CHAPTER 3
Hours later, the Robinsons, West, and a very sated and somnolent Doctor were settling in for the night. After washing up, Smith hastily shrugged off his clothes, yanked on his nightshirt and dropped unceremoniously onto his bed. Within seconds, he was sound asleep. Exhaustion had led to a relatively dreamless night for most of them.
Will tossed and turned as his mind tried to unload all the imagery that had flooded it during the day. He got up once for a drink, but then dropped right back off to sleep.
In the calming deep waters that rocked him in sleep, Dr. Smith was, as teens tended to say, "out of it". When the intruder started crawling up his shirt he didn't feel a blessed thing. It meandered toward his neck and made a beeline for the warm spot beside his throat. Its long hair touched the sensitive skin just above Smith's bared collar bone, and the doctor's mind reached a level of wakefulness.
Reaching up, he tried to scratch the itchy spot and felt something firm and furry rocking beneath his hand. Adrenaline screamed through his body, energizing his brain and vocal cords into shrieking wakefulness. Instantly he tried to swat it away while struggling to his feet.
Voices echoed outside his cabin, and without knocking Professor Robinson jerked open the door. Will was there next, followed by a sleepy eyed but alert Don West. Judy, Penny and Maureen hung back in case of genuine trouble, though secretly all three women figured Smith was having a bad dream.
Dancing around, Smith tried to locate whatever it was that had so rudely intruded on his sleep. He felt his neck and checked his fingers to make sure the beast hadn't sucked his blood while he slept, and was relieved to find nothing but smooth, unbroken skin.
And then he saw it, in the corner of his cabin, a small, round, tricolored creature. "Beware!" he shouted, pointing at it. "It may bite!"
From behind the door, the Robot stated, "Subject creature not hostile to humans."
"How would you know, you overzealous zoologist? The piranha is small but can tear a man to shreds."
"Oh Doctor, really," Penny scoffed, once she realized what was frightening the Doctor. "It must've gotten loose from the cage."
"Cage? Wherever did you pick up that awful monstrosity?"
Penny looked at the Doctor in a manner that showed what she thought of his cowardice in the face of such a puny and inoffensive creature. "From a trader, Dr. Smith. Mom said I could keep it since the man said Tribbles are really inoffensive and harmless. And they are adorable and sweet. Look," she added, holding it out to him. "It even purrs."
Without giving him a chance to refuse, she placed it in his hands. At first he wanted to drop the thing, but didn't want the others mocking him. He'd done similar things for laughs, to be sure. And he liked diverting their attention in order to accomplish some subtle scheme of his own. But this time he had no tricks up his sleeve and was too tired to desire reinforcing the "coward" image. So he simply put his hands out and the little creature wigged its way into his open palm and instantly began purring and twittering loudly.
The sound, so innocent and appealing, drew a half smile to his thin lips. In spite of his initial feelings toward the tribble, he found himself stroking its kitten soft fur. The more he petted it, the more delighted it sounded.
"Penny, child, I confess that this engaging creature is really quite sweet. However, it nearly scared me to death. Kindly make certain your new found pet is secured during the evening hours. I'm sure you can remember to that for your dear Dr. Smith, can't you?"
Maureen sighed with relief that there would be no indignant, long winded orations. Chuckling, she waved Penny and the tribble out of Smith's quarters. Little did she realize that, as always, trouble had found the doctor first.
Early the next morning the crew of the Jupiter 2 went off to find a pleasant and filling breakfast.
By mid morning they came back to find Penny's tribble no longer inside its covered box but rather back on Dr. Smith's bed. The Robinson's middle child fully expected a lecture about responsibility but instead Smith merely stroked it into a purring, chirruping frenzy and brought it back to her. Penny watched his retreating back and marveled at how mellow he had grown recently. Shrugging it off as one of the Doctor's many mood swings, she went to put the tribble back in its box when she heard Will call.
"Penny, get your tribble off my desk."
"Your desk?" she echoed. "But that can't be. I'm holding my tribble right now."
Will poked his head around his accordion fold door and brandished a similar, though clearly smaller, tribble than the one Penny was holding. He ambled over to his sister, placed the wandering critter in her out stretched hand and walked off. But not before saying, "I guess it had a baby last night."
