A/N Warning! Warning!
rest stops, please. epic long chapter underway.
This was meant to be a short filler chapter but I wanted to make this a short story arch regarding Gampu!Smith
"William, how about we try that particle project? I do feel better today as a respite from the cold."
"Doctor Smith, the last time I did that; I attracted Professor Chronos."
"Yes, yes, but that was during a storm, my dear boy. All you have is clear weather," He gestured toward the environment of Tremfya. "And green all around."
Will thought it over then looked toward Robot.
"Robot, what did the weather station last say?" Will asked.
"There is not supposed to be a storm until next week." Robot reported.
"Things do tend to go wrong doing storms," Will said. "So, since there isn't a storm expected. I don't see the harm in doing it!"
"Excellent!" Smith clapped his hands together then rubbed his hands. "Ninny, come! Let's get the equipment ready."
The duo went back inside of the Jupiter 2 with Will shaking his head and followed them inside. They quickly packed the equipment with Robot holding the majority of it. He wheeled on ahead of them down the ramp that had smoothed out for his descent. Smith and Will walked on through the environment further and further away until coming toward a barren section of the landing area. Smith and Will set the equipment up for the test run. Will took several last minute inspections of the machine then joined his friend.
"Doctor Smith, how about you do it?"
"No, my dear boy. It is your invention."
"Last time something bad happened because of a cosmic storm." Will said. "I want to start this off with a . . ."
"A sikes," Smith replied.
"I would not mind that." Robot said. "One big avert."
"For once, we agree on this matter, my dear boobed friend." Smith said. "Alright," he took the machine from Will as Penny and Judy came closer to the scene with curious looks. "One. . two-"
"Will, what kind of particle test doing?" Penny asked.
"A particle testing attractor unit," Will replied. "You can watch if you like."
"Can we?" Judy asked.
"You may." Smith said. "Where was I? Right-THREE!"
Smith grinned with a flip of several switches then Chronos reappeared between the doorway scowling back at them and the women gasped.
"Oh, no." Will said. "Not him again!"
"Ah. It's what I thought it was." Smith said. "A time extractor."
"Doctor Smith!" Judy said. "You knew what it really was?"
"Speculation." Smith said. "Needed to test my hypothesis out."
"Let me go!" Chronos called. "Let me go! Let me go!"
Smith approached the older man.
"Professor Chronos, is that correct?" Smith asked.
"Yes, now free me!"
"He is not worth freeing," Will said.
"Don't."
"I have a man in the right position. Can't leave him trapped that way forever, my dear children." Smith replied. "I have a deal I like to arrange."
"You are in no position to make a deal!" Chronos said.
"How I am, I am holding the one machine that can free you." Smith said, wiggling the device.
"What is the deal?" And Will made a dirty glare toward Smith.
"I want to sell a hundred years of my lifetime to Professor Robinson and Doctor Robinson." Penny, Will, and Judy became surprised. "Whatever problems I may be causing for you, I will make up for it." Smith then added in the next breath. "I want to help you in the repairs for your time lab."
Chronos blinked, staring at the younger man, losing his fight.
"Who are you and why are you asking to help?"
"Yes," Penny said. "Who are you?" Will was shaking his head. "Doctor Smith isn't that kind."
"You must be familiar to my counterpart and his companion," Smith said.
"Oh, you're that man." Chronos groaned.
"Tried and true." Smith replied.
"I accept your deal." Smith flipped a switch and another switch.
"Doctor Smith, as much as I like this," Will said. "I don't want you to go."
"Neither do we." Judy said.
"No matter how good the deal is." Penny said.
"Fifty years is more than five." Smith replied. "Fifty years for your mother and father are proportionate."
"It isn't when you will die sooner." Judy said, shaking her head as she joined his side. "You're human. Reformatted or not."
"Hasn't it occurred to you that I am having the time of my life and willing to disembark the ride, my dear Judy?" Smith asked.
"Yes," Judy said.
"Just not this way." Will said. "You're selling your time. It's precious."
"That is what makes this deal worth making, William." Smith said, putting a hand on Will's shoulder looking down toward him fondly. "I want to give your parents as much time afforded with their grandchildren and spend every day in a comfortable existence compared to my ultimate unknown fate."
"Why not we help in repairing the lab?" Penny offered. "You will get it done sooner."
"Doesn't sound that bad." Smith admitted.
"I am only taking one." Chronos said.
"Then you're taking all of us." Judy stepped forward between the men with defiant eyes. "We don't take no for a answer."
Chronos smiled, then Robot wailed, "DANGER! DANGER!" then the time merchant tapped on Judy's head with the scythe and she fell into a trance like state.
"Judith!" Smith cried, dropping the device.
Robot cackled electricity then Chronos suspended the blast in mid-air and sent it back toward Robot knocking him over. Smith began to run but Chronos's scythe was too long and clasped around his neck yanking him back. Will charged toward Chronos and fought to remove the weapon from the merchant's hands. Chronos unraveled the scythe from around Smith's neck then jabbed it against the boy's chest knocking him down to the ground.
"William!" Smith started coming to the boy's side then tugged at his shoulder. "My dear boy, are you alright?"
