Last week, as you recall, the Robinsons were struggling to maintain their water supply while Dr. Smith placed the family in danger of, not only dying of thirst, but losing Will to an alien race and then triggering hostilities between the Robinsons and another family of colonists called Taurons. Will's emotional ties to his family saved him from being enslaved to an alien computer and triggered the cessation of hostile intentions between the Robinsons and Taurons. Now, as Major West and Will worked on the Chariot, Dr. Smith's carelessness caused a leak in the fuel pack, and Major West tossed the pack away from the vehicle as it exploded in mid air…

Wish Upon a Star (Written by Barney Slater)

Don lay on the ground, unmoving and Will ran to him. John came out of the space ship and was followed by Dr. Smith. Don was all right, and he and Dr. Smith started arguing about why the fuel pack exploded. Don walked away to calm himself. John was as upset with Dr. Smith as Don was. It had been Dr. Smith's week to tend the garden and it had died of neglect.

"I'm terribly sorry," Dr. Smith said.

"Unfortunately, Dr. Smith, your being sorry doesn't make up for lost food," John replied.

"I don't know what to say," Dr. Smith stated.

Don strode back to the group and exclaimed, "Yeah, well, I do. I don't know how the others feel, Smith, but I'm fed up to the teeth with you! Every time something goes wrong around here, you're always at the bottom of it. You're nothing but a trouble maker and the sooner we get rid of you, the better off we'll all be."

"Are those also your feelings, Professor Robinson?" Dr. Smith asked.

John did not reply.

"I see. Well there only seems to be one recourse left for me. I shall leave… immediately," Dr. Smith stated.

Will moved to go after him, but his father told him to let him go and Don echoed his sentiment.


"Dear Joan,

Well, I was right. Don and Dr. Smith had it out again, and this time Dad was also upset with Dr. Smith. It was his week to tend our garden, and it died. Now we'll have no fresh food. Dr. Smith said that he would leave camp. Will was upset and both Penny and I couldn't believe that Dad is just letting him go. As Will pointed out, Dr. Smith can't take care of himself, but Dad thinks Dr. Smith needs to learn a lesson."


As Dr. Smith left the Jupiter to be on his way, the family gathered for lunch. He refused to take the food Maureen had packed for him, saying that he needed to be on his own without help and he shuffled away from camp. Don exited the Jupiter, cleaned up from the morning's accident and sat down to join the family. "What's everyone so sad about?" he asked.

Judy looked at him accusingly. "Dr. Smith just left."

"That's the best news I've had all day."

"Don! How can you be so unfeeling!"

"Look, Judy, if I hadn't thrown that fuel pack away from the Jupiter, we might all be dead."

"You don't know that, Don. Maybe it already had a leak?" Will suggested.

"Look, Will, it wasn't leaking before Smith put his hands on it," Don said.

"But, Don…" Penny started.

He stood and looked at Judy as he addressed Smith's defenders. "You know, I'd like to get just a fraction of the sympathy Smith gets around here." Then he glanced at the children and stomped away from the camp.

John gazed upon his children. "He's right, you know. That fuel pack almost exploded right in his hands today. Whether it was deliberate or not, Smith was responsible. A little empathy from you for him as well as Smith wouldn't hurt."

Guilt crept onto Judy's face. "Excuse me," she said as she left the table to go after Don.

She found him back at the Chariot, getting ready to install another fuel pack. He glanced at her as she approached him. He wasn't ready to forgive her defense of Smith just yet. "Don, I'm sorry," she said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are."

"But, Don, I am…"

He sighed. "I know, Judy… You'd forgive a flea for biting a dog."

She couldn't help but laugh at the image. "And that's why you love me."

He smirked and realized that she had him. He took her in his arms and let himself fall into her eyes. "Well, that's one of the reasons."

"You mean there's more?" she asked.

He nodded. "Lot's more…" He leaned towards her lips, but stopped mid way when both Penny and Will came running up to them. Don and Judy separated reluctantly.

"We just came to apologize, Don," Penny said.

"I know you could have been really hurt today," Will added.

Don glanced at Judy and ruffled Will's hair. "But I wasn't. Let's go eat."


Dear Joan,

While Will was helping Dr. Smith move to a better campsite, they found the remains of an old space ship that must have crashed years ago. There was a small object inside the ruins that looked like an electric skillet with the tin man's hat as its lid. You won't believe this, Joan, but you put the tin hat on your head and think about what you want and it appears! Penny said it was like Aladdin's lamp and she called it a 'wishing' machine.

Dr. Smith brought it to us and mom used it to conjure up a wonderful dessert. I'm going to get a chance to use it today. Don hasn't been paying much attention to me, so I think I'll wish for a beautiful new dress that will force Don to notice me."


Don was working under the Chariot and Judy sauntered up in a gorgeous dress that bared her shoulders, was cinched at her waist and dipped to a "V" on her chest. He thought Will had come up and asked to be handed a power wrench.

