Chapter 11 solutions
Zachary Smith had watched from behind a nearby rock as John Robinson powered to the rescue of Judy and Don. With the Robinsons back in control he knew he'd have to convince the professor that he was a changed man. That would not be an easy matter with Judy and Don West speaking out against him. But he had to try his hardest. Okay so he better rehearse carefully what he was going to say and make it sound very good.
He listened as Maxon tried to get the Professor on his side. Well the dying bit worked well for him but Smith could not use that angle. Maybe he could say he was sick, and just had to go home.
Yes he thought that had possibilities. He was about to step out and try his 'sales' pitch on the professor when the whole situation changed and Donald West was suddenly the one in charge.
Smith found himself feeling a wave of pity for Maxon . Knowing the Majors character as well as he did the aliens was surely dead. He also knew better than to step out of hiding right now just in case the Major decided to turn the gun on him. All he could do was watch and see how things played out.
"Don put down the gun", John said it firmly. Don did not even give him one glance before telling him , "no" . Casting a quick side look John could see Judy watching calmly and knew instinctively she was not going to interfere. Another look revealed the robot slumped sideways arms dangling. Don had obviously pulled the power pack and rendered the robot harmless. So that just left him trying to convinve an angry Major not to shoot one of the aliens that had wanted to eat him for dinner. Oh boy this was not going to be easy.
Keeping calm was the main thing, Don was already angry enough without picking up on more emotion from him. "Don I know you are angry and have a right to be, but shooting Maxon will not change anything. You are safe now, back with your family",John soothed.
Don did not want to be soothed and tightened his finger some more on the trigger, though he did not shoot. He wanted the satisfaction of seeing how scared Maxon could get. "He deserves to die, John. They all deserve to die. They feed of others for goodness sake, how can you possibly even begin to agree with that".
Insinctively John knew that the simple truth was the only thing that would work , "I don't agree Don. But as I said shooting him will change nothing. "
"It will change the fact they can't feed off any one else. Don threw John a sorrow filled look, "you didn't see what they did to the last person that piloted this ship, he told him. I felt him die John'.
In that moment John realized he'd underestimated the type of treatment Don needed. He'd be so focused on physical injuries that he'd forgotten about the emotional impact of the capture and experimentation. John had his own weapon pointing downward toward the ground and had not previously considered using it against Don. But now he realized he may well have to shoot Don to save the aliens life.
"Where is that other pilot now", Judy asked softly. John could see by the pinched look in her face that she was siding with Don.
Maxon bit his lip human style and decided it was better not revel that.
"Yes where is Halo Maxon", Don now had the muzzle of the gun pointing right against Maxon's middle.
"You know Maxon that you don't necessarily die from a gun shot straight off. You might linger in pain for awhile", he growled.
Maxon both heard and saw the angry emotion within Don West and felt fear surface strongly.
But by reaching within himself he could still the shaking. He could also gain some other information that might just help him out of this situation. "Why bother shooting me West. I am going to die a slow death anyway", he stated.
"I want you to suffer", Don said it with the full force of all his malice. "I will suffer, starving to death is not a pleasant way to die", Maxon replied with a tremor in his voice.
Don saw heard reaction but did not drop the weapon, "maybe then speeding up your death will be a good thing", he told Maxon .
Maxon stared Don calmly in the face then dropped to his knees, "then do it Major West shoot me and then shoot my family", he stated.
Now Don could feel himself begin to shake as Maxons willingness to die was getting to him. He had wanted the alien to still be arrogant and assured while he blasted him. This was not turning out exactly as he had planned. Satisfaction in revenge was actually beginning to be displaced.
John saw hestitation in Do'ns eyes and knew he now had a chance. "Don if you shoot Maxon you will we telling him that everything he had ever learnt about humans is true. "
Don threw him a sour look, " we eat others for dinner, come on John he didn't learn that from watching our culture. " Don had a point there but John could not let him know that if he was going to convince him to give up the weapon.
"No he didn't Don. But I am sure the aliens did observe some of the lest pleasant aspects of our culture. If you shoot Maxon you are judt reinforcing the fact that humans are a violent race".