"Ddddddd-" Will stared, unable to speak, unable to see, his face plastered over by excess skin to Smith's horror.
Penny grabbed the scythe by the end then he sent her back.
"Penelope!" Smith went toward her side. "Penelope! Answer me! Penelope!"
"Mhhhm! Mhhhm! Mhhhm!"
Smith raised his head in horror then turned toward toward Chronos, frantic, and scared.
"Revert them to their forms, please!" Smith plead. "Please!"
"Will you go with me?"
"If you change them to what they had been before,"
Chronos smacked the bottom of the scythe to the ground. Smith brightened up then started to approach the boy with a grin. Smith was halted by a tap from the scythe and fell still. Chronos took the man in a trance state by the hand and went to the archway. Then he tapped on the edge of the lower rings to the archway. Will shook his head then watched as the machine's rings glowed and the women regained consciousness.
"Doctor Smith!" Will cried. "Doctor Smith!"
In the blink of a eye, Smith was gone.
"DOCTOR SMITH!" Penny cried then walked into the arch way and looked around. "Where is he?"
Will picked up the small device on the ground then back up toward the machine.
"He is in the lab." Will said.
Judy looked down toward Will then toward the arch way.
"Where our eternity as ageless versions of ourselves was set in stone." Judy said.
"Judy-"
"We can fix this. We are not bringing Don and father into this trouble." Judy said. "We will tell them what happened. Will, stay back and mind the shop."
"I will." Will replied.
"Robot," Judy said.
"Affirmative." Robot replied. "I will remain and watch over Will Robinson."
"Good." Judy said. "If we are gone long, tell them not to worry and keep the machine up. We are coming back."
"I will." Will said then watched as his sisters went toward the archway and hold hands then grasp on the pillars of the archway.
Then they vanished before their eyes.
"They will come back, Will Robinson." Robot assured. "I know they will."
"Me too." Will said. "If not, I am getting the others."
Eglardo was strolling through the city with his hands in his pocket looking around the area when he spotted a wanted woman walking through the city. Her face was the first thing that made him to pause in his tracks. She turned toward him then smiled, widely, in such a way that all of the hair on his skin rose. Soon after, rage replaced the shocked feeling.
It was a taunting smile back at him.
Then she beckoned him on as she went on among the crowd.
He began to high tail after the unique woman fleeing through the crowded street.
"Haaalt!" Eglardo shouted. "In the name of lady justice!" He took out his laser pistol and waved it in the air. "HALT!"
Then came to a abandoned and dark alley where she stood.
"Well then . . ." Came a familiar voice from the woman.
"Ready to turn yourself in, Vikari?"
"I have a offer." Vikari said. "Come with me, do the one thing that you want the most, and I will turn myself in."
"You have abducted and turned countless number of people without terminal illness into amusement park rides," Eglardo said. "That is a crime."
"A crime it is," Vikari said. "A crime that I paid for in losing a most well kept friendship with Captain Mariza Bronius. But. . ." Vikari approached him with her hands in her lap. "A crime can be forgiven if you have a opportunity to redeem yourself."
"What kind of redemption do you seek?" Eglardo put the laser pistol away.
"The one thing you want to do," Vikari said. "What if I presented you with a opportunity to do the greatest wish that you have wanted since childhood?"
"I am listening." Eglardo folded his arms.
"And you get to do the career that you like." Vikari asked.
"Sounds too good to be true," Eglardo said. "I don't have the time to do that kind of hobby."
"What kind of hobby is that?" Vikari asked, curiously.
"Playing with the multiphasic barrier," Eglardo said. "Just that sort of hobby."
"Sounds like a project," Vikari said. "Not a hobby. Where is the hobby in tinkering?"
"It is in collecting material that would never be found." Eglardo said. "I have my fair share of collection from anomalies."
"That is a very unique collection." Vikari said.
"It is merchandise," Eglardo admitted.
"Now, that is a hobby." Vikari noted with a chuckle.
"It would take years before I could make sure that it is operational and safe for travelers." It only brought a smile upon Vikari's face.
"We have Andronican technology at our disposal." Vikari said. "Tech that has been modified to perform one purpose; to clone."
Eglardo looked upon the older woman weighing what was best to say, skeptically, looking upon her.
"Will you turn yourself in after the operation?" Eglardo asked.
"I have a employer who will pay you handsomely." Vikari said. "Someone who is very high up in the food chain."
"You haven't answered my question, Vikari." Eglardo said.
"I will." Vikari said. "We want your hobby just to work twice, successfully, for two travelers."
"Just two?" Eglardo asked.
"And then . . . all your work. . . everything to be ruined." Vikari said with a slow nod. "That sort of thing should not be allowed to remain open."
"It should be allowed to exist," Eglardo said.
"There would be trouble," Vikari said. "Everything brought here has a consequence. To objects, they don't. To people, they make a large splash and qualities splatter around." Eglardo considered her comment. "They want one man."
"Who?" Eglardo asked.
Vikari smiled, holding back.
"They wish to tell when you have a successful test." Vikari said. "Just a small insignificant person. Nothing more."
"What happens to my clone?" Eglardo asked.
"They get to live and do smaller tests of their own," Vikari said. "They get to make a hobby out of collecting random merchandise from different universes."
