Conclusion:

"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 realised 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 armour 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 realised 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 babysit 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 manoeuvrability. The cockpit itself was a giant transparent bubble, surrounded with the copper coloured 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 recognise 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 realised 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 realised 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 realised 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 realised 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 realised 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 honour," 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 favours, 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 humour, things must be bad," she said through a happy smile.