Part Eight:

"Well, blimey, that sounds arrogant," the British boy said, "We like to call ourselves the Tomorrow People rather. It’s not as self righteous. My name is Stephen Jamieson." The boy seemed calm and smiled, "Right now, I’m a prisoner of Jedikiah."

"You mentioned him before," Nelson was eyeing the band on the boy’s head, "Who is this...this Jedikiah?" He squinted as he spoke.

"Oh, a shape changing bionic robot android although," Stephen, 14 years old with long brown hair, said, "...most of the time he looks like a fat man with a beard."

Val summed it up, "So you, though, are English, British, and from Earth."

"Yes," he smiled at her. Something about him made her like him immediately. He made her feel peaceful and but also she wanted to protect him some how.

"And only he can take this silencer band, you called it, off," Nelson pointed to the band, "Or it would kill you if we tried."

"Yes. He or some of my friends who are also Tomorrow People. I was looking for them....only when the white cloud invaded our lab on Earth in London, the other Tomorrow People, didn’t escape. I’ve been searching for... I think I hear something. He...he’s coming back," Stephen remained calm of tone. British reserve, Valerie knew. She had seen it first hand in all of her travels to Britain and with British people.

Nelson grabbed the ropes, "I’ll keep these loose but make it look like they are still on you."

He and Valerie had only seconds to dash behind a large computer desk as Jedikiah a heavy set man with a gray beard and gray slicked back hair with a dash of black streak on either side of his head bounded into this huge area from a smaller flight deck. He also wore a gray uniform. His tone was harsh and deep voiced, "Now tell me who is behind this. You must know! Tell me, tell me!"

"Jedikiah, I told you. We thought you were."

Val pointed out, turned to Nelson and whispered, "He has the key to the silencer band." Nelson saw she was right---it dangled off Jedikiah’s thick waist belt.

"Jedikiah, why don’t you let me go---then I could help you find out who really is behind all this."

"You would just disappear or jaunt as you call it," Jedikiah’s voice was gruff yet flat and cold at the same time, "But the owners of this ship are helping me. They are my true allies."

"Owners? This isn’t your ship?"

"No, my cohorts are with me though and what is their’s, is mine."

Stephen grew defiant but his voice didn’t rise, even then, "Oh, such as when you teamed up with Rubowski, I suppose. It wasn’t your ship then either. He was a good ally to you, wasn’t he, spearing you like he did with that sword and all..."

"Silence!" Jedikiah composed himself and checked a scanner on the console, not far from Val or Nelson, "You will be meeting my allies soon enough."

Outside by the Snow Cat, the Robot was scouting the area. The snow had let up some when he scanned a small human running past some ice hills. He picked up a scream. The Robot moved toward the area it came from. He was ready with his firing mechanism and his arms were out, ready to fire. Rounding a corner of ice and snow, he saw a dark boy, small, young, maybe just about ten years old. The poor lad was dressed only in a leather loin cloth and sandals. Shivering, the dark skinned boy caught sight of the Robot and took it in. It was all too much for him and he passed out. Gently, the Robot bent down and picked the boy up in his arms. "W-W-Warming circuits conditioning for human tolerance."

Robot carried the boy to the Snowcat tractor and laid him on the treads. Robot reached up and pulled out a snow jacket from the back seat supplies and also found a blanket in the small cabinet on the floor of the back of the Snow Cat. Robot noticed the boy’s shoulder length black hair and dark, tanned complexion. Mexican maybe. Spanish? Indian? Robot didn’t wait to find out. He fired a dose of electricity across the boy’s entire body, causing the kid a mild stir. Before putting on the parka and covering the boy with the blanket, Robot also noticed a small wooden knife in the boy’s thin vine belt.

Valerie was eyeing Jedikiah’s belt, or rather the key hanging from it inside that rocket ship. Admiral Nelson was cutting some wires from a computer console, a thick hose from the machinery. His working on it caused a large, unexpected shock of sparks. Val gasped. "Who is that? More Tomorrow People? See how I deal with you!" Jedikiah lunged forth, toward the pair. Stephen jumped up and held back the large man. Val ran to him and pulled the key off the belt just as Jedikiah flung Stephen back across another console.

"You overgrown Tonker Toy-Can, all you do is push around kids," Valerie gasped at him.

"Young lady, I am old enough to be your great, great, great grandfather!"

"Yeah and fat enough to me house. Well, come on and get this key, turkey," she taunted him toward the console where Nelson, still unseen by Jedikiah, was hiding, brandishing the hose which was sparking forth more power. Nelson was holding the insulation to protect himself. He also had on rubber gloves.

Jedikiah made an animalistic, unexpected lunge at Val, who laughed at him because he looked funny, acting so quickly but looking like an invalid fat guy. He was really rather quick and fast moving. She ducked aside and he landed on the console rounded section. Nelson jumped up and hit Jedikiah in the back with the sparking hose. For an instant they could see the true cumbersome robotic form appear until the robot he was spiraled to the floor. Nelson jumped back. Soon, all was quiet. Val stared, "Is he...dead, do you think?"

"Can’t be," Stephen puffed, getting up, "He’s indestructible."

"What robot isn’t?" Nelson puffed, tossing the hose down, "Careful with that."

"Well now for the key to the problem," Val put it into the band on Stephen’s head and it opened it. The band, popping, fell off as Stephen closed his eyes, hoping it wasn’t booby trapped.

"Thank you," he said when he finally opened his eyes to an amused Valerie, who gave Nelson a smirk at Stephen’s eye closing. Nelson chuckled. Stephen went on, not noticing their shared amusement, "...on behalf of all the Tomorrow People."

Stephen touched Valerie’s arm and she felt warm, comforted, and less chilled by the surroundings.

Suddenly, the ship jolted violently. Nelson gasped, "The snow’s shifting us toward the cliff! We’d better get out!"

Through the open hatch popped three metallic men! They sported square heads with a light on top and a face with slits for a nose, eyes, and mouth. They were all silver and metal but looked somewhat human except for their giant size, almost 8 feet or more. They metal giants rose up into the room. They also seemed humanoid in some way, almost as if they had some organic parts, which they did for these were what Stephen yelled out, "Cybermen!" Two legs, two arms, a head and broad shoulders, they rose up from the hatch in the floor.

Nelson grabbed the hose again, "Go kid, jaunt, or whatever it is you do!"

"Yes," Val yelled, "You get out of here!" They all looked in horror at the metal menaces coming up.

Five entered and two nearest, tossed all three of them into the wall away from the console. Nelson lost the hose but retrieved it and hit one, causing it to explode. Valerie tried to run for the door but one Cyberman grabbed her shoulders from behind and began to rattle her! She screamed. A Cyberman rushed Stephen but he vanished, appeared behind it and gave it a kick into a chair.

The ledge the rocket was set on began to give way. Snow started to drop from under it. A Cyberman grabbed Nelson’s weapon while another hit him from behind. The room tilted to one side, causing the Cybermen to stumble and fall. Val and Nelson were released as their Cybermen attackers reached around to steady themselves...and failed to do so. The Cybership started to slant over the ledge. Nelson yelled, "Miss Scott!" Nelson grabbed Valerie around the waist and lumbered toward the open hatch.

Val yelled, "Valerie please!"

A Cyberman, balancing itself, followed them.

"No!" Val saw the deep fall that now awaited them as the ground had given way under the ship, "No! Ahhhh! Ahahhhh!" Nelson tossed himself and Valerie outside. The Cyberman jumped after them just as the rocket tumbled off the cliff onto the other side. Nelson and Valerie went cascading down into an icy slope and began to slide on their backs, Val fallen free of Nelson but not far from him. Both yelled as they crashed through a group of ice plants! They also barely missed a large wall of snow--hard and packed vertically. The rocket fell into a ravine on the other side and exploded! Snow and sparking shards flew up from the ravine. Snow fell on top of the rocket’s remains. The Cyberman, following the pair, bounced into the snow wall in front of them, flew up---came to a landing on a sharp ice branch, pierced in the chest and the half-human inside began to scream and moan loudly. Oily green blood oozed out.

Nelson and Valerie, followed by a great deal of snow, tossed off a smaller ledge and landed in a pile of deep snow. Val poked her head, spat out snow, "We...we’ve stopped."

Nelson dusted himself off, and stood, "Let’s find the Snow Cat."

"Don’t you ever rest?" Val groaned, getting up as well, helped by his hand.

"We haven’t time," Nelson spat, coughed and looked around, "Every spot on this planet is dangerous or haven’t you guessed that by now?"

Five other Cybermen were turning the Snow Cat upside down. From a safe ice rock, Robot and the young ten year old boy watched. Robot looked, "I should try to stop them. I am not afraid. I should try."

The boy nodded up at the Robot, smiling and defending the Robot’s position, "Too many of them. Besides, if you did, who would protect me here?"

"And he who turns and runs away can return to fight another day," Robot repeated from his memory banks.

"I’m Jai, Tarzan’s friend. I lost him in the jungle and I....they’re coming this way," Jai happened to look back toward the Snow Cat and noticed five Cybermen with large cannon like guns in their arms marching through the thickening snow. Jai hopped behind a snowy hill, "Over here, Robot."

The two waited until the Cybermen marched past. "I am glad you no longer fear me," Robot said, his light mouth illuminating the snowy, dark world around them.

"Well, you saved me. There were these big hairy things after me."

"Big? Hairy? Were they snowmen?"

