This story is set at some point in time after the end of the LIS film . . .
Shattering the serenity of this deserted section of the universe, the Jupiter 2 sprang back into 'normal space'. It's forward momentum stopped totally and the ship now hung lifelessly in space.
Don West snapped his head back and forth quickly scanning the indicators on the control panels and turned to face John Robinson, who was seated next to him.
"Looks like we're all in one piece. There's not a lot to look at out there though."
John undid his restraints and stood to look out of the forward viewing panels.
"Where are we this time?" John asked as he and Don proceeded to the holographic display.
The other members of the crew had all unstrapped themselves and joined the two men at the holographic representation of the system they were in.
"Looks like we're in the middle of nowhere again," said Maureen.
"And is that your professional opinion?" asked a voice dripping sarcasm.
The crew turned to look at Dr Smith who was bound into his chair, which was facing away from the other crew members. Smith was leering at them over his shoulder, and then turned away from them. Smith felt nothing for these people but contempt. They were inept and his life, his very survival depended upon these bumbling fools finding their way to a charted system.
"Shut up back there," yelled Don.
"When you've all finished, there does seem to be a planet here which is uninhabited but capable of supporting life," said Judy, pointing at a small area of the display.
"Are we gonna have a look?" asked Penny, the younger of the two Robinson daughters.
"Well, unless we were planning on heading off before we have a chance to make some repairs I would say a little dry dock time is in order. Take us down there Don," instructed John.
"Yes Sir," said Don with a sardonic grin on his face.
Don dropped back into the pilot's chair and quickly had the ship heading for the not so distant planet.
Within a few minutes the ship had landed safely and the crew emptied out onto the planet's surface.
The planet was a fairly uninteresting place, and the area they had landed in was in no way anything memorable. The planet was like a giant city park, they had landed in the middle of a clearing on some kind of grasslands. Not too far away from them was the first line of shrubbery and then it continued off into the distance.
"Wow," said Will Robinson. Will had grown up in the city and had never seen this much open parkland before in his entire life. The shrubs were only a couple of feet high and this allowed Will to see over the top of them and straight on to the horizon.
"Alright Son, we'd better get moving. Go and unpack your robot," instructed John.
Will nodded and headed back into the ship.
John stood staring up at the underside of the ship, he was intently glaring at the large gash in the hull which had been opened up during their escape from their last misadventure. Don West moved around from the other side of the ship and stood next to him.
"Those claws did a lot of damage, it's a good thing they didn't breach the hull. They came close in a few areas though."
"Hmmm," responded John, deep in thought. "What do you think we should do with Smith? We can't leave him tied to that chair."
"Aside from manual labor I don't see how he can help us with the repairs. Why don't we lock him in the med lab again."
"Alright, just make sure there's nothing breakable in there this time. We need all the supplies and equipment we have."
As Don strode confidently back into the ship, John felt arms sliding around his waist, holding him close.
"Well here we are again Professor Robinson. At least this time there's nothing for you to go running off to retrieve and no creatures for you to try and eject into space. Do you think we'll get a few free minutes to ourselves?"
"Doctor Robinson I presume. I think that I should be able to accommodate some of your demands on this occasion."
John turned to face his attractive wife, and kissed her tenderly.
Penny and Judy walked around the ship and after seeing their parents quickly diverted their direction and went into the ship.
"Ohhh gross," complained Penny.
"Shut up junior," said Judy.
"Major West, I know you still dislike me even though I saved your life. If I had not been here that poison would have ravaged your body before any of those idiots realized what was wrong with you. Now of course I do not expect anything in return for my actions, except perhaps a little civility."
"Smith, you saved me because I was the only one who could pilot us through that storm and you know it. Now get in there," yelled Don as he shoved Dr Smith into the empty medical lab. Don slapped the door mechanism and it slid shut and locked.
"As for being civil, I thought you might enjoy a rest in your room while the rest of us are working to fix the ship."
"My pleasure Major, happy to be of service," said Smith as her peered out from behind the locked door. He watched Don walk back through the ship and out of sight. "Idiots and morons," he said shaking his head and turned back to look at the empty medical lab which had become his cell on many occasions such as this. "Home sweet home, how I loathe you."
Penny and Will worked carefully on the ship systems inside, checking off the broken systems as they repaired each one. Outside the work was going rapidly as the hard work was easily being handled by the Robot. Don, John and Maureen were working steadily themselves and within a few hours they had all the major hull damage fixed.
Penny and Will moved outside to join the others and were not alerted by the sensor warnings, which indicated another ship was rapidly approaching their position.
"Alright we're done here people. Head inside and we'll go," said John.
"Good riddance, what a boring world," said Don as he gave one of the claws they had pulled from the jagged rips along the hull, a final kick before heading back up the ramp.
As he made his way inside he could hear a noise coming from the control room. As he got closer he realized what it was and suddenly broke into a run. He dashed past the other confused crew members and hit the control to power up the engines.
"Incoming," he yelled back over his shoulder as he quickly tried to get the ship through it's preflight sequence before the other ships arrived.
"What," yelled John as he quickly joined Don at the controls. "Where the hell did they come from?"
"I have no idea, but there's a lot of them."
Judy looked over Don's shoulder at the readout and saw that they had a group of at least fifteen ships heading straight for them.
"We're not gonna make it," yelled Don.
"You're right," whispered Maureen as she gazed in astonishment through the front view screens. "Look," she said as she pointed at the fighter craft which filled the entire forward view.
Don peered out the screen to the left and right. He could see that the Jupiter 2 was surrounded by some sort of sleek, blue metal fighter craft, which were all hovering meters above the ground. The fighters were crescent shaped with guns at each end, while behind them had landed a larger craft, which was a longer pitchfork shaped vessel.
"What are they waiting for," wondered Don aloud.
His question was quickly answered as they heard the sound of booted feet quickly running up the interior corridor to the control room. The room quickly filled with troops in some kind of black combat armor. They were a bipedal race, not taller than an adult human, that was all of the discernable information as the combat armor totally covered their bodies. Each one held a type of rifle, and they were all aimed at the Jupiter crew.
"I guess we'll be going with them," said John. He walked forwards and allowed himself to be led out by the arm.
