'Space', Lance thought. What a weird world he was living in. He was supposed to be here, he knew that, somewhere deep inside.
But this was very different from what he had expected. He had expected to go on other planets, pull out some samples and return to earth.
Yes, he wanted to be a fighter pilot. The idea to find new planets was always exciting to him. But that was only a dream.
Because his mind had always told him their solar system was the line.
The breaking point.
And now? Now he was here. Just sitting there, waiting for the next emergency alarm. Somewhere deep in space.
For some reason, Lance didn't feel bored.

Perhaps he should, but he didn't.
In fact, he was bonding a lot with the blue lion. He felt a weird connection to her. Surely the others experienced the same.
He felt like they had so much in common. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly, though.

He sighed, as he stood up. He missed earth. Earth had been so much – easier. He had understood everything there.
Here, he was always confronted with things that he couldn't make sense of. Magic for one thing always resulted in his mind going wack.

'Perhaps', he wondered, 'I should go and check up the computer for some kind of explanation. A simple one would do already.'

He could already hear Pidge laugh in his mind. Like he would ever understand anything that had somehow to do with technology.
The thing was, though, that at home, Lance had never had any problems with understanding anything he was assigned with. Not even technology.
In fact, he was seen as one of the few genius' in his class. He could do every damn thing, if he just went to study it.

But Pidge- Pidge was always working on some kind of next level sort of stuff.
And building things like Hunk?
Lance was a pilot. And only that. He was not made for anything but. He had educated himself on it, in spite of his status in school. But he was never determined to actually try it.
He understood the manuals. That should do, right?

Maybe that was the reason he liked video games so much. He understood them, he could work with them easily and find strategies to get through. He didn't have to actually do something.

He hated it when others hacked the system. Rewrote it. That was not how things were meant to be.
Still. He was kind of envious of those people who managed to find a way around the system.
Like Keith for example.
Who always chose his own dreams. Always went by instinct.

Lance shook his head. There was not exactly anything to focus on right now.
He should really check on the castle's computer system. Perhaps it would lift some of his confusions.

So he decided to head towards the control room. 'So far so good', Lance smiled as he passed through the door, not seeing a simple person in here.
He was not surprised. The castle ran on autopilot and there were only so many people living on the ship. All, who had different things to do with their free time.

'How exactly did Allura turn on the system anyway?
She stood somewhere in the middle of the room, right?', Lance grinned, as he mimicked the princess's usual behavior in emergency situations.
But nothing came up. The control system stayed put in the ground. Lance sighed. So he had to go to his own seat and try it from there.

Every pilot had their own sitting spot from where they had access to the castle's defenses.
Lance's was only a few steps from his current position. However, he doubted it would get him any far.
He would have to rewrite the system to get access to the board computer. Yet again, he was not Pidge.
Also, as he activated the system and looked on the screen, he faced another problem.
He didn't know any Altean. He knew so many languages and yet, the one he needed -
Lance sighed again as he just looked through all the signs.
If those things were at least shaped like actual letters. Now they were just like pictures.
'Just like Egyptian Hieroglyphs', Lance laughed. And stopped for a second.

Did he imagine that just now? Because for a second, images flashed through his mind. Pictures of Egyptian caves he saw somewhere before.
The weird thing was that he knew exactly what was written on their walls.
"Weird.", he muttered as he let those images flash right in front of his eyes again. He looked back on the screen. This wouldn't help him, he decided.
What other languages had he heard of or learned? He wondered.

Then he grinned. This was a computer. An alienated version, of course. But still, it was a computer. And the universal language was? Binary code of course.
Lance laughed. Perhaps you could actually talk in that language. That would be awesome.
He looked back at the screen. If only he had ever listened while in IT class.

His face fell. No. He didn't know Altean. But now that he looked back at the screen, he saw something else in the symbols than what he did before.
Patterns?

Lance looked more closely. Pressed some buttons whose functions he was familiar with. He was usually trying to control his little blue colored fighter with this.
The same patterns appeared here as well?! The further Lance looked into it, the more patterns he detected. The more words he could actually make up.

He sat there for about half an hour, without realizing. He even got to a point where he started understanding the Altean counting system. And he realized that he had been correct.
The altean computer did use some kind of binary system. And as soon as he understood their basics it was like reading a book for him.

When Lance stopped, he was already at the point were he could rewrite the system to hack him into the castle's main board.
And then, he almost freaked out. Because he was reading an altean binary system like a damn book!