"Maybe," Jai said.

Nelson and Valerie came walking up to them. "Admiral," Val was saying, "What about Stephen?"

"Let’s just hope he jaunted off that ship before...just believe he jaunted off it."

"Well, yes, but then where is he?"

Robot spotted the two before they could see him, "Admiral Nelson, Miss Scott!"

"Oh Robot," Val called out as the wind started to rise, "Who is this?"

"I’m Jai."

"A friend of one called Tarzan," Robot issued forth.

"Tarzan, the ape man?" Nelson wondered, "I always thought he was just a myth, a legend."

"Tarzan? A myth?" Jai nodded, "No sir, he’s alive, real, just like you and me."

A whirring sound rose over the wind and above them. Val gasped, "What’s that now?" Above them in the snow carrying wind, a half domed shaped ship with bubbles all around its design, spiraled to a hover position overhead. "Oh my..."

Jai, frightened, ran off. Val yelled, "Jai! The boy!" She raced after him.

"Come back here!" Nelson called after.

Val caught up with the boy in an open area. Both looked up as the ship loomed over and a door opened on its bottom. The UFO landed on top of them as Valerie screamed.

Nelson frowned, "Robot, put your sensors onto that...that thing."

"I am not a bloodhound, Admiral."

"For their lives sake, I hope you can be one."

"Affirmative."

Inside the darkly lit room, reddish glows filled the view. Val jumped as the metallic sound of a high pitched voice filled her ear drums, "Do not move! Do not move! You are our prisoners! Do not move!" Valerie tried to think of something clever to say but she was too afraid. She grabbed Jai around his shoulders and put him behind her. "Do not move! Do not move! Do not move!"

The Space Chariot car bumped over a fern covered hillside in a forest. Inside, Judy Robinson was driving. Captain Lee Crane was next to her, watching the landscape occasionally but eyeing the blond girl with amazement. Independent, he thought of her. Tony Newman and crewman Kowalski sat behind the pair with Stu Riley and a pack of equipment behind Tony and Ski. Crane smiled, "That looks easy enough to do. You’re a very brave girl."

"Why?" Judy smirked, "For this?" Crane had been watching how she controlled the Chariot.

"No, for holding together so well."

Judy smiled, "Captain Crane, women are quite capable of many things and in some areas they go beyond men." She ignored a laugh from Riley.

Kowalski chuckled, "Like what?"

"Oh, having babies," Judy stated, without looking back.

Tony and Crane laughed now. Riley patted Ski’s arm, "Looks like she out read you, Ski, pal."

"Quiet, Stew-wart," Ski said, a frown upon his face.

"She’s right. One of our most brilliant scientists at the time tunnel is a woman," defended Tony.

Crane scratched his head, "Just one of those things I have to get used to."

"Your ahh, friend, Major West didn’t seem too keen on you two separating," Tony alleged.

"He’ll live with it," Judy looked ahead.

The Space Pod flew through a pinkish sky with weird dashes of colors phasing through it. Doug looked at Don, who was piloting, "Look, can you live with this?"

Don tried to ignore the question but he knew full well what Doug Phillips meant, "With what?"

Doug exclaimed, "You know, you and Miss Robinson being apart?"

Don murmured, "We haven’t been apart in a long, long time. It just takes, uhm, time to get used to it."

"You can trust Tony and Captain Crane."

"I didn’t say I couldn’t, did I?!!" Don snapped.

"No, I...I just..."

"I’m sorry, Doctor Phillips..."

"Please call me Doug. I guess I shouldn’t have been so nosey or..."

"Alright, look, I’m sorry, Doug." Don nodded and was silent for a bit. Then, he looked outside, "Look at that," he said in amazement. The landscapes below changed. They saw snowy areas, forests and rocky canyons.

In Tic Toc Labs of the Time Tunnel project, Kirk, Ann, Ray, and Jerry watched the landscapes. Kirk nodded too, "Amazing." They saw rock houses of stone age men or ape people change to a beautiful crystal blue city to a mechanically run city with massive steel towers with jet propelled air cars, a city on stilts in the sky. "Constantly changing."

Sitting at the time tunnel control desk, Ray Swain puffed, "Which makes it harder to locate any of them, not just Tony and Doug."

Kirk looked up, "Hurts your eyes, doesn’t it?" The changing landscapes did just that. He turned to the woman who was usually sitting at the controls but who was up and at one of the wall console computer banks, "Ann, anything from the computer no those dates?"

Ann had some computer print outs, "Yes. Odd. The years Jesus Christ walked on the Earth as a man. That are the years that were not affected." This news seemed to shock them into silence. Finally, after a few minutes of thinking about it and watching the changing landscapes above on the tunnel screen overlay, Ann asked, "What does it mean?"

Kirk wondered, "There were the only dates untouched by this thing."

"Meaning what?" Ann laughed at her next idea, "....that God protected those years?"

Ray looked up at her from his chair, "It would actually be the dates after His last appearance after His death."

"Oh Ray," Ann frowned in disbelief, "Then we’re back to that debate we had when Tony and Doug were at the walls of Jericho."

"Something more. God is raising a standard against the forces of darkness."

Ann raised her right eyebrow at Kirk, "General?"

"Nothing substantial yet, Ann. But something is trying to contact me on this. I can’t really explain it. Something I just seem to know but hasn’t come out of me yet. Just...just scan that area, wherever it is."

On the screen they could see the lines of the time tunnel but through it the images of the changing lands: futuristic domes, large Medieval castles, caves and jungles with large imposing dinosaurs, and other mixtures of environments. Monorail trains running past prehistoric jungles and through underground caves and volcanoes like Krakatoa.

The Chariot rode down a steep hill surrounded by large rock walls. Tony looked up, "I don’t know how but we’re...we’re in the Grand Canyon!"

"Are you sure?" Ski asked him.

"Yes, I’m very sure. I and my friend Doug, have been here before."

"I thought I recognized it, too," Crane said, "It’s all so bizarre...a moment ago..."

"Look at them!" Riley pointed out. Indians on horseback came riding up quickly. They wore head bands of feathers and leather coverings on their lower bodies. Rather quickly, the Indians started forming a moving circle around the Chariot!

Ski winced, "American Indians!"

Tony looked closer, "Apaches!" Many of the natives were yelling war cries.

One bare chested long haired American Indian launched a flaming arrow from a bow while he rode his black horse. Landing in a brush near the Chariot, a fire sprang up. Judy gasped, "We have to get out of here!"

Crane reached over to the side of the glass car and took a long laser rifle off a support holder. Behind him, Tony pulled his arm, "You can’t just kill them."

Kowalski nudged Tony, "What is it you think they’re trying to do to us?!"

Crane gave it a moment’s thought and consented to Tony’s clear thinking, "I’ll only frighten a gap in their circle." He stood up and pulled open the bubble hatch, sliding it to the back. Getting up higher, Crane began to fire shots in front of a couple of horses. They threw their riders from their backs, rearing up and opening a hole in the circle of Apaches. Crane called down, "Now Miss Robinson!!!"

"Please call me Judy!!!" Judy didn’t care if he heard or not but just drove the Chariot straight past the fallen Indians. One, from the ground, retrieved his bow and arrow and was quick enough to fire at the Chariot. Crane ducked just in time as the well placed arrow almost hit him in the neck. It clanged into the Chariot, luckily not on fire. Crane looked back out, bravely. He spotted another on horseback tossing a large wooden spear with thick pointed tip. Quicker, Crane fired at it with the laser rifle and burned the spear in mid air. The Chariot was driven down a ridge, bumping past the natives. Crane sat back down after he shut the bubble hatch.

Stu Riley looked behind him. "They’ll probably follow."

Kowalski added, "They are!"

Judy pointed, "That’s the Colorado River. We could cross it to delay them."

"Good idea," Crane nodded.

The Space Chariot went off the basin and into the Colorado River. Ski pointed over Judy’s shoulder, "Follow the current---that’ll give us some more speed!" Apaches rode up to the basin, whooping war cries which petered out as they realized they couldn’t really follow.

In a dark, dank cave, dripping sounds of water awoke Dan Erickson. He stared at the strange overhead stalactites. He was on his back. Dan moved over and based himself on his knees. He saw Mark Wilson on his stomach, "Mark, Mark, can you...?"

Mark jumped up and turned over to face him quickly, "Ohhh, Dan. It’s you. I thought it as one of those things..."

"Sharkmen," Dan said incredulously as he looked around, "No, no sign of them. Only rocks----everywhere you look. We must be hundreds of miles beneath the surface."

"And no opening, no way out," Mark puffed, on his knees too, "Anyway, no way out back up to that crazy planet."

They heard a deep intoned voice, "You give up too easily, gentlemen." The men stood up slowly and looked toward the voice. Dan blinked. The rocks on the wall near him started moving! Fossil men came out of the wall. It was difficult to tell until they were totally out but there were three.

Dan was wide eyed, "What’re YOU?"

"My name is Captain Jacob Wren of the now fossilized submarine Trollius. And I am a fossil being as you two will soon be."

Mark frowned. Could things get worse? "You mean you were once...human?"

"Yes," Wren turned to Dan, "It will be of great interest to me to see what will happen when we change one of your race for the first time."

Dan faked a laugh, "I’m sure it will. I’m honored...I think."

Mark came up behind Dan to whisper in his ear, "We have to get..."