"What do I care what they think John', Don stormed back tiredly. He was getting totally fed up with this conversation.
"I know I am not perfect but I would never do to someone what Maxon did to me", anger returned and he thrust the gun into Maxons middle again and slowly pulled back the trigger but didn't release his finger yet.
John tried not to panic think man ,think what can you say to stop this. He had a matter of seconds to decide. Then inspiration hit. "Don if you kill Maxon nothing will change,. However if you give me a chance I may be able to find another way for them to live. They will never ever have to feed of any other living being again".
Nuts Don had to concede that he had a point. He didn't want anyone to go through what he or Halo .But there was still a huge problem. "You said maybe John, that means there is no guarantee that they will change"
A little bit of confidence was sinking into John now, Don could be persuaded. "No Don there is no guarantee that I can actually help. But I think there is a guarantee that if you shoot the rest of his race will go on living by forcing people to become their ships. Come on Don, give me a chance. ",
Moving a little closer as he said those last words John approached Don slowly. He stopped however when Don turned his head. He said nothing for a minute just watching John ,then when he did speak it was to Judy that he addressed his question. "What should I do Jude", he asked softly.
Judy had watched both sides of the battle and listened to her fathers words. She had felt intense pain at what Don had suffered and a fierce anger herself. But she also knew that while she could shoot Maxon with a paralyzing beam, she would not have been able to kill him and simply walk away and not ever think about it again. Deep in her heart she knew that although Don was sometimes rash and reacted angrily to things, he had another more sensitive side. If he had not Maxon would already be dead. "Don if you shoot him, I know that you might feel better right now, but you'll feel bad later. You would not be the man I love if you had no compassion."
John saw Don's posture slump somewhat at Judys words and knew this was the moment. Gently reaching forward he placed his hand over Don's on the gun. 'Let it go Don", he said simply.
Don relinquished his hold on the gun and quickly turned away from Maxon. Judy rushed to his side and held him tightly again. He kissed her on the lips right there and then in acknowledgemnt of how her words had moved him.
"John blew out a heavy breath of relief. "Right lets get Maxon on board the chariot then go visit the aliens", he stated. He made a note to himself to make sure that any guns were out of Don's reach. Even though he was somewhat calm again John felt his mental state was still somewhat akin to a smouldering volcano.
Dr Smith saw John Robinson take the gun and breathed his own sigh of relief. If Major West could forgive the alien then surely he should be able to forgive him as well. It was time to return.
Stepping out from behind the rocks he rushed forward, "oh thank goodness I found you all. I have been lost and alone out there".
Judy ignored him but Smith saw Don's fist clench, uh oh. John quickly stepped in front of Don. He may not have a gun but his fists would do just as much damage to Smith. He didn't want another debate on the merits of not hurting someone.
"You can come along with us Smith", John told him. "But as yet I have not decided what to do with you".
Your actions in the next few hours may help me make that decision".
Smith swallowed so he wasn't off the hook yet. But at least he had a chance which was better than nothing.
They all loaded into the chariot with John making sure Don sat up front, next to him. No point putting tempatation in his path. In fact he should ensure Don did not get any urges when they met the other aliens .
"I can handle things in the alien craft on my own Don. You should stay on board the chariot and rest", John gestured to the tubing," that must be uncomfortable".
Don knew very well what John was trying to do but forced down the angry retort as he knew there was also genuine concern for his welfare. "It does hurt John but I am not going to stay in the chariot. I need to go into that spaceship", Don said it softly holding his brown eyes onto John's blue ones.
Yes he could pull rank and force Don to stay but if he was going to recover mentally as well as physically then maybe he needed to go. "Alright Don, he agreed.
They continued their travels and soon arrived at the ship
Maxon found had found his head growing increasingly heavy as they travelled. Now his legs were tingling and would no longer respond to his commands.
When the others all slid out of the chariot he could not follow. Sudden understanding and sympathy for how Halo had felt as he used up the last of his energies fell upon his mind. So maybe this was what it felt like to be dying. As he felt his human form fade away and be replaced from the blob form he sincerely hoped John Robinson would keep his word.
Otherwise neither he or his family would ever waken again.