The others followed suit and the ship was quickly emptied of all but the Robot and Dr Smith, both remaining as yet unnoticed in the lower areas.
Smith noticed the form of the Robot through the frosted doors of the medical lab, as it slowed to a halt in the entranceway.
"Dr Smith, the crew have been captured and taken against their will. I am going to rescue my friend Will Robinson. I will return shortly."
"Wait, damn you. You can't leave me trapped in here while you charge off to heaven knows where. What will happen if you are captured or incapacitated? I will starve to death. Aren't you supposed to protect human life before all other considerations?"
"That portion of my program has been rewritten to exclude you Dr Smith. Major West said it was necessary for the survival of the other crew members."
"Damn that cretin," muttered Smith as he could see the silhouette of the Robot disappear. "So once again Smith is forced to wait."
The Robot slowly moved to the entranceway of the ship and scanned the exterior area. It found the ship to be guarded by two of the alien beings, but there did not appear to be any other lifesigns nearby. It slowly inched it's way out on to the exit ramp and began to silently glide down behind the guards at the bottom of the ramp, but as it neared the ground one of the guards turned and noticed the Robot heading towards them.
The guard snapped around and raised the weapon it was holding, but before it had a chance to fire, the Robot hit it square in the chest with a blast from it's weapons. The guard slumped to the ground but the second guard was already firing and the Robot's chest unit exploded in a shower of sparks and red hot metal, some of which flew out and struck the guard in the head killing it instantly. With a piteous, sickening grinding of metal the Robot slowly pulled itself up the ramp, dragging it's lifeless lower body back into the ship. Slowly it made it's way to the control room and to one of the rear panels. Reaching for a communications cable the Robot plugged itself in and went to work on the ship's computer.
The interior public address system chimed into life, waking Dr Smith from the light doze he had slipped into.
"Dr Smith, please come to the control room, the door is now unlocked," announced the voice of the Robot.
"About time you realized you couldn't succeed without me," exclaimed Smith as he strutted out of the medical lab and headed towards the control room.
Don snapped upright into a sitting position and found himself to be lying on what appeared to be a prison bunk. Shortly after leaving the Jupiter 2 all the crew members had been quickly shot by the guards rendering them all unconscious. Don looked around to see John and Will both lying on similar bunks nearby, the women did not appear to be in the same cell.
"Wake up Doc," said Don shaking John by the shoulder.
John responded by groaning painfully and slowly rolling over and falling off the bunk onto the hard stone floor.
"Well that wasn't such a brilliant idea Doc," said Don as he helped John stand up.
"Where are the girls?" asked Will from his bunk behind them.
"I don't know buddy, they're not here. Maybe they're in another cell," said Don.
"We'd better find out what's going on," said John.
He pointed at the door and then accompanied by Don began to bash on the door.
"Guard, let us out. We want to speak to someone," yelled John.
"So you've managed to get yourself half destroyed again. No surprise there. I'm amazed it took you this long though," said Dr Smith as he made his way into the control room to find the smoking wreck of the Robot lying next to one of the instrument panels.
"I'm so very indebted to you for giving me my freedom. To repay my debt I will not jettison your broken shell into space when we take off," said Smith as he casually sat down in the pilot's chair and began to perform the preflight check.
As Dr Smith tried to activate the controls he realized that the entire panel was totally dead and he spun the chair around to face the Robot.
"What have you done to the ship you smoking junkpile," demanded Smith.
"I have incapacitated the ship and only I can return it to operational status. Only Will Robinson can repair me before I cease to function, you had better retrieve him and the rest of the crew if you wish to depart this planet.," stated the Robot.
"Just what we all need, a robotic martyr. Alright you overgrown meccano set, I'll rescue your little friend. Stay here and try not to break anything else," grunted Smith as he headed back into the bowels of the ship to the armory.
John and Don had given up pounding on the door after they had no response to their twenty minute tirade. They had returned to their bunks and were waiting to see what happened next.
After a few hours of waiting the door finally opened and three of the armor suited guards marched into the room and quickly snapped to attention facing the prisoners.
A new alien quietly entered the room, it was tall and thin. It's skin was totally white, as was it's long hair and small eyes. Aside from it's albino coloring it seemed to be some kind of humanoid. There did not appear to be any indication of it's sex and the long flowing black robes it was wearing did not help identification. The robes were so long they were dragging along the floor and this served to give the alien the illusion that it was gliding around the room rather than walking, but the definite footsteps on the stone floor shattered this illusion.
Slowly and totally silently it observed each person in turn and then moved back to the safety of the guards.
"What the hell is going on, and where is my wife," yelled John.
The alien visibly recoiled from the noise, but did not depart or give any other response to the sudden outburst.
It watched John and then opened and closed it's mouth in a mimicry of the actions of speech. No sound emanated from it's mouth but it continued to mouth some kind of words. It finished and looked expectantly at the trio of humans. Finally it understood their blanks looks to be confusion and it swiftly turned in a flurry of black cloth and exited the room.
The guards remained in place and then a pile of dirty grey clothing was thrown into the middle of the room. The guards then turned and left the room, closing the door behind them.
"What the hell was that about?" asked Don.
"I'm not sure, but they don't appear to use verbal communication, at least not as we understand it," said John.
"Dad, those clothes are moving," yelled Will.
Don quickly sprang across the room placing himself in between the shuddering pile of clothes and the other two crew members.
"Stay back," instructed Don as he inched forwards and jabbed the pile with the toe of his boot.
"Ow," grunted the pile.
The clothes flipped over and revealed themselves to be a little old man wrapped in linen much too big for his small frame.
"Ah, the other humans. That's why they sent me here," said the old man.
"Hey you're human too," exclaimed Don.
"Yes," was the simple answer.
"Well who are you?" asked John from across the room.
"My name is Lieutenant Thomas Bower," stated the little old man, standing at attention and quickly saluting.
"Well I'm John Robinson, this is Major Don West and that's my son Will," said John making the introductions.
"Glad to meet you all. I haven't seen another human since the last lot came through about six years ago. Those Whanen get a bit boring, and all the damn silence can send you around the twist if you don't stop yourself,"
"Are the Whanen those guards or the big white guy?" asked Don.