"We sure can try," Dan said, not believing it possible. "Rush em!" The two men ran into the fossil humanoids. Mark punched one but only hurt his own hand; Dan pushed Wren into the rocky wall but the other one nearby threw Dan to the ground. Mark was soon on the ground next to Dan. "Well, we did it."

"Did what?" Mark spouted in disgust.

"Try."

"Prepare to become one with us and to join the kingdom of Mu."

"Mu?" Mark was bewildered, "Mind telling us, I mean if we are to join you, what is going on?"

A fossil man made a grinding noise with his hands and rocks where his mouth should have been. Wren turned to them, "The lava pools are ready." Fossil men picked Mark and Dan up off the floor. Suddenly, a wall near them, tumbled inward. A fish faced humanoid with gills, large finned ears, and bulging eyes came in from the hole. He had a laser gun in his hand and before the fossilized men could move on him, he shot them each, melting them into magma, allowing Dan and Mark to pull free of the slime. Four more fish faced, blue colored amphibian men came in. The first one turned to Dan and Mark, an equally deep voice, "You will come with us."

"Why not," Dan murmured, "You just saved us. Who are you now?"

He spoke deliberately and slowly as if English weren’t his first language, "My...name...is Proto. You will come without a fight!"

Mark nodded, "Sure, sure. But just tell me, you aren’t gonna make us look like you are you? I mean, I wouldn’t want to wear a face like that."

The Chariot was wildly zipping down a current which took it every which way. Judy puffed, "It’s too strong! We’re going to smash up!" None of the men wanted to agree but they all saw huge rocks ahead and the water began to rock the car more and more! The Chariot skidded past a boulder and hit another one slightly. The car was tossed straight over a tremendous water fall! Everyone yelled as it dipped down, unexpectedly. The water fall seemed to rise out of no where. The car hit more water on the bottom and bounced upward. Next--a solid rock wall rose up out of the water in front of them. They could see it go on and on and up and up. A mountain grew up out of the rock! The Chariot rocked.

"Let’s get out," Crane flung open a glass door but the ridge on the hill caught the treads of the Chariot and began to carry it up as the mountain formed upward. Crane ushered Judy out the door, "Jump!"

Judy gasped, "No, no!"

"Jump Miss...Judy, jump NOW!" Crane didn’t wait for her to, he pushed her forward and out and followed immediately, looking back for Tony to follow. Tony did not hesitate as the car was carried further above the surface of the water and high into the blue sky.

As the mountain rumbled, boulders began to rain down around all of them. Judy, Crane, and Tony slid down the mountain’s less steep side as rocks followed. They hit into some bushes. Judy yelled, "Where’s the water?"

The hill kept rising high out of the canyon the water fall was previously in. Kowalski pulled Stu Riley up from his fall into the back of the Chariot, "Well, Stu, come on!" Stu was pulled to the door but stopped. Ski yelled, "Well, Stu, go!"

Stu took off his shirt, ‘Wait Ski, I can’t swim with this on."

Ski only saw the blue sky and white clouds outside the Chariot, "Stu! Will you jump!"

The car rocked, ready to fall of the now-flimsy ridge! Stu jumped out and off the ridge, avoiding falling rocks. Ski followed. The Chariot fell off the top and began to tumble after the two men! The car rolled over and over! Ski and Stu fell down the hill, sliding! Ski yelled, "I think we’re gonna make it!" A chunk of the hill fell away under them and plunged them into thin air! The two were now in empty space falling toward the water!

Judy, Crane, and Tony watched. They saw Ski and Stu just vanish. Judy put her head up higher, "They’re gone."

"Get down!" Tony pushed her head down as the Chariot, rolling off the hillside, bumped past the trio’s bushes, hitting a small jut of rock which just saved their lives, and tumbling upward and over, then down into a heap of huge boulders off to one side. The car smashed to pieces which scattered over the area. The trio kept down until the shards fell harmlessly to the ground. Luckily they were far enough away from it to not have gotten cut.

Don West flew the Space Pod as Doug Phillips looked out into a thick black cloud. On a screen, someone watched, "The dragon will bring them down. Use Vermithrax Pejorative--the last of the dragons!"

From the cloud, a giant, scaly, winged dragon zeroed in on the Space Pod. Doug and Don could hardly believe it as they stared into the maw of the fanged beast which just came at them from the dark clouds. Don relaxed quickly and shot a missile. The dragon spewed fire onto the missile and exploded it! The dragon stared at them as it flew off to one side. Doug caught its look, "I think it’s intelligent!"

"Oh yeah," Don spurted.

The dragon zipped under them and hit the Pod with a massive tail swipe. The Pod went spiraling away. Doug yelled, "Get us under...under control!!!"

Don lifted the Pod up but the dragon kept coming and shot a lightning bolt across the sky. Then more. One bolt caught the Pod and it began to smoke from the hit! Fire spewed out across the console! "Hang on, Doug!" Don headed the Pod downward. Then he let go of the stick levers and opened the doors, "Jump!"

"What? You crazy?"

"Jump!" Don yelled. "It’s our only..." Doug listened and was out. Don stared out as the ground came up to the window. He followed Doug out. The Space Pod flew at a WWI foxhole and hit it, exploding down into it and the blast came up with sand and blast bags. Don and Doug also fell out into a foxhole and both landed right on top of uniformed men. Don shook himself and looked at the man under him, "Sorry buddy, I..." He saw the man was dead, eyes staring, hands around an oxygen mask. Don screamed and saw lots of dead soldiers, WWI soldiers. He climbed up out of the ravine and saw the area was dark and wet. The sky now had a shade of light across it, glowing red, green, yellow. Was it day or night? Was that light the blotted out sun or moon? Doug also saw a dead soldier.

"British," he said to Don, calling up, then noticing Don didn’t hear him nor was with him, "Don? Major West?" He jumped up out of the foxhole. "Don wait! Wait!"

Don stopped running and bent over, put his hands on his knees and fought back vomit. Doug went up to him and put a hand on his back, "Breathe deeply...I think."

"I know. I smell it too. Some kind of gas. Sorry, I..."

"No need for apologies. I just...am used to the death..."

"I’ve been in some battles and scrapes myself but nothing like...like," he stood up and looked back at the foxhole. Then a noise broke the moment’s silence. Large machines. Tanks. Seven of them rolling down a barb wire fence. Doug looked as Don grabbed his shoulder to move him out. "Major, it, it could be World War One but, but that tank is World War Two type. It wasn’t around in World War One..."

Don puffed, "Let’s not be around either One or Two, let’s move!" They ran, followed by random explosions! Above them, war planes dropped bombs! Neither could tell if the planes were German, Japanese, American, or British. They were too busy running and the planes moved too fast to take note. One flew low. Don yelled, "Hit the dirt!" Doug and Don dropped as the plane zipped just above, firing bullets! Once past, the two resumed running. In the sky, Verimithrax Pejorative, the dragon, scooped the plane up in its mouth and blew it to bits. It seemed to laugh. The two men didn’t stop to watch.

Three Saticons walked through a sliding entrance into that same large bluish computer room. The trio seemed to rock to and fro as they walked, all in a united way. The rocking seemed in unison with each other. "You," a heavy set man in a spacesuit with a cumberbun, turned to them, "What do you shadowmen want?" His voice seemed to have a mocking, almost laughter type tone to it, he was partly bald and had a small beard.

"We...have... brought...you...a pressssentttttt, Space Trader....one of the Robin...ssssss.....onsssss." The lead Saticon waved a hand and Maureen Robinson, in her green planet outfit, appeared inside a tube near a row of hundreds of similar tubes. Next to Maureen was a tall blonde woman in a mini skirt, also frozen. The name on it read ELIZABETH SHAW.

"What makes you think we will allow you and your kind to interfere?" The Space Trader laughed-sneered.

"We...are..immune...to....your....ssssservo actuator....it doesssssss.....not affect...our bodiessss. And....you....and this....Time Lord....will....be....our....alliesss."

The Trader chuckled and held his own belly, "Why should we?"

"Our leader will....ssssooon...be...in this....control...center."

The Space Trader dropped his smile and became all serious, "HE is coming HERE?"

"Yes---s-s. S-so...give ussss...a thought. Or...he will...des-sss-troy you and your....partners." The Saticons laugh as one being but differently and they vanished, leaving behind a slight laugh residue. The Space Trader shuddered.

"Ughhh, how I hate them and their leader....he’s twenty times..."

Another man, one in a purple suit was there and looked at the Space Trader. He also had on thick dark blue shades over his eyes, "I, Alpha, do not trust those things, what do they call themselves, the Saticons? Being a collector," he continued in a refined voice as if he were better than both the Trader and the Saticons, "...I’ve encountered the race before."

A far off voice joined in, "We will co-operate with them." A man in a blue cape stood in front of Maureen’s tube prison where she was frozen in time, "I, a Time Lord of Gallifrey, am more interested in the Robinsons---especially one in particular---Professor John Robinson. He owes me, big time!"

Olos, a time traveler from the year 5477, wore a silver suit and head cap. He was turning a dial, "I will have the servo actuator check this one, Mrs. Robinson is it?--check her out."

Dan and Mark were in a gigantic clear control room in a huge swim sub ship of the fish men. The top of the ship sub was clear and they could see outside as well as ahead. The sub was shaped like a Manta Ray. Ahead were gigantic coral reefs full of sea life---mainly fish of weird shapes and sizes. Dan took some time to enjoy the colors that arrayed themselves. One fishman stuck his head into a tank behind Mark, who turned to watch as it breathed in water. Mark frowned at this.

