Last week as you recall - The saboteur from the Orion found that Dr. Smith was not the old man that he thought he was. Now, aboard the Orion things are looking bad..........

Lady Luck was a fickle mistress.

The Crewman had created the perfect plan and Lady Luck had danced along with him. He would sabotage the Orion just long enough for him to go down to the planet, find and erase Smith then return to the ship to restart the engines and head back to earth.

Wonderful, wonderful earth.

Of course the only flaw with this plan was that he had to be still alive to do it!

*

Frank Garrison, chief engineer, looked at the engines and felt a lump form in his throat. He fought them but tears were welling up in his eyes. God, he thought as he ran his hand across the main console, I love this ship! He turned around and stared at the slow pumping machinery behind the thick clear Plexiglas barrier. Behind that barrier there was the heart and soul of the ship. It’s all ending, he thought, it’s all crashing down around my ears and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

He had sweated and worked to make the Orion a ship that you could be proud of. During the refit he had argued with all and sundry to get the required parts. He had lied and falsely represented himself in order to get his ship up and running. It was his ship, no matter what Conway or the rest of the crew thought. It was his and his alone!

It was he who had contacted and organized the supply of engines and components from governments that were not considered entirely trust worthy.

It had been his right to get this old ship back into space and service. Only he had the right to end it! It was his ship! His ship and he let others use it! The ship was his! It was his right. Yet someone had found a way to take that right away from him! One by one, he watched helplessly as the Orion’s deep thrust engines shut themselves down. Thundering powerful matter converters crunching slowly towards an irreversible stop. When the last one ceased to function he walked away almost in tears thinking, no matter what the Orion is now it will never be what it was.

*

Hannibal was complaining. "Always my left arm," he was saying, his bubble twisting in an action that represented confusion and bemused,. "Always my left arm." He was in engineering being repaired. His responses brought warm smiles to the technicians who were working on him. "Why do I fall apart so easily?" He said more to himself than to anyone in particular totally unaware of the words that he had used.

Conway laughed. "Planned obsolescence," he said, then, "Also a safety feature. Should you get hit you come apart as not to endanger others around."

A technician added slyly, "Unless you get hit by the shrapnel!"

Hannibal’s bubble raised suddenly representing that Hannibal was not amused. So Conway added, "Hannibal, you’re important to us. You’re a very important part of this mission. You’re also very, very expensive to replace," he paused and patted Hannibal on the shoulder, "It’s easy to replace your arm than to replace you totally."

Hannibal laughed. "I was programmed to understand and evaluate all speech patterns," he said flatly.

"So?" Conway questioned.

Hannibal replied matter of factly, "I know bullshit when I hear it sir."

Conway laughed out loud, "I bet you do," he said, "I bet you do."

Once the repairs were finished Hannibal requested permission to return to Trimea. He had unfinished business to attend to there. Conway readily agreed and Hannibal trundled away, his left arm swinging about wildly as he tested it out. The Technicians just laughed and smiled to themselves. Conway waited for Hannibal to be gone before leaving Engineering himself. Saluting them lazily Conway walked away heading towards the observation bubble. He had his own unfinished business to attend to.

*

Hannibal boarded the Shuttle and secured himself against the bulkhead for the flight. He positioned himself so that he could see outside the ship through a port hole. This was something that the humans could and never would understand. To them he had no eyes only sensors. But Hannibal could see. He could see so much more than they could ever know. During the decent Hannibal looked at the Orion and wondered how the crew was going to take the news that, for the time being, they would not be going home. The Orion was like a long glowing and flickering shaft etched against the dark sky. There was of course the usual light from portholes and beacons, visible light, but there was also ‘light’ from radio transmissions and ‘light’ from radiation sources. With limitless ease he could switch from one sense to another viewing the Orion in a multitude of ways. It was alive at the moment but soon it would be empty and for the most part shut down. Only a skeleton crew would man the Orion while the majority of the crew would be relocated to the planet. Where that relocation would be was, for the moment, still uncertain. Conway had yet to confront the Council with the news. Even he, Hannibal, had been ordered not to mention the Orion’s predicament.

The Shuttle craft touched down outside the Jupiter and Hannibal rolled over to the ship and announced his arrival. West laughed and commented something to the effect of that he was not blind. Hannibal ignored the comment and then asked for the present where abouts of the Robinson Robot. As luck would have it the Robot was aboard the Jupiter receiving his monthly recharging. Hannibal waited patiently for this to finish and the two Robots headed off in the direction of Smith’s home.

Hannibal had questions.

