Ann was squinting at the Tunnel screen, an image kept fading in and out. Then the image became clear. "General! I've got them again!" They watched as Tony and Doug wandered through the casino, still searching.

"Looks like they lost him."

Ray thought of something. "Ann, see if you can get a fix on HIM, look for any anomaly nearby, since he seems to be traveling with Tony and Doug."

After adjusting frequencies, Ann shook her head. "Nothing...oh...wait, there's a spike here in the wave pattern, hang on....Yes! I have something!"

Ray, General Kirk, and Ann all looked up at the screen in unison. The image came in to focus. It was the traveler, he was in a hotel room, sitting by himself watching television.

"He's got a room there?"

"It appears so."

"Who IS he?"

Static suddenly filled the screen, for only about 3 seconds, then the image reappeared to reveal a second man standing in the room, looking frightened and confused. He was holding that device.

"Good God!"

"Who is THIS now? Can you get any sound?"

"No General, there's some interference..."

"Maybe from that device. So it is a time travel, or teleportation device."

They watched as the man seemed to be explaining something to the man who had just arrived, showing him an old newspaper. "It looks like he wants him to travel somewhere."

"Ann, see if you can triangulate their coordinates with Tony and Doug's, maybe we can get a fix on all four of them. They must be in the same hotel."

Tony and Doug had wandered around the casino area for at least a half hour. "I don't know if we'll find him here. Maybe we should head to the airport again and see about the Dreamland flights."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Hodges will probably show up anyway, like he always does. Okay, let's head over there."

They walked out of a side entrance onto a service alley. And in an instant, they were back in the vortex again, tumbling through time.

Thomas Matson found himself in an orchard, in the middle of the night. From a few lights in the distance, he could see there was a town, about two hundred yards away. The night was chilly, compared to the warm desert air of Las Vegas. I wish I brought my jacket, he thought, since he was dressed in dockers and a polo shirt. He shivered, not just from the cold, but from the prospect of suddenly being somewhere far away...very far away. Was this really Michigan in 1947? "Oh jeeez..." he said with a moan. He shook his head in bemusement, he couldn't believe what he had just done. He was still holding the device, his first instinct was to press the blue button and return to his hotel room. But then he thought of all that had happened, how Hodges knew about him, knew about his accident in 1982. He closed the device and put it in his pocket, and started walking towards the town.

Tony and Doug tumbled onto a lawn. They were in the front yard of a mid-century ranch style home. As they got up and looked around, they could see it was a small town, and from the parked cars along the street, they could tell they were still in America, but some time in the past. "I wonder if Hodges is here."

They started walking along the road, dimly lit by streetlamps. "Looks to be around the 40's or 50's...that was a '47 Plymouth back there, it looked new" Doug said. In the distance, they saw the silhouettes of two men armed with hunting rifles. Quickly they ducked behind a car. They could barely hear what the men were saying, but they did hear some parts of their conversation...something about killing 'voltones'.

"What are they talking about? What are Voltones?"

"I don't know, but if they have armed patrols out here at this time of night, they must be scared of them."

They slowly rose from behind the car and continued down the street, keeping an eye out for any more of these 'patrols'. There was a glow coming from a brighter area around the corner, perhaps a main street in the town. As they rounded the corner, they saw that it was a sawmill, which was floodlit on the other side of the main building. They made their way around the building, and froze in their tracks...stunned. In the parking lot of the sawmill, there stood a massive saucer shaped object, perched on three legs, like landing gear, with a rotating diode underneath that was synchronized with a similar rotation on the top of the saucer. With small windows and hatches, this was obviously a vehicle, but certainly not of this time. "I think we found those Voltones."

Thomas walked out of the orchard and onto a small one-lane road leading into the town. He was tired and he was hungry. There was nothing he could do tonight, it was probably getting close to 2 AM. Maybe he could find a place to rest until morning. He spotted a barn with the door slightly open, there was a soft glow coming from within it. Cautiously, he walked up to the barn door and peered in....the interior of the barn was dimly lit by a single lantern...he gasped. He saw a boy asleep in the hay, about 12 or 13, dressed in what looked like a flight suit. Next to him was a robotic machine, slumped over and out of power. The boy's legs and hands were tied to a post. "Oh my God...Hodges was right!"

He recognized the boy and the robot from all the photos and videos from their 1997 liftoff. The boy was Will Robinson, and the Robot B-9. And now here they were, stuck in this barn! At the same moment, he heard voices, and turned to see two men with guns walking in his direction. They hadn't spotted him. There was no time to duck into the barn, so he quickly slipped back into shadow, and around the corner of the barn into the darkness.

"Halt! Who goes there!" Tony and Doug froze and turned. A young man was pointing a rifle at them.

"Get your hands up!" The boy was only 17 or 18, and clearly frightened, his voice was quivering.

They raised their hands. "Take it easy son, hold your fire," Doug calmly said.

"What are you doing out here? Are you...Voltones?"

"No! We are not Voltones, we're Americans!" Tony shouted.

"Shut up! That's what a Voltone would say!"

Doug thought of something, and with a commanding voice, he said, "Put that weapon down NOW boy!...We are G-men!"

The boy's jaw dropped as he lowered his rifle. "You...you fellas are G-men?"

"That's right! We're from the F.B.I....We're here to investigate these uh...Voltones."

"Gosh! I never met G-men before...'cept in the movies."

"Come here, son."

The boy walked to them, sheepishly. "Gosh, I'm...sorry, I...didn't wanna kill ya and all..."

"It's alright son. Now listen...I want you to tell me what's happened here today."

