Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"How much fuel do we have left, Don?"

"Not enough fuel to keep him in there while we land and keep the ship powered."

Maureen looked toward the freezing tube with the source of all their pain and suffering, the colonel had been asleep for all of those thirty years. Completely in the dark as she sent her children back to Earth only to find they came back for her twenty-nine years later to rescue Don, Judy, Katherine, and Joshua with Robot's input. 

She hadn't looked at his freezing tube directly for thirty years and this was the first time that Maureen had to look at him. Doctor Smith was unaltered by time, immobilized, for all that he was concerned it was still 1997 not 2032. The colonization of Alpha Centauri had gone unimpeded according to Will and Penny after they had relayed what had sent them off course, after sending them back with Hapgood's ship after a long terrifying year fighting against the planet, the aliens, the travelers, for survival. 

He hadn't fought against any of that. Maureen puckered her lips then shifted her gaze toward the younger man. He wasn't young as he used to be, grayed, but yet as still great as he had once been so many of those years ago trying to make sure his family lived for that potential rescue ship even as they hopped from planet to planet trying to get back on course all so desperately. He wasn't twenty-seven but instead sixty-two. Time had treated him well just as it did for Maureen with grace, dignity, and pride like wine. Maureen sighed, resigned.

"We have to tell the children." Maureen announced.

"God," Don rubbed his forehead. "I am scared of doing this, Maureen."

"He is only going to be out until we get enough fuel to put him back and don't need to worry about it." Maureen reassured the younger man. "Just enough fuel to cover us for the next few years."

Don looked at Maureen, skeptical.

"Don't you feel that we made a mistake back then?" Don asked.

Maureen grimaced before she replied.

"Going out with the children, I do."

Don sighed, then rubbed his forehead with his head lowered.

"No," he lifted his head up facing her. "letting him live after John died." He lifted his brows. "You and I have been through some serious shit out here."

"That is true." Maureen agreed. "It's not me who didn't apprehend him, kill him, and do the same for Robot."

The major scowled at the reply that was coming from the matriarch and it hurt less than what his current existence was currently being.

"I had a mandate to make sure no one got killed aboard this ship." Don argued back.

"If we're assigning blame for being lost as we are now or John being dead." Maureen added.

The younger man still bore that unhappy look about his face.

"It would have been better if it had happened and you know that." Don insisted as he shook his index finger. "He shouldn't be lucky not spending thirty years awake like we have!"

Maureen shook her head.

"If we went and he didn't, we would be back on Earth and we wouldn't be flying in the future with this risk."

"Like those millions of Jupiters that went anyway?" Don put his hands on his hips. "Smith sneaking aboard wouldn't have done anything by the sounds of it." he motioned his head toward the window of the Jupiter 2 then proceeded to smile at the obvious that was laying in between them as a ideal should have been. "What we would be doing would be going back out there and finishing what we started."

Maureen sat down into the chair across from the major.

"According to Will's star charts that he returned with five years ago, we have five more years to go then we can go into hyper drive at those coordinates."

Don stiffened at the mention of the word that was dropped by the older woman.

"I don't trust the hyperdrive." Don said.

"What do you trust? Taking the slow way?" Maureen tilted her head, one hand on the side of her waist. "We didn't have coordinates then."

"Remember the last time we used it twenty years ago? And where we winded up?" the major reminded the matriarch of the incident that made her grimace. It had been very trying, difficult, trial and error, just getting on the path that got them on track.

"I do." Was what Maureen replied. "Though, that shouldn't matter as this instance is different."

"Right near a black hole---it's a miracle that we got out of that mess!" he threw his hands up as he lashed out his anger and disappointment. He paced back and forth with a shake of his head. "And those coordinates was to Earth according to the space trader."

"The space trader were not telling the truth." Maureen said between gritted teeth.

The major looked back at her.

"Much like our guest in that damn freezing tube." Don gestured his hand toward the frozen doctor.

"We didn't know them." Her words were sharp but gentle enough to remind the major that everything was better than those desperate days. "We know Will, we can trust him." Don sighed, his head hung, his hands on the arm rest of the chair. "We can trust the hyper drive to take us home this time."

Don wasn't persuaded by her assurance as he simply stared at her. Trusting the star charts to bring them home was risky, more riskier than everything they had been through, more than they had been fortunate to live through. Don had seen fear on the matriarch, vulnerability, but it wasn't quite often among her temper that showed.

"I don't know and I don't want to think about it." Maureen admitted, finally.

"I have to." Don said. "He could get us off our current path home." he shifted toward the occupied freezing tube. "How about we just throw him out after waking him up---"

"That's off the table, Donald!" Maureen lashed out as she stood up to her feet as she called him out. "Doctor Smith must face a group of his peers and be judged by them."

Don turned back toward her.

"Don't we count?"

"We are his victims."

"Don't we?"

"No, course not!" Maureen snapped, insulted by what he was insinuating.

"It's hard to tell with you being a great leader that you have any feelings about his current status." Don said. "Hell, you are a thing of iron and I admire -- even respect that -- that you have it."

Maureen took that as a compliment as she listened intently to what the younger man had to say.

"Some nights I wish that I had the strength that you have not to send that order out and leave him stranded on a planet."

"That is barbaric and inhumane." Maureen said. "No one would ever know that he suffered, greatly, for being aboard."

"It's better than nothing!" Don's roar was loud and angry and bitter as he smacked the back of the chair. There was fear in his voice and uncertainty behind that rage and bitterness. She could see the young man that he had once been behind the aging mask that time had put onto with care and tenderness. "He might have some connections up there in the chain of command that I don't and that makes it terrifying that there is a possibility that he can get away with it."

Maureen listened to what the younger man had to say. She wasn't thirty-nine, she was seventy-four and leading her expanded family through space, deciding on a daily basis what had to be done when it came to the unexpected and how long that decision had to stay before being scuttled itself. It was quite silent between them in the bridge that had the instruments running, panels lighting on and off, all until Maureen cleared her throat.

"We are personally invested in the outcome of the trial." Maureen started to reply. "I would like to personally see to that he die the way that John did only with a thousand cuts, bones that are broken, being alive to suffer through it, I like him to be miserable as we have been for the last thirty years!"

Maureen turned away with a grimace as the air had grown heated between them then she folded her arms. Don was satisfied, there was some rage at the doctor. They had a new bridge of understanding but restrained by morals, by the promise of civilization, by the promise that justice would be dealt with and recorded in the halls of history, letting it not be recorded by history would have made their justice being dueled out hollow and incredibly ill advised. Maureen wanted justice but more viciously than the major wanted justice in his very simplistic way.

The doctor's version of events was admirable but crueler than her word and her morals, something so horrific that it could have only been suited for the dark ages. It was a short lived moment that Don doubted himself that he heard her correctly but he had. She had a dark side, the major was highly aware of it and personally seen to it. Don just hadn't imagined that her dark side could be used upon a human being. It was quiet between them for a long time as it dwindled for the powering of the freezing tube and ticked away in the atomic clock.

"Joshua is twenty-five. . ." Don said.

"Yeah, he is." Maureen's voice was soft.

"We got more people this time to watch him." It was more of a promise than a statement.

She turned back toward him then Don nodded in agreement so Maureen went down to the lower decks. A few minutes later, up came Joshua along with Robot and Will. Don looked toward Will, apologetic, he had promised the once young man that they would never wake him up under any circumstance after the discovery of his father's body after all the sabotage that Smith had done and ruined their entire lives. Will stood aside Robot with his arms folded. He looked sure about being here and there was no need to ask. 

Don pressed the button on the freezing tube. Smith fell out of the freezing tube with a thud and weakly tried to get up to his feet but collapsed, his eyes unable to open, unable to move, simply paralyzed by the state of lethargy of being asleep for so long. Don knelt down to the younger man's level.

"Nope. Still hate him and want him to suffer."

"Ma--ma--maj---major?" The older man lifted his head up at the source of the major's voice. "Is that---heavens, is that---really you?"

"Uh huh." Don said as he looked down on the man.

"Am I . . . am I. . . am I. . ." Smith started to say. "young again?"

The major only stared upon the quite younger man then grimaced as he proceeded to sigh .

"God, I forgot about the studies for being in there too long." Don rubbed his forehead.

"Is Will the right age that he should be, like say, thirteen, fourteen?"

"I never heard of these studies." Will said as he looked toward the freezing tube skeptically.

"Good reason not to." Don noted. "Memories from dreams are for the longest time . . . real." Their attention returned to the whimpering man set between them on the floor trying to get up to no avail. "They had this one test subject in one for fifteen years on their own accord and come back out a millionaire after investing."

"Please, tell me that terrible, horrible, awful machine brought young Will to his family! Are they alright?" Smith lifted his head up, barely weakly, then fell back down landing to his side with his eyes full of tears. "Professor?" his vision was blind as he searched through the technicolor of the Jupiter 2 bridge. "Professor? Professor Robinson?"

Don was disgusted.

"I can't lift him up." he stepped back, shaking his hands, disgusted. "I can't---no, I don't want to touch that saboteur."

Will looked toward his sister's son, then grimaced, then back toward Don quite reluctantly. Will set the older man up to his feet then brought him over toward Joshua and Robot's arms. The duo guided Smith to the elevator lift as the younger red head shot a glare toward his father, not quite understanding the reluctance, the cowardice, to lift a finger and help him. The machine helped Joshua pick him up then lifted the man up to his feet moving him into the elevator car. The elevator went down with the duo in tow.

"Wait till he finds out the pain of having Doctor Smith out, Don." Will said. "If he is even a doctor at all."

"He's just a kid." Don agreed then turned toward him. "It hurt, didn't it? Seeing him alive instead. . ."

"It hurt more than I expected." Will admitted. "Sadly, I wonder if that . . ."

"If what?"

"Ah, nothing." Will shook his head. "It's stupid and silly to think that over time he wouldn't become so deadly to us just to survive."

"I agree." Don had a short lived laugh. "It is nothing."

"Like a drink?" Will asked with a lift of his brow. "It's kind of late enough to do that with Katherine and the girls fast asleep."

Don grimaced as he looked toward the direction of the bridge then back.

"Uh, I still gotta land this ship." Don replied as Will became visibly unhappy. "But, I can do with a drink while waiting to land."

Will smiled in response to his older friend's comment that coated the sorrow, the pain, the hurt that was renewed.

Chapter Text

Joshua set the older man into a sleeping bag in one of the spare rooms when abruptly the older man took him by the hand.

"William, why were you able to supply my weight with ease?"

Joshua cleared his throat then sighed.

"Because I am Joshua Robinson West."

The doctor froze, stiffened, slowly becoming alarmed as each second passed.

"What?"

Smith's vision was horrid, but the general shape, the blurriness, the familiar red hair, all pointed toward signs of a older Will speaking to him and the voice was off, not as kind, not as sweet, not as friendly as Smith had became familiar to in his dreams.

"Doctor . . . my uncle does not like to be called William."

"What do you mean?"

Joshua pitied the older man resting on the bed.

"You've been in a freezing tube for thirty years, long since they crashed and left Priplanus."

"It can't be. . . It mustn't. ." Smith lifted himself up with one hand then fell against the bedding. "All those wasted years."

"It is, doctor." Smith's blue eyes flipped open filled with accusation and anger lifted his hand then proceeded to poke at Joshua's eye that momentarily blinded him. "OW!"

"Shapeshifter! Interloper! Fraud!" Smith jabbed at him again. "GET OUT!"

And suddenly, unexpectedly like a rhino, the older man had summoned strength enough to force the younger man out of his cabin then close the door in front of him. Joshua walked backwards until his back met the galley table and stared at the closed door. His heart was racing and everything felt different compared to how it had been before.

There was more heartbreak, sorrow, and despair lurking out of the room spilling out beneath the door as Joshua was covering his eye. He heard a sound of a thud from the room that he had been unceremoniously forced out. Joshua approached the door then slowly slid it open and observed the older man laid on his side snoring away.  

Joshua set him on to a bunk, sighed, departed the room, closing the door behind him then went to his cabin as it were any ordinary day for him aboard a miserable ship.