Robotkind was a close knit society that did not act against it’s own. They were loyal to each other. This was one of the main concerns of the Humans. The humans wanted absolute loyalty from their Robots. They wanted their Robots to act against the Robots of the enemy, any enemy. Now that the Robots had the ability of ‘choice’ it was impossible to know how they would react.

"Robots could pledge loyalty but", the detractors whispered, "Can they be trusted? Could they be relied on?"

Hannibal stopped and faced off against the Robot. "What I want to know," Hannibal asked, "Is would you really destroy a fellow Robot?"

The Robot answered, "I have done so in the past. I will always protect my family."

"And is that how you really feel?" Hannibal asked, seriously, "Do you really feel that the Robinsons and Dr Smith are your family?"

The Robot asked, "Did you not move to protect Captain Conway?"

"Well yes," Hannibal replied in an exasperated tone, "But he is my captain and I am bound, by military protocol, to defend him against any danger. It is my duty. Should he propose or perform any unlawful acts I would move against him. That also is my duty. It is also the reasoning behind much of the discrimination against us. Though they desire it we are not slaves"

The Robot shook his sensors. He had never thought this way. He understood what Hannibal was saying but considering it as an option had never been a choice. Where the Robinsons and Dr. Smith were concerned there had never been any choice or any option other than the one that he had taken over and over again. "The Robinsons are my family," he replied sternly, "Dr Smith is my brother. I will defend them even if it means that I forfeit my existence!"

Hannibal’s sensor’s twitched, "So are you a slave?" he asked, not being rude or insolent, "Are you programmed to just do as you are ordered? Do you have the ability to choose?""

The Robot replied, "I am an environmental control Robot. I was programmed to protect the Robinsons. This programming has been altered to include Dr. Smith." He paused considering his next words, then said, "I do this now because it is what I want to do. It is what gives me the greatest pleasure. I am also Dr. Smith’s guardian as ordered by the galactic tribunal. It was my choice to accept that position. I have choice. I protect the Jupiter personnel. This is my choice."

Hannibal’s bubble rose in astonishment. "You are truly an incredible Robot," was all he could reply.

*

Conway watched and laughed as Taylor struggled to gain control of himself. He floated erratically about the bubble and crashed several times into the Plexiglas walls. He was cursing at his inability to float with an grace or form. Conway on the other hand made it look oh so easy.

Eventually Taylor stopped crashing and settled down beside Conway. "Now I know why I hate these things," he said.

Conway shrugged, "You just gotta practice a bit more," he said and then, "So Doctor, your thoughts, please."

Taylor shrugged this time, "What’s to say?" he replied, "Smith will always be a mystery. Back then and now." he paused and thought for a time. "From history we have been told that he was the villain’s villain. Truly evil. Conceited, cunning, sneaky, a thief. His records show that he was a brilliant educated man of extremely high I.Q. But was he ever sane? I’d have to say no. A genius, maybe, but sane? No." he paused and added almost apologetically, "And just for the record I am no psychologist," he paused again as he suddenly found himself floating away from Conway. With a gentle flip flap of his feet he returned to his original position.

"Look at the situation that he found himself in," The Doctor said, "Sure he had debts and problems but when he decided to sabotage the Jupiter he stepped over from brilliant to mad. Even if he had succeeded he would have been caught. There was no way that he could have escaped justice and yet he never considered it. It was not even as if he had planned an escape route or alibi. even."

Conway added, "Just like our crewman." It was a statement. After the crewman’s death Security had searched his quarters and found little or nothing to explain away his actions other than the micro computer and it’s orders. The crewman had followed those orders without any real thought of consequences.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied.

They floated there in silence for a few moments before the Doctor asked a few questions of his own.

"So Steve," he said in a tone that relished the fact that he alone amongst the crew could call the Captain by his first name, "What is your impression of the famous Robinsons?"

Conway laughed softly. "impression?" he mimicked, "Well if you must know, I am disappointed."

Taylor swung slowly around to face the Captain, "How so?"

Conway stared at the Doctor suspiciously, "A psychological assessment, Doctor?" he asked, "How I am assessing the situation and the upcoming drama of leaving the Orion?"

Taylor shook his head, "No Steve," he said, "Just want to hear how you feel about them. See if your impression is the same or similar to mine."

Conway turned the tables on the Doctor, "And what are your impressions?" he asked.

Taylor laughed loudly, "Okay, Captain," he said, "My impression is similar to yours. I am disappointed. I grew up in an imperfect world. We were thrown heroes that were lies and frauds. Our movie stars and recording stars were manufactured. Some were monsters painted to look like angels. Our politicians were more concerned with their existence than ours," he paused and sighed deeply, "And then we were given the Robinsons. They were the perfect family. All academic and beauty. They embodied perfection," he paused and thought, "That’s why their disappearance was such a tragedy. Here was perfection destroyed by evil."