Eglardo grinned then held his hand out.
"Deal." Eglardo said.
Vikari shook his hand.
"Excellent." Vikari said. "Let's start the order of business."
And they popped out of existence.
Morning returned to the planet that the Robinsons were calling as a rest stop. A planet that held uncomfortable memories that had been swept away replaced by warmer, fonder, and more pleasing memories with their renewed stay on the planet. They had two tables out set up for the additional guests. The family were sharing grins of their own with the prepared food on the table waiting for the expected guests to come down. Will looked up toward the doorway of the residential deck spotting a familiar figure being joined by the two guests that were, different.
Something was off about them. There were subtle differences in their faces that it went down the road of uncanny valley. The two men grinned then made a bolt for the table sporting on head of the older man. It was then that Will noticed something was different; his hair wasn't gray but a dark brown and the face wasn't quite as welcoming as it had been long ago. Instead of a pair of two friendly eyes, they were wary and cautious. They were ancient eyes with the walls held up. And yet, Will was happy to see him.
"Hello, Doctor Smith," John greeted.
"His name is not Doctor Smith." Replied the companion.
"He isn't?" Penny asked.
"He isn't."
"He has his face." Don said.
"He gets that a lot. Beeelieve me." The men looked toward the counterpart who resembled Smith in so many ways. "Getting him to Fleet Command Control has not been easy. We could do with a guy like him in the war Vega Control wants to start."
"Ry-anne," replied the younger man. "I get the distinct feeling that we shouldn't be talking about these matters."
"They rescued us, Val-tor-ium." Ry-anne replied. "We can talk."
"Vega. . . " John said. "Isn't that in the Alpha Proxima System?"
"Yes." The older man's voice sounded strikingly like him. "It is."
"I don't know who you are mistaking him for this, but this is Isaac." Ry-anne said. "He is a big deal because he was the first man who invented the manu-droids."
"Manu-droids?" Maureen asked.
"Manual operated droids." he slapped the older man's back with a loud laugh then stretched his arm out and squeezed the man's shoulder looking down toward him with a grin. "Aren't you, Isaac?"
"Indeed," was the reply. "I am."
"I like to thank you folks for saving our lives out there." Ry-anne said.
"It is not a problem." Don said. "My wife, Judy, deserves all the credit."
"Thank you, Mrs." Was the reply from Ry-anne.
"Your welcome," Judy said. "Can he talk?"
"He talks very little. Only talks when it is important." His companion stared at the man, perplexed by his own observation, then grinned turning back toward the group.
"Fine by me." Don joked.
"He is what you call a . . ." Ry-anne said. "There is this old Earth phrase. Puppet mangers? Theater prop managers? The people who make objects move in the cloak of dark while watching a play in the theater."
"Ninjas." Penny, Will, and Judy chimed at once.
"Never heard of them." Ry-anne said.
"What planet are you from?" Maureen asked.
"Earth," Val-tor-ium replied with a grin. "2197."
"Two hundred years. . ." Don said.
"What do manu-droids look like?" John changed the subject.
"Six feet tall, bobbed head, arm sockets in the chest, and tank treads." Val-tor-ium replied then shook his head. "Too bad that we had to leave it behind."
"Him." Isaac corrected, sharply. "He preferred to be called he/him/his."
"It was a machine," Val-tor-ium said. Isaac stared back at the man beside him. "Never had life. It was a bunch of bolts, tapes, and metal. You programmed it to act alive."
"Peepo is not a ordinary machine. He is alive to me." Isaac said. His words were softer, kinder, and less arrogant than they had been before. "Even if he may be gone to us forever, you should still respect him in uncertainty."
"Ro-A robot?" Will asked, turning his attention upon Isaac then toward the younger man. "When I hear manu-droid, I think of manual operated android."
"That is because it is," Val-tor-ium replied. "He has unexpected power outages and cannot be alone for long."
"Power outage. . ." John said as Don narrowed his eyes toward the older man. "Why?"
"Hmm," Isaac ate with no answer.
"Because he is junk." Val-tor-ium said.
"And so are you." Isaac said, sharply then Val-tor-ium frowned. "Junk are people who don't use their minds or their hearts but their hate as a weapon."
Isaac fell silent as he resumed eating his food and Ry-Anne looked aside.
"I came across someone a long time ago who was consumed by it," Don spoke up. "It really aged him."
Isaac regarded the man for a moment then resumed eating.
"Really?" Val-tor-ium asked.
"Worked for the Kavalarians," And Isaac stopped, eating momentarily, his eyes flashed open staring at the lieutenant colonel visibly frightened and horrified. "He was there during Judy and I's capture. It was a sticky mess, but we got out of it because of another Smith who was heavily mutated and nearly completed his mutation at that point." Don looked down toward the left at the memory, quite regretful, his hands in a fist that was beneath his chin with his elbows on the table. "Left awhile ago after we helped him put his infection into remission."
"Say, are the Kavalarians still around?" John asked.
"In patches." Isaac replied. "Their empire was conquered."
"What were you running from?" Don asked.
"Vegans." Ry-anne said. "They ambushed us on the way the ship."
"Did anyone know?" Maureen asked. "That you were going after him."
"No." Ry-anne said. "Nothing to be bothered about."