"Look," he said, "What do you mean WAR?"

The head amphibian, Proto, smiled but it was difficult to tell this. "The two sides are Mu, whom the Fossil Men aide. And the side we are on--Atlantic. This sub is of their design." He turned a huge dial on a big tank in front of the square viewport. "When it was discovered that all the seas of all time and space were now one---factions split to either side of the two strongest forces beneath the sea."

Two yellowish gillmen with fish like features and protruding jaw and upper lips, not like the other blue amphibians, came into the room. These new humanoid monsters had slimy but shiny scales all over their bodies. Proto ordered them, "Take them to their...food. When you have eaten, I will discuss our plans with you. You may want to help us. Or you may want to die."

Dan laughed, "You put that so plainly. Look, ahhh, do you know what caused this-s I don’t know what you’d call it---this, this universal mess?"

"Something called a servo actuator...actually the only one of its kind. It was brought here by two time travelers from your future."

Mark rolled his eyes, "Uh-oh, this is not good."

"Do you know these two--I mean what their names are and all?" Dan asked, hesitatingly.

"One, I am told, is named Olos."

"Oh great!" Mark turned to face the wall.

"Olos," Dan spouted, "Him again. And the other is...named Fieldar."

"We know all about them and we’ve seen that servo actuator before, too," Mark turned back to the conversation, "We have to try to reverse that thing."

"On the contrary," Proto said, "But enough now. I talk later," he clapped his fin hands together and gillmen took Dan and Mark outside a leathery door into a hallway which was clear on both walls. Fish and coral could be seen from it.

Kowalski and Stu Riley appeared in a blue sky. The pair tumbled down to an ocean and splashed into it. Riley came up to the surface first. Ski followed, "We...we seemed...we teleported. Hey Riley, why are you wearing swimming trunks under your pants?"

"I always wear em underneath, in case a good surf comes up, man."

"Oh brother." Ski rolled his eyes and then turned every which way, "Pick a way to swim. There is no indication any way will lead someplace."

Riley chose and the pair started to swim even though they could not see any land in any direction.

In the UFO alien saucer shaped ship, Valerie Scott faced those mechanica-organically controlled from within terrors called, "Daleks!!!"

"You know of our race," one intoned with a mecha voice.

"I thought anyone who goes anywhere in the universe knows of the terror... the evil...the vileness..."

"You are both Earthlings!!! ???? Answer, answer!!! Answer!"

"Yes," Val yelled from the sheer tension these giant sized pepper pots caused, "And you’re all annoying! Something awful about your voices!"

"Silence!!!!"

There were five blue colored Daleks in the room. One turned from a control panel, "We have arrived."

"You shall be taken to our Emperor."

"Taken to be tortured!" Another said.

A door opened downward into a corridor from the center of the ship. Jai grabbed his jacket and threw it over a Dalek, covering its long poking eye stalk. Jai ran for the door, petrified in fear. Val yelled, "Jai---no!!"

A ray from another Dalek’s swivel gun knocked Jai off his feet. Val ran to him to help him. The Dalek that shot him intoned, "He... is only stunned. You have no chance to escape. You are our prisoners....forever!" The Daleks crowded around Valerie and Jai.

"Move! Move! Move!"

"He’s hurt!" Val screamed back at them.

"Robomen to Saucer Bay immediately."

Val thought they must only have one Saucer Bay if they didn’t number the bays. Soon, a man dressed in black leather with a black helmet on his head and dark sun shades on his eyes and a gun attachment on his arm, walked in, shoved Val away from Jai and picked the jungle boy up. The Daleks all surrounded Valerie and moved at her, forced her down a hallway out of the room. The Roboman, basically a controlled human, carried Jai in both arms, spreading the boy out across them.

Two doors swiveled open to the side as Val stepped in. Jai stirred and the Roboman carried him to a table in what appeared to be a lab of some kind. Val looked around carefully, not wanting to move in any further. On one wall was a diamond shaped Dalek, huge, bigger than the others, taller. It had long tendril arms with claws. "Place them on the thermic tables!!!!" This voice was definitely a Dalek but deeper and with more human qualities. The Roboman tied Jai down using metal slab restraints. Then the Roboman moved at Valerie. Val knees him in the stomach and pushed his arm up to a control panel before he could shoot it. The gun on the arm exploded and Valerie was able to run and untie Jai’s metal slabs. Jai was beginning to wake up but a red Dalek moved up at Valerie from behind and it poked at her with a sucker stick. Turning, Val enabled it to get her shoulder as she screamed. It swung her into another Roboman, the first having fallen from his blasted arm. The new Roboman grabbed her and pushed her to a table. Val broke down and cried.

The Dalek yelled at the fallen Roboman, "You fool! If you let her escape you will suffer before you are exterminated!!!"

The harsh Emperor voice beamed out, "Clamp them both down and then leave the room!!! Now! Now! Now!"

"Yes your highness. We obey," all the Daleks rang out.

Val was nearly out of her mind with tension and exhaustion. These monsters took a lot of out one. But a voice sprang her mind back to attention. "Miss Scott! Miss Scott!" It was Jai, trying to free himself.

"Now boy! Tell me who else is with you! Tell me! Tell me! You will tell me! Tell!"

"No, I won’t," Jai faced the Emperor even though he was restrained, "You things are mean!" A sting of light pokes Jai’s body. A small circle of light hit his stomach near his navel. He yelled in pain.

"There will be no permanent damage as yet but as you refuse to tell me the sharper the beam..." The voice grew quieter as if whatever was behind it was enjoying this part, "...becomes. Now tell me boy. Tell me! Tell! Tell!" Jai screamed again as the light struck.

Crane, Judy, and Tony walked down a hilly slope of loose stones laced with the occasional shrub. Around them, in the Grand Canyon, were many colored formations hanging from the walls of the rocks. Judy smiled, "This is beautiful."

"I wish we hadn’t lost all our guns," Crane said.

Tony pointed to a faraway mountain range just visible between canyon walls, "I know this sounds crazy but that mountain over there looks like...no, I must be wrong."

Crane squinted, "No, what are thinking? Tell us."

"Mount Fuji...it looks like that mountain in Japan. I’ve been there and..."

"I think he’s right," Judy agreed, "This whole place are parts from Earth but there’s also something...quite, oh, I don’t know, alien, about it. Things are displaced. Like a mixed up puzzle." She saw a lake nearby. A slight disturbance of the water caught her eye as the two men moved on ahead. A pointed leathery head popped up from the ripples, accompanied by low, gurgled growls. The thing was huge and lizard like with two bug eyes and its hands resembled a praying mantis. In fact, it looked like a praying mantis-man!

"You have trespassed into Sleestak territory. For that you must be sacrificed to the Great One in the Pit!"

Judy ran, "Captain Crane!"

The Sleestak rose up from the lake and started to walk on dry land. Other Sleestak followed her. Crane turned to see Judy coming over a hill and running down to him and Newman. "What now?"

Judy pointed up to the hill as a number of the seven foot tall green lizard-bug men came over it, "Sleestak! They say they live here!"

Tony looked ahead past another canyon to a large stone city imbedded in vines, slabs fallen against walls of stone, "They probably do!"

Judy saw it too, "A lost city!"

Crane pulled her arm as the Sleestak came down, "Let’s get lost in it then!" They ran across an arrayed stone floor of huge tiles and some rounded stone trellises and poles. They reached an opening in the city. The hissing Sleestak gave chase. It seemed as if there was an army of the things!

Steve Burton and John Robinson were flying over a futuristic city full of all shaped homes and buildings. They saw it was empty and unmoving. Both men were flying on parajet belt packs with helmets on. Steve talked into his helmet’s radio, "We don’t have to go down. It’s just like that old Western town and that New York City we were in earlier today."

"Yes but I’m more interested in finding the rest of my family than in..." Suddenly, the sky went dark all around them! John saw Steve vanish behind a tower. From Steve’s point of view he was now flying past a large boulder! Another flash and it was daytime for Steve Burton.

Steve looked up to find himself surrounded by massive clothing. Massive objects. People. Sights he knew only too well--GIANTS! He turned to fly each way out but knew he was inside a wall of giant alien people. Huge hands reached out for him at every turn. Angry, loud accusations rang out, booming! Steve recognized some of the giants!

Martha and Harry Cass reached out, "You...you had us killed! You ruined our plans! Now you die!" The two old people were giant murderers. Harry killed an old recluse named Julian Ankers, more due to his greed and his wife’s bidding. She was the real monster. Her wild gray hair flew from the sides of her wrinkled head. Her wide eyes were bent on crushing murder. "Get em Harry! Don’t let em get away this time! Kill him!"

A giant photographer, blond, with a thin moustache, also reached out, a giant camera in one hand ready to snap closed on Steve’s small form, "Kill him! Kill him! You want in this camera, here!" The man, a giant who accidentally killed his female model, then tried to frame a hobo for the crime, was foiled when Steve and Valerie had hidden in his own camera to develop film of him planting his evidence. The giant snapped the camera, just missing Steve’s whole body. A hand shot out. His other hand moving at Steve’s red uniform as it flew from space to space, trying to find a way out of the giant wall of people.

A once friendly face, Akman, an old giant man, heavy set, raspy voice, lurched at Steve. "You! I gave you all the comforts of your home and you destroyed my wonderful town! Burnt it to the ground! I’ll fry you myself!!!" His hands moved at Steve; one held a lighter with a flame large enough to engulf five Steve Burtons. Steve avoided both hands.