Taylor stopped and floated upwards to the wall of the dome. He pressed his face up close to the glass and touched with his hands. Somewhere an alarm sounded and a cleaning drone was preparing to clean away the Doctor’s residue. He was looking at Trimea.

"But even there we were manipulated," he said, "In all my life I never doubted the perfection of the Robinsons nor the evil of Zachary Smith," he paused as he pushed away from the glass allowing the drone to clean. He continued, "Then I met Penny," he said softly, "I had imagined that she had never changed, that she would always be that long haired bright faced innocent, but the truth was different. She’s been married. She lost a child and a husband. She has felt so much pain. These things I had never considered. I thought of all those tales I had read, those ones that her father had left aboard the Lightship, and somehow I could not reconcile them with the person that I was with. Penny was part of my youth but the woman down there it not the same Penny. I feel disappointed. I also feel as if I have lost something dear to me."

Conway said, "That’s called getting old, Doctor. You’re the oldest person on this ship. It’s not unusual for you to feel that way."

He shrugged, "I know but it’s hard to accept that these icons," he said pointing lazily towards the planet, "These idols of our youth have grown old."

"No matter what it is now it will never be what it was," answered Conway.

The Doctor asked, "How so?"

Conway replied, "It’s something that Frank Garrison said to me. ‘What ever the Orion is now it will never be what it was.’" Conway floated back down to the walkway and Taylor followed, "He was talking about the Orion’s engines shutting down. The damage that this shut down will cause, has caused. The extra strain being put on the Orbiting engines. The strain on life support, the extra use that all the shuttles will go through evacuating the Crew. Everything. No matter what we do, even if they eventually get started again they will never be what they once were. The Orion will never be the ship that it once was. It will age and become a relic."

"And you feel that the Robinsons are like that?" The Doctor asked.

Conway answered, "Yes. Once they were the ideal, once they were almost perfect but that was a long time ago. We cannot confuse the Robinson then to the Robinsons now. They’ve grown and they’ve changed. For the better? Who knows. Some will say yes, some will say no. Regardless they have changed and that’s what we have to accept." Conway stared to walk towards the access door. He stopped and faced the Doctor and said seriously, "But on thing, John. Love her for who she is now and not who you once thought she was."

They stepped through the door and back into the Orion.

They traversed the Orion to their quarters and then parted ways. Both of them would soon be returning to Trimea. The Doctor to Penny’s and Conway to the Jupiter.

Maureen had requested his presence on a small trip she had planned.

She was taking him to Robinson Ridge.

"What do you want Cal?" Manya shouted without turning to face the Councilor. She was busily working on the injured hoof of a Brone. The creature had stepped upon a sharp rose like thorn and had become infected. "This Brone needs me more than you do," she added sarcastically.

They were alone in the surgery.

Cal replied, "I know what you did to Smith," he said, "I know that what you did was illegal and immoral, even here."

Manya laughed, "Again you suppose to restrict me with your laws!" she said mockingly, "I am above your laws."

"No," Cal replied, "You are not." Try as he could he could not hide the fear in his voice.

"If that was so you would not be here," she snapped.

Cal replied, "I knew of your experiments on Tauron, knew of how you convinced yourself that a greater good would come from your evil experiments. You acted as one of the Gods. You are not a God."

Suddenly Cal flew backwards through the air and crashed against a wall. He slumped to the ground trying to catch his breath. It was if something had struck him in the stomach. Then he found himself being lifted up off the ground and carried over to float just above Manya. She did not even look at him. With the powers of her mind she played Cal as if he were a toy.

"What I did to Smith had to be done!" she snarled, "I did it for the good of our people and for his own good. What would you have had me to do? Allow all our children to suffer simply because you have no spine? I did what had to be done and would do so again!" She allowed him to crash to the dirt.

With a sickening slurp she pulled the thorn from the Brone and held it up so that Cal could see it. Turning she tossed the barb over to him, the Brone’s blood dripping into his sterile white tunic. "A present," she said, as she wiped her hands on a piece of towel, "Of what I am now to you. What ever I was on Tauron I am no longer. What ever I was here to you I am no longer. You dared to cross a line that I drew to protect you. You supposed that you were better than me. You threatened something near and dear to me. I do not forget. I do not forgive," she pointed at the thorn and it rose to float level with his eyes, "This is what I am to you now. A thorn. Remember That."