"Better make that two babies," Don called out from the upper deck. On his shoulder was a black and white twittering tribble. It nuzzled his cheek, and Don smiled broadly at the unconditional display of affection.
"Three, four and five," added Judy, holding the small bundle of multi colored animals in her hand.
Penny looked shocked. "Oh now! Mom, how am I going to feed them all? The first one eats an awful lot as it is."
While in their huddle they missed the sudden appearance of Dr. Smith. When Penny turned toward him she found that he had a sixth baby rocking on the very crown of his head. How it got there she didn't dare venture a guess, but Dr. Smith gentle removed it and placed it beside the other. "Six," he stated lately.
"Maybe I can give some of them away," Penny said hopefully. "They are awfully cute, and I'm sure there must be some people who'd want them."
Armed with her box of baby tribble and aided by Judy, will and Dr. Smith, Penny wandered from ship to ship asking anyone who would listen if they wanted to adopt these adorable and inoffensive animals. Finally she managed unload each and every one of them, and returned to the ship ... to find her parents and Don holding at least 20 more tribbles.
"Oh no!" she moaned again.
"They do breed quickly, don't they?" Smith observed, not without a touch of humor.
Maureen gave Penny's shoulder a consoling pat. "I wonder if we shouldn't try to locate that trader who sold you the Tribble and see if he can tell us how to get them to stop reproducing."
"Madam, really! Isn't the solution obvious? Put them in separate containers!"
"Ordinarily that would be true," Robinson replied, without his usual calm. "But these things are reproducing at an incredible rate. I tried separating them as soon as I found them, but there were babies in the container within the hour."
Smith bared his teeth in a mocking grin. "Sounds as if you are implying they are born pregnant!"
"That I am," John replied, half seriously.
The smile instantly vanished from Smith's face. The lines on his forehead deepened. "But that would mean there would be no controlling their population."
"Precisely," Don agreed, absently rubbing one white animal that mewed and twittered with each hand stroke.
John faced Penny, and with a sorrowful tone stated, "I'm sorry, honey, but all of these things have to go. It's not save to have them if we can't control their numbers."
Sadly, Penny nodded. "I know. But can't I still try to find the man who sold it to me? Maybe he can give me some good suggestions. Maybe he knows how to handle the problem."
Torn by the pleading look in his lovely, dark haired daughter's eyes, John acquiesced. "Fine. Give it a try. But please remember that if he has no good answers, then the tribbles have to go."
"I know, Daddy. And thank you!"
Penny and Will got ready to leave. Smith joined them at the base of the ship and gave a cursory glance around the docking area. Aside from the typical ebb and flow of sentient life forms, nothing much had changed. Don arrived a few seconds later. Soon after, Judy arrived, slowly moving down the steps.
"Wow!" was Don's breathless comment. Judy was bedecked in a gown made of the sheerest material, which, despite its light weight, managed to keep from being labelled indecent. It shimmered with her every move, alternately swirling around her or clinging, depending on her movements. Bare arms and a plunging neckline showed off her flawless skin to perfection.
"My dear," Smith stated in a subdued, deep voice, "I do believe you are, without a doubt, the most exquisite woman to have ever walked the decks of this vessel."
Judy stared at Smith for a moment, startled by such unexpected praise. Then she blushed. The compliment sounded much better than a simple "Wow!" that was for certain.
While Don glared at Smith for his audacity, the Doctor warmly stated, "Permit me to be your escort for the day," and extended his elbow in a genteel invitation for her to accompany him.
Why she accepted was beyond her, but she did so nonetheless, looping her hand around his forearm. Bending toward her, he whispered, "Without a doubt every humanoid will envy me, and if it makes the Major jealous, so much the better."
Judy let out a full throated laugh at the doctor's machinations. When she gazed back at Don she saw that one of Smith's predictions was already coming true. "Are you sure you want him that angry at you?" she whispered back.
Chuckling softly, Smith replied, "No, but I'll certainly enjoy myself in the meantime."
The two younger children watched the scene with confusion, but shrugged it off as only children can. As a group they left the docking bay, glided along on the moving walkway, and headed for the area where Penny had last seen the trader.