The Jupiter 2 landed without any crash landing, instead it landed gently on the three landing legs beneath her frame and the auxiliary deck window opened after a moment by Maureen as she looked out toward the landscape that awaited outside for her small family the following morning. The Jupiter 2 had landed in the center of a forest surrounded in green compared to how most landings were in the middle of a desert. She felt in her bones that it was the end, of something, not of her family, but the very end of something that haunted them for ages.

It was late and the others were set to awaken quite shortly. She remembered the measurements for the older man, something that had been done a long time ago done by Judy and written down on the notebook. A notebook that happened to remain with the Robinsons over the last thirty years traveling in space. Maureen pressed the glowing buttons to the advanced and highly redesigned machine choosing colors for the uniform; black, green, and purple instead of maroon and yellow.

Black as in death that swarmed and consumed and covered all the good, purple for the greed that doomed them all, and green for what little regard that Smith held in life as the Robinsons did. The new clothing appeared in a pop surrounded by blue wrapping, her gaze lifting up toward the direction of the doorway. Maureen can feel it in her gut that is where he rested. She knew that is where he was, right in her gut, somewhere so specific without having been told by her grandson only that he was taken into a cabin.

Maureen approached the door then slowly opened it to find the man snoring away on the bed. She set the clothing on the table as she looked upon him then shook her head. He looked so peaceful and content, harmless, compared to the way that he really was in all the true forms that existed in the pinnacle of space travel and missions. She had, long ago, believed that there could have been a chance of welcoming him into her family had John survived the fall with her right hand man by her side. 

She walked out of the room then closed the door behind her. She sunk down against the door, feeling tears starting to come to as her vision blurred, why was he alive and John wasn't? It wasn't fair. Seeing him breathing, snoring, while John could not. It was all too much to bear and grated on her nerves with the reminder of the tragedy in her ship. All that she wanted to do to him were against everything that had been instilled into her and what John would want her to do, for the family, no need to be violent, no need to be dark, or cruel.

She combed the side of her cheeks then up into her hair, hurt. He was only going to be out for a day, what was else to be done? She could tolerate just a few hours of his presence far that she was concerned regarding the issue. Maureen slid up to her feet then took out the ingredients on the counter and the basket, the cooking tools, then went over to the shower with her maroon, yellow, and green uniform. She returned out of the bathroom, all refreshed, feeling better, feeling lighter.

How bad can it get on this planet?

Three days passed with a very extensive geological survey done before anything else could be started that complicated matters in getting the fuel. Katherine was watching from the bridge as her grandmother was out with her parents searching for veins that held precious fuel, Will was out exploring with Penny with Robot to survey the wild life, so it just left Joshua and Katherine all alone during the third day being on the planet.

"Come on, you know you want to see the old man." Katherine said.

"I have seen him," Joshua reminded the young girl. "and he isn't the most . . . well. . . talkable."

"Least talkable person?" she tilted her head.

"He is still blinded with false memories, Katie."

"So even if he is currently trapped with false memories," She stood up to her feet then set her hands on her hips. "That means we don't have some fun?"

"Your fun involves wrestling." Was the reply that came from Joshua.

"He is old according to ma." Katherine pointed out. "Don't need to do that."

"And?"

"Thumb wrestling."

"Thumb wrestling?"

"Uh huh."

"You're bored out of your mind!"

"Well, would you want to play chess again?"

"No!"

"And get beaten by your little sister?"

"NO!"

"Then sit down and mind the house."

"Sister, he is fast for his age."

"So?"

"He might be hungry. He has been in a freezing tube for thirty years."

"I am a shoddy cook, you do it."

"I can't! You know how I am when there is a stranger aboard the ship."

"You tip them off that something is wrong---well, relax, bugger boy, he's no stranger. You've seen his face since you were a kid!"

"Yeah, since he was frozen in a freezing tube." Joshua countered back to his younger sister. "He tried to kill mom and dad back then--" Katherine went toward the elevator car leaving Joshua behind at the front half of the console. "Katie, don't do it!"

Katherine's shoulders lowered as she sighed.

"Remember, he failed." Katherine turned toward him. "It's terrible what happened, I agree." Then she bore a over confident smirk over her older brother's confused demeanor that replaced his shock. "But he failed to kill everyone and I am very sure he won't be able to try again because Robot is hardly out of uncle Will's vision."

Joshua shook his head, perplexed, at the sheer stubborn characteristic that was going to doom both of them. Their parents strictly gave them orders not to approach the older man at all. The story of what happened that day was etched into the young man's mind, going against warnings, against orders, it left him quite aghast at doing something such as this. His parents never wavered in their choice not to give him a chance, not to stay and talk to him, they were only eager to put Smith back into the freezing tube and be done with it.

"Why are you not listening to some common sense?" Joshua asked.

Katie sighed, the barrier withdrew, then turned toward him.

"I am giving him a second chance." Her voice was sharper with the reminder then glared back at him. "Isn't that what grandma gave to all those aliens? And you know what happened?"

Joshua was quiet as he puckered his lips looking aside as his sister went inside of the elevator car.

"Yeah." Joshua said. "They helped us out." he grimaced looking aside at those trying years, the decisions that he had made as a child now back then were so risky and daring then shifted his attention upon Katherine. "But, he's no alien. He's human!"

"Who wants to go home just like all of us." Katherine folded her arms.

"Katie, he wants to get home with all of us dead for who knows what reason." Joshua said.

"Sounds to me that you've judged him by his looks and his previous actions being a judge and jury about his future." she eyed at him as she twirled a finger in the air. "Do you got a crystal ball that I don't?"

"I'll prove it!" Joshua went inside joining his younger sister's side and folded her arms. "I will kick ass when he tries to kill the two of us."

Katherine rolled the barrier back in front them then pressed the down button and folded her arms with a smirk.

"Good."

"What are you going to do?" Joshua asked.

"Get a chess table ready." Joshua proceeded to pale as the elevator car went down. "Then wait for him to wake him up with if he doesn't want a thumb battle."

Smith awoke, finally, breaking free of the darkness and the lathargy that dominated him into rest. He flipped off the bed landing on to his chest with a thud then looked around observing that he were in a rather large version of his cabin. It was bigger than he recalled and nothing short of a small cabin. He looked around as he slid out of the sleeping bag over the sound of his stomach growling then rubbed his stomach. He looked aside spotting the clump of clothing that awaited him in a blue film.

Just like. . . Smith frowned picking up the uniform. Will hated being called William, that much wasn't different, they had left him to rot in a freezing tube for thirty years, and he had dreamed of numerous things that seemed beyond his understanding and comprehension going to places that shouldn't exist and meeting strange characters. The dream sequence had ended quite so suddenly after discovering the root of their problems and pressing it together so they return to their respective universes, the boy who called himself Will Robinson going home, and Doctor Smith to become young again.

He opened the door to his cabin, looking from side to side, looking toward the galley, observing that a young man with a face similar to Don and Judy facing the direction of a younger woman who was rather impatiently waiting for him to finish what he were cooking at the stove. Smith quietly slid the door open then exited and went to the shower without making a sound and dressed into his newly gifted uniform. It felt strange to be in a new uniform that he were likely going to be frozen in -- what was the point of giving him a new uniform if they were going to put him back inside? He paused with that perplexing uniform.

"Hello, Doctor Smith!"

Katherine had a small nervous wave at the frozen older man.

"About time that you got up." Joshua said, sharing a nervous laugh. "I was finishing this meat noodle bowl."

"You mean macaroni and meat."

"Is that what it is called?"

"On Earth, yes." Smith was looking around. "It's. . ."

"Still as boring, yeah."

"No." He grimaced, inwardly recoiling, stricken by the differences between the two Jupiters that were identical in interior design. "More wider than I remembered."

"Come on and sit down."

"Why should I if you're going to put me back in?"

"It's taking longer than normal to find enough fuel to leave." Joshua revealed to the older man. "She isn't taking small veins for a yes."

"Then she is going to be staying here a very long time if she doesn't compromise." Smith approached the galley, slowly with his arms folded.

"Grandma is very stubborn," Katherine said. "That's really helped us in the long run."

"We don't complain." Joshua said, cheerfully, then set out a large bowl on to the table with a ceramic spoon right at Smith's seat and poured two other bowls.

Smith looked down at his bowl that was full of macaroni noodles and meat that was stuffed inside of them. He jabbed his fork into the pile then took a bite out of it, swallowed, then stuffed it into the bowl over the laughter of the grandchildren as the older man took some opportunity to wipe his mouth with a napkin.

The grandchildren talked about the beginning of the long family adventure as the older man listened with a intent ear until the bowl was empty and they had concluded the part about their mother's siblings leaving for Earth and Smith stared at them in confusion once they had mentioned the name Hapgood.

"Hapgood?" Smith asked.

"Yeah."

"Instead of after the first winter during the first summer; he appeared on October 16, 1998, is that correct?"

"He did."

"I need some fresh air," Smith stood up to his feet.

"There's no place to hide out there or flee to."

"The bleakness of our situation is pressing on my mind, Katie, Josh." Smith's words were full of anger despite how calm that he were acting then pressed his lips together. "It isn't quite lost on me what I opened the door to---and you!"

"You and I opened the door to hell?" Joshua asked then shook his hands with a frown. "Thanks but no thanks." The young man folded his arms against his chest as he glared back at the older man. "I never wanted this."

"Stop looking at me like the most terrifying monster is right in front of you and capable of eating you alive!"

Katherine looked toward Joshua with her eyebrows raised then back toward Smith.

"Your actions ate up my grandparents lives, our uncles lives, and our future." Joshua argued back, Katherine's hands rolled up into a fist as she glared up toward the older man and Joshua was calmly talking without a trace of rage.  "You would do the exact same thing if things were different."

The younger man was seated across from Smith as he leaned back into the chair with a smirk and folded his arms then proceeded to laugh. The older man's eyes raged with fire at the indignity that was being treated upon him as if he didn't matter to the crew as a fellow survivor, as if, as if he didn't matter at all and the memories that were held of the Robinsons were simply just dreams and Hapgood was a coincidence.

They made the choice easy to make. Smith looked toward the doorway then back toward the children, then back, and forth, weighing his options quite carefully if it was worth executing.

"How about we play a thumb war?" Katherine suggested. "Or a chess game?"

"Child, be in my shoes and tell me if that is worth doing in a toxic environment." Smith said.

"It's not that toxic here!" Katherine insisted while her brother's demeanor said otherwise as he stared the older man down.

Smith got up to his feet then made a bolt for the doorway, opened it, then fled down the stairs.

"He will be back." Joshua assured.

Katherine just stared at her older brother.

"If we did that to you, would you?" Katherine asked.

"No." Joshua said.

"Then he isn't coming back." Katherine stated the obvious.

"Yes, he is." Joshua said.

Katherine stared at her older brother for a long moment.

"If the stowaway doesn't come back whenever grandma comes back with the fuel. . ." Katherine said. "then you have to search for him with mom, grandma, and Robot."

Joshua shrugged from the chair.

"I don't know why you're being so negative, but he is going to come back." Joshua insisted. "Just give him some time."

Katherine turned toward the open door then toward the reader and shrugged.

Chapter Text

"Is that it?" Judy asked.

"We have enough fuel just to keep us along for the next two years," Maureen replied then grimaced. "I can't believe we didn't consider picking up fuel along the way before."

"To be fair. .  ." Don spoke up from across the two women leaning against the frame of the chariot. "We did pick up a lot of fuel on Priplanus that could sustain the ship for what we thought would be the entire trip."

"At the time we did," Judy said.

"Spending nights in a cabin instead of a sleeping bag in the wilderness for the last week . ." Don leaned against the long support beam to the drilling rig as he looked around the scenery that was better and kinder than most areas the drilling had to be assembled then chuckled. "this is the shortest geological survey that we did in a long time without returning to the Jupiter 2 for a good night's rest."

"The solar battery even says the same." Judy noted much to Don's amusement.

"I'll start the Chariot." Don walked away from the two women.

"Time to disassemble the deutronium drilling rig." Maureen said as she sighed then smiled and her daughter joined her in the disassembling process.