He needed a second to process, really.
He couldn't remember ever getting the basics of the earthen version to begin with.
And now he was suddenly fluid in Altean?
Lance shook his head. He made it, didn't he? Why was he questioning his progress?

He took a deep breath. It didn't feel as satisfying as he thought it would.
And now he was about to hack into the castle's system. Rewrite his manual, without breaking the security protocol.
He didn't even have a laptop, like Pidge who had been lucky enough to have it beside her when they first met blue in that cave.

Again, he took a deep unsatisfying breath and with a press to a button, he was finally in.
"Alright, you stupid system, tell me what magic is.", he murmured to himself.
Not realizing that he didn't speak English at that moment. Not knowing that someone went by and heard him.

-------------------------------

Pidge only went by the control room to go to the kitchen. Her goal? Talking to Hunk and maybe getting some good food out of it.
That was all. Then she saw Lance.
Now, it wasn't unusual to see him walk around in random places. The guy had nothing to do, so he liked exploring things.
Pidge did too, she even joined him sometimes. But what she saw now confused her to no end.

Lance was sitting in front of the castle defenses manual.
Was there an attack? She looked through the front window of the castle. She didn't see anything. Or anyone. There had not even been an alert.
What was he doing there?

Then he suddenly said something to himself. And what Pidge heard was – well, gibberish in her opinion. But not unfamiliar.
It sounded like the weird noises Allura and Coran made when they talked to eachother, when the rest of the team was not supposed to understand them.

She knew this was Altean. She even understood a few things Allura and Coran sometimes said. She did try to educate herself on their language, after all.
However, she had never seen Lance doing the same. The language training exercise was also still on the previous level, whenever she turned it on. And that happened to be her own.

Also, Lance was not the type to ever train with a system that was as scary as those lessons.
The guy liked the simple. And the steady and safe.

So where did he learn that language? And why was he moving his fingers so fast on the screen?
If she didn't know better, he was reading through files of the lions?
And the screen flashed so fast, too?
Lance looked almost like a – robot – who was securing information.

Then it hit her like a train. Of course. A galran spy!
Immediately she reacted and activated her bayard, as she put herself in harm's way.
"Freeze! Hands up!"
She flung herself right in front of the thing that looked exactly like Lance. And blocked the entrance with her watch.
A device she recoded so she could control some of the castles system.

Lance immediately raised his hands in shock, as he turned around towards Pidge.
"Pidge? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing. What are you and what did you do to Lance?"
"What do you mean, what am I? It's me! Lance. Here, look. I found a way to hack into the castle's system! Did you know that quintessence is actually some kind of a formable energy?!
It's not magic, like I used to believe. It's actually another element!
Some that is radiating light, of course, but that is already it!", he said.
But Pidge didn't put down her weapon.

"The real Lance is not interested in this kind of stuff! Also, he does not speak Altean!", she fumed.
Lance looked at her in confusion.
"Well, of course I don't! What makes you think that? I mean, sure, I am kind of learning right now, using universal binary code, but I started when? Like half an hour ago?"
Pidge stared at him with her mouth slightly parting.

"Look, Pidge! I am serious here! Go on, test me. I am not a robot! I am from earth. Just like you!", he said, eyeing her weapon in slight worry.

"Alright! "

-------------------------------------------

"Pidge, Lance? What are the two of you doing here?", Coran asked as Pidge and Lance entered the medic bay.
"Coran! We need to check on – Lance, here. Something is wrong with him!", Pidge hesitated, as she eyed Lance suspiciously from the side.
"Is that so?", Coran asked in curiosity.
"Well. In that case. Do you remember the day you all arrived at the castle for the first time? The castle immediately scanned each and everyone of you, to run down some information on the system.
If something is different with Lance now, we can surely detect it immediately. We can also compare it to the time he spend in the healing pod, if you want to.
Humans do work differently than Alteans, after all.", Coran mused.
"Come here, my boy."
Pidge huffed annoyed. She was clearly on edge. It was obvious that she wanted her suspicion to be clarified as soon as possible.

Lance just shrugged, as he sat down on one of the tables that were lined up on the wall.
When he lied down, the scan immediately followed.
A glowing light slowly went up and down, slowly connecting his data.

"Coran?! How long will it take for you to get the information?!", Pidge asked after nearly two and a half minutes. So much for patience.

"Just a few ticks. I still need to compare his current data with the ones from your arrival and the time in the healing pod. Don't worry, it won't take long."