"Why didn't you take Peepo if he is more important than Isaac?" John asked.
"He would destroy us and himself before he would let anyone put their hands on him." Val-tor-ium replied. "Was in the process of doing that before he came along." Val-tor-ium wiggled his finger toward Isaac.
"What makes Peepo so special?" Will asked.
"If you can travel in space then you can make your own protector." Penny agreed.
Ry-anne and Val-tor-ium both smiled, condescendingly, back at Penny as Isaac ate silently and slowly.
"It is a fair question, men." John said. "When we are from, Robot was just off the assembly line."
"That machine has tech that we need to study and replicate for defense purposes. It's the most advanced technology around since the second nuclear war wiped out crafts like yours. Even destroyed every place where advanced technology was made." Will and the family stopped eating looking back toward the duo then back toward their aged friend who was continuing to eat while Ry-anne continued to talk. "Most of our records were destroyed in the nuclear war."
Oh. It made sense then to the Robinsons. They had been forgotten; a perfect opportunity to return home. One that he was taking it leaving them behind to a past that he refused to speak of into detail. And yet, he had still fallen into trouble and paid for the due that gave him a seat aboard the ship.
"Took us ages to get back to telephones, telephone poles, typewriters, but we fought back to a level that we used to be in somewhat before the second nuclear war. All the way back to the 20th century." Ry-anne referred to the craft with a hand motion. "Last ship like that launched for Alpha Centauri at the beginning of the second nuclear war. That very day, actually. All lives were lost aboard the craft as were millions of people. We used to have a steadily going colonization of Alpha Centauri in the 21st century until that day and then . . ."
Ry-anne fell silent with a grim demeanor and couldn't finish the comment.
"Before that day, we colonized Vega. And we had lost contact with them for a hundred years." Val-tor-ium continued for Ry-anne. "Back in 2190, we sent a explorer rocket. They picked him up along the way after getting their course done wrong with bad math." Isaac took in a sharp breath then exhaled with a visible wince at the mention of the past. Uncomfortable memories resurfaced at the reminder. "Took them five years to get back on course."
"Five years. . ." John's eyes were set on the older man who was cutting the sunny side up egg.
"Is a long time." Maureen said.
"It is." Val-tor-ium agreed. "Beamed over every survey they got upon meeting up with a relay probe and that was the first sign that they were alive."
"Sadly, it was Alpha Vega that the crew went to after getting back into familiar territory." Ry-anne said. "Turned out, they had a army waiting when the crew went there. Found out the hard way about our lost history."
"Only three members of the crew got back to Earth control by taking different crafts. Except, this very nuts survivor came back here where they found him and insisted that he was safer than any place in the galaxies. Claimed it was home." Ry-anne looked toward him Isaac. "How old were you? Forty? Thirty?"
"Two hundred forty-nine." Isaac said.
"It was difficult just to convince him to leave with us." Val-tor-ium said. "We are . . . were the rescue team."
"Who needs rescuing ourselves." John said in mirth.
"That is true." Ry-anne said. "I am the commander of the rescue team. Used to be ten of us."
"Lost our security team and our chief of engineering," Val-tor-ium said. "That chief of engineer was also the very same designer of the ship."
"How is your ship?" Penny asked.
"In good condition." Ry-anne said. "Peepo will be waiting for us upon our return."
"Thank you for the pleasant meal, madame." Isaac said, lifting himself up from the chair. "We won't be here long."
"You don't know that." Ry-anne said.
"In fact, I do." Isaac said. "I know this planet better than everyone. I have spent almost a hundred years on this planet."
"Two hundred years." John corrected then looked up toward the unchanged expression on the older man's face. "I am sorry that we left you alone for so long."
"Good-bye." Isaac turned away from him.
"Do you know this man?" Ry-anne asked, getting no answer from Isaac who only walked away from him.
"A long . . . long. . . long time ago." John said as they watched him walk away. "You're in a timeline where he died before he could leave with his life."
"Died from our mistake, not his." Don said. "Before Isaac became quiet, he was a chatter box."
"What did he do to leave?" Ry-anne asked. "In the timeline that we are from."
"I exiled him." John said with a nod. "And never came back."
"Why did you come back?" Val-tor-ium replied. "Why now?"
"We're just visiting old stomping grounds on our way to Alpha Centauri," Maureen said.
"We know the way." Judy said then smiled toward Don and squeezed his hand on the table and he smiled back at her.
"How long have you been in space?" Val-tor-ium asked.
"Close to a thousand years." Will said. "We got to spend five hundred fifty-five years of it with him."
"It ended disastrously." Penny said, softly.
Ry-anne got up to his feet looking down upon the family in pity as did Val-tor-ium.
"This must be Hell," Ry-anne said. "If he is the same man."
"Must be," John agreed. "Seeing dead people being alive again." he tapped his finger on the table looking back. "I can imagine the agony. It's a cruel kind." he paused before adding shifting his attention toward Ry-anne. "We know how it feels."
"We all do." Don added as his features softened.
Val-tor-ium bolted on after the older man leaving a half empty plate and the captain smiled back.
"My friend is the chief of security." Ry-anne said. "Forgive him, he is not the kind of person who looses a mission."