The pieces were assembled into the luggage then stacked at the top of the Chariot that was in idle mode and Don helped bring the luggage to the top and strap in each section on the roof. Maureen paused at the end, gazing on toward the landscape of the quite alien planet, admiring the scenery as she rubbed her shoulders.  Judy halted observing her mother then retreated and went behind the Chariot.

Maureen closed her eyes as she went into her personal fantasy with John. A land where he never left forcibly from her side and never had the tragic accident that yanked him out of their lives as a family all of a sudden. She smiled sensing his presence, her shoulders raising, with his very distinctive smell still as memorable as before the very same day that they had left Earth as a complete family rather than a incomplete one.

"Isn't the weather here wonderful, darling?"

Maureen chuckled as she looked toward the transparent and yet grayed specter of her loved one. 

"Worth the week that we have spent on this planet." Maureen commented to the specter.

"Makes me wonder some days if weather like this will pale in comparison to the ones in the Alpha Centauri system." The specter's hands rested on his hips.

"Every planet has it's beauties."

"Even the worst ones that make it difficult surviving."

Maureen's voice was softer, kinder, happier as she joined his side then planted her hands on where the shoulder of his specter. She was better at this moment in her heart with her feign version of John.  The specter felt so real to her, just as it did many times, as if he were only touchable to her hands only, aging just as she did, as he folded his arms.

"They all pale in comparison."

"Some days I wish that we can stay on hospital planets like these longer," he motioned toward the sky, wishfully. "It isn't right." he shook his head in sorrow at the horrifying lifestyle that they lived instead. "The grandchildren are used to this. They shouldn't be."

And then he was gone with Judy's shriek that shook Maureen's world from the ground up. She turned way from her specter toward the direction of the chariot then made a run for it going to the side until she halted in her tracks. Don and Judy were no where to be seen not even from within the transport itself.

"Don?"

Maureen looked around.

"Judy?"

She set her hand on to the butt of the laser pistol resting on her side, her eyes scanning from side to side, taking careful steps forward. A hint of fright and uncertainty was in her way as she walked forward further and further away. She paused in her tracks observing a man with a silver cloak donning a silver set of armor decorating his frame kneeling down in the center of a streaming brook  right beside a  tall machine. 

"Isn't this fascinating, Doctor Robinson?" Huvik asked.

"Sir?"

"The fish." Huvik repeated. "And my name is Huvik, and call me he/them. Yours?"

"She, her." Maureen said.

Maureen looked down toward the streaming brook and knelt down to where he were pointing and observed the small fish swarming. Huvik grew a smile on their face then shifted their attention toward the water.

"The innocence that they have, the audacity that they have, the mere adaptational abilities they have when a hand goes through. . ." he slipped their hand into the water and the fish swarmed away. "And slip away."

"They are quite intelligent."

He lifted their gaze up toward Maureen.

"Are they?" He tilted their head.

"Fish are very good learners in the sea when it comes to survival." Maureen confirmed this with a nod. "Most alien fish."

He lowered their gaze toward the fish.

"Hmmm. . ."

"What is that machine?"

"It's a extractor of kinds." Huvik said. "Takes beings where you want them from somewhere. . ." He lifted their gaze back up toward her. "if used generously."

"Where is my daughter and son-in-law?"

"They're fine." Huvik smiled with a shake of their hand. "Just sleeping."

"Sleeping." Maureen repeated, skeptical, but scared for their lives.

"I like to have one of your people as a test subject." Huvik as he got up to their feet then dusted their hands off and wiped both hands on the exposed clothing with a smile. "No foul will come to them."

"There is someone who would make the best one." Maureen insisted, her offer, desperate, just to save her family.

She knew what decision that she were making and so painfully aware of what that meant. She watched a smile grew on the stranger's face.

"Then we have a deal." Huvik held their hand out.

And Maureen shook it.

She felt the compromise eating away at what was left of her soul, her ethics, and morals. The Maureen Robinson who was whole and so utterly alive that went into space for Alpha Centauri had died long ago; so bright, so optimistic, so innocent but not as cynical, bitter, yet faithful that things would go in her favor. She wasn't quite alive as before but more so half undead and half alive after having lost her other half.

John wouldn't have said yes so quickly; Maureen were sure of it, but a part of her doubted that. If it were only him trading himself in for Judy and Don then perhaps without discussing it with Maureen making it on the spot after decades in space. The thought of John living as a experiment would have tried her soul in more ways than one while wrapped in worry, concern, and fear as she were completely unaware of her husband's health.

Maureen would have hated him at first for making the decision without her. 

But in the end, she would have forgiven him.

John would do the same for her.

Will was the most annoyed at the Jupiter 2, he anticipated of flying away after a long journey searching for fuel and more food for the flight; not spending one week searching for the older man with his sister and her children. He knew the kid wasn't best at hiding his feelings when it came to strangers and Will should have been there instead with Joshua going out exploring with Penny.

There were so many regrets from the grandchildren that reeked off their figures more than a bad smell would do. The biggest mistake was letting Joshua stay, the biggest in hindsight, that much that they all agreed on the night after their first day of searching. It bruised their egos, Joshua the most, with having a deadly threat on the loose.

"At least we can set up that one project I have been itching to do!"

"What project?"

"Um, it's, er, not your interests."

"Now, I am interested, Will."

"Cosmic particles."

"Oh no. Count me out. I didn't hear that! I am going out and searching with Robot--"

"Penny, it's one am at night!"

"I don't care if it's pitch black. That's the stupidest project I ever heard--" She set her laser pistol belt along her hips then looked toward her brother with a glare. "Cosmic storms are DANGEROUS!"

"They are, they are."

"Remember how you found out five years ago and got us stranded on that one weird planet for a year AFTER LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN?"

"I do, I do, I do--"

"Sounds to me you still haven't learned that cosmic storms and technology never get along."

"Well, this time it will get along because this technology is meant to harness it!"

"You are a mad man, Will."

That was all Penny said then descended down the steps leaving the young man behind. Will shook his head, disappointed. His siblings had seen the storm as something to be afraid of, something deadly, something so utterly horrible that it couldn't be studied or played with for that matter. He watched her figure dart through the forcefield joining Robot outside on his nightly patrol and vanish off into the night.

Smith awoke from where he were perched on a series of rocks. His name being called out by a familiar voice that was older than it had been before. He got up to his feet then made a run for it fleeing further into the darkness until he sprained his ankle over a fallen tree branch. He looked over his shoulder spotting a human figure and a grill glowing red from the background indicating they were getting closer.

He hid in the tree trunk waiting for them to pass then collapsed once they were gone.

Smith whimpered in the dark.

Will was back at the ship on the conn manning it in the event of the expected call late into the morning. Penny and Robot hadn't returned to the Jupiter 2, it was just him and the grandchildren inside.

"Chariot to Jupiter 2, come in. Chariot to Jupiter 2, come in."

Will picked up the radio.

"Jupiter 2 here, mom. Over."

"It's so good to hear your voice, Over."

"Yeah, me too. Are we going to leave soon? Over."

"Very soon." Will could hear her smile over the line then fade. "I need Doctor Smith ready to go by the time I get here. Over."

"There's a problem. Over."

"Joshua. Over."

"Affirmative. over."

"Make sure he is there by the time that I get back by any means possible. Over."

"Roger that."

Will set the radio into the hook then sighed. He turned away then went down to the lower decks of the ship, quietly approaching the grandchildren who both turned directly in his direction as they were at the galley table.

Smith's eyes open with a pang of pain emitting from his ankle. He lifted himself up to his feet then hopped up  and gazed from side to side, his hands guiding along the wall, then hopped out of the old tree bark. He hopped through the forest further and further away until he were in more different conditions that were full of levels that he could use to his advantage for his ankle. The area was down a cliff from the forest that retreated to a grand canyon landscape decorated with boulders.

Smith paused in the middle of the field of boulders then seated down keeping his sprained ankle up in mid-air with care and se it upon a perfectly level surface. It was only then did he slid himself up then relaxed with his back against the boulder yet slouched and folded his arms. He picked up a rounded pebble then tossed it over his shoulder then folded his arms.

At the same time, Penny was returning to the forest with Robot very tired all so unaware that the person she were looking for was there.

"Ow!" Penny rubbed her head then glared as she fixated her attention upon Robot. "Robot, what was that for?"

"I did not throw that," Robot protested.

Penny hopped on to Robot's treads.

"I am scared of this place, Robot." Penny said. "Get me out of here."

Robot's helm twirled as he proceeded to wheel on leaving Smith behind completely aware that he were there. 

Chapter Text

"Great, we lost Smith and we are going to have to stay here, LONGER!"

Will wasn't the happiest of the bunch, five years had worn down on him and he wasn't the same person who had gone out into space, smiled at the disaster that was coming down toward him, the same excited, optimistic, impatient, and hopeful person biding their time being stranded on other worlds.

He was so used to flying, off and on, getting further closer to home, making their trip back quite delayed by a few more weeks.

Will sat down into the nearest chair and slouched.

"I wouldn't mind staying here a little longer." Katherine said.

"Katie, this is a frightening planet. More frightening than the ones we have been on--just yesterday we were chased by those giant HOGS."

"Because YOU frightened their children!" Katherine said, pointedly.

"And they bit me up really good!" Joshua said. "Dangerous huge things!"

Katherine gasped then grew insulted as her hands rolled into fists.

"They headbutted you into a den," Katherine shoved her index finger into his chest. "and you were bitten by the baby rabbits!"

Will got up then wedged between them to make for some space.

"You two, enough!"

The siblings scowled as the other as Penny frowned.

"He started it!" Katherine insisted.

"No, you!" Joshua argued.

"We have not, in fact, lost Doctor Smith." Robot said. "He was in the last area that we searched outside of the forest."

"Robot, why didn't you say that earlier?" Will asked.

"Penny did not ask." Robot said,

Those were words that were so painfully familiar to the Robinsons. Robot neglected to tell additional information if it did not pertain to what he was needed to say or asked to say. Some days, it grated on their nerves.

Robot was a machine that did only what was programmed to do, but on some days; Will wondered if Robot was more than aware as Penny and the grandchildren departed the area of the Jupiter 2. More of a person than acted to be despite everything that he were built to be and designed to be a highly manipulated machine. He approached the machine with his arms folded eying at him then linked his arms behind his back.

"Robot, has the weather station indicated that we may have a cosmic storm in our hands?"

"You cannot hold cosmic storms."

"Ahead of us."

"There is a chance."

"What's the big chance?"

"Seventy-nine point five percent."

"Uh huh."

Will smiled.

"No time like today."

Will moved on from Robot then the machine rolled after him.

They watched from the forest as Robot shifted through the landscape following after the direction of the older man. They were silent with their backs against the tall and old trees to the best of their ability. It was all uncertain that things would go the way that they had anticipated of and it was a matter of luck that things would go their way. Maureen was only but three hours away from the Jupiter 2 with a recent transmission that normally was given at the three hour mark so the family could get rid of the excessive weight for flight before she got there.

Will observed Robot came to a halt at where Smith was resting then watched the older man bolt to his feet and flee with only a bolt of electricity that destroyed the boulder being a deterrence. Smith halted in his tracks then whirred toward the direction of Robot and became quite animated as his figure vanished out of Will's view standing in front of the machine who blocked the younger man's view including the grandchildren's view. They could hear distant spirited words from the older man afar that sounded mean even as he walked away.

Robot's claws retreated out of his chassis then the man was down with a powerful exchange of electricity and a scream that landed him down to his side. Will held a hand out stopping Katherine from walking on after the duo with a grim look, picked up the older man then swooped him over his shoulder, his figure limp, then twirled in the direction of the tree line and wheeled on after the family. Will sighed, relieved, that this drastic action went smoothly.  Will grew a grin as he lowered his hand.

"Okay, I'll scout out a cave to set my cosmic particle collector." Will said.

Penny was quiet watching him go as she shook her head, saddened, dismayed, but heartbroken by a experiment that was bound to go the way that he didn't expect.

"Cosmic particle collector?"

"It collects cosmic particles, Joshua." Penny said.

"Cosmic particles? Uncle! What is on your mind?"

"Curiosity!"

Will parted from the forest toward the rocky terrain leaving the siblings behind, cheerfully.