"They're all Whanen. The guards are immature and the big guy is one of the adult controllers of this facility. You may have noticed that they don't say much."
"Yes, how do they communicate?" asked John.
"I think they have some sort of low level telepathy but it only works on each other, which is why they can't talk to us. So they've sent me in here."
"What do they want from us?" asked John.
"I've never worked that out," said Thomas with nervous glance back at the door. Thomas seemed to become more and more agitated. "The scientists are coming now, they will have questions."
The door opened and after the retinue of guards filed in again, three more of the adult Whanen stalked into the room.
"These are the new ones," one of them said in a guttural whisper to Thomas.
"Yes Alan," said Thomas.
"I thought you said they can't talk," said John.
"I am called Alan. Thomas has named me this as my name cannot be spoken in your language. I have learned your method of communication over the years Thomas has been here so we are able to communicate our needs to him and any other new guests."
"How long has Thomas been here?"
"Sixty of the cycles you call years."
"What age were you when you left Thomas?" asked John
"I was 25 and three months," murmured Thomas. Thomas lowered his head and the weight of the years suddenly seemed to settle down on him. The pain and regret of all the lost years could be seen in his eyes, and he turned away from them all to face the wall.
"How did Tom end up here?" asked Don.
"We found him drifting in space and we brought his vessel here. He has remained ever since."
"You were a Pilot?" asked Don
"Yes I was a damn fine pilot," stated Thomas, as he spun around and his chest puffed up with pride. "I was leader of my squadron and I had a great future, before it was all snatched away from me. I stumbled into some sort of rift in space and then I woke up here. My life has been pointless ever since."
John turned to the alien called Alan. "Where is my wife?"
"The workers are being put to use in the excavations," said Alan.
"What!"
"The work units are willingly helping us to excavate this planet's mineral resources."
"Are you saying you have my daughters and wife down a mine," yelled John.
"Calm yourself. Your work units have chosen to help us in our search. I must rest now and I will return with questions," said Alan as he led the other Whanen from the room.
John quickly turned to Thomas. "Why is he calling my family work units?"
"The Whanen are sexless creatures and they do not understand the differences between males and females. They try to apply their standards to us and because females are on average smaller and less muscular they think they are immature and are therefore work units. Your son is only here because of his obvious physical differences to the females."
"But why would they willingly go and work in a mine?" asked Don.
"They have no real choice. You see they are presented with the option of being exterminated which is the fate of all work units who do not work, or they can work and continue to live. Your ongoing safety was also mentioned to convince them."
"What are they mining?" asked John.
"A metal called Geridium. It is a kind of weird radioactive isotope. It's only deadly after five separate exposures. If you were to stay with it for fifty years it wouldn't kill you, but walk out of the room four times and when you come back in you're dead. It's not deadly to the Whanen though."
"We have to get them out now!" exclaimed John.
"They'll be alright for another three days yet. At the end of the shift they are taken back to their sleeping quarters, and you have only been here two days."
After collecting the necessary equipment and leaving the Robot to guard the ship, Dr Smith had made constant progress across the grassy fields in the direction the Robot had tracked the fighters returning to. In the past day of walking he had encountered no other animal life whatsoever. He had brought enough provisions for a few days so he was not in need of food or water, however he was starting to wonder how far away his enemy was encamped.
Finally at the end of another grassy field the landscape suddenly dropped away to be replaced with a sheer drop to the ground 200 meters below. Smith managed to pull himself back over the edge and lay looking down at the bustling scene beneath him. He forced himself to breathe slowly and evenly to try and slow his heart after the sudden rush of adrenaline as he had begun the plummet to his death. The area beneath him appeared to be the entrance to some kind of mine and then beyond that on the far side of the valley there was an entrance to some kind of underground facility.
Smith laid watching the proceedings for a few more hours to try and work out the movements of the alien beings and as the sun began to disappear for the second time during his stay on this planet he noticed movement around the mine entrance. Slowly a line of smaller albino creatures began to march out in single file, and then bringing up the rear were the Robinson women. He watched as they were all led away from the mine entrance to a sort of small shanty town set up opposite the underground entranceway, and then they disappeared into one of the many makeshift buildings.
Another group of the aliens made their way to the mine entrance and went inside, leaving the valley devoid of life. He knew he had seen enough and began to make his way over to an easier path down the side of the cliff which he had discovered earlier.
Smith reached the ground several minutes later and quickly made his way across to the other side of the valley to the shanty town. Ducking in and out behind the buildings, he kept himself hidden while still making his way towards the building the women had gone into. Easing his way along the corner of a hut opposite the building he was after, he failed to notice that the ground which on first inspection appeared to be solid, was in fact a dirt covered access panel to the air ducts for the underground facility. He crept forwards and as he bent down to glance around the corner he found himself plummeting into the cold darkness of the ducting system. Hitting the bottom of the shaft knocked the wind out of him, and before he had time to react Smith found himself sliding rapidly down the sloping vent system. The sides of the ducts were smooth polished metal, allowing no hand holds and as Smith began to speed up he realized that the background noise was rapidly becoming louder and the shaft was becoming brighter. He slammed into the grating covering a vent opening, smashing straight through it to fall to the hard stone corridor below. Smith could feel the blood oozing from the fresh wound on his forehead as he rolled onto his back and laid on the cold floor, looking back up at the ceiling. He quickly checked himself for further injury and was annoyed to find that he had also broken a couple of his ribs. Deciding that lying here in the open was not the best idea, Smith struggled to his feet and limped away from the pool of blood he had left on the otherwise pristine, grey, stone floor.
Damn himself for not being more careful, staying with these idiots had made him careless.
"A wounded Smith, is that little bit more dangerous," he said to himself as he hauled himself around the corner and almost walked into the backs of a group of aliens marching down the corridor away from him. He retreated back behind the corner and watched as a group of guards and a trio of taller white aliens proceeded away from a particular cell and went into another room further down the corridor.
Waiting for a few moments he deduced that they were not returning, so he headed out into the corridor in the direction of the room they had exited.