Pidge growled, as she waited for Coran to reread the manuals.
"I don't even know what the point is. I feel fine. I don't get what your problem is! If you really think I am an intruder, how would I get on the information of – myself? Anyway!
Also wouldn't it make more sense to infiltrate as Shiro? Since he is the team leader and all.
Or as Coran. He has access to everything. From cleaning duty to the princess' chamber!
Being me would be the most stupid choice, don't you think?!"

Pidge wavered at his comment. Only a second that she wanted to say something, to oppose his talk down on himself.
And that moment of hesitation actually made Lance relax in his spot on the table.

"On the other hand, since I am the weakest link, it would probably be the easiest to take down, right?", he continued. He didn't really mean it. It was just a fact, nothing more than that.
It didn't hurt him as much as you'd expect it to. Though it was a sad realization.

"It's done!", Coran interrupted. "No changes in appearance or personality. This is definitely Lance. You were quick to assume he might be an intruder. Thank Alfor he's not.
Are you alright, Lance?", Coran asked.
Lance slowly sat up. "Yeah, sure I am. Is this enough, Pidge? Or do you still want to examine me.", Lance laughed at her, smiling his well known flirtatious grin.

Pidge's relieved, yet confused face narrowed. "You could have made that joke sooner and I would not have dragged you down here. Yes, I am convinced now. Thank you Coran."
She turned around, already done with the whole situation.

Lance, however, stayed for a second. "Hey, Coran, may I look into those files from the time I was in the healing pod?
Not to be weird, but I'd like to know how injured I was, when I got hurt. I don't think I ever asked before."

Coran smiled at him in a gentle manner.
"Of course my boy.", he turned around the screen with one movement of his hand for Lance to see.
Lance scanned the page with his eyes.

The screen showed a male figure and it's anatomy. But something was – off.
It was not the fact that the screen showed many signs of sharp edges from a bomb cutting into his body, it showed – damages.
Lance could make out the damage report even. And it said things like: "the memory card experienced small fractures.
System restore complete. Subject may experience signs of memory loss. Interface still intact.", and so on, and so on.

"Coran? I know I am not an expert on anatomy or biology and stuff, but this sounds like the damage report of a computer. What is this?"
Coran looked up at that. "What do you mean? This is how humans are constructed, right? Aren't you guys supposed to be similar to drones, but with a soul and mind?", he asked simply.
"What? No. Humans – we – are supposed to be animate.
This report here!", Lance waved at the screen in front of him, "it says that I am a robot!"

Coran just stared at Lance. "I- are you sure, Lance? Because if what you are saying is true, then I am afraid there is either something wrong with our castle's system.
Or - "
Coran didn't finish. Lance understood anyway.
"Nope, no no no no no! It must be the castle. This thing is haunted, I told you, you know it. This must be some kind of irrational stupid joke or a malfunction or something! I am human, I always was! ", he jumped to his feet.

"Lance, calm down, I never said anything else. I will check up on the system. I'll fix this. Of course you are human."

"Good! You better!", Lance muttered as, he as well, left the room for good.

Coran, however, looked at the screen again. A thoughtful expression visible on his face, as he checked up the files of the other paladins.
They were certainly different. Close to Altean anatomy, to be honest. Perhaps they were not as different as he initially thought.
Lance, however. This was no mistake. Lance was not made of flesh.
Even if this was a malfunction. How would something this severe ever occur to a system run with quintessence?
Also, as Coran remembered the time Lance had saved him from that explosion -
Lance never bled.

------------------------

Lance stared at his best friend in distant silence.
Hunk was cooking, while Pidge was sitting next to them, eyeing Lance sideways. Lance, however, stared in a dream like state at nothing in particular.
He couldn't be a robot, right? Human technology was not that advanced. Also, Lance felt offended by that statement. See? He could feel.
So he had to be human, right? Also, what kind of idiot would create such a flawed robot?
If you do it, do it right, ok?!

"Lance? Are you okay? You seem kind of lost in space, right now.", Hunk ripped him out of his thoughts.
"Oh nothing. I was just thinking of my sister Veronica and Marco. You know, we were summer vocationing once! We were on the beach. It was terrific.
Veronica made us all smoothies and Marco showed me how to surf. It was awesome.
I miss them.", Lance said. And to the most part, this was true.
See? Family! There. He had to be human.

"Homesick again?!", Hunk smiled a little.
"Always."