"Well this here big ol' blimp came outta the sky, and them Voltones came out and started shootin' their ray guns around. Sheriff Grover, he caught one of 'em!"

"He caught one? Where is he holding him?"

"Gosh, I dunno...the jail I suppose. Anyway, those Voltones are holed up in that blimp of theirs, we're lookin' for any that might be sneakin' around."

Doug thought for a moment. "Who is the President?"

"huh?"

"Who is the President of the United States?"

"Why, Harry S. Truman of course."

Doug and Tony glanced at each other.

"What town is this?"

"Manitou Junction, Michigan, sir."

"How many people live here?"

"oh...about two thousand."

"What is today's date?

"October 18th...er, no 19th."

"What year!"

"why 1947, say, why're you askin' me all these dumb questions anyway?"

"Just making sure YOU aren't a Voltone, son."

"HUH? Me?" The boy's eyes went wide, "I'm no Voltone!"

"It's okay son...take it easy, here's what I want you to do...go home and get some sleep, and in the morning, tell Sheriff Grover that us G-men are on the case, and tell his men to stand down....can you do that?"

"Oh yes sir!"

"Good man! Now off you go."

"Thank you sir! Thank you!" The young man trotted off in the direction of home.

Tony looked at Doug, "G-men??"

"Yeah, why not? At least we know where we are now. And look at this thing! These folks are terrified...Tony, I recognize the configuration of that saucer... I recognize the design!"

Tony looked at the ship. "What do you mean, you recognize it?"

"Well, I attended a meeting at NASA about a year ago, and saw some designs of a prototype. A long range vehicle capable of hyper-drive. But it was all just theory. Something that couldn't readily be developed for at least another twenty or thirty years...but I saw the schematics, the blueprints. It was this!" He pointed to the ship.

"So...you think this vehicle is from Earth? From...the future?"

"Could be...but maybe we should check the sheriff's office first, see who they've captured there. Right now I'm exhausted, let's find find a place to get some rest."

Thomas had fallen asleep behind some bushes, now it was morning. He looked at his watch, it was 7:52. He looked around, groggy. He was beside the barn where he had spotted Will Robinson. He heard voices from within the barn. Quietly he stood up and brushed himself off, wondering what to do next. He knew one thing, he was starving, famished, so he made his way behind the barn onto an alley. From there he walked to a main street. There was little activity on the street at that early hour, but he noticed a diner, Molly's, so he walked in.

There were a few patrons already in there. The smell of bacon, eggs, ham, coffee filled the air which gave him a smile. "Hello hon! Sit anywhere!"

A middle aged woman behind the counter had greeted him, but a moment later her smile faded as she looked at him up and down. "What kinda shoes are those, son?"

He was wearing Nike cross-trainers. "oh...uh, these are Nikes...they're uh...a new kind of shoe."

"Hmph, kinda look like clown shoes to me."

She immediately realized her unintended insult, and her smile returned, she motioned him to the counter, "Come sit, what can I getcha?"

Thomas settled into his seat, "well uh, scrambled eggs and bacon, toast, and coffee please."

"okay, comin' up."

There was a man sitting at the counter who was watching the whole thing. He was eyeing him with a suspicious look. "I don't believe I've seen you before around here son."

"No, I uh...just arrived."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Just arrived? From where?"

"Uhh...California."

"California huh? So what brings you way out here to Manitou Junction?"

"I'm uh...out here visiting my uncle, since he's sick and all." Thomas' nerves were on edge, he should have been prepared for this, or at least Hodges should have advised him of it.

"ohhh, what's your uncle's name?"

"uh...Smith...Zachary Smith."

"Zachary Smith...hmm, I know some Smiths around these parts, but I never heard of no Zachary Smith."

Thomas was becoming annoyed and frightened by this guy's prying. "Well I guess he just keeps to himself."

"uh huh..."

His breakfast was served, and he ate it quickly and voraciously. The bill was only 85 cents. "Amazing"

"What's amazing?" the woman asked.

"Uh, this breakfast! It was delicious!"

"oh, well I'm glad you enjoyed it...85 cents please, hon..."

Thomas took out his wallet and a new wave of panic overwhelmed him. He had three 5 dollar bills and two 20's, all in the new design in which the presidents faces were larger. There were no Ones in his wallet which retained their old design, and he saw the waitress' eyes riveted on the wallet, waiting to get paid.

He calmly handed her a Five. "Thank you hon...Hey! What the hell is this?"

Thomas had to think fast. "Oh...it's one of those new five dollar bills, they just started printing them."

"Hey Steve, look at this bill!" She handed it to the guy at the counter.

"I knew it!!" The man stood up and pulled out a pistol, he pointed it at Thomas. "I happen to be Sheriff Grover, and you're one of them Voltones! You stand right where you are! Molly, get Cragmire on the horn, tell him we got one!"

"Wait a minute! I'm not a Voltone! I'm from California!"

"Yeah well maybe you Voltones already took over California! I knew it! From them weird clothes yer wearin', right down to the shoes!"

"Look, I'm not a Voltone! And those people! They're the Robinsons!"

Gunfire erupted from outside. They all turned to the windows. At that moment Thomas grabbed his plate and hurled it in Grovers' direction, like a frisbee as he dashed out of the door.

"Hey!"

Thomas felt a shot splinter the door as he ran out. He ran around a corner and kept running, away from the sound of the shots. He heard other shots, random gunfire, but he wanted get away from Grover as fast as he could. On a side street he halted in his tracks....he saw two men running in his direction, it was Tony Newman and Doug Phillips.