There was a slide covering a window high up in the door which Smith was only just able to reach and open. Standing on the tips of his toes he was able to peer over the bottom of the window and see into the cell. Inside the cell sat West, Robinson and the boy. On the other side of the room an ancient gibbering mess of a man was quivering in the corner with a vacant look of absolute despair as he stared intently at the door. The ancient eyes locked quickly onto Smith's and with a shout of shock he tried to squeeze himself further back into the corner to get away from the eyes looking at him.
The others snapped around in attention and following the man's intent gaze they noticed the top of Smith's head peering at them through the window.
"Let us out of here Smith," yelled West.
"Nothing would please me more, I assure you Major. I'm afraid the door is quite definitely locked," stated Smith. He slumped down from the door and began to cough until flecks of blood appeared on his lips.
"Smith are you alright?" asked Robinson.
"Your concern is touching Professor, I am only slightly wounded. I will get you out," said Smith as he began to move further along the corridor.
Don rushed to the door alongside John and they moved around the window, trying to see along the corridor to see where Smith had disappeared to.
"I don't like having to rely on him Doc."
"He's all we have at the moment Don. Once we're out don't turn your back on him though."
"Dad this old guy wants something," said Will, pointing to Tom who had begun to move out of the corner and towards where they were standing."
"Major, Professor, please take me with you. Don't leave me here, they're slowly taking my sanity. Day by day, piece by piece they're whittling it away. I just want to be away from here, please!" begged Tom.
"Don't worry we won't leave you here," stated Don.
Smith had moved slowly from door to door, ignoring the pain which shot up his side each time he moved. He found an open door and silently opened the door just enough that he could peek into the room. It was unoccupied and appeared to someone's room. He slipped into the room, and closed the door behind him. Efficiently he began to search the room for anything useful. In a few minutes he had located a small blaster, only good for very short range and only capable of stunning an opponent. It appeared to be some sort of ceremonial pistol, probably part of someone's dress uniform or some sort of momento. It had been in a small wooden box holding up the short leg of the bed made of some sort of compressed carbon, Smith had a better use for it though. Taking the blaster and the two spare power packs he returned to the door. He checked the corridor and made his way out and inched his way to the door the aliens had gone into. He looked through a larger window to find some sort of control area. The room was populated by two of the taller white aliens, and five of the shorter guards. Looking around he could see the other tall alien at the back of the room in a sort of laboratory area. None of them noticed him so he quickly placed one of the power packs on the floor in front of the door, and then he made his way back to the cell.
"Move away from the door," requested Smith in a very no-nonsense tone.
He placed the other pack on the floor and after quickly checking the room to make sure they were away from the door, he braced himself against the far wall and began to bathe the power pack in energy from the blaster. Quickly the power pack turned bright red and then with a resounding thud, exploded into the cell door. Smith looked up and to his annoyance found that this had only served to warp the door frame, but the door was still shut. There was no way the guards could not have heard the explosion and they would be out here any second. He saw the door start to wiggle back and forth and realized they were trying to open it from the inside. Knowing he was caught unless something happened quickly he launched himself forwards and slammed the entire weight of his small frame into the door. It was enough to push the door forwards enough for Don to get a better grip on it and wrench the door open. Smith collapsed forwards onto Don, passing the blaster to him, as he heard the guards come pounding out into the corridor.
"Overload the power pack," mumbled Smith as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
Don passed the inert Smith to John and quickly glanced out into the corridor. He quickly pulled his head back as high power blaster fire began to pummel the walls around the doorway. Don laid down on the floor and looked out again, this time he had a few moments before they noticed him and he saw the discarded power pack lying on the floor amongst the armed guards.
Don moved back from the door as a new volley of shots slammed into the floor outside the door where Don's head had been moments ago.
"We've got to distract them for a moment so I can get a shot to that power pack," said Don.
"Let's see what Smith is carrying," suggested John.
They pulled the Doctor up on to the bed and began to rummage through the remains of his pack and his pockets.
"He doesn't have anything else of use in here, damn," said Don. "I guess we're gonna have to improvise. Get ready to run away from the guards as soon as I say when."
He herded them in behind the doorway and placed Smith's unconscious body over John's shoulder. Don then gave the power pack in the blaster a twist and it slowly began to glow. As they waited for Don the blaster was emitting a whining noise, beginning as an almost imperceptible humming it built up to the point where it was very uncomfortable to listen to.
"Get ready," said Don as he quickly glanced out into the corridor again. He pulled his head back just before another volley of blaster fire peppered the doorframe. "Okay, go!" yelled Don.
He rolled out into a crouching position and threw the blaster at the guards, where it landed near the other power pack. Throwing the blaster was enough to momentarily distract the guards as the prisoners made their escape in the opposite direction. One of the guards finally realized what Don had done, but it was too late and the blaster overloaded and exploded, detonating the other power pack as well. The entire section of the corridor collapsed in on the guards, and the prisoners were free. The sequence of events had happened in under thirty seconds and as Alan made his way to the entrance to find out what was happening, he was thrown back across the control room by the concussive force of the explosions. Alan hit one of the very solid control panels with great momentum and slumped to the ground, a trickle of blood beginning to seep out of his stunned mouth.
"How the hell do we get out of here Tom?" asked Don.
"This way Major," said Thomas pointing towards a corridor leading upwards.
"Good move Don, always follow the corridor leading upwards," mumbled Don to himself.
"Where would my family be?" asked John, struggling to keep Smith's lifeless form balanced over his shoulder.
"They will be either in the mine or the compound. They will be fine," said Tom, he smiled up at Will who was perched on Don's shoulders so as not to slow them down. The smile was only for the child's benefit, Tom was nowhere near as sure as he pretended to be.
"Mom, what do you think they've done with dad and the others?" asked Penny.
"Your father will be fine. He can't die before I get a chance to kill him for convincing us to come on this mission in the first place," said Maureen with a slight smile.
"I think they've got us mining some sort of unstable compound. I managed to smuggle some out but I can't examine it properly in this half light," lamented Judy as she leant closer to a hole in the wall to try and catch some more light on the subject of her study.
The three Robinson's had found themselves led into a sort of dormitory style building, which was much larger than the number of miners likely to be staying there. So far they had only seen around one hundred other slaves and upon entry into the building the ones accompanying them had disappeared into the depths of the building. Maureen had led her daughters into a nearby deserted room and they had remained undisturbed for the rest of the morning.