Smith rested in his cabin where he was tended to by Katherine after having seen him hop away from Robot, initially, with a piece of equipment that rushed the recovery wrapped around his sprained ankle as he danged from the edge of the bed. Will came back and forth taking pieces of the equipment for the cosmic particle collector back to the testing place.

Penny was the quiet one as she rested at the galley table tapping her finger waiting for tragedy to strike and be done with all that had marked the last five years, her heart pained thinking that, but Will's experiments were life changing at best such. She grimaced, recalling Hapgood, how their mother and Don went over to speak with him then they were carted off to Earth after protesting tearfully against leaving.

They had no choice, they thought they were going to be dealing with John's loss and being on a planet together as a family and go through hardships together. They did, only as of now it was full of six years instead of thirty marked by different lives, eras, and being alive that didn't take long adjusting to--Smith didn't just take her father in hindsight. 

Smith took her mother and her sister from attending her graduations, meeting her boyfriends, seeing the newly born Craig Robinson and nine years after Craig's birth was the birth of Link; someone she left behind with her husband, amicably, all for the family that she left behind.

Penny hated him.

"Warning! Warning!"

The storm raged above them.

"Cosmic fall line is ten kilometers. North west!"

Will made a run for it into the cave as Robot remained outside.

"Radiation level increasing!"

Will picked up the long cord then strolled toward where he had left the controller to the cosmic collector.

"Hail force winds expected!"

He sat down onto a boulder then put on his ear phones. He waited, waited, and waited until the cosmic storm struck just close enough for his experiment. Abruptly, a large red mass appeared in front of him that took on a human form and it were struggling. Will was stunned as he saw the figure in the arch way instead of cosmic particles dancing back and forth, slowly moving, before his very eyes.

"How DARE you interrupt the journey of the great Chronos! OOoh I oughtta reverse your time tape! How DARE YOU trap me!"

Will stammered at first with a nervous smile as it became crystal clear that he should have listened to his family.

"Um, er, uh, y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you see sir, this was a experiment." Will was afraid, himself, of this stranger. "I was trying to capture some cosmic particles!"

Chronos struggled then scowled and shifted toward Will.

"Turn off that machine!" Chronos demanded.  "RELEASE ME!"

"Why, yes sir."

Will came over to the device then deactivated the machine and smiled shifting toward Chronos.

"There you go."

Chronos stepped off the platform, eying the young man wearily, then stepped back on the platform, tapped his scythe on the edge of the counter, and he were gone. Will lost his tension as the man of time was quite absent. Robot went inside as his upper half twirled under the area of shelter. Will was silent, contemplating what was to be done, what could be done, the possibilities that would save his father, and the better life that would be shared as a complete family. 

"Will, the cosmic storm has struck. My advanced sensors indicate the experiment is inactive."

"Robot, it didn't fail."

"Then elaborate."

"I caught someone. . . I think. . . I think I can save dad. I gotta tell mom about this. I'll be at the waiting station!"

Will ran out of the cavern and Robot turned toward the departing young man then back toward the arch.

Robot could not help but believe that Will had missed a part of his fate then wheeled after him.

It was roughly a hour after the incident in the cavern and the family were waiting for Maureen to return with Don and Judy. Robot exited Smith's cabin with a empty plate and twigs and a empty bowl on the top of mentioned platter. He closed the cabin behind him with care then moved toward the galley table which is where the empty dish was set.

"The prisoner would like to speak to you." Robot reported.

"Is he hungry, again?" Penny asked, exasperated.

"Negative." Robot replied, his helmet twirling, his grill glowing softy under the artificial lighting. "The prisoner has eaten the bowl of blueberries and grapes that Katherine insisted he have."

"Why me?" Penny asked. "Couldn't he talk to you about the last few decades?"

"He has." Robot confirmed. "But, he wants to speak with you, specifically."

Robot twirled then proceeded to roll on away.

"Where are you going, Robot?"

"Off to wait with Will and the grandchildren at the waiting station." Robot replied.

Robot wheeled away and descended down the steps leaving Penny behind. Penny looked off toward the doorway of the cabin then got up to her feet using the table as her support staring off toward the primary cabin used normally for Maureen -- a temporary cabin -- that was decided for convenience and closer to the main room that just took one lift up to put him back into the elevator.

Penny approached the cabin then opened the door spotting the older man, scowling, at the back of the room in a chair that was set up much earlier.

"Hello, Penelope." Smith greeted Penny.

"Don't call me that." Penny insisted.

"Why not?" Smith was confused.

"Just because." Penny scowled in response.

"Is it because that is the name your father called you?" Her eyes were full of rage at the mention of her father. "What if I could tell you that he could be brought back from the dead?"

"I would say that you are making a offer that can't be made." Penny said.

"Just like the offer to a young boy say, by the name, of, oh--- J-5 that you deleted from Robot's tapes after having a very severe horrible incident?"

Penny stiffened, staring at him, her skin paling--how did he know? They deleted that.

"Madame, I am trapped in a time loop. I can restart this all and he will live again."

"If you are trapped in a time loop. . . Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Step foot on the Jupiter 2."

"I can't---"

"Yes, you CAN."

"Someone else would take my place."

"No, they wouldn't."

"When do you wish for me to go back in time and prevent being trapped then?"

"One week."

"One week then. . ."

"And no matter how you feel about it, don't, don't you step foot not even if we have to die."

"What if you do die?"

"Being with father is better than this."

"Your parents would respectfully disagree."

"My parents are dead as it is. Respectfully."

Smith lowered his gaze then looked up toward her.

"So, you prefer that I let you die?" Smith's voice cracked.

"If it's God's will."

"Is that what your mother would agree on?" Smith lifted his brow.

"I feel that she would."

It was quiet between them.

"I am truly  sorry, Penelope." Smith apologized. "It never happened before,"  Smith grimaced before adding. "He always landed safely in a small pond, always," his gaze shifted downwards to his cupped hands. "Always. . ."

"Until he didn't."

"Until I decided not to reprogram Robot to ensure my continued well being every thirty minutes; It was suppose to be one long sleep."

"You took that away from us." Penny pointed out, angry, hurt, and bitter with that reminder. "Why? Why? Why?"

Guilt, remorse, and sorrow filled his features.

"I accepted long ago that your father wasn't going to rescue me much to your brother's sorrow."

He deflected from the question. A very simple question that didn't matter much to him, anymore, that hurt Penny more than words could amount to. He clasped his hands in his lap, his voice lower, sincerely.

"I was going to wait and be found by some hapless travelers, be taken to Earth, and this struggle be over with." He gestured toward the board that was full of family photographs that featured the Robinsons growing older, the inclusion of the grandchildren, with random travelers appearing in some of the pictures with background scenery belonging to different worlds. "Of which that made your family get lost further than before."

Smith paused before continuing then sighed.

"It seems, I was going to get my way this time --"

Penny squinted at him, confusion noted on her features, puzzled, even as the assurance from earlier that his false memories would have faded away by this time and something became quickly apparent that made the whole discussion even darker. The more that Smith spoke, the more it seemed genuinely horrifying.

"--around with some ill consequences to your family."

He threw his hands into the air and shook them.

"Restarting every three years." Three years was stressed. "Every three years, without fail." he smacked the table in front of him, repeatedly. "Over and over and over and over---"

And then that time---Smith smacked the table, loudly, with the palm of his hand as his mood shifted on so suddenly with the loud smack hanging there between them as she were frightened. Penny covered her mouth with a small yelp.

"You THINK YOUR EXISTENCE IS HELL?" His voice raised unexpectedly, in a way that frightened her, that filled the room. "Mine's worse--imagine EVERYONE THAT YOU LOVE DON'T KNOW YOU EVERY THREE YEARS AND YOU WENT INTO THAT HELL WILLINGLY!"

Smith looked aside, mournfully.

"As if, the people you knew are . . ." he was silent, looking back, at the very long stretch of road that lead him here. "dead."

He squeezed his eyes.

"Imagine your weight is the reason why your family is alive, but you have to go back in time because you want to go back to Earth."

Smith wiped off a tear.

"Imagine, you have to make peace with your family dying every three years and being replaced by new people."

He wiped off another tear.

"Imagine the different variations where they are themselves and make different choices that aren't dark as this." his voice was broken as he made the long teary eyed monologue. "Imagine." His gaze shifted toward Penny. "Imagine that."

Smith stared back at the young woman before adding.

"And I will go back into it despite this treatment by your grieving family."

Smith pointed his index finger directly at her.

"Now get out!" he pointed toward the doorway. "You have let your grief CONSUME YOU WHOLE!" his shout shot off the levels. "GET OUT!"

Penny was out, her back against the door, her feelings wounded as she can feel her eyes were stung. His words echoed as his speaking had ceased. She bolted away from his cabin then made her way into her cabin then grabbed her monkey doll and cried away all those negative feelings that Smith had grabbed out of the dirt and discarded to the surface with no real comfort.

From outside, Smith exited his cabin then looked around the ship one last time very sour. Smith hung his head with a heavy sigh then lifted his head up and went into the supply section of the ship, acquired the necessary explosives, and the gear that made it all go boom. It was going to go his way, not the way of maintaining that loss forever in this lifetime.

Smith descended down the stairs departing the Jupiter 2. The arrangements were ready and he were sure of it as it was in the heart. Smith looked toward the Jupiter 2 then smiled and stood there for a few long minutes staring at what had once been his home, at what had once been full of content, of happiness, of impatience, of boredom from a time of before instead it became a bitter reminder to the Robinsons and sorrow because of him.

"See you. .  . soon, my dear old friend." Smith waved at the ship then lowered his hand. "Same time, same place, same channel."

Smith turned away then walked on taking the role that he had walked into their lives as with pride as the reluctant villain. He went into the scenery going deeper and deeper into the forest shrinking until there was nothing left of him to see.

The chariot returned with Robot, the grandchildren, and Maureen. The chariot parked in front of the Jupiter 2 then one by one got out of the vehicle and made a bolt for the inside where they heard loud weeping.

Maureen made a run for Penny's cabin then opened it and embraced her young daughter into her arms. Joshua opened the door to Smith's cabin then loudly swore and ran in the direction of Penny's cabin. He paused with Katherine by his side as Penny was sobbing in the hug with her mother, tearfully, upset, as Maureen softly soothed her. Maureen withdrew from the hug while she rested a hand on her daughter's back. The only thing that Maureen could make out was that Smith had left.

"Robot, stay behind." Maureen ordered as she turned toward the machine. "Will, if that machine can do what you infer it can do---we have to make sure Doctor Smith isn't successful."

"Right." Will agreed with a nod. "Who knows what he intends to do."

Maureen got up as Joshua took her place.

"Grandmother, may  I come?" Katherine asked. "You need all the muscle that we need."

"I do." Maureen eyed at the machine then back. "Get your laser pistols. We have a mission to salvage."

Penny smiled, heartbroken, at her mother's announcement.

The family ran after Smith on foot with the Chariot not included in their desperate bid to save everyone that they held dear to their hearts. Maureen and Will were in the lead heading toward the cavern when they spotted Smith at the center of the cavern holding a leveler watching them head in his direction. He smiled then set the leveler down then the cavern was crashed upon blocking both entrances of the cavern.

Katherine and Will were the first to attempt taking the rocks out of the mound one at a time with Maureen intervening and the rocks were thrown into a pile. They were joined by Penny, Joshua, and Robot who had been concerned with hours of no return from the family members. Soon enough, there was a large gap for the inside of the cavern that was relit back to life with oxygen flourishing inside of the one way chamber. Maureen was the first to get inside of the chamber with a hand on the laser pistol.

"I will get him!" Will insisted. "Mom, I will be back in five minutes."

"Five minutes and if not," Maureen said. "Then I am coming in."

"Right." Will said with a nod then went between the arch. "I should never have started this experiment."

Will took the poles then in five seconds he were gone and there was a empty space.

"Mother?" Penny asked, turning her attention upon the older woman. "Is it going to be okay?"

"If Will has anything to say about that." Maureen said.

"Sure it will be." Joshua said. "This is Uncle Will that we're talking about here." he pointed toward the gap. "He always comes through!"

"Not always."  Maureen said.

They waited five minutes untill Will returned.

