It turns out that the GBM VCDU 9 (science) data thing is a whole lot more complex than I was originally let to believe! I spoke with Rob on Friday, and he helped straighten out a lot of things. I can't just read the binary file into an IDL array. I need to:

1) Run a frame stripper program to remove the frames within the data.
2) Run a program that turns the raw data into level 0 data (I didn't even know there is a level before level 0).
3) Run a sync code remover program which removes a certain periodic code from the data which separates each packet.
4) Run another program which separates the data into its 14 detectors.
5) Run another program which turns the data into 14 FITS files.

If I hadn't been able to find Rob, I wouldn't have been able to figure any of that out! I have no idea why I wasn't told this from the beginning, but I have learned a lesson: ask around. The people who write the programs (such as Rob) are the best to know how to process the data.

Right now I have only one of those programs listed above, the second one. I need to track down someone who can give me the others today, and learn how to use them. The fifth program requires a whole lot of installation that I don't know how to do. I think my computer already has CFITSIO installed, but I need to have a GBM MySQL database installed also, and I hadn't even heard of MySQL before talking with Rob on Friday. All this is way over my head, which means I need to track down the busy computer guy Bob and hope he can help me.