Judy picked up the wrench and said, "Why don't you come out and get it, Don?"

He slid out and bumped his head on the bumper… "Ow…" He looked up and his eyes sparkled. Judy looked like a Greek goddess. "I mean… Wow! Where did you get that dress?"

"You like it?"

"Like it? Like I said, Wow!"

"I got it through the thought machine. And now you can take me for a walk."

"Sure. We can do whatever you want to do."

He cleaned himself up and took her hand as they sauntered away from the ship.

"I wish I really had someplace to take you in that outfit, Judy," Don stated.

"I do too. I'd love to go dancing, like we did at Mike's wedding."

"We could still dance. Do you remember the song he and Sherry played for us at their reception?"

She nodded and started singing softly in his ear as he took her in his arms. "Love lift us up where we belong… where the eagles cry on a mountain high. Love lift us up where we belong… far from the world we know… where the clear winds blow."

He turned towards her and kissed her sweetly on the lips. She rose on her toes and kissed him harder. His hands roamed over her shoulders and down her back as he placed a line of kisses down the deep 'V' of her neckline that was so tantalizingly close to her… collarbone…

She encouraged him to move on, but ten minutes was about all he could take. "Mmm… Judy, I, uh, I think we have to stop now."

"No, don't. We never get a chance to really be alone."

"I'd love to keep going, but I have to keep your parents happy with me."

"They'll never know."

"Yeah, right. They'll be looking for us any minute."

"So, let them look."

"Uh-uh. It took me too long to get to this point with them. I'm not going to blow it now."

"Oh, Don…"

He sighed. "All right, but just two more minutes. Any longer than that and I'll need a really cold shower."


"Dear Joan,

My beautiful dress was ruined! It just suddenly tore itself to pieces. The fruit that Mom conjured up dried up, and the musical tapes that Penny wished for disintegrated. Everything we got from the machine went bad. Dad gave it back to Dr. Smith and he returned to his own camp, but it wasn't long before he came running back with some humanoid mummy thing running after him. Dr. Smith had asked for a servant, which is when the mummy wanted the machine back. It took it and disappeared. Dad said that when Dr. Smith asked for a slave, he had asked for too much. I guess the creature decided that Dr, Smith couldn't be trusted.

You know, Joan, wearing that dress did impress Don. I sang to him and we danced and kissed and his hands caressed my shoulders and, well, it was magical. I almost felt as if we were in Galveston again. I know Dad was upset with all of us for using the machine. He said the wishing machine could grant dreams, but that nightmares were dreams too. Well, my dream dress might not have lasted, but the time it gave me with Don certainly wasn't a nightmare…"


The Raft (Written by Peter Packer)

Will's 'ship wrecked sailor' experiment was set to go. The rocket was attached to a weather balloon and would ignite at one thousand feet. Penny and Will watched it lift. This was Will's sixth try at sending a message in space. The Robot announced the vertical lift. "Space probe altitude nine hundred feet. Space probe altitude one thousand feet." The probe ignited. "Space probe out of control."

The balloon fell towards the children and John pushed them to the ground. The rest of the family watched in horror, but the force field saved them from certain injury. Dr. Smith, oblivious to the explosion, came out looking for dinner... two hours early. He'd have time to dictate another chapter of his book, The Social Psychology of Galactic Castaways.


Don had noticed that their fuel canisters were slowly disappearing. He checked his hiding place for the fuel for the propulsion unit, but there were none left. His first and only suspect was, of course, Dr. Smith. Adopting his 'bad cop' attitude, he confronted Smith about the fuel, but Will came forth and admitted to using it for his experiments. "Oh, no," Don moaned, "which makes us galactic castaways forever."

John spent days trying to devise a new source of fuel for the propulsion unit. He had a theory about plasma, the fourth state of matter, and hoped that he could harness its energy for an endless supply of propellant. His small scale experiment was ready to go.

"All right, turn on that plasma test engine," John stated.

Don connected the wires. "Fire when ready."

John flipped the switched and the engine fired. "It works! It works!" John exclaimed. The family ran in and celebrated. "One of these days we're going to witness a perfect lift-off… our own."


John and Maureen took some time to themselves as they stared at the night sky. They discussed their destination, which both agreed would continue to be Alpha Centauri. While dictating his book, Dr. Smith said to himself, "Let them go where ever they wish, but not before they've taken me home"


Don sat at the auxiliary controls and groaned. His calculations had yet to give him the answer he needed. Judy approached and commented, "You're the hardest working astronaut I've ever met."

He closed his notebook. "And plumber, gas station attendant, fixer upper and, uh, radio announcer," he stated as he rose and stepped towards her.

"Oh? And you're not such bad company either."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not better company tonight."

"Maybe when we get going."

"All right… when we do…"

"Is there any doubt?"