"It is okay." Maureen said. "I happen to live with two men who are the same way."
"Only because we have to keep our eye on it." John said with a laugh.
"We don't need to do that these days." Don said. "Our mission is right before our eyes and we got it in the grip."
"A death grip." Judy said with a smile and Will was the silent member of the family looking on toward where Isaac had gone.
"All we get to do is have some fun." Penny said. "Besides to doing some drilling for fuel."
"Thank you for the understanding. And the morning meal." Ry-Anne said then walked off.
"Can we follow them, mommy, daddy?" Penny and Will asked at once.
"Can we?" Will asked.
"If Isaac wants to keep his space from you," Maureen said. "I expect you to respect him."
"We will." The children nodded.
"Then you may." John replied.
The family grinned then finished their morning meal.
Once they had finished blowing the fire out, Smith came over toward Chronos then tapped on the man's shoulder and stared him down.
"The deal, right. Yes." Chronos said. "I will get them."
"On second thought, I like to trade three hundred years for the Robinsons. 50 for Professor Robinson, 50 for Doctor Robinson, 50 for Major West, 50 for Judy Robinson, 50 for Penny Robinson, and 50 for Will Robinson. Before we start on the repair work."
"That gives you a lifespan of two hundred years." Chronos said scanning through the tapes with his finger then picked it out of the rack with a 'ah ha!'.
"Not if I sell the one hundred ten years span for any children that the children may have themselves and keep the remaining years to live a mortal life." Smith said.
"This is your tape." Chronos held the tape up then gestured toward the rack. "These are the Robinsons. Are you sure about this?"
"I can't travel back in the past." Smith said. "My dear professor. . . If I had, I believe that event would happen later rather than sooner."
"It would." Chronos said.
"Best case scenario, he would be exiled planet side and try to perish alone only to find he can't die. It would be the cruelest of agonies. Very unfair for a man of his standing. They would never come back for him if the circumstance were lethal to the children." Smith elaborated. "He can't get himself to the point of being emaciated."
Chronos snipped off snippets of tape then slipped it on to the wheels and slid them back into their carts.
"And done." Chronos said. "Business the way you want it?"
"Yes." Smith said. "Your lab," he admired the scenery. "Is very admirable."
"Thank you." Chronos said. "My assistant and I kept it in good shape."
"Time is passing out there," Smith said. "Isn't it?"
"Right this moment." Chronos nodded.
"I feel that old man Doctor Smith would be smiling wherever that he is." Then he chuckled. "While one of us remain untouched by Time."
"Speaking of time." Chronos said. "We still have several tapes to catch up on!"
The men walked off from the rack of tapes that read 'Robinsons' with one reading 'Doctor Smith' behind 'Will Robinson'.
Eglardo awoke abruptly then slid up in the tube using his hand to guide the door to the side. The tube across from him was empty. Where was the clone? He looked on spotting Vikari was across from him standing beside it instead of standing beside him. She walked over to his side then smiled.
"Where is the original?" Eglardo asked.
"On his way out," Vikari pointed toward a hovering high definition screen displaying himself walking off through the street whistling. "Are you ready to make a step forward?"
Eglardo paused, observing her, then grinned and nodded.
"I am ready."
Eglardo was helped out of the tube then landed to his feet.
"Where would you like to start?" Vikari asked.
"Somewhere remote," Eglardo said. "Somewhere that a ancient civilization once thrived. A highly advanced one. And I need my storage container on Bilbo Ballad retrieved. It is container 38678y5."
Vikari snapped her fingers then Agethar, from within the dark, went away.
"Consider it done." Vikari said.
"I am very certain that alien advanced technology will help me in the machine's construction and degradement." Eglardo said. "Engineering it will be a different matter entirely."
"I am going to start from the size it is currently-" Eglardo was cut off by Vikari.
"How big is it?" Vikari asked.
"The size of a storage container." Eglardo said.
"Ah. I see." Vikari said, slyly. "That is a lot of work."
"Fairly." Eglardo said. "I am going to need help lifting the equipment into my lab."
"That I can provide with my assistants." Vikari gestured toward Barfar, Neminthar, Lucethar, their yellow large eyes trained on him. The group were lightly covered in armor that complimented their red scaled skin, red silky long johns, and their bulky, rough, and wide faces with spikes along their square jaw. "They come very recommended from a friend of mine."
Eglardo grinned.
"My name is Liam de la Eglardo of the province of Saclaptu of Jagala." Eglardo said. "We may have a long and rich friendship if you want it."
"We won't fail you." Lucethar said. "Sir."
Eglardo's grin only grew then he laughed.
"Doctor Smith!" Judy called.
Smith raised his head up from the tape and jumped back with a startle then turned toward Judy caught by surprise a great deal of time after trading his tapes for her family.
"Judith!" Smith looked up, alarmed then finished snipping off the excess tape and dropped it into the recycle bin beside him then smiled at seeing her alive and well. His face grew troubled after the relief of uncertainty fell away. "Why are you here?"
"We said that we would help." Judy said.
"My dear." Smith started. "It will take a very long time."
"We are Robinsons, Doctor Smith." Penny replied as she arrived and Smith withdrew his hands from Judy. "It won't take long."