Uncle Tojar, another old man, this one in an automated wheelchair, moved at Steve, waving a fist above, "You will be destroyed now! Now you will be destroyed!" This horrid old man was the victim of a plot by his nephew, a one giant named Garak, to kill him for his fortune. Yet this man was no innocent, having killed whole families for measly pieces of antiques and collectibles.

Steve was dodging a rain of fists, hands, feet, weapons of all sizes---a sword, a knife, the wheels of a wheel chair. A rain of giant body parts! A giant hook!

A giant gypsy man waved a hoop over Steve, part of a ring toss game, "See if you can outwit us all together, little man!" He laughed loud and long, a manly laugh as if he were proving something against Steve, a proud laugh. Steve flew through the hoop, avoiding it but trying to rise up and out of the circle of giants. It wasn’t an easy task.

"Spy! I will see you die!" Murtrah, a giant with a pair of infra red glasses on, laughed from behind the red glowing devices. He had, in his left hand, a vial of acid. He poured it out over Steve! Some drops of it hits Steve’s backpack device as Steve tried to avoid it, flying under. Murtrah laughed as the back device started to smoke! Steve flew past a giant hook waved by the crook Hook and in between Professor Atoph Gorn and Max Manfred’s bodies, walls of flesh and clothing. The parajets smoked and started to fail Steve. Steve removed the pack as he could feel how hot it was getting. He decided to take his chances in mid air. He fell down toward a leafy tree.

In the snow, Nelson and the Robot approached the side of a huge red glowing dome. Nelson moved to what appeared to be a hatch, "This looks like an escape hatch." He tried to open it, "It won’t budge. Will you?"

"I detect great danger as well as a number of hostile alien life forms inside."

"As well as Miss Scott and that jungle boy."

"Affirmative. But a door, a hatch can be for many things..."

Nelson grew impatient and rubbed his gloves together, scraping snow off them, "Will, you---- just do it?" He shook his head.

"For my two friends, I will."

"Good," Nelson smiled, "Go ahead," he ordered as he moved back.

Robot started to laser the hatchway with his arms out and his claws open.

Inside the dome of the Daleks, The Emperor Dalek opened up. Val awoke to see Jai unconscious, "Jai! Jai! Jai." She held little hope. Yet she strained to see up and inside the casing that opened up, she saw a Dalek unit, the body of a regular Dalek but on the top section, the upper body was a normal chest, a bit flat but the face...a mutated humanoid with two closed eyes replaced by an electric blue eye on the center of his forehead. He had long talons with finger nails and he had shriveled up skin, a grimaced mouth that seemed hardly to work and a set of wiring all over the back and top of his head. He came out of the Emperor casing and wheeled at Valerie’s table, "I am Davros, leader of the entire universssssssse!"

Val undaunted and figuring what the heck - how could things get worse, smiled at him, "You could have fooled me, Davros, is it? I didn’t vote for you. What have you done to that boy?"

"He will recover," Davros composed his temper, "You see I was reluctant to show myself to you. I thought the Space Patrol was about to find me here. And that you two were with them."

"Does Space Patrol employ little half naked children? You ugly faced....stupid...or are you really afraid of your own Daleks? Supreme Ruler, Emperor, oh chicken hearted Davros!!!!?"

"Silence!" He yelled insanely again. "I am leader of the true Daleks! I! I!"

"Aye, aye," Val quipped, "You seem to have lost one or two of your own eyes!"

"Be quiet! This indignity will not go unforgotten. Whichever Dalek refuses to obey I destroy!"

"Oh I noticed. I noticed how you had to hide your true identity from your own minions!"

"...and any other creature that refuses my rule, my supreme rule - I also destroy," Davros grew quieter as he moved closer to her. Valerie could only look at him.

Robot pushed the hatch open into a corridor of white. He disconnected his legs from each other to step inside. Nelson followed and the two walked down a claustrophobic hallway into an adjoining one. The halls had wire type beams holding the glassy walls up. It was white but darkly lit. Nelson took out a stun gun, a small yellow pistol with three power packs on the front of it. He asked the Robot, "Can you detect where they are? Any signs of human life?"

"This way," Robot pointed his arms down a hallway, his claws ready to open fire with his electric rays.

They stopped at a doorway. Nelson nodded to the Robot and shot at the doorway. The door opened sideways on each side as it parted its two halves. Inside, Davros yelled, "What is this!?!?!?!"

"Admiral! Help us! Thank God! He’s mad!" Valerie screamed.

"Guard the door, Robot!" Nelson raced in and untied Valerie, "Get Jai out."

"Thank God you’re here!" Val leaned on him and then proceeded to move to the boy. She started to free the metal bands, "Jai? Jai, are you all right?" Val nodded to the mutant for Nelson, "That is Davros - he was torturing the boy."

Davros hit his decrepit hand on a dial on his wheelcart, "You may as well surrender Admiral whoever you are. My Daleks are already on their way here!"

"Daleks!" Nelson puffed, "Not them."

Davros sounded like a proud father, "You know of my masterpieces?"

Nelson turned to the door, "Doesn’t everyone?"

Down a corridor, a parade of Daleks of varied colors cascaded down. They were heading for this lab door, "We obey. We obey. We obey."

Robot picked them up, "Danger! Danger! Daleks approaching! Daleks approaching!" Nelson looked around for another way out and saw none.

John Robinson flew past a tower and then over a mountainous jungle like range. Then a plateau. A blast of more lightning struck down at him and hit his backpack! The backpack exploded under it as John removed it! John, minus his parajet pack, spiraled down to a cliff of rock and vines.

He was on the side of the cliff, missing the flat top part entirely, yet he managed to hold onto vines. These came in handy for pulling himself upward toward the flat part, the safe part. Or so he thought. Below him were two giant cyclops monsters just like the one he had seen in New York City earlier and like the ones that were on Priplanus about two and a half years ago, part plant, part humanoid, most likely mutant giants that would try to absorb---eat---any human being from Earth.

The growling beasts below were too interested in fighting each other than in clawing up for him. They were banging each other against the cliffside and grappling as if in a wrestling match. And they were evenly matched. They represented a threat, however due to their sheer size and savageness.

Slowly, John climbed, reaching the top but before he could pull himself over the top to stand up, a foot stepped on his vine, just in front of his hand!

Part Four:

Last episode, the family Robinson crash-landed on the planet of giants where a party of Earth travelers, stranded for over two years, were eager to join forces with the family. It is now shortly hereafter that the two parties began lift off operations...unaware a giant named Inspector Kobick was even now planning one final trap...

Barry ventured to look out from the leaves he and Penny were hiding behind as Kobick scooped up Fitzhugh and Smith. "Kobick! Come on, we have to follow."

Penny leaned outward, "But that dog..."

"Come," they heard Kobick call the dog.

It instinctively followed him and went past the pile of leaves. For a terrifying moment, it sniffed in front of Penny and Barry. Barry murmured, "Don’t move." Penny shivered without looking out again or u. Although only a few seconds before it moved on, it seemed like an eternity. Barry was pulling Penny up before she realized it was gone, "Are you all right?"

"Just a little stunned, that’s all."

"I felt that way the first time, too."

Another voice yelled from the woods, "The first time you did what?" It was Will’s voice which made the pair jump until they realize it was the redhead. He came out of the foggy ferns.

Penny relaxed, "Will. Will, a giant took Dr. Smith and Mr. Fitzhugh."

"Are you telling me the truth or are you two just..."

"Just what?" Barry squinted. Silence. "Look, Inspector Kobick has them. They’re probably miles away by now. If you want to help, come on." Barry ran off, out of sight.

Penny simmered, "Just what did you think, Will?!"

"Oh, for Pete’s sake, I don’t know!"

"Will Robinson, I could just..." Penny let her anger boil and then darted off after Barry - into a deepening darkness.

Will stood in the same spot, feeling helpless and lowly. Without expression, he took off in a different direction from the other two.

Penny stumbled through a thickening mist. "Barry? Barry? Are you in here?"

A hand touched her shoulder, "Here I am."

She turned to see him emerge from the fog, "Do you see Kobick?"

"No, I lost him but I know where SID headquarters is." He turned backward, "...if that’s where he’s taken them. Where’s your brother? I thought he’d help."

"So did I," Penny frowned, "Let’s go."

Barry shrugged and lead her into the night fog of the darkening forest.

Kobick walked into his office and picked up a cage, then dropped Smith and Fitzhugh inside it. The two stood up off their backs and looked out at Kobick’s huge face, which filled the side of the cage "window". Kobick sounded particularly angry this night, Fitzhugh thought.

"So you have sent for reinforcements from Earth. What are you up to now? Invasion?"

"Oh Kobick, use your giant brain will you...or is it just your outer head that’s big?" Fitzhugh spurted, "You should know by now that we’re not invaders."

Kobick stared at Smith, both eyes directed right at the cowardly man, "Then why are you here? What’s your story?"

Smith gulped, "Well, you see we were, ahh...."

"Coming to attack or to colonize?" yelled Kobick.

"Do not put words in my mouth, sir," Smith said, "Just because you’re bigger, you think you can bully us."

"If you are invading, I have a surprise up my sleeve. An agreement with the Supreme Council."

"What kind of agreement?" Fitzhugh worried.