"Mom. . ." Then Will smiled. "We should be at Alpha Centauri by tomorrow morning."

"By tomorrow morning?" Maureen repeated, skeptically. "Have you seen it?"

"Well, I didn't ask after Chronos said that dad didn't die the same day that we got lost." Will said.

"Joshua, Penny, Katherine, Will,  Robot; follow my lead." Maureen said. "Will .  . ." She planted her hands on the side of the younger man's shoulders. "You should have stopped and asked."

"But, why?" Will asked.

"There is always more to a simple yes or no answer in space, Will." Maureen withdrew her hand.

"Why should Smith's problems be our problems?" Will asked. "The only who has a bad time will be him."

"We need Doctor Smith alive and well back outside of the cavern."

"Why, grandmother?" Joshua asked. "Why?" he was pained by his own question. "He's the reason why the Jupiter 2 went off course!"

Maureen sighed then briefly closed her eyes, pained, hurt, bitter.

"If we don't then Judy and Don are stuck in freezing tubes that are in unknown locations being held captive by Huvik and we may never find them." Maureen revealed to the younger man and to the rest of the family. She grimaced before adding, "Space is hardly that easy."

Maureen was the first to go inside then joined by the rest of the family.

Smith departed his office then looked around searching the scenery for possible officers and made his escape for the Jupiter 2. It was relatively easy to do, bypassing security cameras, the security itself, and get to the lower decks where his once verbal sparring partner rested beneath the recharge booth.

His dearest friend, his annoyance, and his enemy at times; who knew machines could be a number of things. This world was so different compared to the one that Smith had departed that lacked living in a time loop that he were so heavily invested in very emotionally. The Robinsons, they were the sole family that made him care not out of self-preservation, but out of love. They did things for him in a number of loops that couldn't be repaid in a single lifetime.

"Hello, my dear old friend."

Smith approached the machine then grew a broad smile under the nightlight in the dark room.

"Been not long since I have seen you." Smith smiled, fondly, it hadn't been long since he had seen this iteration of Robot. The unpainted chassis, the claws that hadn't been given a paint job to personify them by the children, the dull buttons that lacked color, and the helm that had light gray bulbs that glowed white against the helm. "Such a newborn, empty, naive, innocent, and so easily confused."

He stroked his finger along Robot's chassis then proceeded to perform the necessary sabotage.

"Hold it right there!"

Smith froze then shifted in the direction of the voices, he froze, spotting a series of military police, General Squires, the young man version of Will Robinson, and the very aged Maureen Robinson. Squires stared, stunned, perplexed, hurt that he were witnessing the one colleague that he had known destroying his future and people's lives. Then Smith knew it and it broke his heart.

"You're under arrest for attempted murder and under suspicon for treason!"

"Unhand me! I was fixing a program error!"

"You weren't."

"They're lying!"

"No, you're the one lying, Smith. We got Robot's tapes about what happened in the next hour before he left. You're never going to see sunlight, grass, or the taste of freedom ever again."

"And he means ever." Maureen said.

Smith's disgruntled demeanor became replaced by sorrow as he saw the tide was against him.

"So you have chosen . . ." Smith noted. "Your doom."

"Not doom, salvation!" Will insisted.

"Congratulations, you've stamped on your death certificate and since you're so for it--Go ahead! die! DIE!"

"No, it wouldn't." Maureen couldn't help but argue. "Death would come for us at the end of very long lives--"

"Take him away." Squires ordered.

"Since you're all for it then, I won't go and undo it." Smith was directed back to the elevator as he struggled digging his heels as he made his reply. "Go find someone else to take my place!"

"Shut up!" The military police demanded.

"GO AHEAD AND KILL YOURSELVES!" Smith raised his voice several levels higher as he were forced to turn back toward them. "GOOOOO AAAAAAAAHHHEAAAAAAAAAAAD! I don't care anymore!"

Smith vanished out of view then Will and Maureen became relieved.

"It's over, Doctor Robinson, Professor Robinson." Squires said.

"Thank God." Will said. "We did it."

"This is better than letting him get away with not getting aboard." Maureen said as she smiled.

"And this is better than waking up at Alpha Centauri." Will confessed.

Squires smiled then turned his attention toward the empty elevator car.

"I guess that you're going to wake up---" Squires looked toward them and they were gone. "Alright."

Smith was set in a holding cell where he would be until the court martial would start with a media blitz and reputation in shames. His shoulders were slumped as was his head. His heart was full of cracks that threatened to fall apart. He looked up watching the spacecraft depart through the bars in the cold room. The ship glowed silver against the night sky standing out against the stars that had long ago vanished from view and planets that weren't where they were before.

His eyes became stung with heated tears as the Jupiter 2 flew off without him, the family shunning him, choosing a unified silent death in their sleep over dying slowly as years waned by fighting against the final frontier leaving Robot with stories to tell of their adventures at the Alpha Centauri system. This death was more tragic and heartbreaking and unfinished business for them. They chose this.

"Oh, the pain. . . the pain."

I didn't try hard enough to save them all.

That meant he was going to ram the unthinkable defense there was: They decided to go this time. I did nothing. I didn't have time. They stopped me.  Let me try to do something about that next time!

(CBS News - CHARGES REDUCED TO DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE)

(NEW YORK TIMES - Jupiter 2 destroyed in freak accident with asteroid!)

(NBC - Dr Smith has helped in the rescue of Spindrift)

(CNN HEADLINE -- HE LOST EVERYTHING. But, DR SMITH did not lose his freedom and his life and Hope)

(ABC NEWS -- THE TIME TUNNEL PROGRAM; DR SMITH'S UNEXPECTED AID in rescuing two castaways)

(FOX NEWS --  CATHOLIC SCHOOL NAMED IN HONOR OF JOHN ROBINSON; HAS THE RADICAL LEFT GONE TOO FAR?)

(Special Report -- Dr Smith has gone through and returned via a time machine. He doesn't remember anything after the launch of the Jupiter 2)

Maureen was the first to return then Will joined her, shortly afterwards. They rejoined the family with hugs, with tears, all with certainty that things were going to go the way that it should have gone the first time around. Chronos barked orders to the member of the Robinsons to go on tread mills and so they did to reconstitute the timeline. After some jogging,  the changes were done and it were time.

"You may all stop working!"

The family sighed, relieved.

"The machine has made the compensation." Chronos said.

Chronos watched as the new timeline played out with cheers as the Robinsons watched the Jupiter 2 soar into the night sky, Joshua and Katherine stared at the image of their grandfather in awe including at their uncle and aunt. Maureen gasped, covering her mouth, her eyes becoming teary eyed. It was a very long moment staring at themselves in the freezing tubes.

"I can't wait to wake up at Alpha Centauri!" Will was the one who ended the silence.

"Me too!" Penny said.

"Judy and Don will wake up somewhere else. . ." Maureen was teary eyed. "And won't know what happened."

"But, we may." Joshua said as he smirked.

"May." Will said.

"Your ship will be destroyed by a uncharted asteroid." Chronos revealed much to the shock of the Robinsons.  "And all of you will cease to exist just like --" he snapped his fingers. "that."

"That's only if Smith remains behind." Maureen insisted.

"Which he will." Chronos motioned toward the screen. "He can't leave." They stared at the man, prison free, laughing in a strange building that had a glowing center with two young men beside him in 1960's themed clothing. "You made him stay behind. Isn't it obvious that he gets what he wants? Even from the great Chronos!"

Chronos pointed the scythe toward Maureen.

"You forced him to be taken off the ship." Chronos motioned toward the time cages. "You locked him up. You helped him get what he wanted."

"What Doctor Smith wanted was to get aboard the ship." Maureen argued.

"He warned me about that." Penny confessed. "But, I wouldn't have it any other way. Being without daddy is worse than being dead."

"And if we brought him back, dad would be dead." Will said. "Isn't that the point of what we did?"

Maureen was quiet as he stared at the video that was playing out before her eyes as the man grew elderly in a montage. 

"The point was to make sure that we got to Alpha Centauri."

"Who wants to go first?" Chronos asked.

"No one!" Maureen shouted then turned toward Penny. "Your father would have wanted us all to get back."

"Without him?" Penny asked.

"With or without him, dear." Maureen replied, softly. "We have to send someone back."

"Not on your tape." Chronos protested. "You have thirty five years left on your tape to spend."

"Thirty years." Maureen repeated then surveyed her children and her grandchildren then toward Robot. "Robot. . . . I choose you."

"I am not adequate to be sent, Doctor Robinson." Robot protested as he bobbed his helm up then twirled his helm. "The last time I was sent, it took me over a hour to awake."

"It was fifteen minutes." Will countered. "Someone will say something that will make you remember."

"Will. . ." Robot said, his voice quieter, his voice all but a whisper. "No one says the keyword."

"But, I can." Katherine said.

Their attention shifted toward the youngest member of the Robinsons.

"Are you sure, Katie?"

"I am sure." Katherine said. "None of you want to do it. Not even grandma. I . . . Honestly? It's better with someone who doesn't care about his past to go."

The Robinsons exchanged glances with each other with how things had gone with him.

"Reach a hand and see what happens, it'll be greatly benefiting. I learned that from a very wise old woman when I was a little girl."

"Five years." Maureen turned toward Chronos. "And you bring him back."

"I am not sure if the machine can stand that--"

"You bring him back or we do this transaction for nothing." Maureen said. "Your lab can be repaired after the fact."

Chronos winced then shifted toward the machine and back toward the younger woman in resignation.

Smith was seated on the cold silver cot waiting for the events to happen after being thrown in quite rudely as he had his hands clasped together in his lap with his head lowered. Abruptly, the sounds of electricity cackling and people screaming and grunting and gun fire being exchanged caused him to lift his head up.

The door to his cell flung open.

"Get out, loser!" Robot announced. "We are going to rescue a mission!"

Smith popped up to his feet then made a bolt for it chasing after the machine with the cuffs between his wrists.

"Wait for me!" Smith cried. "WAAAAAIIIITTT FOOOOORR MEEEEE!"

The grandchildren were the first to leave and wait from behind the large boulders within the cave. Smith returned crashing to the ground after Robot and Maureen then was followed by Penny and Will. They hid behind the large boulders then watched as the arch was destroyed in a fury of flames, electrical sparks, and explosions. 

"At least we made it." Penny said, cheerfully.

"WHERE IN THE HEAVEN'S AM I? What just happened? This must be a nightmare! Of course, it must be! Maiden launch day stress! I am going to wake up and be in bed, surely, yes!"

Everyone slowly shifted in the direction of the frightened older man. 

"This does not compute." Was all that Robot said as the children and Maureen exchanged a glance but Penny grew heartbroken.

"Doctor Smith, uh, what is the last that you recall?" Will asked.

"I had finished unstrapping young Will Robinson."

"Doctor Smith . . ." Will said, after clearing his throat loudly, drawing the older man's attention and his eyes flickered in recognition. "that was over thirty-five years ago."

"Thirty-five---YEARS?" Smith exclaimed as he stared at the individual young members. "Doctor Maureen Robinson?"

"Yes." Maureen said.

"The quiet and eager Penny Robinson?"

"Yes." Penny said with a nod.

"And the impatient ten year old?"

Will bobbed his head up in alarm.

"I wasn't that impatient."

"Yes, you were." Maureen said with a laugh as Smith paled.

"He totally was." Penny said.

"Oh dear."

Smith fell back but was caught by Robot then the family moved on out of the cavern with laughter.

And the man that they had only known longer than this was living in a timeline that complicated everything. Smith was promptly exiled on the first planet that they had landed after they uncuffed him which was the beginning of a strained, doubtful, and more uncertain times than before as he struggled to get back to Earth.

But one thing remained the same. Smith picked up a friendship with Will and Penny that was purely by accident (born out of necessity) after finding the raft and trying to get off the planet that was full of people who shunned him. Will had crashed into the raft after being chased by a large alien donkey that had wings and tendrils that were snakes. The raft didn't land on Priplanus but on a neighboring planet. And the Jupiter 2 left Priplanus sooner.

Chapter Text

"What are we going to do with him, mom?"