"Judy I'm not sure that it's safe to be handling that stuff. It may be radioactive material like uranium or some other kind of local variant."
"We need to work out what they've got us doing, Mom. We have to take some risks," said Judy.
"You're right, but I still don't like it," stated Maureen, knowing full well there was nothing she could say to divert her daughter once her mind was set on a course of action, she reached forwards and grabbed Penny and pulled her back away from the sample her oldest daughter was holding.
Outside a klaxon started into life and began to wail it's warning across the compound.
The three jumped up in unison and began to peer outside through the various holes in the poorly constructed building, and Judy unthinkingly slipped the sample into her pocket.
"I hope they're all right," said Maureen.
"Well they've managed to dig themselves out and raise the alarm, we only have a few seconds now," said Don.
John darted back around the corridor he had been scouting, and dropped down to one knee next to Smith's still unconscious body.
"The exit is just around this next corner, but the guards from outside are heading this way,"
"I'll take a look Doc," said Don, and he then also dropped down to one knee to let Will clamber down to the ground. "Okay little buddy, stay here and help your dad."
"Don't worry about us Major West, Dad will look after us," said Will with a semi-confident smile.
"I'll be back in a minute guys," yelled Don as he disappeared around the bend in the corridor.
"Well Tom, we'd better get ready for action," said John with a look of resignation on his face. "Do you have any ideas?"
Don inched his way along the corridor, pressed flat against the wall he slid slowly forwards towards the entranceway. As he came within arms reach of the door, he was able to see to the sides of the entranceway and found a few guards waiting for them to exit. There was no way they would make it two steps across the compound before being gunned down. He slowly inched back away from the door, and began to wonder what to do next.
"Come on Don, think!"
"What's happening Mom?" asked Penny.
"They seem to be waiting for something to come out, perhaps the boys have escaped," said Maureen.
"Well if they run out into that ambush they'll be cut down, we have to help them!" demanded Judy.
"We will, but we have to wait for the right moment. There's no reason to assume they won't shoot us just as quickly," said Maureen. Turning away from the wall she began to slowly walk back towards the door and then with a sudden flash of inspiration she turned back to her daughters. "I have an idea, follow me."
Don realized the guards had seen him in the doorway, but had not fired. In the polished metal of the doorframe he could see a guard coming around behind him, and it was carrying some sort of rifle. Don knew he had to get the guard inside out of sight of the others and quickly thought of a way.
Hoping the guard wouldn't simply shoot him in the back of the head, he quickly stuck his head right out into the open. The guards were momentarily caught by surprise, and by the time they had begun to fire Don had already begun to move back inside. As a final blast caught the doorframe Don gave a sickening yell and fell backwards to the corridor floor.
The guard heard the cry and slowly made it's way to the entrance, keeping the prisoner covered it inched inside the doorway, carefully checking for anything out of the ordinary, and then began to slowly make it's way towards the body lying motionless on the floor. The guard slowly approached the body until it stood right before the human. He prodded Don in the chest with the rifle and quickly leapt back. The body did not move so the guard moved forwards again. Again he prodded the body, but did not leap away. Still there was no response, perhaps it had been killed. The guard moved closer and as it used the end of it's rifle to repeatedly prod Don in the chest, Don sprang into action. He brought his right arm up, grabbing the end of the rifle and forced it up and away from him to point at the corridor wall. The guard began to react to this and Don raised both feet and slammed the guard in both knees with the heels of his combat boots. Then as the guard tried to recover from the attack, Don yanked back on the rifle making the guard fall forwards right into Don's waiting left hand, which shot forwards and gave the guard a vicious blow to the chin, where the helmet and body suit had a small gap showing the white flesh underneath. The rifle clattered to the ground, and the guard staggered back to the entranceway clutching it's throat. Don saw the opportunity here, scooped up the rifle and ran quickly back down the corridor.
Don hurtled down the corridor and came to a sliding stop in the middle of the small group of escapees.
Before they had a chance to react he had begun to haul Smith up onto his shoulders and grabbed Tom by the scruff of his tattered old shirt.
"Come with me right now, as fast as you can," yelled Don as he was already beginning to run back up the corridor dragging Thomas behind him.
Don arrived back at the entrance, having left Thomas behind a few moments ago. The guard Don had attacked was slumped inside the entranceway, and appeared to be unconscious. Don ran up and grabbed the guard by the boot and dragged it back down the corridor.
He lifted the guard up into a standing position and stood behind him, using the guard and it's armor as a shield, Don headed for the entranceway.
Tom, John and Will had arrived in the entranceway in time to see Don position the guard and head for the entrance.
Don had only seen two other guards and hoped the others hadn't arrived yet. As he stepped forwards the guards did not fire, and as they realized their compatriot was not alone Don had already used the guard's weapon upon them. He looked around and found no other guards in the immediate vicinity.
"Come on, quickly!" yelled Don, dumping the body of the guard and heading towards the dormitory buildings.
Outside the women had heard some firing and hastening their pace they quickly prepared themselves to carry out their plan. Maureen reached out and threw open the door, making as much noise as possible. She had leapt behind it before it had finished opening, there was no response from outside. The firing had stopped, and there were no other noises coming from outside. Peeking out through another of the many holes in the walls, the women saw that the guards were now lying dead on the ground, but there did not appear to be any sign of anyone else. Cautiously the three of them stepped out back into the street, when Maureen heard a quick shuffling noise to her right. She felt a rifle muzzle shoved into the side of her neck, and decided to stop and quietly raise her hands in surrender. The guard, who had been drawn out by the firing, motioned for them to go back inside the building.
"He's getting heavy," said Don as he let Smith slide off his shoulder and slump to the ground.
Don quickly took stock of their new situation.
"Is this some kind of storage area Tom?" asked John
"Yes, this is their material store," said Tom.
Don had led them around to the back of the buildings to get out of sight. As they moved around they had found themselves in amongst boxes, barrels and other large things covered in a tarpaulin like cloth.
Don, John and Will all quickly disappeared into the rows of crates and left Tom to baby-sit Dr Smith.
