll leave you alone.

    NOEL: What?! No way! I’ve found it and it’s now mine!

    MAN #2: What did he say?

    The platinum blonde possibly didn’t understand French. He was asking the other man in English.

    MAN #1: He said he wants to keep it.

    MAN #2: What? Does he not know its St. Jacobson property?

    MAN #1: Look, I’ll speak to him clearly. Just stay calm. (Clears throat) My name is General Paxton Taylor. And this is my assistant, Vladimir Moskowitz. We were sent to Paris to bring back what you’re holding. Would you please give it back to us?

    The men both took of their sunglasses as I thought for about a moment.

    NOEL: No.

    PAXTON (to Vladimir): He said, “No”.

    VLADIMIR: WHAT?! How dare you speak to someone more powerful than you!!

    The platinum blonde started to rant from English to Russian. Thankfully I couldn’t understand either because it might have sounded unpleasant.

    NOEL: Look, I have to be somewhere so I’m leaving.

    VLADIMIR: Where do you think you’re going?!

    PAXTON: Vladimir, remember. He can only speak French so let me do the talking.

    VLADIMIR: He’s going to run off just like that!

    PAXTON: How do you know that?

    VLADIMIR: Well he’s doing it right now.

    As I tried to make my move, Vladimir grabbed on my collar causing me to stop.

    VLADIMIR: See my point?

    PAXTON: Just let me talk to him.

    VLADIMIR: Fine, fine! But he won’t listen to you.

    I looked at the two men awkwardly as they were both having a conversation in English. General Paxton then looked at me in the eyes and was speaking fluently in my language.

    PAXTON: How about we make a deal. If you give us the cube, we’ll give you something in return. Anything, you name it.

    I thought to myself for a second. I realized that these men were both from St. Jacobson. So my decision was made.

    NOEL: All right. I’ll give you back the cube…if I join the St. Jacobson with you.

    The general seemed a bit surprised. He had then relaxed his face and nodded.

    VLADIMIR: What? What was his response?

    PAXTON: He’s going to be joining St. Jacobson with us.

    Vladimir’s face was in total surprise. He then started ranting in Russian once again. Paxton just shook his head.

    PAXTON: We’ll let you on the organization. We just have to give you permission from your folks first.

    NOEL: What about school?

    PAXTON: Don’t worry. We’ll let them know that you’re transferring.

    I expected myself to be joyous about this, but instead I was bewildered. Later, I had led the general and his assistant on the way to the cottage. It seemed that Vladimir was getting tired once we were halfway there. General Paxton then carried him the rest of the way. As was got there, Paxton and Vladimir sat down and were both catching their breath.

    PAXTON: How do you deal with all that walking without getting tired?

    NOEL: I’m used to it.

    VLADIMIR: Water! I need water!

    PAXTON: When we get in the house we’ll get you some.

    NOEL: So how come your assistant only speaks English and Russian?

    PAXTON: You see, in St. Jacobson, everyone is required to speak English and Japanese since both of them are currently the ruling languages in the world and that the main base is located in Kyoto. He also knows Russian for you see; Vladimir originally comes from St. Petersburg.

    NOEL: I kind of figured that out by the rants.

    PAXTON: I actually from the United States. But I’ve learned other languages so that any new people I meet aren’t lost in translation.

    NOEL: We should get inside right about now.

    As we were about to enter the cottage, Grandma stepped outside unexpectedly.

    GRANDMA: Noel, has school been cancelled for today? And who’s the beefcake?

    Grandma was staring at Paxton happily. I’m sure he was also feeling chill I had crawling in my back.

    PAXTON: Are…(gulp) you this boy’s guardian?

    GRANDMA: I’m his grandmother but his mother’s inside. Why don’t you come on in?

    PAXTON: Um…thank you?

    VLADIMIR: Paxton, I may not understand what she said but I’m scared.

    PAXTON: Be very afraid.

    Once we got inside the room, we all sat down on the dining room table. There were absolutely no words coming out of anyone’s mouth. I was holding onto Steel’s cube form.

    GRANDMA: So…are you single?

    PAXTON: Classified information!

    Mother then walked into the dining room and was surprised.

    MOTHER: Noel! What are you doing back home? Did you get in trouble again?

    PAXTON: You must be the mother. I’m General Paxton and next to me is Vladimir Moskowitz. It appears that you’re son has something important to us.

    MOTHER: Where are you men from?

    PAXTON: We’re from St. Jacobson Organization. We were sent here to bring back a cube that your son is holding onto right now.

    MOTHER: Noel, you should have just given it back to them!

    PAXTON: No, no, he said that he would give it back to us on one condition.

    MOTHER: What would that be?

    NOEL: Mom, I want to join the St. Jacobson organization.

    MOTHER: Noel, you know I can’t let you go out there being part of a war that’s going on right now!

    NOEL: But mom, it’s what I want to do! I’m tired of having to live an ordinary and go to a school that’s based on something that I don’t believe in! Please mom. I promise that I’ll take good care of myself.

    MOTHER: But your father…

    NOEL: I know mom. But I’ll follow in his footsteps and I’m sure I’ll do my best. I know it’s happening so sudden, but you knew someday that you’re going to have to let me go.

    Mother’s eyes started to water. I knew that she was going to be very worried about me.

    NOEL: Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that I’ll see you again. I’ll never forget about you or grandma. Who knows, I might still be the same old boy I am today.

    Mother wiped her eyes and had inhaled. The day turned into the afternoon. General Paxton had called in for an aircraft to come get us. Once it had arrived, I had my chance to say goodbye to my mother and my grandma. I knew that in my heart I would someday see them again.

    The aircraft took off and as we were passing by, I was looking at Paris down below. As I was still holding Steel’s cube form, I took one final look at the city I grew up in for most of my life. General Paxton was also looking out as well. As for Vladimir, he was getting airsick and was holding a brown bag.

    PAXTON: Are you nervous, sport?

    It turned my attention to Paxton. I smiled and responded this.

    NOEL: You kidding me? I’ve waited my entire life for this.

    That was just the beginning of what was about to change my life forever.