That was the question that was posed by Penny, the grandchildren and Will getting the Jupiter 2 ready to leave the planet. Huvik had given a update to where they could meet close by the Jupiter 2 but far enough to remain a good distance away with a radio messaging rocket that had crashed near the Jupiter 2 shortly after the return of the Robinsons.

"If Huvik returns Doctor Smith. . . ." Maureen looked toward the older man in the back then grimaced. "He might be more of a threat than before."

Penny grimaced looking aside toward the direction of the window beside her. 

"He didn't go willingly into space for us unlike his counterpart." Penny noted.

She  stared on toward the scenery ahead of her.

"I don't know. . ." Then Maureen confessed. "but, I would like to know."

"I don't want to wake him up." Penny admitted.

Maureen set her hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"We have to."

Penny turned her attention toward Maureen.

"We're the villains in this story, I don't like it. .  . I used to like it, but it is all different." Penny shook her head. "We may never see Doctor Smith again."

"Never is a strong word, Penny." Maureen said then she smiled before adding. "You got to see your father one last time."

"But, we're not going to be time traveling," Penny changed the subject off of her father. "not going to be on the same planet quite possibly with Doctor Smith, it's not a sure thing that we will see him again after this exchange."

Maureen removed her hand from the younger woman's shoulder.

"All we got is faith." Maureen said. "We have to cling to that."

She took her youngest daughter's hand then gave it a squeeze.

"I have always had faith that John would enter my life. . ." then Maureen bore a tiny smile. "in some way."

Penny spotted a silver armored figure four hours after the trip had been initially began.

"Is that them?"  Penny pointed toward Huvik's figure.

Mark parked the chariot then sighed.

"That's them." Maureen unbuckled herself then shifted toward Penny.

Maureen unbuckled, got up, walked over to Smith and shook him by the shoulder. The older man groaned awake then slid up from the chair as he came to as he rubbed his forehead, tired, Maureen unbuckled him out of his seat belt then guided him up to his feet. Smith was guided out of the chariot then stumbled away and crashed to his feet then came to as his gaze became corrected then looked up spotting Huvik.

Smith shrieked out of fear at the strangely dressed individual then got up to his feet and proceeded to run away. Huvik raised a spear then aimed at the fleeing man, the tip of the spear glowed green, so Smith halted in his tracks and turned back toward their direction. Slowly, Smith walked back in their direction with his arms held in front of him and came to a pause directly in front of the chariot.

Huvik pressed a button then in a thick cloud of smoke, Smith's abrupt scream, Don and Judy stood where he had once been.

"Penny?" Judy asked. "Did something happen at the Jupiter 2?"

Penny hugged Judy and held her close as Don observed the different scenery then toward Huvik. 

"Maureen, what kind of trouble did we get into?" Don asked.

"The best kind, Don." Maureen bore a relieved smile as her shoulders relaxed. "I'll tell you all about it at the Jupiter 2."

Don shifted in the direction of Huvik, weary, but on his guard.

"Who is this?" Don asked.

"Huvik the intern." Huvik deadpanned much to the shock of the women.

"A intern?" Maureen repeated. "But, I was under the impression that you were a scientist!"

Huvik folded their arms then shrugged.

"Unlike some scientists, my employer is just too lazy to leave the planet that he has his base." Huvik said.

"What kind of experiments does your employer do?" Maureen asked.

"They vary." Huvik said then came over to the generator and pressed a few buttons, slid down a leveler, over the sound of beeping coming from it. "If your volunteer can be returned," he looked up toward Maureen. "I will find you then tell in exactly fifteen business days."

Huvik stepped in front of the generator then vanished in a cloud of smoke as did the generator itself.

"All we got is faith." Penny echoed her mother's words.

Maureen stared at the empty spot for a long moment before speaking.

"If he says news that clearly isn't the truth, Huvik's employer will find something else coming."

Maureen toward Penny and the others with a look of that all to familiar determination that wrecked ruins upon aliens who threatened them at all. 

The Jupiter 2 was back in the heavens searching for home passing through the current solar system that they had entered and everything was different. The silence felt different, the conn felt different, the past felt different than it had before with context layered into it and Don was quiet as he looked toward the freezing tube where the man that was supposed to kill them all ended up saving them all and giving them a chance to try making it to Alpha Centauri against everything that the universe had in the disposal.

It was different. No one was left to hate or blame for their predicament but there was one thing that could be still blamed. The feeling that had been a mutual agreement between Don and Will hadn't change in that respect but not as intense as it had been before.

The Jupiter 2 felt different from top to bottom, from the hull, the Jupiter 2 felt smaller, the rooms didn't feel as large and lonely as they had before, all cramped with little room to offer only for a handful of people--it felt like a flying building instead of a ship soaring through space that was doomed to be a multigenerational place.

The Jupiter 2 felt like a home that had no further space to wander in.

A place that felt more comforting than it had before with revelations.

Oddly enough.

Penny was quiet, thinking back, seated at the galley a week after leaving the planet.

"What's up, Penny?" Will noticed the quiet thoughtful stare from his younger sister.

Penny shifted her attention toward Will.

"How would you deal with seeing dad for a few years?"

Will's brows rose up then propped upwards sitting correctly as he beamed.

"I would be happy." Will said. "Dad getting to be here? Best thing ever."

She smiled, bitterly, but heartbroken back at her brother's comment.

"Only to wake up a ten year old at the end of the few years." Penny added.

It was silent between them as he lowered his gaze toward the table thinking it over.

"That. . . that. . . that would quickly lose it's appeal and be very lonely." Will looked toward his hands and sighed. "I will find my way out of it and get out of the time loop if it came down to it."

"A never ending nightmare." Penny's voice started to break. "We're lucky and so is dad."

"Why do you think that?" Will asked, curious.

"Because living in that time loop would have crushed dad's soul." Penny said. "He would have been made miserable."

Will sighed, lowering his head, and folded his arms.

"He is lucky." Will said then corrected himself and picked up his cup then took a sip from it. "Was the luckiest man of this ship."

It was silent between them once more. Maureen was in her cabin, resting, waiting for the ship to land that would take some time to do. Judy and Don were on the bridge together keeping watch over the ship and the scanner on auto-pilot, the grandchildren were tending to the hydroponic garden, and Robot remained.

Will reached a hand forward then smiled.

"Like to arm wrestle?" Will held his hand out.

"Isn't that Joshua and Katie's thing?" Penny asked.

"They never claimed it, Penny." Will reminded. "They just do it so often that it's theirs."

Penny held her hand on the top of her chin thinking that over then smile.

"It does feel that way."

Will nodded in agreement as he looked in admiration toward his sister.

"I know you said that playing chess has reached it's breaking point with you. . . so it's either this or cosmic cards."

Penny shifted her attention upon her older brother and brightened.

"Any day." Penny said, rolled up her sleeves, then took his hand and they proceeded to arm wrestle to their entertainment. 

Smith was fast asleep in a freezing tube awaiting to be awakened, his gaze fixating on what was ahead of him, while he were surrounded by freezing tubes that were full of people ranging of ethnicity and species. Some wore armor, many were dressed in period piece clothing, and some had space suits that was far strange to see.

It was quiet apart with only Robotoids on guard passing by the freezing tubes with only the sound of their gears shifting, their legs moving, and the sound of their footsteps echoing mechanically and distantly.

And Smith's time in the freezing tube was numbered.

Chapter Text

Smith was out of the freezing tube in what little it was one week and four days after being taken away by Huvik. Screams, shouting, sounds of animal screeching, glass breaking, and explosions ringing in the air.

"What in the he--OH NO! IT CAN'T BE! It mustn't be!"

Smith got up to his feet then made his get away among the crowds of people that were running through the wide passageway seeking for shelter as a seven year old blonde child with silver devices peeking out of said hair was in a strange spacesuit fled from the side of his tube and went on to the next tube.

Smith hid behind a large tube then looked alongside him looking up spotting a large beast that had fangs sticking from the side and golden curly fur that had golden tubes dangling from the side that were visibly engraved in different symbols.

The creature was screaming in pain and he could feel that pain in his bones, as he ushered himself to the corner between the two tubes using them as his shield as the screams continued and he shielded himself with his hands.

Between his fingers, he watched as the creature nabbed on to a brute, the long teeth digging into their figure and a audible death scream was released moments before the figure went limp then was chewed up with their clothing being stained a crimson red and the figure allowing it to happen like a doll. Smith closed the gap between his fingers, whimpering, his eyes closed in complete horror and waited for the terror to go on without him.

It became silent sometime after. He opened his eyes, spread his fingers apart, then lowered his hands off his face observing the chaos was gone. Smith arose to his feet with the stillness in the air. He looked up observing the lights that were attached to the ceiling were dangling while swinging from side to side and some of the lights were out over the visible sign of red lighting glowing on and off in the vast room.

Smith looked around observing that the freezing tubes were empty and the ground was littered with groans emitting from figures that littered the landscape and in front of some freezing tubes.

"Hello?"

Smith gazed around, his head shifted from left to right, with his hands clasped together in his lap and trembled.

"Is anyone here?"

Smith paused in his tracks weighing what was to be done next with that being the direction which the beast came from and the direction that the beast went. There was complete nothingness until a light fixture fell from the ceiling and caused him to jump back and shield himself with a yelp. His terrified demeanor slid back then he looked back at what had made the noise and relaxed. It was nothingness. Smith laughed, his rich loud laughter echoed, at nothing with the terror no longer filling the air. 

Smith crept over the fallen figures toward a moving figure then slid the barely hanging on figure and moved them on toward their side. The injured one was wounded, gravely, with blood coating their face and what was left of their crown was no longer in pristine golden condition that it had been before this incident had occurred. He checked the pulse---this one wasn't going to make it in the slightest. The victim gasped loudly then grasped his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Nah-vik leave me. VI! I am GH!"

Smith was trembling as he proceeded to relax.

"I will vik leave you." Was the assurance and the victim relaxed. "vi you know what just happened?"

"People! My people!" Gh exclaimed. "I had vi trade myself for them! I had vi!"

"Ah, vi, a multipurpose word.  . . " Smith noted out loud. "Not just for please."

"P-p---p-p-p-pease?"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing." Smith smiled, bitterly, back.

"The beast. The beast." GH replied as he squeezed Smith's hand. "The beast was hungry! It had vik been fed! He forgot! He forgot  vi mabufod it!"

Smith gestured a walking person on his arm.

"Destroy it?"

"Mabufod it!" GH repeated.

"Oh, kill it."

"Vi! Vi! Vi! I was going vi be first! I was going vi be returned--my people---my queen---vi, hand her my crown, tell her---it was worth it for the route!" GH  grew more frantic by the passing words that came from him. "TELL HER!"

GH fell back, wounded, then life vanished from his eyes and the grip on Smith's hand was gone. It was strange having seen a alien die in front of him. Strange, even, to be in this position. Smith withdrew his hand as he looked down upon the deceased then withdrew the crown from the man's hand then took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off the crown's side as his fingers rubbed along the jewelry that decorated it.

Smith were in foreign land with little to no trusted allies---the Robinsons? No, they brought him into this mess. How did he get trapped aboard their ship? The sabotage was relatively easy to do and most of the task was completed, anyway. Last minute sabotage should they survive the attack launched by Robot? That question didn't matter now, what was more pressing was the fact that he were inside a alien facility that seemed to be in a state of disrepair with bodies all over the place.

"Hey, you!"

Smith turned in the source of the voice then spotted the boy from earlier running his way. 

"Get out of here, the beast will come back!"

Smith looked over the boy then toward him.

"Have you seen the beast come back this way?"

"No."

"Then help me organize the dead, the dying, and the people who are shell shocked if someone far more capable isn't here."

"He is here, just not . . . . he is not okay right now."

"How okay is he?"

"Not very."

"I am Doctor Zachary Smith and I will determine that after we get everyone sorted out." He looked off in the direction that the boy had came from. "Quickly."

Smith was irritated. The boy refused to help him gather the dead with the simple excuse "I can't do that", which, he were correct on the issue being so small and tiny compared to Smith not tall or strong. The dead was nearly assembled in a dog pile, the dying were hanging on by a thread as he did the best to his skill to arrest the injury and provide a bridge point in which healing could take over from there with luck, chance, and faith. He followed what was seemingly the nameless little boy through the facility noting there wasn't many people left behind from the incident.