"If it does," Judy said. "Takes long as it takes."
"Children . . ." Smith said, touched. "I. . ." he sniffled once then twice then thrice as the women began to grin. "I. . ."
"Can we give you a hug, Doctor Smith?" Penny asked as Smith flicked a tear off.
Smith nodded with a sniffle.
"Yes." Smith said.
It was immediate being caught in a hug by the women. He smiled, his hands clenching on to their figures, feeling their warmth and kindness. He stepped back then beckoned them on to the lab that was in ruins. Chronos was in a bad mood as he was putting out the flames from a experimental machine that had fallen apart with gadget, gears, and motherboards. A faint time portal appeared before Smith's eyes watching the events transpire.
"Doctor Smith, that's you." Penny said. "And is that Will?"
"That's a alternate timeline." Smith said. "And yes."
"How can you tell?" Penny asked.
"There is no Jupiter 2 where I just said 'oh shit'." Smith grimaced. "They're hopelessly lost on a planet out of their own time because one boy wants to find his father."
Smith came to the last remaining part of the machine then gave it a kick and the moving image vanished. He kicked at it repeatedly until there was a fairly large dent. He knelt down to his feet and began to sob. Penny reached her hand out then put it on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. His sinister themed hands reached out then clenched on to her hand in appreciation.
Penny came to his side then helped up, wordlessly, then they lifted the machine out of the ground tilting it sideways. They proceeded to unscrew the machine then use a small hammer to smooth it back out to the way it had been before then cleaned it up with Judy's assistance and a rag. They were part of many assistants scouring through the wreckage trying to find parts that could be salvaged. They cleaned off the burns to several of the other machines and provided several trips to the time store to replace the damaged parts that was distant but a trek well worth the passage.
Judy looked on toward the mountains of Time observing the layers of blue and the barren trees standing as a field with clocks that still needed replaced.
Judy picked up a clock then took out the shattered glass with care and chucked it over her shoulder.
"You need some cleaning and repair." Judy said as she rubbed the shoot off with her small rag.
The wound had long healed but it was a chronic pain for the family. The pangs in their hearts were ones that could not be ignored. At seeing him, alive and well, walking around keeping his distance away from them. It was agonizing how he ignored them. And as one of the men had said, it must be agonizing for him not to let them in as he had done before and allow his heart to be broken by his own hands. Maureen could only pity him from afar.
She looked up from the garden finishing up the last bits of her chore when she saw Will, Debbie the Bloop, and Penny returning without the men while Judy was nursing Joshua. She started to smile but it faded once noticing her daughter's sleeves were torn as were her stockings, boots, with long fine cuts reveal beneath her skin. She loudly gasped then came to her daughter's side and Judy let out a shrill shriek noticing the wounds on her.
"Penny, are you okay?" Maureen asked, her hands on the young girl's shoulder.
"A little stung," Penny said.
"Come inside," Maureen guided the chimpanzee and the young woman into the Jupiter 2.
"Will, what happened?" John turned his attention down toward the boy as he came away from the table with Don by his side.
"We tripped off a animal trap, and, we chased after her and we had a difficult time getting her out of the hunter's trap." Will admitted.
"A hunter's trap?" John asked. "How did that happen?"
"We were racing Val and Ry," Will said. "Isaac refused to be part of it. Saying he was too old to do that sort of thing."
"Alright," John said. "What happened next?"
"Val and Ry came to blows over the hunter's refusal to return her. They didn't want to make you angry dad and they thought they could handle it on their own." Will said. "They were really frantic at the thought of bringing chaos and leaving a bad mark on us."
"Chaos," Don said. "Sounds right up Smith's alley."
"He wasn't the one instigating the chaos,"
"What was he doing in the mean time?" Don asked.
"Taking his time following us. We did sprint ahead of him." Will admitted. "Left him in the dust."
"Okay." The men said.
"How did you solve the problem?" John asked.
"The hunter was going to kill them when Isaac caught up with us and his shriek caused the hunter to stop what he was doing," Will said. "Long time since I heard his scream that way."
"Was it the cowardly shriek, the horrified shriek, gleeful shriek," Don listed. "Or was it the one where he shouted 'no' in protest?"
"It was the no shriek." Will said. "Then The hunter and Isaac talked. Isaac did most of the talking. Apologizing for them and pleading for their life. And offered to help him set up the intruder trap. That is what they have been doing for the past few hours."
"Thank you, Will." John said.
"You won't guess what I am making for dinner!" Don said.
"Boston cream pie?" Will asked.
"Chicken pot pie and cheesecake!" Don announced.
"It was teamwork regarding the cheesecake." John laughed. "Cheesecake is for desert. Go wash up, we will be having dinner soon."
"Yes, sir!" Will made a bolt for the stair steps and went up into the residential deck.
Don turned toward John.
"He has changed." Don said. "He didn't run away. He stayed behind to fix the trouble."
John turned toward Don then nodded.
"A part of me doesn't want to know how much this planet has changed him." John said. "But, I will have to face it."
"I am scared about that, too." Don admitted. "If we knew that leaving him behind on that planet would have prevented this entire fiasco-"
"I would have left him behind in a heart beat," John said. "As much as I wouldn't like it; he would have been still around to be a thorn in our side."