Barry and Penny stopped in the middle of prickly green thorns on the edge of a titanic curb just below them. Every once and awhile, bright twin lights would beam past them. Barry nodded to a puzzled Penny, "Giant cars are easy enough to dodge in the day but with this fog..."

Penny nodded back, "We have to try, Barry."

"I know, it’s just..." Barry heard a whining sound bearing down on them, "That sound..."

"No, wait." Penny stopped him from running off. "I know that sound." They were squatting down but now stood up.

Looking up toward the sound, they saw three dotted lights coming into view from within the fog. The lights descended near them. Finally a longer light opened up as Will threw open the door to the still invisible Space Pod (invisible due to the fog). Will’s voice was apologetic but also angry...more at himself than anyone else, "Are you coming or not?"

"Will!" Penny ran up to the Pod.

Barry was just behind her, "I knew you wouldn’t abandon us." The two climbed the ladder steps to the Space Pod and Penny shut the door behind them.

Will silently fired the rockets and lifted the Pod up, gently, into the air. Penny, behind Will, looked from him to Barry and back, "How’d you find us?"

Will motioned t the infra red scope hanging on the wall. Barry was looking out the window to the street below but could only see brilliant lights moving in either direction of the street. The Pod flew past a few skyscrapers. Barry pointed east, "SID is that way."

"I was wondering when you were going to tell me," Will scoffed as he changed direction.

Barry looked at a building through the fog, "I think you’re flying a little too low."

Will ignored him, "That must be a factory. We’ll zip over it." The Pod headed east, past a bridge like structure, hardly a visible object to them.

Suddenly, a bright light engulfed the Space Pod which was actually flying over a railroad track. The Pod was directly in front of an onrushing giant train! Barry yelled, "Get us up! Get us up!"

It was a station for trains - and the platform was impossibly high off the ground. It all happened incredibly fast. The Pod flew across the path of the train, avoiding it. Will was momentarily blinded by the light as the gush of the force from the train swept up the tiny Space Pod. His hand hit the stabilizer control only after the Pod had flipped twice end over end. Penny had screamed but at least the friction kept them from hitting their heads on the ceiling.

Once stable, Will apologized, "I’m sorry, Barry. From now on, I’ll listen to you more closely."

"Forget it. It wasn’t your fault," Barry shrugged, "It’s hard to remember this is just like Earth--except bigger, much bigger. You’re flying at heights in a city - that you’ve probably never flown at before with so many objects around you."

Will looked at the radar, "Can you tell where it is on the scope?"

"Yeah," Barry murmured and then looked down at it, "There or near there." He pointed toward the center of the radar. The Pod flew in a brighter part of the city. Penny saw a huge, red light turn green in one huge flash, and then realized she was looking at a traffic light, one not far from them.

Kobick placed his box, with Smith and Fitzhugh in it, on his wall desk, "So now you know my plan. You see, I’ve always made the same mistake. I go and leave you alone while your loyal friends scamper to your rescue."

Smith gulped, "You mean you’re having us guarded?"

"No, I’ve tried that before as well. This time, I will be ready when they arrive. I want to save as many of you as I can before we begin my ultimate plan."

"Save us? Fitz shrugged, "For what? Interrogation, experimentation, brainwashing?"

"I’m not going to argue with you. I may lose my temper. That wouldn’t be good for you."

Fitzhugh felt that Kobick was acting very unlike himself. There was something different about him that didn’t add up. He didn’t know what.

Kobick went on, "This time I am ready." He walked out the door and slammed it.

"The hour is dark indeed," Smith frowned.

The Pod approached the SID building, hidden by fog. The structure was huge to them but flatly built...just a stone square building. It didn’t look like it had more than one floor. Barry pointed, "That wall. Kobick’s office is there, unless he’s moved it again."

Penny stared at the window, "Let’s just hope it’s where he’s taken them."

Will piloted the Pod up to the window and they watched out as it seemed to grow toward them. Will looked, "Look, it’s open?" He guided the Pod toward it.

"Cut the engines," Barry suggested, "Some giant inside may hear us now."

The window sill filled the viewport as Will glided the Pod between the open window and the wall. He cut the engines just then, bumping the Pod down on the left side of the sill. To Smith and Fitzhugh, who couldn’t see, it was on the right side of the sill with the Pod front facing the open room. Will, holding the parajet backpack, opened the door of the Pod and climbed down. Penny and Barry followed him onto the sill. Barry watched Penny put the helmet on Will, who was strapping the pack to himself, "Let me come with you."

"It’s too dangerous for both of us."

Penny smiled, "You sound like dad."

"I do, don’t I," Will frowned, "Okay, come on and keep clear of the rockets. We can fly out together." Barry held onto Will’s shoulders as he stepped onto the pack’s small passenger area behind. Penny stood back as Will fired the rockets, lifting off the window sill. She saw them sail across the room. Above her, unseen, a camera moved to follow the boys.

In another room, Kobick, Sergeant Geido, and two officers watched a monitor screen which was built like a TV. It was full of static. Kobick yelled, "Fix the screen! My plan depends on getting at least a few of them."

The craggy faced Geido was not about to argue, "Yes sir."

Will landed and Barry ran to the cage where Fitz, who didn’t see the boys yet, was trying to pull the vertical close latch up. "Smith, help me."

Smith hung back, "Oh the pain, we’ll never get out."

Fitz spotted Barry, "I knew you’d come my young friend."

"Can’t you get it open?" Will joined them.

"William," Smith said, with renewed hope.

They all try to force the latch upward. Will puffed, "No good. I hoped not to use this but I’ll have to risk the noise." He pulled out a laser pistol, "Stand back, everybody."

Smith gasped, "No, have you all taken leave of your senses! I’m too young to die!"

Fitz pulled Smith to the back of the wire cage. Will shot the latch, blowing it off. "I’ll fly you over first, Dr. Smith," he explained but didn’t see Smith near Fitz, who was at the front of the cage, ready to escape. "Doctor?"

Smith was in the corner of the far side of the cage with his head buried in the corner and his hands over his eyes. Will came into the cage and tugged on his shoulder. Smith jumped, "I’m innocent!"

"Come on!" Will yelled, "We haven’t time for this."

In his smaller room, Kobick yelled also, "Come on! Get it working properly! Or I have to go in there!"

Geido turned a screw within a panel under the screen, "Sir? Do you think they’d rescue them this fast?"

"Sergeant, I want that screen...." Kobick looked as it popped back on, "...on." He saw Will flying Fitzhugh across the room. "Where are they going?" The giants were amazed.

Geido winced, "Beyond the camera range - I think up to the window."

"Get in there now!" Kobick yelled, "Don’t let them get away!"

Will took off yet again. He flew down to Barry while Penny, Smith, and Fitzhugh watched. Just as he landed, the door to the room flew open. Penny ran to the Pod. Kobick stood behind his three men, "Don’t stare at them! Grab them!"

Penny came out with a laser rifle and shot up at the lights, blowing them out. Will and Barry took off just as the hand of one giant smashed down where they were - and smacked into a green ash tray. The two boys whisked up past the mammoth form of another giant officer who began to flail his hands around, trying to swat them. Penny ushered Smith and Fitzhugh into the Pod and followed. She soon began to take off. Kobick grabbed a broom from a corner of the room and swatted blindly at the window sill. The Pod lifted off just as the bristles brushed past, slightly shuddering the Pod. Penny rose the Pod up out of the room.

Below the window sill and outside, ten giant officers stood, each holding guns at the ready. One also had a spotlight which caught the Pod in its glare. Shots rang out. Smith peered down, "Good heavens! They’re shooting at us! Yeowww!"

Fitzhugh stood behind Penny, "My dear girl, are you sure you know how to fly this contraption?"

"Of course she can. Of course, I taught her everything she knows," Smith proudly put his head up.

Just then a bullet smacked the side of the Pod, bouncing off but violently buffeting them. Penny stared outside, "Of course, that was only after he accidentally launched it three or four times into space." The Pod left a rain of bullets behind.

Will and Barry were avoiding massive bodies in the room. Kobick grabbed a can of bug spray and started to shoot it into the air, hitting one of his men in the face. Geido took up a flashlight which was on the desk. He shone it up at Will and Barry, who were trying to fly out the window, avoiding the hurt giant who flung himself past them. The other giant had a net and swung it beneath them. Kobick ran to help the hurt man while Geido took out his gun and shot. The boys flew up past Geido’s ear and out the open door. Will flew down a hallway while Barry hung onto him. He found a window in the hall and flew out it’s open crack. "Can’t they see in the dark?"

Outside, Barry asked, "Can you get back?"

"I sure can try," Will said, "But this fog is dangerous. I can hardly see."

"Which reminds me, why....LOOKOUT!" Barry yelled as a thick telephone pole came into view just ahead. Will swerved them and missed it.

Will gulped, "See what I mean."

Barry shook his head, "What did you ask me before?"

"The giants. They seemed totally blind in the dark."

"They have very poor night vision," Barry explained.

At the Spindrift, Mark, on the outside table, had an energizer unit which had wires going from it to inside the Spindrift. These ran to the new solar batteries and the reactor. Dan came walking out of the ship, "I’ll check the vertical planes."

The Robot was watching the unit with Mark. Don came from the front of the Spindrift’s nose. "Stabilizers and thruster units seem functional."

"Seem? Are they or aren’t they?"

Don smiled at Mark, "Are." He put a foot up on a chair.