The wounded and the shell shocked victims were seated in their freezing tubes waiting for 'Huvik' to show up. Smith had a bad feeling that Huvik was not going to show up any time soon and that the beast would cause the chaos as before, yet being in this area felt safe and the best place that they could be. Smith came to a pause spotting the fallen man with the boy looming over shaking him by the shoulder repeating, "Pa! Pa! Pa!" With care, Smith withdrew the young man from the figure then checked for a pulse.

"He will be fine." Smith assured then brought up to his feet along with the wounded younger man. "Does your home have a protective forcefield?"

"Only in emergency situations."

"Do you have a name?" Smith replied,

"Pa said not to say my name under any circumstance."

"Then your name is Nameless." Smith dubbed the boy.

"Only when pa says it's okay." Nameless said with a shrug.

"Nameless, what defense mechanisim that your home has should be activated." Smith reminded the young boy.  "We have to think fast."

"Alright!"

Nameless made a run for it leaving Smith behind. Smith moved further down the lab then set the younger man on to a silver table landing with a thud then surveyed the wounds that seemed to stick out so he searched the lab for the familiar plus sign that stood for medicine until finding the very subject. It was withdrawn out of the box, set on to the nearest table, then tested the equipment on the injuries until he chose the right ones and proceeded to deal the tending to the wounds.

Smith froze then looked back and forth between the equipment box then toward the equipment as it became clear that the other survivors could get up to their feet with the proper aid. Smith winced, looking toward the direction that he had came from weighing if the Robinsons would come and provide sustainable aide that brought everyone back to where they belonged including him.

But, there was only one Jupiter 2 and it wasn't a exploration vessel, it wasn't a rescue vessel, it was a colony vessel, and there wasn't deep space satellites. There wasn't anyone who could provide aide that could be trusted or relied on with safe faith in them with relief that things were going to be making sense. It was frightening and there was uncertainty--however, survivors had fled. It could only mean a rescue ship was going to come eventually.

"Is pa going to be okay?" Nameless asked.

Smith looked down toward the small boy.

"We will only know overnight." Smith said.

"I activated the thingmajig." Nameless reported.

"Excellent!" Smith beamed.

Nameless remained there so Smith looked down toward him.

"It was really hard to do unlike before, so, it might be acting terrible." Nameless reported.

"How terrible?" Smith lifted a brow.

"Srrceecjh eeerrcch eezzzzzzzz." Nameless repeated the distinctive sounds.

"Ah." Then Smith grimaced, wincing. "Glitching."

Nameless folded his arms.

"Whenever we hear glitches, it's horrible in the outcome."

"I'll fix it with your help after I tend to the wounded. .  . Won't be long! What is your father, anyway?"

"A scientist who experiments with DNA and biology. His name is Professor Huj."

"Nameless Huj, what a interesting name combination for a child--"

"That's not my name--"

"Go on and play."

Nameless refused to budge as he stayed by the older man's side then looked down toward him in the middle of treating a patient.

"This is as close as I can get to playing." Nameless replied.

"Nameless Doe Huj, this is no place to play or be watching for entertainment!"

"My pa doesn't let me play." Nameless revealed. "Hardly has played with me since one experiment with me."

Smith looked down upon the little boy with some consideration.

"Get me some bandages, towels -- for sweat --, and the blankets."

Had they taken him to Alpha Centauri? If so, then why were he on a different planet? There were questions that were nagging his mind as the patients were treated one after the other with the light weight equipment that was delivered by Nameless. Nameless provided excellent aid that seemed so very, in hind sight, required that if he were away then precious time would have been lost and more people would have died.

Professor Huj remained resting in the makeshift resting room over the next several days that passed with Smith figuring out what was abnormal and what was not when treating internal wounds for the aliens who had strange biology. The bone injuries were the easy ones to determine how to care for them. Once Smith got a hang of it, he were able to care for the survivors just enough to keep them alive and set up beds.

Nameless insisted that the deceased be moved via hover tables in a neat file lines to a different section of facility. Smith pressed buttons to the boy's instructions and the bodies were sent into the dark rooms with the doors slowly closing. With the survivors taken care of, Smith did the last task of checking the forcefield then gazed on toward the opening tiredly, staring on toward the darkness that rest ahead of him. Smith pressed a button then leaned forward to say,

"Hello? Is anyone there? Anyone? My name is Doctor Smith, I am treating the wounded."

Smith waited two hours, repeating this message, over, and over, and over, until it was bright out and until it were afternoon so paralyzed by fear that the monster could be out there--I can't leave now, he thought, wounded might come in and face their doom if I am not here. He leaned against the frame, waiting, waiting, and waiting until it were dark. 

Smith became all so certain that there were no survivors outside or if they had survived, they may have escaped through supernatural means or by abandoned spacecrafts. He looked down toward Nameless who was whistling by his side looking on toward the entrance.

"Sounds like you're tired." Nameless said.

"Yes, I am." Smith nodded, quite tiredly, then groaned. "Oh, my delicate back," he rubbed the center of his back. "How it aches."

"How about you get some sleep and I keep watch for any survivors?" Nameless suggested.

"That is a very generous offer." Smith looked upon Nameless then smiled. "Awake me if they should appear." he turned away then walked on back into the facility before adding, "If not, do not interrupt."

Smith walked on leaving Nameless behind, collapsed on a empty bed that was nearest to him and was sound asleep. 

The report delivered by Huvik through the radio was at first heavy to take regarding the news but once that brought some uplifting parts to their current living arrangement more than fifteen days after the fact. The grandchildren went to bed with the fact that Smith was alive and well six months away from them waiting for a ride to take him to Earth all the while causing trouble. Maureen was amused by this relay of information, chuckling.

"You look happy."

"Not often does someone's misery make me smile."

"That this man has been spending a month taking care of others and sending them off instead of going home? It's perfect. Best prison there is."

"He didn't do the actual sabotage."

"The man who did---it just hits different."

"You are enjoying it, too."

"He was hired and he took that money. Now, he is paying the price for making the decision."

"That settles my decision."

"What are you going to do?"

"We can offer to put him into a freezing tube for most of the ride. If he wants not to grow old in space should something go wrong."

"Which it might have a chance of happening."

"Being lost. . . it's different now. I don't know what, Don. It just does. Not miserable anymore, just--"

"Fun?" Don raised his brows.

Maureen looked down toward the aged pilot then smiled, her hands rubbing her shoulder, and nodded.

"I have reflected after much thinking. . . we would have never had this spice if Smith didn't get trapped."

"John should have been here."

"I am actually happy he didn't. It would have pained him to make these decisions." Maureen squeezed her eyes, lowering her head, sorrowfully looking aside from Don. "Some, I don't think he would have made."

"Some days the way that you talk about him. . ." Don tapped on the console beside him thinking over the last few decades. "I feel that way, too."

Maureen's eyes opened then she shifted her attention toward the major.

"Don. . ." Maureen started to say then cleared her throat before continuing. "if we change our present course to rescue Doctor Smith," Don sat up erect with the unexpected question. "How would that delay us?"

"That course actually is a short cut." Don leaned back into the chair then sipped from his cup of chocolate.

"By how long?" Maureen asked, curiously.

Don picked up the datapadd, observing his math, lowered the cup with a chocolate mustache, his attention shifted toward Maureen.

"The coordinates are two years closer than before."

Maureen looked on toward the screen then nodded and shifted toward him.

"I got my family alive, happy, and well." It was a accomplishment, stated and clear through and fought for. "That's the part that matters the most no matter what happens after this."

"Sure you want to go to a alien planet with a giant monster?" Don lifted his brow.

Maureen nodded back, defiant.

"Certain."

Don got up then went toward the astronavigator and made the course adjustments.

"It's done." Don said as he looked toward Maureen. "All we need to do is. . ." Don looked toward the front window. "wait and see what happens."

"And make some rest stops along the way to stretch our legs." Maureen said.

Professor Huj began to awaken, his world was all but shaken, as was the resolve to make things right as they had been before. It had been close to five months since the incident, the automatic calendar on the wall indicated that as much and almost meant that he had to have been put into a coma for most of his recovery time.

This explained why there was many empty beds and yet, the improvised recovery wing stayed with some still recuperating visibly with their figures outlined from the cloth far as he could see. Huj slid up from the bed then hunched forward feeling the sting from his waist, operational scar, then winced as he set on the edge. He gazed on toward the scenery of curtains blocking off view to what seemed to be beds, so many beds, it was if he were in a hospital instead of a lab.

Huj was impressed, Huvik had returned ahead of time and seen the chaos that was left behind from taking off early. Then again, it hadn't been expected. He hadn't expected that his entire schedule of performing certain experiments would be thrown off the table without as much as a care to his deals and intentions in the experiments that mattered quite a lot. He looked up spotting a man that he had only seen earlier from a freezing tube in passing coming right in front of him with a grin.

"Professor Huj, so happy to meet you. My name is Doctor Zachary Smith," he held his hand out. "Pleased to meet someone so prepared for a tragedy like this."

"Thank you." Huj took Smith's hand then shook it. "Comes with being a thorough scientist."

"Thorough?" Smith lifted a brow. "You had---close to ---how many people?"

"Doesn't matter now." Huj said with a shake of his hand. "All that matters is my assistant and I discuss what must be done with Kub."

"The monster, I assume." Smith said.

"Yes, er, y-y-yeah." Huj confirmed.

"Why  do you have a monster retained in your lab?" Smith asked

It was a simple question that brought upon shame and remorse.

"It's part of a very bad experiment."

"You kept it instead of releasing it into the wild."

"The animal is capable of killing for fun--animals extinct!"

"Now, it's out! That excuse doesn't matter on a world like this. I have seen what it is and I am very aware where Kub is."

"Where is it?"

"At a forest resting in a burrow. Very big burrow according the monitor. Biggest one that I have ever seen."

"It's made a den."

"It has."

"The thing has to be killed!"

"Now, hold on--Professor Huj," Smith followed the professor who departed the recovery wing and went to his personal room. "we are heavily out manned and limited as it is!"

Huj took out his clothing then glared toward Smith.

"Not when we have people willing to kill it!" Huj shot back.

"Your son lost his mother and now you want him to LOSE YOU?" Smith asked. "Jow so deeply appalling!"

"I don't have a son!" Huj shouted.

"And now you're disowning your flesh and blood when he is right behind you?" Smith folded his arms looking at the professor incredulously.

"I DON'T HAVE A SON!" Huj roared.

Nameless was crying as his father raised his voice once more.

"I can't ignore a crying little boy, can you?" Smith asked as he motioned a hand toward Nameless.

Huj almost blew a gasket.

"That little boy's body doesn't even exist anymore. It's dead. All that is left is a spirit that can't eat. He DIED during a experiment! It will never grow old! Never age! Never physically change--now GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Your son is a little boy who can't touch anything without them going wrong and that's why he can't do anything; your son is as real as I am," Smith pointed back toward himself. "I can feel him, sense him, speak to him, see him, feed him, cloth him---" he stretched his arms out with his brows raising up at once then opened his palms up in demonstration of the unexpected result. "why are you treating him as a ghost? Did his mother die because of him?"

Huj stared at Smith as Nameless was terrified.

"Come this way." Huj directed. "You'll get your answer."

Smith followed him to a intact section of the lab.

"Put this on." Huj tossed Smith a set of clothing. "It'll adapt to whatever changes that your body may undergo."

"For what purpose?"

"To give you a slight taste of what he felt." Huj said. "Get changed."

Smith eyed the older man then went into another room where he changed. Nameless watched this all unfold as he shook his head, heartbroken, saddened by his father. Smith returned in the silver uniform, gloves, boots, and all with his clothing set against his side. The clothing was set along the counter then went to a booth that Huj directed him to.

"Don't go in there!" Nameless insisted. "Nothing good is going to come of it!"

"My dear Nameless, be sensible." Smith said, pitying the boy, but confident that things were going to work out. "It's the only way to prove to him that you're alive and well."