"MY side you mean," Don corrected. "A symbiosis relationship would still be possible for the family."
"It's still possible," John said. "He has learned."
"John," Don warned. "Remember, we met 3122 and 102?"
"I remember," John said, grim. "They are not easy to forget."
"Right after Smith lost his ring on Gulbaris to the kleptomaniac," Don said. "Imagine if those people didn't exist to come back in and fix the mess that this decision that you make because Will and I are dead there."
"The way, I see it, Major." John said. "He is dead here. We would be correcting our continuity with his presence."
"Right. . . I forgot about that." Don said then laughed with his hands on his hips. "I will check on the chicken pot pie."
Don returned into the Jupiter 2 then John looked on toward the terrain scanning the horizon half expecting to find Isaac returning with Robot.
"We're done!" Penny announced.
"Heavens, that felt to be months." Smith said, relieved. "Months of work."
"Mother is wondering where we must be." Judy said. "I can do with being underneath a clear blue sky and clouds."
"So can I." Penny agreed. "Even seeing the distant moon can do."
"Let us keep them not waiting." Smith put his arms around their shoulders with a grin as they walked away from the lab. "Shall we, my dear girls?"
"Hold on a prototype planet," Chronos said. "We haven't caught up with time."
"What do you mean, my dear sir?" Smith asked.
"I mean to say is that since you stopped catching up for me, we have a backlog that has to be caught up." Chronos said. "And I need help. If you won't help me then I will be forced to take certain steps."
"Then how might I be your service? It was my counterpart's fault that your lab went haywire," Smith said. "It is a matter that must be mended properly."
"For a eternity." Chronos said. "What is left of your eternity that wasn't sold for every member of the family."
The women's heads raised up in shock then turned toward Smith.
"Every member!" Judy said.
"He has to be exaggerating," Penny said.
"I have the lifespan of one Earthling by my side." Smith said, softly.
"You have little time on the plane of existence you come from if you go back compared to your family." Chronos said.
"A eternity?" Smith asked looking up toward Chronos with a sigh that made him sulk. "Is that right?"
"Yes." Chronos said. "A eternity is a price to your deal."
Smith observed the women then turned his attention on to Chronos.
"Then I am willing to stay." Smith said.
"How much time did he sell for everyone?" Penny asked. "We can straighten this out."
"Close to four hundred to five hundred years." Chronos said. "Fifty per person."
"Give back a handful of those years and we will go back to our planet, find someone willing to help, then send them on their way." Judy said. "This can be cleaned up nice and tidy."
"Or we can help you with catching up." Penny suggested.
"A entire family effort." Judy said.
"I have a handful of people in my debt," Chronos said. "People like him who need to pay for their actions. So no! Go home."
"No." Judy refused.
"We won't move until you accept our help." Penny said.
It was done in a matter of seconds, and they were frozen, standing before him in a trance state.
"Judy, Penelope!" Smith waved his hand in front of their eyes then shook them by their shoulders, desperately, pleadingly. "Wake up. Please." He shook Judy by the shoulder as she remained stiff staring toward him. "I beg of you. Speak."
"They are never going to speak," Chronos said.
Smith turned toward Chronos.
"Send them back!" Smith plead. "For heaven's sake, let them go and send them back." he approached Chronos, pleadingly, insistently. "Send me back then I can tell them the whole arrangement. If the professor knew it is my choice then the machine will be taken down after my departure and I will be allowed to help you without any interruption."
"No." Chronos said. "Time is of the moment! We must get to work! Quickly! Time loops must be running wild out there!"
Chronos walked on past Smith who only looked on toward the girls with his hands in his lap, helplessly, whimpering.
"Doctor Smith," Chronos said, exasperated then used the scythe to yank him away.
Smith shrieked
The trio returned that night, after dinner, after the children.
"Isaac, you said that you would find it." Val-tor-ium whined.
"Dear captain, we almost did." Isaac said. "If it weren't for the young girl getting her boot stuck in the barbed wire around a alien dog then we would be in the right position to continue our search."
"Why can't we do in the night?" Ry-anne asked.
"Predators of this planet are out and about," Ry-anne and Val-tor-ium yawned at once. "As you elegantly put it, you are too tired."
"He is right." Maureen said. "We have met a few of them. Welcome back," the force field generator was deactivated and the men walked in except for Isaac who remained where he was away from her. "Isaac. . ."
John came down the residential deck staircase and joined Maureen's side.
"Why don't you come in?" John asked, putting his hand on the side of Maureen's waist.
The older man's blue eyes looked toward the madame then back toward the professor.
"You know that I and your family cannot be in the same place. Wounds only come, the disaster of losing your family, condemning them to worse fates. I am a liability. You said that yourself." The professor and the matriarch were silent as they listened to what the older man had to say. "That is what I have been and always will be."
"Not to the people who are taking you to Earth." Maureen said. "After everything they went through."
"Liability brings trouble and they want it." Isaac said. "You are colonists not officers."
"What about you?" John asked. "What are you?"
"A necessity." Isaac replied.
"You are not a necessity to us." Maureen said. "You're our friend."
"You don't want it." John and Maureen was reminded by Isaac. "You exiled me."