"Don, you'd better come and look at this," said John just loud enough that Don would still hear him.
Don quickly appeared beside John and stood staring in disbelief at the Professor's discovery.
"This is one of our defensive fighters, an older model," said Don in disbelief as he moved around the ship to the cockpit entry point. Quickly he slipped inside and began to flick switches, this caused lights and indicators in the bubble shaped cockpit, to suddenly spring into life.
"It's still functional, a little low on power but it'll fly," said Don shaking his head in shock.
"I see you've found my ship," said Tom who had joined them. Thomas stood at the edge of a clearing in the crates and looked across with admiration at his fighter. It was state of the art when he had been assigned to her. The latest model, with the new style of floating cockpit. This meant that the rest of the ship would swivel and move around the cockpit allowing much greater maneuverability. The cockpit itself was a giant transparent bubble, surrounded with the copper colored metal of the ship itself.
"We were the fighting seven, and that's my ship called lucky seven," said Thomas beginning to be caught up in his memories.
The ship began to hum quietly as Don continued to flick switches and adjust levers.
"Have you powered it up?" asked Thomas in horror.
"Yeah, this baby still has some juice left in her after all these years," said Don proudly.
"NO!" screamed Thomas. "They'll know, the fighters will be coming right now. We're all dead unless we get away from the ship. You haven't seen what they do to us," and with that Thomas slumped to the ground, his body shaking with silent sobs of anguish.
"Damn!" exclaimed John
"Quick Doc, all of you go and hide. It's time for me to show these guys what real flying is all about," said Don.
"Don't be stupid, you don't know what kind of weaponry they have. Anyway that fighter is decades old, it's will probably blow up instead of take off," said John.
"I'll be alright, now get outta here. Go look after your son," said Don as he threw John the rifle and then sealed the cockpit.
With a roar of power the fighter shot straight up into the air.
"YEAH!" yelled Don at the top of his voice. "I knew you could do it baby."
As Don was congratulating himself the ship was quickly rocked by a succession of blasts sizzling through the air around the ship.
"Time to get serious and show these eggheads why I'm the best," said Don as he slammed the thrust lever forwards and the ship shot out across the compound towards the enemy.
"Look, I think that's Don," yelled Penny as she peered out from their room.
"Where?" yelled Judy as she ran across to where Penny was intently staring out. Judy watched as a really old fighter was moving around the area above the compound, before diving straight at one of the other craft that had just appeared over the horizon.
"I recognize that flying style," said Maureen with a grin, as she looked out as the air battle began to unfold in front of them.
Don had trained on one of these older ships during his military academy days and the techniques for flying this ship were starting to come back to him. So far he had managed to avoid being blown from the sky, but he had not been able to mount an offensive. He didn't have enough power for weapons yet, which was also a slight problem.
As the two ships moved to squeeze him between them he rolled the fuselage so that the body of the ship was vertical and then he let the ship drop like a stone. The two alien ships pulled up and only grazed against each other before coming around again for another run. Don had powered up from the valley floor immediately and had come up behind them. The ship had partial firepower and Don decided he would try and slow one of them down. He let loose with a quick volley from his right hand side guns, which drained them again. The ship he aimed at rocked under the fire, and then much to his satisfaction one of the front panels near the cockpit exploded off the ship and some sort of vapour began to spray constantly out of the tear in the sleek vessel. The two ships suddenly seemed to gain a new respect for this aging vessel opposing them, and they quickly backed away.
"Ha ha, trying to run eh!"
Don noticed that the missiles were all gone from the ship, and the guns were not powering up quickly enough. Reaching up he opened a panel and flicked the switch inside. A red indicator began to flash on the panel in front of him. Don had turned off life support and that had given him some extra power.
Don continued to weave back and forth, knowing that it was only a matter of time before one of the fighters would get a clean shot at him. Managing to stay ahead of a series of bursts from one ship Don ran the ship low over the floor of the valley pulling up in front of the second ship as it fired. The blast went straight through the area Don had occupied a few second before, and then continued on into the entranceway of the underground complex. A few seconds later there was an explosion which rocked the entire valley. The valley floor seemed to simply swallow the entrance to the complex and it was then covered by rubble loosened by the vibrations.
Don shot up over the edge of the valley and headed off into the shrublands.
The ships followed him and they all disappeared off into the distance.
John was watching from the edge of the shanty town, and now that the fighters had gone the guards from the mine had all headed out onto a platform near the top of the valley, high above the mine entrance. Below them the miners were all fleeing the mine and rushing back to the only shelter available, the dormitory. The guards who were cheering on their comrades in the fighters were too high up to stop the miners, but as John looked around the corner he noticed a guard positioned outside the door to the dormitory. As the guard moved forwards and raised it's weapon John realized the guard intended to shoot the fleeing miners. John snapped the rifle up and fired at the awning above the guard. The guard was instantly struck by the falling metal sheeting, and was trapped underneath. John moved forwards to check on the guard and was moments later rushed by the three women in his life. They had burst out of the dormitory as soon as he had come into view and quickly surged forwards to embrace him.
"You're all alright?" demanded John.
"We're fine honey," said his wife.
"Quick, let's get back under cover. Those guards are still armed, and I expect Don will be back shortly," said John.
Don had taken a few hits from the ships and had managed to damage the second fighter as well. As he pushed the old fighter back towards the valley he knew that he had one closing in fast from behind, but the other one had vanished.
They had circled around the grasslands for sometime before Don had broken away and headed back, and they were now approaching from behind the shanty town again.
Don's ship dropped over the edge of the valley and he skimmed over the top of the storage area before starting back up again.
It all happened in an instant. The fighter behind him dropped into firing position and as he climbed up over the rooftops of the shanty town the other fighter dropped in from the other side of the valley. It raced towards him and moved into a firing position as well.
Don realized he had one chance to get them both, he waited a second and then he pulled the eject handle. Explosive charges went off separating the bubble from the fuselage, the bubble had no power left for it's thrusters and it plummeted into the roof of the dormitory.
The ship behind him fired at the fuselage as it began to break up, and then it exploded. The fighter in front was momentarily blinded and flew straight into the wing of the second fighter.