"No, no, no!" The door was closed once Smith stepped in then turned around toward the young boy. Nameles struck the door of the booth, repeatedly, terrified yet angry and distraught. "THIS ISN'T HOW THE EXPERIMENT WENT!"

Smith paled then looked off toward the professor who bore a look of complete utter rage and pressed a leveler. Pain rang through Smith then he fell down to his side as the interior of the tube glowed brightly so Nameless staggered back shielding his eyes as the human shrieked in pain within the booth in agony that sent shivers, fear, and horror watching his figure glowing being the source of the light.

"Stop it!" Nameless cried.

Nameless ran over toward Huj.

"Pa!" he tried to slide the gadget forward but his hands fell through it. "Stop it!"

Nameless tried to shove his father out of the way but instead was swatted aside.

"Stop it!"

The illumination faded then Professor Huj walked through Nameless and the experiment was over. Smith was whimpering in the booth, exhausted, his uniform torn at the lower half right in the middle while his pant legs contained nothing at all. Instead of feet, there was a long snake tail curled at the center of the booth, his fingers were long with claws attached to them that pierced through the gloves, spikes that ran down from the base of his neck to the end of the tail. Smith shivered, so cold, and weak, just as if he were newly reborn.

Huj opened the door then grabbed him by the end of the tail and dragged him out of the lab toward the other side of the facility. Nameless watched Huj open the door to one other half of the facility, drag him inside, then retreat back into the colorful lighting of the sprawling area and closed the door behind him. Smith groaned within the cavern as he began to come to only vaguely aware that he were surrounded by creatures just beginning to approach him.

Chapter Text

Smith was discarded on the floor, whimpering, shivering, his figure resting in the center of the chamber that had only light pouring out of the skylight above that had impenetrable glass panels installed and multiple colors reflecting on his figure. Around him there was bloody sheets decorating the scenery and metal that was littering the ground. Strange creatures lurked in the darkness approaching his figure climbing down from their perches.

Smith lifted himself up from the ground then shook his head and gazed around spotting the figures standing out against the dark. Smith shrieked, terrified, then he struggled to run away only to land flat on his face then he looked back where his legs had once been spotting the long tail that took their place and looked down at his hands that looked far more frightening than his newly gifted tail.

One of the medium sized animals crashed upon him. Smith thrashed throwing his hands at the beast digging into the skin  and clawing at it tossing the attacker aside with a scream as he crawled to the wall with speed that belonged to a fast pacing snake fleeing from what terrified them the most: humans. Smith looked toward the direction of the closed door then flung himself forward only to land on his face with little knowledge of how to properly move.  Smith screamed as one of the animals crashed upon his back--

Katherine screamed as she bolted up from bed, terrified, scared, and horrified. Her scream drew the attention of the older members of the family bringing them into the room and surrounded her; it was Judy who was the first to enter the cabin then join her side and embrace her daughter into a hug. Katherine cried, upset, as the family surrounded them looking on in concern.

"What kind of bad dream did you have, Katie?" Judy asked.

"It had monsters in it." Katherine said. "It was horrible."

"What happened in it?" Judy parted out of the hug.

"Doctor Smith was in it and he was very old, small, frail, and all alone in the Jupiter 2. No one was there,  Robot was gone, and the people there were the monsters!"

"They were scaring him, threatening him, they wanted him to trade Earth for his life by giving them the coordinates but he didn't know the coordinates as he were millions of light years away! And we were gone! Gone! GONE!"

"And he lied! LIED! LIED!" She was sobbing, like mad. "Then they were overcome by giant insects that ate them, and then and then and then, and then, and then," her figure was shaking as she clenched her mother's hand. "Doctor Smith was shoved into a electronic giant bear, eaten alive, and his soul was trapped in it! And he was miserable!"

Katherine was crying again.

"What did the devices look like, Katie?" Joshua asked.

"They--er-mpph--looked--lyke-like bananas."

"Bananas?" Will asked.

"And they looked funny." Katherine said.

"How funny?" Don asked.

"They were covered in neon spider webs and the aliens looked like . . ." Katherine started to giggle.

"Like what?" Will asked.

"Uncanny valley of grandpa, grandma, you, and momma. But, younger."

"What were they wearing?" Maureen asked as Katherine was leaning against her mother silently laughing.

"Lion suits with tutus, fanny packs, and a pp-p-p--p-p-p-p-p-purple onesies." Katherine said.

Maureen was the first to laugh then so were the rest of the family. She was the first to depart after a long while as Katherine retold aspects of her nightmare that made the fright all bearable. She was joined by Will coming to her side with a slow pace catching up behind her.

"Mom. . ." Will said. "We gotta put him into a freezing tube. That actually has a chance of happening."

"After this episode, Will," Maureen poured herself some juice then shifted toward him. "He will go into the freezing tube and it will be willing," she took a sip then added. "Over being awake the entire ride."

"Minus look alikes of course," Then Will laughed. "Like, who would do that kind of shit?"

"Someone who is interested in terrorizing a elderly man." Maureen said, her gaze distant looking on toward her cabin.

"Or, someone interested in ruining our names across the universe who happen to be crossing paths with someone who never got the chance to meet us." John's voice from the cabin doorway as he leaned against it looking on toward his son and Maureen then he shrugged. "Just my two cents."

Will was quiet as he looked toward John's direction then back toward his mother.

"Whatever happens with the freezing tube issue, it'll be scary." Will confessed. "Someone else's hands in our lives but we care this time and we won't give them away upon moments notice."

John eyed at Maureen then shook his head.

"He hasn't really learned five years in space." John commented

Maureen bore a small smile.

"Sometimes, Will. . ." Maureen said. "We have to sacrifice even if we don't want to."

"I am going back to bed." Will went to his cabin but stopped in his tracks and turned his attention toward Maureen. "Good night, mom."

"Good night, Will." Maureen said.

Will smiled then vanished into his cabin and closed the door behind him.

"I don't know how long that he is going to last without us or his sisters should tragedy take us all."

Maureen looked toward the specter.

"He is your son, John. He and the grandchildren will be the ones to get home should something awful happen which it won't."

John smiled at Maureen's optimism.

"What are you going to do?" John asked.

"Once at Earth, a lot of things." Maureen said. "A lot of things."

"Get some sleep, darling." John joined her side then combed the side of her cheek with his hand. "The grandchildren will be just fine with the children."

Maureen looked toward the laughing room then toward John.

"Just a little longer." Maureen said then turned her gaze upon John. "I will be there,  soon."

John withdrew his hand then squeezed her hand with a smile.

"Don't stay up too late, " John reminded with a wink. "You're grumpier with little sleep."

John returned to the cabin where he vanished and Maureen looked toward the cabin with the reminders of her union with John. She took a few more sips from the cup, remaining outside, watching the group lazily one by one withdraw out of the cabin then she was the last to return to her room, slowly, her cup now empty and put into the dish washer. The lights on the lower decks were out and the Jupiter 2 was resting on a planet waiting to return into space.

Chapter Text

"Will, what was it like leaving your kids behind?"

It was a question that Judy asked, a question that hadn't weighed over the Robinsons's mind often, in recent years. A question that only arose three days before they could get to the planet that Doctor Smith and the victims could be rescued, they were on a asteroid that supported life which orbited the sun.

The asteroid wasn't quite small but it was quite big enough and long enough to hold a large settlement, a colony, in fact there was a colony that settled on it to cause the asteroid to go off course that it were heading to crash into the nearest planet and their combined weight had done the trick.

"It wasn't that difficult." Will said.

"Don't you worry about. . " Judy stopped.

"About what?" Will asked.

"Making him think family isn't always going to be there?"

Will frowned, puzzled, but not seeing as a thought to even discuss.

"I told him why his dad was leaving and that his dad didn't want him to be spending his entire life in space trying to get home." He rubbed his hands together, leaning forward, recalling how it had been left. "Donald was a bit of a accident to have in the first place---I was dumb." he rubbed the side of his cheeks. "Really dumb at twenty."

"How dumb could you have possibly been?" Judy asked.

Will stopped rubbing his cheeks as he looked toward Judy.

"I didn't wear protection," Will said, sheepishly. "With someone five years older than me--she was ready to have kids and wanted them---she was more ready than I was!" Will leaned back as he complained gesturing toward the sky then folded his arms, unhappy, quite a stink. "Made me fall head over heels for her."

Judy was only smiling at her sibling's story of how things had gone.

"That sounds about as dumb as you enough to be true."

Will bobbed his head up then shifted toward her.

"Hey!" Will snapped.

"You can be a dumb ass at times." Judy said, gently.

Will chuckled, then nodded, his frown replaced by a smirk.

"Not as much as you are." Will said.

"That is true." Judy started to laugh. "You go out without Robot and determine if the outside weather is safe before he can get out without wearing a space suit."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Will said. "The most out of wack day that I ever had."

"You had a tree growing in your throat by the end of the day." Judy reminded him. "Still have that tree growing in the lower decks."

"Still?" Will was dumbstruck and shocked.

"Uh huh," Judy nodded, beaming, much to Will's shock. "it grows nice peaches."

"Huh." He shifted his gaze toward the Jupiter 2 as things made sense about how often Don brought the story up when they were eating peaches with strangers and retold the story countless times. "Thought we had gotten rid of it four years ago."

"Don't you wonder . . ." Her gaze was fixated on the night sky. "What it was really like?"

"What was like?"

"How . . . our childhood was supposed to go. . . if you know dad was still alive."

Will sighed, grimacing, looking aside as he recalled a memory that was all too recent quite reluctantly.

"I have been reading Penny's diary," Will said. "Nothing better to read."

"Will Robinson, have you been reading our diaries?" Judy asked, stunned, surprised, and angry at once.

"No, just Penny's." Will said. "Really creative with the things that we have been through and some downright silly." He lifted his brows. "How can she come up with half of the hilarious shit that sounds out of dreams?"

Judy giggled then laughed a long moment before replying.

"She just thinks a lot more funnier than I do in the field of entertainment."

"Yeah, but how is talking carrots and a guy with purple hair dressed in purple funny with glasses any fun WHO MADE the talking carrots?"

"Will. . ." Judy started to say. "We had have a incident with--" She paled, frightened scared, wincing. "What you are imagining is TAME compared to the living horror that we lived ten years after mom sent you two away!"

"What .  .  . happened?" Will asked.

Judy folded her arms as she got up then walked away from Will.

"We were foraging,:"

The memory of laughter from Joshua echoed distantly.

"We were taken by giant humanoids that were vegetables,"

Will slowly got to get up as Judy squeezed her eyes shut.

"---but they had monstrous mouths and hate in their eyes!"

Judy turned toward Will, frightened, hurt, and still as upset over the incident.

"Every time we sliced a tree or a fern--there was screams ALL OVER THE PLACE! It was so horrifying, they surrounded us," She opened her eyes looking on toward the green as she could still remember it as though the event occurred just the day before, the dread, the horror, and the terror that her son and herself were experiencing. "attacked us, we were lucky that mom and Don came to our rescue and killed them all!"

Judy looked off distantly, frightened, her features mellowed by time, age, and distance as the implications sat.

"Oh God." Will said.

Will was horrified.

"It happened, Will." Judy said. "I was thankful that you and Penny weren't there." She shifted toward him, sincere. "I was so thankful. .  ."

"You were all alone." Will got up then approached her side.

"It happened." Judy said.

"Why did no one tell me this?" Will's voice became softer.

"Because we wanted you to remember space the way that you left it." Judy confessed. "Not vicious."

"I can't argue with that reasoning." Will said. "You were right."

"They tried to eat us alive!"

Judy rubbed her shoulders as she strayed away from the younger man making her way back to the Jupiter. She lowered her head, pained, her fingers grazing where the gaping wounds had once been only some time ago and had healed with time.

"I can still--feel their bite marks, all over the place, instead of turning us all into plants."

Will was quiet.

"Is there more horror stories I don't know of?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me about them? Please?"

"Will, I am not sure you can see most of us in the best of light--we had to do what it took to survive."

"I understand that bit, but. . . you need to heal," he pointed toward her. "You don't sound like you've healed from this horror story."

Judy sat down on to a boulder.

"There is more to it." Judy's voice cracked.

Will joined his older sister's side then squeezed her hand and listened.