Disclaimer: I own nothing but a diverticulum.
Chapter 2
John Robinson lay underneath the Jupiter 2 examining the nearly retrofitted rear thrusters. Don West sat on a rock nearby, catching his breath after a 14-hour day on his back, installing the additional power that everyone hoped would permit the Jupiter to fly faster than any craft previously known to man.
"You didn't skimp on screws and bolts, I see," John called out to Don.
"We can't take any chances," Don said. "There's no precedent for what happens when you travel at that speed, so I figured five times the typical fastening apparatus was, at a minimum, the kind of caution we should exercise."
John slid out.
"I can't disagree," he said. "You think it can be finished tomorrow, then?"
"It should be," Don said. "At this point it's basically a matter of closing things back up. Then as long as we have the fuel, I guess it's much of a go as it can be. Too bad you can't really do a true-life test of thrusters while you're still on the ground."
"Agreed," John said. "That makes me nervous too, having to rely on the computer models. But given the parameters of our time window, I don't see what else we can do. We've got one shot at this, and two days from now we're either on our course to Alpha Centauri or we're not going."
"Assuming Judy and Smith have been able to access the fuel we need," Don added. "You know, I've been so focused on this, I haven't even thought to ask Judy how it's going. That was thoughtless of me. I guess if I thought about it at all, I just assumed she wouldn't let me labor under here for days on end if we weren't going to have the fuel to make the trip."
John grinned a little. He knew Don was concerned about more than just the fuel.
"I don't think you've put Judy off too terribly," he said. "She's found and brought up an astonishing volume of deutronium. And even Smith hasn't been all that unhelpful, for him, I mean."
Don chuckled at that. John continued.
"Like you, I'd say they've got one more day's solid work ahead of them, and we'll be ready on the fuel end. It's been an excellent effort all around."
Don nodded with satisfaction. In all the time he had been with the Robinsons, he couldn't remember a time the entire group had pulled together so effectively. Maureen and Penny had been working nonstop to get the ship ready for takeoff. Will had been poring over his computer models to make sure the navigation plan was right. John had expertly coordinated the whole thing while contributing no small amount of sweat himself.
And even Dr. Smith had at least refrained from making a nuisance of himself, perhaps realizing that whether he wanted to go to Alpha Centauri or not, this was do or die, and he had no interest in the latter.
Two days from now, it would be go time.
Judy used a stopwatch to time the rotations of the derrick as it penetrated the ground inside the cave. On her command, Dr. Smith would use external controls to adjust the speed up or down. The deutronium would come up from the ground via a suction apparatus powered by the derrick's rotations, and would be captured in canisters about two feet long and 10 inches around.
Deutronium was an experimental fuel, more properly known as beryllium deuteride, which is chemically identical to beryllium hydride except that deuterium replaces hydrogen, adding an additional two neutrons to each molecule.
When Alpha Control was searching for a fuel powerful enough to take the Jupiter 2 all the way to Alpha Centauri, it agreed with some reluctance to test deutronium at the urging of scientists who believed they could make it function in a manner similar to traditional rocket fuel.
The actual substance in the ground was actually pure beryllium hydride, but the Robinsons had developed a simple method for adding deuterium to produce deutronium. As the beryllium hydride came up from the ground, Judy would conduct an application process to fuse it with the deuterium and produce refined deutronium.
Each canister could be treated and sealed in about 45 minutes. Don thought the Jupiter 2 would burn 103 canisters of deutronium during its flight to Alpha Centuari. Judy and Dr. Smith were close to topping out at 139 – so if Don was right, they would have 36 canisters in reserve. Under normal circumstances, traveling at more conventional speeds, that should be enough to take the Jupiter on a typical planet-to-planet voyage, but it wouldn't be enough to fuel the sort of space wandering they'd been doing for the past three years.
If they didn't find a suitable planet for colonization in the Alpha Centauri system, they would have to look for more fuel wherever they could make a landing, or they would not be able to make it back to Earth.
"Judy dear," Dr. Smith said, interrupting Judy's mental calculations, "you've given me no instruction for some time now. Is the rotation speed correct, or do I need to adjust it. I've no doubt that if we fall short in our mission, your father and Major West will surely lay the blame at my feet."
Judy looked up.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Smith. The rotation speed is fine. One more day of this and we should be completely stocked. Hold steady and we can wrap up with this last canister for today."
"At last," Dr. Smith said with relief. "This sort of monotonous repetition is simply not agreeable for a man of my intellect, you know."
Judy smiled at him.
"Your help has been wonderful," she told him. "I couldn't have possibly done this without you, Dr. Smith."
Judy had always been the one to defend Dr. Smith, more than once preventing him from being physically accosted by a furious Don West, who would probably not restrain himself for any reason other than a desire to please Judy.
It wasn't that Judy had any illusions about Dr. Smith's true nature. She understood that he was self-centered and untrustworthy – and she had never quite accepted his story of how he ended up aboard that Jupiter 2 at takeoff – but Judy viewed all humans as inherently flawed, and she didn't like to see Dr. Smith hurt as a result of the recriminations he undeniably deserved.
There had to be some good in him, she thought, and because she had stood up for him in the past, she had managed to earn a sort of pseudo-loyalty from him, even if it was only because Dr. Smith recognized he couldn't afford to alienate a friend.
Dr. Smith was closer to Will insofar as they spent more time together and shared similar recreational interests. But when Dr. Smith's meddlesome nature got the better of him, Will wasn't always so willing to come to his defense. Judy was, and that laid the groundwork for a connection that Dr. Smith was loathe to jeopardize.
John Robinson recognized this, which was one of the reasons he didn't hesitate to send Smith along as Judy's assistant on the deutronium mining project. While Don saw it as pure foolishness to trust Smith with any kind of responsibility whatsoever – especially one so vital to the success of a perilous mission – John believed Smith's loyalty to Judy would bring out his best effort, such that it was.
As Judy inspected the collection of deutronium canisters filled throughout another day's work, with a consistent if less than heroic contribution from Dr. Smith, it appeared her father's instincts had been borne out.
One more day, and the fuel would be ready.