The second fighter lost control and swung around into the falling debris from Don's fighter. The ship shuddered further and then clipped the valley floor. The earth gripped the ship which then somersaulted over and slammed into the ground exploding and shaking loose the platform the guards were standing on sending them all into the fiery wreckage below.
The other fighter went into a steep descent and could not climb enough before it made contact with the valley wall, exploding and raining down wreckage on the storage area.
"Don!" yelled Judy as she rushed through the wreckage of the building to try and find the escape pod.
She was quickly joined by the rest of her family, and then shortly after the other miners came to help as well. They soon had the demolished roof cleared and they made their way inside to try and find the bubble. They encountered group after group of trapped miners whom they soon freed, and the able bodied ones then joined in the excavation. After nearly half an hour they had managed to find the pod and clear the debris to find a laughing Don West inside.
"Whooo, that was a rush!" laughed Don as he clambered out of the pod.
"You big jerk!" exclaimed Judy, and gave him a slap on the arm for his trouble.
"I didn't know you cared," teased Don.
"I suppose I must, but for the life of me I can't work out why," said Judy in mock despair.
Still laughing at his good fortune, Don turned back to look at his other crew mates.
"So what's happening out there?" asked Don.
"Most of the guards and the other aliens have been killed. The miners are free and I think that's pretty much it. The fires are under control and the explosions have stopped," said John summing up the situation. "I don't know about you Major, but I'd really like to leave now."
"I concur with your decision sir," said Don, with a mock salute to complete the sentence. Don moved forwards, with his arm around Judy. He quickly removed it after the look he received from John, and quickly looking around for something to distract him with he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Tom?"
"We left him outside, he was watching over Smith. Oh no!" yelled John and took off for the doorway.
Don broke into a run and quickly caught up with him.
"We left him near the storage area, where one of those ships crashed," yelled a breathless John Robinson over his shoulder.
Quickly the two men rounded the last of the buildings and dove into the midst of the storage crates. They made their way to the rear of the area where they had discovered the old earth fighter. The entire area was covered with the wreckage of the alien fighter, and the few items that weren't damaged by shrapnel were on fire.
"Look over there," coughed Don, and pointed at a pair of boots they could see sticking out from behind one of the burning crates.
They rushed over to it and found the unconscious body of Dr Smith.
"He must have dragged him out of the way, where is he though?" pondered John, and continued to search the area through the smoke haze.
"Over here Doc," yelled Don, from behind a large chunk of the alien fuselage.
John ran over and as he rounded the wreckage he found a sight he wasn't hoping to see. Lying on the ground, with a large chunk of shrapnel sticking out of his chest, was Thomas. John looked sadly down at his new friend, and was suddenly sparked into action when Thomas began to cough.
"Judy get over here," yelled John at the top of his voice.
"It's okay dad, I'm here," said Judy as she appeared at his side, along with the other members of the Robinson family.
Don was kneeling down alongside the old man's head, holding it up so he could see and speak properly.
"I hid Smith over there," said Tom, gesturing towards the unconscious Doctor.
"We know Tom, we found him. He's fine, now you lie still and let Judy fix you up," said Don.
"He's bleeding internally, and I can't tell if any other serious damage has happened. If we can get back to the med lab I can save him," said Judy to her father.
John was now lost, there was no way they could get back to their ship in time. As he stared hopelessly around the camp he looked down to see his son at his side.
"Dad, what about the ships they came and captured us in, where are they?" asked Will.
"Good lad," said Tom, before he was interrupted by a coughing fit. "There's a hanger alongside the entrance to the underground facility." Tom was interrupted again by the coughing. "There's a kind of camouflage force field covering it, but it doesn't stop entry or exit, it's just for disguise," mumbled Tom, before the slumped back to the ground, and closed his eyes.
Don looked up worriedly at Judy, she realized what he was thinking and she shook her head.
"He's not dead, he just passed out from blood loss. Go and get that ship and save him," said Judy.
That was all Don needed to hear, and he was up and racing across the valley floor to the remains of the entranceway.
He began to feel his way along the rock face until one arm suddenly disappeared into the solid rock. Don quickly slipped inside and found himself in another of the alien's large metal chambers, which only seemed to contain the assorted vessels he had already seen. There was nothing in the room that Don could identify as docking controls or anything similar. He ran to the nearest ship and ran up the ramp. He made his way to the front of the ship and found himself in a two seater cockpit. Don looked at the strange controls and realized that he had absolutely no idea what controlled what. Spinning around in the seat and raising his pistol in one movement, Don responded to the noise he heard behind him. Someone was making their way up to the cockpit, and as the door opened he realized it was Will.
"I almost shot you that time, be more careful buddy. What if I was one of the aliens?" asked Don.
"Sorry, I thought you might need some help deciphering the controls," said Will apologetically.
"If you have any ideas about this, please feel free to share them."
After a couple of anxious minutes trying different combinations of controls, Don looked up in triumph.
"I've got it!" exclaimed Don as he began to press control pads in a particular sequence. Once he had finished he was met with the stony silence of a lifeless ship. "Damn, damn, damn ,damn!" yelled Don slamming his fist into the control panel. The panel was a sticky substance and it took him a moment to free his hand. "That is so gross," said Don.
"I think I've got it," said Will. He reached out and pressed firmly against the panels with both hands. The panel gripped both of his hands and like some sort of liquid rubber, flowed up his arms to stop at the elbows. "Those guys are telepathic, if you want controls you have to communicate that to the ship. Try it Don," said Will, as he slid his hands out of the controls he had fashioned for himself, and watched the panel resume it's original form.
Don tentatively reached out and placed both hands on the panel, and began to think of a control set that he wanted. The panel changed shape underneath his hands and changed into a standard earth style cockpit layout.
"Alright, let's get going," said Don as he punched the ignition button.
Judy was looking around desperately as she could feel the precious time slipping away from this man, where the hell was Don?
Then she heard a rumbling from the other side of the valley and saw a ship emerge from the solid rock. It made it's way over and landed in the area behind them.
"Alright people, we're out of here," yelled John to his family as he hauled Smith up onto his shoulders.
Quickly a couple of the miners moved forwards and helped them move Thomas onto the ship, and then followed them onboard.
