To think that those simple-minded brutes would give up so easily and allow the Jupiter to be destroyed beneath the feet of alien monstrosities! Doctor Smith could not bear the thought. Desperately, he rushed back to the navigation console. Precious seconds were wasted whilst he stared blankly at the incomprehensible dials and switches.

"What to do?" He moaned quietly and clamped his eyes tightly shut against the onslaught of despair. He knew nothing of controlling the ship. No, that was not true; although he had never been intended to ascend into the heavens, his training at Alpha Control had necessarily included some of the rudiments of space flight. Surely he, with his superior intellect, would be able to work out some way of moving the Jupiter out of the path of the migrating aliens.

His faith in himself restored, Smith opened his eyes and began flicking every switch and turning every dial he could get his hands on. Sensors leapt to life, lights winked on and contraptions began to beep in the most encouraging attitude. He even thought he felt the ship rock a little beneath his feet. Yes, it was working! He was moving the Jupiter!

"Smith! What do you think you're doing?"

Don was standing in the doorway of the spacecraft with a look of incredulity on his face that all too soon, the doctor knew from painful experience, would turn to one of unreasonable anger.

"I do not think, I know exactly what it is I am doing, Major."

The Major's wrath was not, however, to be propitiated so easily. "You've gotten up to some pretty mean tricks before," he snarled, "but this goes beyond even you."

"I will not allow you to destroy us all!" Smith shouted back with defiant valour. Resolutely, he turned back towards the consoles and continued with his assault, confident that results could be achieved. Something exploded.

"I ought to wring your neck!" Don bellowed like an enraged beast and darted towards the aggrieved doctor, neatly avoiding an electrical cable that had blasted loose of its casing and was thrashing around on the floor, venting deadly sparks. Billowing smoke filled the confined space of the ship.

Seeing the Major coming towards him out of the smoke, his face twisted into an ugly mask of rage, Smith found there was no reaction more fitting than a terrified scream. "Stay back, Major, I warn you!" He cried, throwing up both hands to fend off the attack and hurriedly backing away. "I have an exceedingly delicate back! My heart just won't take this kind of excitement!" To his horror, he found that he could retreat no more and on risking a quick look over his shoulder saw that he had backed himself up against a wall.

Don's face broke into a sadistic smile and he smacked a fist into his palm in a most dreadfully aggressive manner.

"Oh dear," Smith wailed and covered his eyes with his hands.

Nothing happened.

The electric cable still thrashed and the smoke still billowed, but Doctor Smith's neck was not wrung. Cautiously, he opened his fingers ever so slightly and peered out through the gaps, rapidly closing them again when he saw the Major still hulking over him. "I implore you sir, if you are going to wring my neck, then get it over with." Still nothing.

More boldly now, he lowered his hands and stared over the tops of his fingers. Don was not moving. In fact, he seemed to be frozen in position, his hands outstretched and his face locked in an unbecoming snarl. The world continued to move, but the Major was left behind.

"Tut tut," Smith leered indulgently at the unfortunate Major West, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to make faces? It seems the wind has changed and you have become stuck this way."

In an effort to further compose himself, Smith smoothed down the front of his jacket and took a few deep breaths. He accidentally inhaled some of the smoke and ended up having to contend with a coughing fit. Throughout all this, the Major remained immobile. The best thing to do – Smith considered – would be to vacate the premises immediately. Besides, it was really becoming quite dangerous inside the ship.

Fortunately, only one side of the Jupiter had been affected by the explosion so far, which left the doctor with a clear route to the door. Once outside, he saw that the table had been cleared and there was not a soul in sight. He hesitated a moment in thought and then bent down and smeared some of the planet's sandy soil onto his face with all the care of an actor applying greasepaint. For added effect he also tousled up his hair, before taking off at a run in the direction he supposed the Robinsons to be.

"Help! Help!" He called as he came upon the pioneers, each involved in his or her own task to contribute to the common survival of the group.

"What is it this time?" Professor Robinson asked in a tone of profound boredom.

"Is that nasty old alien after you again?" Judy smiled sweetly, eager to join in with the merrymaking.

"Now Judy," Maureen cautioned gently. "Let's hear what it is Doctor Smith has to say."

"Thank you dear lady, as always I can count on you to shine a light of reason into the darkness of blind cynicism."

"Never mind all that. What's happened, Smith?"

"There's been an explosion on the Jupiter."

"An explosion?" A chorus of voices echoed his in surprise and consternation.

"Yes, it happened whilst I was down on the lower deck. I barely escaped with my life. It's so very fortunate that I was the only one on board."