"Oh, I don't know this propulsion unit has to be tested at minimum thrust before I can take a chance on feeding it enough to get us out."

"Oh? When will that be?"

"We might try it in the morning."

"I'm sure it's going to be all right, Don."

He smiled and went back to his seat to continue working. Judy watched him for several minutes more. She was about to turn away when Don looked up and said, "Judy, before you go…"

"Yes?"

"Can I have a good-night kiss?"

She took a step into the room and sat on his lap, putting her arms around his neck. "I thought you'd never ask."


"Dear Joan,

We're trying what could be our best rescue attempt yet. Will used up our last bit of fuel on these messages he was sending out into space, kind of like a message in a bottle. We thought we'd be stuck here forever so Dad worked on developing an alternative fuel system, and Will redeemed himself by coming up with an idea to improve our chances of lift off. The idea could only be used with a small spaceship, so Don thought of taking out the reactor chamber and modifying it into a ship. Penny said it was like ship-wrecked sailors building a raft. So Don called it the 'S.S. Space Raft' and, of course, he volunteered to fly it. He's probably going to be taking off in a few days. Joan… I don't think I'll be able to watch him lift-off. What if something goes wrong tomorrow or sometime during his flight? I might never… I might never see him again.."


The reactor chamber was out of the Jupiter and decontaminated. The family scavenged parts from the Jupiter to make it into a space worthy vehicle. The 'S.S. Space Raft' was ready for her maiden voyage. It stood in a clearing outside the Jupiter with a large air balloon attached to it. Dr. Smith watched every step of the process, his mind calculating his next move.

The family sat around the galley table and John and Don discussed the path of his journey. Once he lifted off, the family would only be able to stay in contact with him for thirty minutes. John suggested he spend the next fourteen hours before lift-off getting as much sleep as possible.

Don lay on his bed, awake, when he heard a knock at his door. He sat up and called out, "Come in."

Judy entered and said, "Your light was on so I…"

"Oh, well, I, uh… I couldn't sleep. Sit down."

They spoke each others' names simultaneously.

Judy smiled and continued, "I'm not sure I'll be able to say good-bye to you in the morning."

"Why not?"

"It might be too difficult, so I thought I better say good-bye to you now." She handed him a gift. "With this, but don't open it now."

"Thanks… I… May I know what it is?"

"A tape I made. But don't listen to it more than once. It might get monotonous."

"I'll let you know when I get back."

"You'll be back."

She titled her head and her lips were inviting him closer. He leaned in and placed his hand on her cheek. He wished he could take her with him, but, not only would her parents never allow it, he couldn't put her in such jeopardy. He had no idea if the plasma system would work over a long journey. If he didn't have enough propulsion to make course corrections or land safely, he'd be lost… and alone forever.

Both had forgotten about the open door to Don's cabin. Their lips met and her hand curled around his back to hold him close. Someone cleared their throat from the doorway, and they reluctantly separated.

"Judy, Don needs his rest," John stated.

"Just a few more minutes?" Judy asked.

John nodded and stepped away.

Don shook his head. "I don't know how he does it."

"Does what?" she asked. He stared at her. "Oh, right." She laughed. "I guess it's a built-in parenting thing."

"Remind me to give our kids radar detectors when they turn… eighteen," he stated.

A shiver went up her spine. "Our children?"

He nodded. Tears were brimming from her eyes and her throat choked back the words she wanted to say. He stood and closed his door and knelt before her.

"Judy? I'm sorry. I…" he started.

She shook her head and smiled while the tears overflowed their banks. She wrapped her hands around his shoulders and drew him to her breast. "I love you," she whispered. He held her close and let her cry on his shoulder. "Please come back to me, Don."

"Hey, I have to come back to make those little babies with you," he replied. He held her a few moments more and then stood. "Jericho with me… just for a little while."

They lay down together on his tiny bed. She closed her eyes. Her father might not be happy with her, but she decided to stay where she was until morning.


"Dear Joan,

Well, as usual, things did not work out as planned. Somehow Dr. Smith and Will took off in the 'SS Space Raft' and all it did was orbit this planet and settle back right here. Get this, Will said that Dr. Smith insisted they had landed on Earth, but Will knew better.

Dad realized that the propulsion system he invented didn't have enough power to get the small ship back to Earth. At least I won't have to worry about Don flying off in that tiny ship, not knowing if he made it or not. By the way, we had another night of being together, right here in the space ship. Joan, I finally told him that I loved him. We haven't talked marriage yet, but he did talk about our children. I can't image having a child under the circumstances we're in right now, but once things settle down, we'll talk about it. And, no, we didn't 'do it' yet. I know you're wondering what we're waiting for… sometimes I wonder that myself."


Will, John and Don packed up the Chariot and would be gone for a few days to set-up relay stations. Dr. Smith assured John that he would take care of the women. Shortly after they left, the radar showed a meteor storm directly in the area of the Chariot…


To be continued…

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