The ship quickly cleared the valley and made short work of the trip back to the Jupiter 2. Don could see the guards were still in position around the entrance ramp, and he took note of their positions as he noticed they did not move at all, even after the arrival of the ship. He dropped out of the ship on the other side, through a small service hatchway, and crawled under the ship behind the ramp which had lowered down out of the ship. He had perfect cover, and they didn't know he was there. Before the guards could react Don leapt out and discovered they were both already dead.
"We're clear, come on," yelled Don back up the ramp.
Quickly the miners emerged carrying Thomas, and Judy led them aboard the ship. John carried Smith out and took him down to the med lab as well.
Don headed inside and made his way up to the control deck to see if they had damaged the ship at all.
As he walked into the control room he quickly stumbled upon the wreckage of the Robot.
"Are you operational Robot?" asked Don
"Major Wessssst, I have almosssss expired," slurred the Robot.
Don reached over and hit the intercom switch. "Will come up here, your robot is dying again."
Will was in the control room shortly after and quickly set about disconnecting the Robot's nervous systems from it's destroyed lower body. This had an immediate effect, as the Robot's processors no longer had to try and deal with the fact that half of it's systems were unresponsive.
"What have you done to my ship!" yelled Don.
"I have placed certain command codes in the computer systems. Do not concern yourself Major, it is easily repaired," said the Robot, happily beginning to tap away at the nearby control panel from it's position lying on the floor.
"Well what did you do that for?"
"It was necessary to get Dr Smith to come and help you, rather than steal the ship and leave this world," stated the Robot.
"Oh, okay then," said a somewhat deflated Don, who suddenly had the perfect object to take his aggression out on, removed from all culpability. At least he could yell at Smith when he came to, and he consoled himself with that thought.
Thomas sat up on the diagnostic bed and looked down at his chest, which moments ago had a large piece of metal sticking out of it. It was all healed, and he appeared to be fine. He looked over at these vibrant young people as they moved about Dr Smith.
"Is he going to be all right?" asked Tom.
"He'll be fine unfortunately," said Judy.
"Why do you say that, he rescued us from that cell?" asked Tom.
"I think the doctor can explain that," said Don as he walked into the med lab.
"Ahh, so good to see you too Major," said Dr Smith who had wriggled himself up into a sitting position.
"Smith here only came to save us, because the Robot shut down the ship and wouldn't leave without us. Smith wanted to blast off this rock the instant he could, isn't that right doctor?" asked Don.
"But of course, and if that giant, metal, fish bowl stand hadn't stopped me I wouldn't have been injured now would I?"
"Well I'm glad to see that you're finally concerned with the welfare of others Smith," said John as he walked out of the room in disgust.
"You're fine now Thomas," said Judy with a smile for the old man.
"Thank you my dear," said Thomas. Thomas had rediscovered some of his old charm, and confidence. His oppressors had gone and he was free once again.
"Tom, I don't understand why those miners would help us. They are the same species aren't they?" asked Maureen, leaning over from the diagnostic couch she was sitting on.
"Well yes, you're right. They are the same species, but they are tired of being slaves to the older members of their city. I have been speaking with them for years, and they were thinking of rebelling anyway. We have just helped them along. They really are just children, and they need to follow someone," said Thomas thoughtfully.
"It sounds like you've made a decision," said Maureen, placing her hand supportively on his shoulder.
"Yes, I suppose I have," said Thomas with a happy smile. He reached over and gave both Judy and Maureen a big hug, before jumping down off the bed. "I think I'd like to stay. You've all reminded me what the human spirit can accomplish, and in the few years I have left I think I'd like to teach that to these children."
"Well get on with it then, and get out of my lab," yelled Smith from the room he was working in.
"Haven't you finished with that yet?" demanded Judy, who was now reminded of Smith's presence in the med lab.
"Now now dear, ask the good doctor nicely. Otherwise he might not help you," said Smith, without looking up from the microscope he was staring into.
"Judy, go up and help your father, I'll finish up down here," said Maureen. She watched as Judy put her arm around Thomas and led him out of the med lab.
"I must have a thing for charming space pilots," said Judy jokingly, as she led Thomas out.
Maureen turned and stomped into the adjoining room and glared at Smith's back for a few moments.
"Why hello, if it isn't little mommy Robinson. To what do I owe this incredible honor," said Smith turning in his chair to face her.
"You listen to me Smith, this is my life and the lives of my daughters you are playing with here. Don't piss me off, you threaten my children and I'll drop you out of an airlock myself. Don't think I'm not capable of it either," threatened Maureen.
"Now there's no need for that, it's not all that serious. In fact I've created the suitable anti-radiation treatment you need to cure yourselves, it's really only a form of old style radiation sickness," said Smith.
"Now that was quick, why?" asked Maureen suspiciously.
"Well if you must know, your charming daughter slipped a piece of that rock into my pocket and exposed me to the stuff. So don't think I was doing you any favors, but remember I could have chosen not to share it with you. You owe me your lives, all of you. I do intend to collect on that debt one day," stated Dr Smith.
Maureen simply grabbed the injections out of his extended hand and made her way out of the lab, not forgetting to lock the door on the way out.
"Just once, will you people please let me out of this damn room!"
Maureen walked on to the control deck and found her missing husband staring out into space. The ship had entered into it's night cycle, and she wanted to settle into bed for the night. Quietly she stood behind him and watched his back move silently as he breathed. He was standing in the darkened room staring at the viewing panels, watching the stars streaking by as the Jupiter 2 made it's way from this solar system.
She moved up behind him and began to massage his shoulders.
"Hmmm, Don you'd better stop before my wife catches us," said John. He heard the delicious sound of his wife's laughter from behind him as he turned and looked at her. She was standing behind him, her eyes sparkling with the life and vitality that laughter brings to a person, and he remembered all the times he had seen her like this before. There hadn't been enough of those occasions recently.
"My husband is actually using his rusty old sense of humor, things must be bad," she said through a happy smile.
"They could be worse," said John as he moved aside and pulled his wife forwards to stand in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. Together they stood and watched the stars shoot past as their ship continued to hurtle on through the infinite reaches of space.