"Negative," the Robot objected, waving its arms around. "Major West is on the ship. Danger! Danger!"

"That's right; he went to get a wrench." John Robinson sprinted towards the spaceship in his most purposeful masculine stride, the Robot trundling after him in pursuit. The rest of the family soon followed, all eager to save their precious Major West. Smith just hoped that Professor Robinson would be able to set the ship back to rights and repair any damage the navigation console might have sustained during the course of the explosion.

He wiped the dirt from his face and glared at the smears it left on his fingertips with a contemptuous "Bah!" Then, flattening his ruffled hair, he set off in search of a quiet place to sit and rest. After all, he had a lot to think about.


"There he is!"

Startled from his slumbers, Doctor Smith automatically threw up his hands with a protest of "I'm innocent!" Coming to wakeful alertness he looked around to see Don approaching. He smiled at the Major in a manner that was not so much friendly, as it was reptilian. "Ah Major, how lovely to see you looking so well."

"I told you he'd be hiding out here somewhere."

Leaning slightly to one side, Smith was able to see that the rest of the Robinson party – as well as that refuge from a scrap metal yard, the Robot – had opted to accompany Don on his little social call. He coyly waggled his fingers at them in a wave of greeting, his face a masterful picture of innocence.

"I appreciate your concerns, all of you, but there was no need to send out a search party after me. I have been perfectly fine out here on my own."

"You won't be fine once I get my hands on you, Smith."

Smith looked up at the hot-headed young man, his eyes glittering with malicious good-humour. "Not another step, my dear sir," he warned, holding up one index finger for emphasis.

Uneasily, for he was not accustomed to backing down from a fight, Don lowered his hands to his sides and unclenched his fists.

"Coward!" Smith crowed in disdain, feeling more cheerful than he had ever been since they had touched down on this miserable planet.

Don's hands immediately curled back into fists. "I don't know how you managed to freeze me in place like that, but…"

"It was not of Doctor Smith's doing," the Robot interrupted. "That does not compute."

"The Robot's right," Will joined in. "To do something like that, Doctor Smith would have to be… well, he'd have to be some kind of alien, I guess."

"It was Smith! I know it was!" Don argued hotly.

"Maybe you should go and lie down. We've all had a tiring morning."

Don rounded on Professor Robinson in an unusual display of aggressiveness towards the older man. "I wasn't imagining things. Smith froze me in place somehow right after he blew up the navigation console."

There was a brief pause, John appraising his co-pilot with an expression of concern. Finally, he sighed and looked away. "Go back to the ship, Don. Maureen will fix you a drink. Children, I think you should start heading back as well, I'll be along in a minute."

"John!" The Major started to protest, looking simultaneously confused and outraged in a way that would have had Doctor Smith pitying him, had he not disliked Don so. Seeing the look on John's face however, Major West seemed to lose all will to fight and allowed Maureen to lead him gently away by the arm – Judy trailing forlornly behind him like a lovesick puppy.

Will lingered on a moment longer, staring curiously at Smith, before he too abruptly turned and left, Penny beside him.

Watching the procession wend its merry way back towards the ship, Smith was distracted from his amused interest by Professor Robinson sharply addressing him. "I don't know what you did or didn't do to Major West, but I do know it was you who caused the explosion. If it wasn't for Maureen I would banish you from the ship, but she insisted I give you a second chance. However, if I see you near any of the computer equipment again…" Leaving the unfinished threat hanging heavy in the air – somehow more terrifying than if he had elucidated his intents – John turned on his heel and stalked away.

Slightly discomfited, Smith sat lost in apprehensive contemplation, one hand resting against his chest. Gradually, he became aware of another presence nearby. Rousing himself from morbid considerations, he turned around to find that the Robot had not yet taken his leave. On seeing him, the doctor's disposition turned seamlessly to one of self-righteous indignation, for who else could have denounced him as the cause of the explosion on the Jupiter other than that jabbering Judas?

"You traitor," he condemned the Robot grandly. The Robot winked its lights in recalcitrant silence. "Now cease and desist your infernal chattering at once, I have to think."

"Ha ha, that is a good one, Doctor Smith."

Moving remarkably lithely for one of his delicate constitution, Smith leapt up and neatly removed the Robot's power pack. "I may be a man of many fine and admirable talents, but the one thing I am not is comic relief. How vulgar!" The Robot, devoid of power, made no reply.

"Yes," the doctor murmured to himself, becoming thoughtful once more, "A man may be many things, but there are always some things that he is not…" And again in his head – unbidden – played the words: Well, he'd have to be some kind of alien, I guess.