---------------------

They were on a mission.
And of course they were surrounded by Galra. It had been a surprise attack. Shiro was leading them through the Galra base to rescue on of the Blade of marmora.
Keith, to be exact. The guy had gotten himself in trouble in the middle of a war cruiser. And Voltron was assigned to get him out and the important mission to be finished.
Well, originally they were supposed to only destroy the cruiser, but with Keith still on board...

However, Lance finally felt real again.

This was what he was good at. Here, on the ship, with his hero by his side, he finally felt like he belonged.
He had always striven to be like Shiro. Shiro was his idol. Or well, used to be.
To be honest, the more Lance came in contact, the more he questioned why exactly he had ever spoken so highly of the guy.

Shiro was rude sometimes. He was flawed. He wasn't perfect at all.
Perhaps he was his idol, because that's what the Garrison said he should be? However, Lance had to admit that Shiro was a far better leader than anyone else he knew.
Perhaps besides Allura, but she was more like the boss. She knew the missions and the plan and all, but she was too close to them to actually step up and let anyone follow.
She always stepped aside. Her duty as the princess always coming in first. She was used to rule. Not to lead. Though the line was thin, Lance thought.

Well, anyway.
Lance worked his way through the ship. Always on guard. Not going easy on any of the Galra. They were the enemy. They had to be eliminated.
This was like an online shooter game. When he ever played one, he didn't remember.
But this was so easy. His shots were so precise, he didn't even have to concentrate on anything.
He knew his friends by his side.

The one's he would protect no matter what happened.
The people he could depend on having his back. His own life was not even near their importance. Lance could always be replaced. That was his destiny.
He almost stopped in his tracks as this thought hit him. Yet again, he didn't feel much about this fact.

He was a soldier. It was just normal that he could be replaced. It was a good thing even.
Why didn't it bother him at all?
He even killed people right now. Didn't it matter? Sure, he was in the middle of a war. But he was a teenager who was caught up right in the middle of death and destruction.
Shouldn't he feel a little panicked? A little reluctant?

No. He felt in place. This was what he knew. This was normal. Perhaps he adapted too easily to his new surroundings.
He was following new orders even. Without questioning them at all.
Couldn't the Galra be right too? How big were the chances that he as a human found the only two surviving people on the "good side" with the strongest weapon in the universe?

Couldn't they be two people who were trying to run over a perfectly functioning dictator regime in space?
They could be on the bad side. Like they said Lotor was at first. But later he wasn't. And than he was again?
After all the propaganda they pulled in space, Lance wasn't so sure anymore.
But his head told him he was doing the right thing.
Allura and Coran were against oppression and abuse. They were fighting for people who lived in slavery. This had to be the right side, right?

Lance wasn't so sure.

A bullet stopped his train of thoughts again.
The bullet, he saw in the split of a second, was headed towards Keith. Who was still in chains. Trapped against the wall.
Lance's mind circuited. Keith was an important part of their team. He wouldn't survive a shot from this distance.
Lance moved, without doubting his decision for even a single moment.
Not that he had many of those.

Screams.
Worried faces. His name. Lance closed his eyes.

---------------------------------

"Sir, we are detecting malfunctions on the subject."

The room was almost empty. A male figure stood with his back to the wall. Eyes wide open, but there was no fire in them. The figure was tied to the wall.
Detectors were pinpointed on his head, cable running somewhere out of sight.
But that was not what would have drawn your attention. No, it was the fact that on multiple places, in different spots on the body, the skin was ripped wide open. You could see silvery shining bones, glowing lights that reminded you of a pulse.

He looked like a machine turned off. To be fair, that was exactly what he was.
"Is it the only one?", a man said. He was standing in a different room, watching the whole scene through a window.

"Yes, Iversion, Sir. The other subjects are stable. No malfunctioning. We assume it is a side effect resulting from our last experiment."

"Are you saying, the artificial intelligence program has failed yet again?!", the man with the eye patch asked.

"Far from it, actually. We eliminated the aggression potential, raised it's ability to adapt as well as it's precision and ran down a system that connects it's intelligence with our WiFi system. It is constantly self teaching and managed to find a way to exist without the connection. It is also created a system similar to the human body, were it is able to turn biologic material into energy."
Iversion turned towards the smaller man next to him.

"You're telling me you connected it to the Internet?! It can survive without a power source, knows our military strategies and teaches itself everything else? "

"Yes, Sir."

"Do you even realize what danger this could mean for our future?!"