Maureen and Betty came from behind the canopy near the rocks off to the right of the Spindrift Betty plopped into a chair across from Mark, "No luck at all."

"I’m really very aggravated. Will has done this more than once," Maureen blinked.

Betty puffed, "Maybe they have a good reason for running off like that."

Mark turned a dial higher. "Well, I know Fitzhugh and if he’s missing, there’s something fishy going on."

"I agree because I know Smith and he’s missing, too," Don waved a screwdriver.

Judy, in her yellow-orange outfit and with her hair tied up in a bandanna, walked out of the trees with a very tired looking Valerie by her side. Val tumbled onto a rock and put her feet up on another smaller rock. Judy walked up next to Don, "How is it going?"

"Good," he said, "This ship should be flying by..."

They all heard engines whizzing downward. Dan came running from the rear of the ship. The Pod descended and landed next to the Chariot but more toward the rear of the red ship. Smith, Fitzhugh, and Penny piled out and down. Mark asked, "What’s happened?"

"Oh dear," Smith leaned on the back of Betty’s chair, "The strain is too much to bear."

Betty stood up, "Here doctor, sit."

Maureen inquired also, "Penny? Can you explain?"

Penny caught her breath, "Sorry mom but Dr. Smith and Mr. Fitzhugh were captured by Kobick."

Maureen brought her chin up and then down, "And you went and rescued them?"

"Yes,:" Penny answered, "Will and Barry should be back soon on the parajets."

Steve and John ran out of the ship. Steve heard some of this, "What was that about Kobick?"

"The kids rescued us from him," Fitzhugh laughed, "They were marvelous."

"But we’re all doomed," Smith intoned, "He’s sending the army in to burn us out. We’re doomed."

Mark looked up at Steve, who came down off the ladder ramp, "What do we do?"

"We keep up with the work," Steve said, his tone implying that he was tired of fighting off the evil intentions of giants.

John nodded, "Our ship should be checked over again. "I suggest we try for a double lift off tomorrow."

"I agree," Steve nodded, "We’ll work through the night." Everyone began to move in different direction--except Smith.

Smith wrinkled his forehead, "What? No sleep? Indeed!"

The next morning it was still cloudy and a vale of mist covered the forest and the city. Steve, Dan, John, Don, and Mark ran up curb to a brick wall of a giant building. Steve looked around the corner to spot giant military men in green uniforms - evacuating civilians from an apartment building. Others were walking down a fire escape. Steve turned back to his companions, noticing the rifles on the men, "They’re packing heavy artillery."

Dan whispered, "You know, this isn’t like Kobick. He’s always resisted giving in to the Council."

Mark added, "And public opinion."

Don looked up, "We’re almost ready to lift off even though the weather is hardly what we want."

John was staring into the sky, "Could be that disturbance."

"Back!" Steve warned as a black SID car skidded around the corner and halted just in front of them. Kobick emerged from one side and Inspector Greyson from the other. Geido was driving. Greyson had a wrinkled face, more kindly looking than Kobick, gray hair, most of which was fleeing his head, and a slight distinguished moustache.

Greyson was against this, "How could you do this? They’ll all be killed."

"You don’t know that. We may get one we can use."

"I thought we agreed to protect them, not use them," Greyson slammed the car door and followed Kobick to the corner.

John whispered, ‘We’ll be spotted any minute."

Don fingered his laser gun, "Let them try and grab us. They’ll find Earth people now have stingers."

"Lt. Greyson," Kobick stammered, "We’ve tried everything to bring them in. Or at least, I have. Metal detectors, posting rewards, gas guns, forcefield traps, and I even tried turning them against each other but nothing works!!!"

"So you’re destroying them!?"

"Our planet must be rid of these little pests!"

"Inspector..." Greyson followed him over to the curb, "This is too unlike you, too weird. It’s not like you to talk like this."

"It is now! And..." Kobick shook his head strangely and as he did he saw something below, "Sergeant Geido! There they are!"

"Come on! Run!" Steve pulled Dan’s arm. The group ran along the wall but Geido was out of the car, blocking them. Mark and John looked behind and saw Kobick and Greyson approaching, massive building sized legs and bodies. Geido pulled his gun out. It was zapped out of his hand by a laser shot from Don. Geido stared at his hand.

Mark gasped, "Let’s go!" The five ran past Geido’s tremendous feet as the giant remained startled, eyeing the melted remains of his revolver on the floor. Kobick chased the little men, Greyson behind.

Mark, Steve, Dan, Don, and John raced out past the brick wall. Steve and Mark, ahead, suddenly felt the ground beneath them vanish. Clinging onto the arm of a drain, they realized below them was a mile deep drop into a slimy pit of muddy water complete with weeds and worms. John pulled Mark up to the pavement while Dan and Don helped Steve out.

They heard Kobick yelling like a madman, "Sergeant, hurry up!" Geido stood motionless at the car, not sure he should give chase again. "Call the captain of the army!" Geido went back to the car, moved away from it, and went back to it and inside to use the radio in the front seat.

Before Kobick could yell at Geido again, Greyson took him by the arm, "What’re you planning to do?"

Kobick pulled away from him, "Don’t stop me, Greyson." Kobick decided to do something for himself and ran at the five little Earthmen.

Steve was investigating the drain as quickly as possible. The part he and Mark fell through were square like bits, too big for a giant to fall into. "This may be what we need. Do you think your lasers could drill it open?"

"We have to try," John said. The five ran to a ledge on the other side, a small metal shelf like area. John and Don began firing at the screen over the drop, "Hurry, Don." It wasn’t totally finished as Kobick and Greyson emerged from the other side.

"There they are!" Kobick reached down, moving closer.

"Cut out!" Steve pushed Dan and Mark. They ran and Don and John turned and followed.

Kobick stepped on the vent and plunged down a few feet. He grabbed onto the pavement as he his feet hit water below. Greyson was laughing at him. Kobick found this more annoying, "Well, help me up and out or are you going to film it?!"

Greyson laughed, "What a great idea!"

Steve lead the other four past a number of empty stores and they turned a corner of a barber shop. "Look!" He pointed to a military jeep which turned onto a main road. It was the same color as jeeps on Earth. Another jeep with five army men in it came whizzing around a closer corner. The men tossed gas bombs onto the pavement. One landed near the five men who didn’t wait around to see what kind of gas it was. They ran into a slim alley.

Mark saw the fence fist as they stopped running, "Steve, it’s a dead end!"

A loud mechanical noise filled the air. They whirled around to see a gigantic, lumbering tank slowly rolling toward them from the front of the alley, not mindful of the buildings on either side. Don gasped, "Look at the size of it!"

"You look," Steve ran to the fence, "We have to get to the other side!"

John shoved Steve out of his way, "Lasers!" He fired a beam at a board of the fence which blasted open under the laser fire. Avoiding the small residue of flame on the outskirts of the hole, Steve and John stepped through, John putting his hand out for Steve to enter first. John poked his head back through after stepping onto the other side, "Come on you three!"

Suddenly the tank stopped, its engines quieting down. In the tank, a soldier looked at radar. "That’s the five. Why not fire?"

"There’s a rat in there. It’ll get them."

"What? Don’t risk that! Fire!"

"Deprive us of watching the fun?"

"Will you just fire!?!?!"

Steve called from the hole, "Hurry it up!"

Mark, Dan and Don were not watching the tank anymore. They were facing a huge, hairy rat which had suddenly leapt in front of them, probably trying to escape the tank, too. Don had a hand on his holstered gun, "When I fire," he whispered, "...make for the fence." The rat inched at them, making loud sounds. Dan had the safety pin open but didn’t want to use it, hoping their getaway would be clean. "Now!" Don pulled his gun and fired. The rat took a beam to its head and roared violently. Mark flung himself into Dan and both raced through the hole to a waiting Steve.

"Got him!" The soldier watching the radar was excited. "He got him!"

Don fired again but the rat went mad! It sprang right at Don, who backed off but fell over some wood left on the floor. John fired a ray from his gun from the hole section on the fence. The ray hit the rat’s body, shocking it. Don rolled on his arms and into John. "Thanks. I thought he was going to..." The rat wasn’t dead but was running off. Suddenly a loud burst tore into the air. The tank fired blasting bombs at the alley. Garbage cans exploded, sending all sorts of giant messes at John and Don! A garbage can cover spiraled at them! They dashed out the hole as wood and metal flung at the fence, crashing against it. It held but shook violently. The tank was on the move again and rolled at the fence, starting to knock it down.

Steve helped Don up, "All right. I don’t think we’re out of it, yet."

"Steve!" Dan’s alarm caused them to see the wavering fence. "It’s gonna give!"

"Run and keep running!" Steve pulled Mark onward. The five scattered off. The tank pushed the fence, cracking the wood but giving the middle of the fence a reason to fall. The middle came forward and the rest of the fence followed. Steve and the others found themselves on the other side of the fence, now running in a part of the park which was more full of foliage - better for cover but not for running. The entire fence fell after them. Reaching a light green colored park bench, the five stopped underneath. The fence top fell in front of the bench, blowing up a great wind that toppled all five onto their backs. The tank started lumbering over the fallen fence. The five men scurried up and ran. The tank fired a shot, blowing the bench to pieces!

Another jeep bounced through foliage to fire random shots. Men on back of it were firing guns on turrets. Kobick called on a megaphone, from the edge of the park, "Begin spread out procedures!" He was on the back of another jeep.

Oddly dressed giants were walking into the woods. They wore white fire suits and helmets with thick mashing boots. Steve lead the men through a mass of tangled vine wood to the other side--just as three of these giants shot flame throwers a the wood. The fire engulfed it. Don turned around to see it burn.

Dan pulled Don’s arm, "Don’t look back! Come on!"

The wood flamed up and fell amid black smoke. The flame throwing giants moved in. From the other side, the military men marched, a few steps behind but both were careful of the other. The huge feet mashed down the ground as they trod.

At the Space Pod by Spindrift, Will, Barry, Penny, Chipper, and Debbie gathered around. The door was open and Robot was inside. Debbie hung around Will’s neck, kissing him. Will said, "Robot, you know what to do."

"Affirmative! Make one sweep of the Jupiter and then orbit around the giant planet until rendezvous time with the Jupiter Two."

"Roger," Will gave him an okay sign with his thumb and forefinger.

"Stand back, my friends," Robot closed the door. Penny carried Chipper away from the Pod as it blasted off into the sky amid huge trees. It gathered speed and flew off.

Elsewhere in the forest, Judy stood on a high tree stump, watching for the men. Val walked up to her, using the jagged side to get there. She was puffing when she reached the blond girl, "Need more vitamins," she said to herself.

Judy just noticed her, "Oh, it’s you."

"A fine how-do-you-do," Val smiled.

"Sorry," Judy frowned, "I only wish the others stayed here."

"I wish I could have gone with them."

"We had to finish here," Judy said, "But why when we’re ready to go, they decide to check up on the giants?"

"To find out if our escape path is clear. You’re worried about Don, aren’t you? So am I."

"What?" Judy felt jealous, "What about Mark? Aren’t you worried about him?"

"I worry about tornadoes," Val smiled, "Relax."

"I can’t," Judy shivered, "I feel as if something horrible is going to happen. What’s that?"

She saw movement ahead but it was too far for her to see what was causing the ruffle of trees. Far off, army men were shooting randomly and a large pack of stray dogs, of all shapes and sizes, began to scurry off for safety.

Maureen and Betty walked out of the Jupiter II, passing the force field machine. Maureen turned it off, "They’ll be back soon."

"Let’s round up Judy and Val."

"You know they really shouldn’t have run off like this," Maureen shook her head, "They’re getting as bad as the children."

"Really," Betty laughed, agreeing, "Or even worse--as bad as Fitzhugh and Smith." Laughing, the two walked off. Smith was watching them from the round viewport, inside the ship. He went to the radio telescope and looked into it, spotting a mass of giant dogs ploughing through the forest.

"Oh dear!" He ran outside, "Mrs. Robinson! Come back!" Not seeing them, Smith activated the forcefield. "Doomed, we’re all doomed! Beyond all hope!"

Behind Val and Judy, a giant spotted black and white dog sniffed. It began to growl. Maureen and Betty were walking up the stump, laughing. Suddenly, they spotted the mongrel. Maureen yelled, "Judy! Valerie! Behind you!"

"Run!" Betty waved, "A dog!"

Judy turned around, screamed and fell back off the stump onto a clump of soft ferns. Betty and Maureen were running over to her, unaware of two more wolf like coyote type dogs, towering above all of them! Val jumped off the stump avoiding snapping jaws. Some giant dogs were friendly. Some ignored them. Others were just hungry or frightened. This one fell into the last two categories. Val puffed, "Back to the ship!"

Betty looked up, "They’re all around us!"

Maureen took out a laser gun from her holster and shot at a Doberman. It ran off and two of the smaller dogs followed. Another circled around the stump. It was a furry Sheep Dog type and followed the women as they ran for the Jupiter II. Maureen and Val helped Judy recover as they went. Maureen turned and fired at the new dog and hit it in the chest. It ran off as well but then two German Shepherd dogs came running from the opposite side. Maureen fired at a bush between the pair and that was enough to scare them off. "Run for the ship!" The girls were already doing that.

In the Jupiter, Fitzhugh came out of the elevator onto the tilted deck of the control room. He saw Smith cowering behind the scope set up, "What are you doing?" Fitz went to the scope and looked in. He ran out the door, Smith following him.

Smith gasped, "What do you plan to do?"

"Let the ladies in, of course," Fitz turned off the force field, "They’re being chased."

"Aren’t you ever afraid, my dear man?"

"My dear Dr. Smith. You are looking at this world’s - and I am sure many other’s--greatest coward."

Smith bit his lip, "Then let’s try to face it together, shall we?"

Fitz nodded as the women ran up to the ship, followed by a red Irish Setter type dog and a Labrador--both showing fangs and foaming at the mouth. "Get the forcefield on," Maureen yelled, "Now!" As they moved in closer, Smith turned the dial. The two dogs hit the field and it caused them a momentary shock.

The girls were catching their breaths. Judy puffed, "Nice work, Dr. Smith."

"Thank you, my dear girl," Smith gulped, "But now I fear we are surrounded."

Looking up, they saw it was true. The entire pack of intermixed mongrels surrounded the entire perimeter of the spaceship Jupiter II.

Don and John ran through the forest. John looked back, "I think we’ve left them behind."

They ran past some more tree stumps to the one near the Jupiter’s clearing. Don whispered, "John." They saw the dogs. "Some of them are coming this way." They ran as a brown mongrel and a white husky rushed at them.

Don looked at a gopher hole, "John, what about in here?" The pair rushed into it. The dogs began to stick their noses in. Then, the two dogs began to fight over which was going to get in closer. Every so often, the two would fall against the hole, dropping dirt on Don and John.

John opened his radio, "Jupiter II, come in!"

In the Space Pod, flying serenely, Robot suddenly shouts, "Danger! My sensors indicate danger even though there is no one to warn danger to!" He turned the radio on.

John’s voice came over it, "Maureen, get ready to turn the forcefield off. All we need is one clear shot to run in." The sounds of fighting dogs nearly drowned him out.

"Hmmmmmm," Robot raised his bubble. He flew the Pod in closer to the Jupiter II, abandoning his orders for now. "Do my scanners deceive me?"

Dirt fell on top of Don and John. Don says, "I say now or never."

"We have to try it before that lunatic army bears down on the Jupiter," John agreed.

Don listens, "Listen. Nothing. They’ve stopped fighting."

The two edge to the exit and look out. One dog was moving away, hurt but not badly. The other, the husky moved closer with fangs bearing down on them. John shot a blast at its nose, "Now!" They start out and run under it, "Run and don’t stop!" He called on his radio at the same time, "Maureen, lower field now!" The pair ran under the legs of a brown collie and then past its head. It is startled by them and started to spring at them. The Space Pod skimmed past it, diverting the dog’s attention. Other dogs back off from the collie and the Pod.

Waiting at the field machine and outside the Jupiter, Maureen turned the field off. Don and John raced inside, "Back on," John yelled.

Maureen hit the switch, "On! Oh John."

"Come on, inside!" Don ushered Judy, Val, Betty, and Smith into the Jupiter II. Fitzhugh followed the others. John grabbed the forcefield machine and pulled it up the ramp to the control room, followed by his wife, "Prepare for liftoff!" Judy and Val rode down the elevator with Dr. Smith. Maureen and Fizhugh climbed own the ladder, Maureen making him go first.

The Space Pod flew up into the sky. Robot, inside, was proud of himself, "Nice job if I must say so myself and I must. Previous orders now in session."

In the Jupiter, Don was doing a countdown, "No sign of those dogs." The engine hum rose up.

"There’s why," John pointed outside, "Ignition on. Power full."

From beyond the viewport and over bushes, a row of seven military men were firing guns. One pointed at the Jupiter. Don yelled, "Blast off." The Jupiter rockets fired. After the blast, the ship rose to a sound beyond hearing. Below, all were in chairs, rocking as the ship shook off dirt and weeds which clung to it. Don saw a giant signal to his men and they began to hurl grenades! Explosions rocked the ship.

John yelled, "We’re rising!"

Grenades blasted the tree stump and the rocks that were around the Jupiter’s previous clearing. One grenade hit the viewport, shaking the two pilots. The saucer shaped ship resisted it and flew upward. A giant with a bazooka fired. A blast of fire engulfed the Jupiter II, making the giant proud he scored a hit. From the fire, the Jupiter continued to rise, intact, spiraling out of it and careening upward further.

Maureen, from her lower deck couch, grabbed a mike, "John?"

John quickly answered, grabbing a mike, "It’s the giants! They’re attacking us! Hold tight!" The ship rose up above the army blasts. Finally, it flew out of the sky with the failed army men watching.

Penny, Will, and Barry ran out of the Spindrift. Penny gasped, "That noise! It sounds like a war."

"We are at war," Barry surmised, "... with some of the giants."

"Come on!" Will spouted. The three ran into the forest. Steve and Dan came running up to them. Will said, "You’re okay?" Mark came out from some bushes.

Steve was angry, "What are you three doing out here?"

Mark looked behind to the place he and the pilots were running from , "Steve, we have to get out of here!"

"All of you back inside the ship," Steve ordered.

"Look!" Barry pointed up, "The Jupiter." They all saw it flying in the sky.

"Just like Fitzhugh’s dream," Dan commented, ‘At least they made it."

"We’ll make it too if we..." Steve stopped, feeling the presence of giants. Three, just overhead and in those white suits, holding flame throwers. One came forward and fired the flame thrower down toward them! Penny screamed as a wall of flame headed down at everyone!