"Well, by all means, Sir. The subject has shown no sign of aggressive behavior and it has a morality code that is engraved into it's system. It cannot possibly be erased.
The subject has also shown to develop signs of, well. Emotions."

"Emotions?", Iversion asked, almost bewildered.

"Yes, Sir. The ability to teach itself and it's strong morality code must have detected moral conflicts in some of it's restrictions. This caused it's AI System to malfunction.
It also created something else. However, we managed to decipher some of it's code. And it appears that it has created itself something inside it's memory folder."

"Is he dangerous?", Iversion asked.

"We are still running tests on the subject. But so far we have not detected anything alarming. Still, we would not recommend trying to recreate it's system. The malfunctions happened at random and we are not certain we could keep the others in check.

"I see. As soon as you are done and don't find anything. Let him go back to class, immediately."

"Sir?"

"You heard me."

"By all respect, Iversion, Sir. But the subject has failed in it's protocol and turned rebellious against your orders- "
"Stop this nonsense, Mr. Brown. I am a teacher. I deal with this kind of behavior every single day. I am sure I can lead him on the right path. You said it yourself. He is not dangerous."

"This is not a joke, Sir! The subject might become a thread when it gets in contact with any more of the other students. We don't know what it might be capable of. The subject is not a human being, we cannot-"

"You cannot what, Mr. Brown? You said the artificial Intelligence program succeeded, am I right? And you said you restricted it's aggression level to almost zero percent, was it?
It developed emotions, it is a potential thread to society?
As far as I am concerned, this appears to be a human being in it's teenager phase. No offense, Mr. Brown. But to me, he sounds very human."
Iversion turned around, not looking at the figure on the wall anymore.
"I'd even go as far to say, the Living Artificial Neurotical Cellular Experiment was a success."
He stood for a second, as he rubbed his chin.
"You are right though. The other soldiers are not to be updated in the same way. Continue your studies."

"Yes, Sir."

"And bring L.A.N.C.E. back to my class."

----------------------------

"LANCE!", Hunk screamed, tears streaming down his face, as he looked down on his best friend. Even Keith's eyes went wide and watery in shock, as he stared at the broken figure on the floor, right in front of him.
"He saved me", he whispered, while his friends were shouting and letting out their anger on the Galran drones.

"They shot him in his head!", Shiro chocked. "His head! He was just a kid".
He was the only one, who stopped shooting and fighting. Instead, he knelt down beside Lance, holding his unexpectedly heavy limp body up in his arms.
"Wait - ", Shiro suddenly stopped in the middle of his mental break down. His confused voice being muffled over the clashing sounds of people running around and bodies falling to the ground.

"L.A.N.C.E. Restore Protocol complete.", Lance's voice suddenly echoed through the room. Heads turning to the presumably dead body.
"What the? He's not bleeding!", Allura said, mouth agape in shock.

And then, Lance arose.
His face not twisted in any emotion. "Access to memory folder denied. A.I. Protocol dismissed.
Warning. Multiple detection of system failure.
Awaiting orders.", It said.

"What?", Shiro asked in confusion.
L.A.N.C.E. Turned around to him. He looked at him and turned his head a little.
"Scan. Complete. Takashi Shirogane. L.A.N.C.E. Drone number xO7 at your service. Awaiting orders."
It could have been silent, if the Galra were not still fighting.

"Ehm?! Fight- the purple looking guys around you?", he asked.
The thing looked around. "Understood."
Seconds later the robot was fighting again. Shooting target for target, it's comrades watching in confusion at the smoke that slowly filled the air.
If you were looking closely, you could see the electricity sparkling in his right eye.
The smell of burnt plastic slowly filled the air.
Shot by shot found it's way through L.A.N.C.E.'s body. But every time it stood up again.
When the shooting finally stopped, the drone was covered in holes.
A dark substance was running through multiple spots of it and more and more errors were reported.

A final shot by one of the sentries knocked him out for good.
Pidge and Hunk destroyed the attacker by taking him to the ground. But L.A.N.C.E. remained just as inanimate as it had proven to be before.
When they returned to the ship, Coran told them his assumptions.
It was not enough, however. Pidge and Hunk were unable to fix him. They brought back L.A.N.C.E. Of course.
But the A.I. System had been damaged. The access to its memory folder was still denied.
They brought back his vessel. A vessel that couldn't pilot blue anymore.
Because their pilot was gone.
Lance was gone forever.