"That was the other me." John said. "Back then, certain things hadn't happened yet."
"It's not in your interest for me to come back." Isaac reminded.
"Is it in your best interest to come back?" John asked.
He got no answer from the older man who was mulling it over, reflecting, looking aside.
"Is it peaceful?" Isaac asked.
"There are no wars." John said.
"No wars." Isaac repeated.
"Yes." Maureen nodded.
"It would be." Isaac said. "Although, I do owe the fallen crew to finish the mission."
"What are you going to do this time for the military?" John asked. "Sabotage your own creation? Spin the war in someones else favor if they pay you right?"
The older man paled then he grew concerned.
"What did you do, professor? Force him to say it before he was ready?" He was crest fallen in a way that Maureen and John hadn't seen. "Is that why he is dead?"
"No-"
"You know." Isaac said with certain weight to it. "Whatever circumstance lead to it will happen again. That means I cannot stay among your family."
"But, it won't." Isaac glared him down then John admitted. "It would."
"I have changed for the better." His words were soft and sincere. "And I can't go back to that world even if I wanted to. I can't do it." he shook his head. "Every time that I look at the boy, all I see is what I what I did to him." He shook his head, pitying, regretful, then turned his attention aside. "I will never let another child get that close to me."
"Never is a long time." Maureen said.
"I will make sure that my social circle doesn't heavily feature one should I be forced into a situation I used to be in."
It were words that stung.
"Smith. . ." John said.
"It was a mistake." Maureen said.
"For as long as I shall live." Isaac said.
"Are you sure-"
"It is the only way to prevent history from happening a second time and you know how badly it hurts parents."
John and Maureen became silent for a moment.
"Do you regret it?" Maureen asked. "How it ended?"
"Leaving your family that morning was the best thing that I did." Isaac raised his head up.
"You didn't answer her question."
"And no, I do not." Was the reply followed by a sour smile. "And I find that I am happier liking myself."
"I regret that decison." John said.
"So do I." Maureen added.
"Every day." John said.
The older man held his hand up appearing insulted.
"You had that opportunity to come back. You lost it." he lowered his hand then linked it behind it back with his other hand. "Now, you have to live with it for the rest of your life as I do."
"What opportunity did you lose to apologize for?" John asked.
"Professor." was the reply that the older man had staring at him, exasperated.
"Oh. . ." Then John laughed, finding it amusing, putting his hands on his hips with a grin. "You never did confess."
"And I am not about to confess to someone who isn't the Professor Robinson that I know." Isaac asked.
"Hey, dudes!" Ry-anne asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Hover boarding," John covered for him as the older man began to relax. "Just hover boarding."
"Discussing how it would be a more convenient form of transport on the hills," Isaac replied.
"You had a full length conversation that didn't involve less than a hundred words for once?" Ry-anne asked in shock.
"Yes." John said.
"Good job." Ry-anne said. "He chastises me." He chuckled. "Are you coming in?"
"He isn't." Maureen said.
"I will get the sleeping bag." John returned.
"Then so am I!" Ry-anne followed after John.
Maureen reached a hand out then placed it on to his shoulder and squeezed it.
"It is not easy letting go the thought of you coming back with us to Alpha Centauri." Maureen admitted. "But, I find it is easy letting you go down a very important path."
"We all made mistakes, madame." Isaac said.
"Good-bye, Isaac." Maureen said. "It is who you are now." Isaac offered small smile then gently squeezed her hand and let go retreating it into his lap. "Not what you were."
John and Ry-anne returned then Isaac was handed his sleeping bag and he looked up.
"Good-bye, Isaac." Judy said.
Isaac was surprised to see her instead of the professor then smiled back.
"Good-night, dear." Isaac turned away then walked on joined by his companion.
With little trouble, Will and Penny went aboard in their PJ's very early before everyone else woke up then found where the men were camping at late that next morning then left some rations for them. He looked toward the snoring older man resting his back against the wall holding something small. The item fell as he turned to his side and it fell to the floor. Penny picked it up then had a small gasp and Will joined her side.
"Look," Penny whispered, softly.
"It's the photograph we took in 2000." Will whispered.
"So he didn't lose his copy after all." Penny said.
"I didn't find any family photograph copies in his cabin after he passed," Will said.
"Unless," Penny started. "He kept one photograph on him always."
Will looked toward the snoring older man confused but heartbroken by the barrier that he had set up between him and his family.
"We are right here." Will whispered. "Why doesn't he come back if he want to?"
"Daddy talked to him last night." Penny whispered. "He may know why."
"We should do that." Will agreed. "After breakfast."
"I like the sound of that." Penny said.
"Penny," Will noted as he closed the device. "This photograph looks so alive. It's like. . ."
"Magic." Penny said, placing the object on the container. "That is what it is."
"It's like a little pocket dimension that we can put our finger into." Will said.
"Let's go home." Penny whispered.
"Yeah." Will said. "Let's do that."
They walked out of the tunnel then Isaac raised up watching them leave, yearningly, but heartbroken.
It was crawling to the afternoon when the men departed from their sleeping grounds. Will and Penny watched as they went toward a large crater with a hole leading down. Isaac was the first to descend then slide down into the tube with ease and a laugh sliding down throwing his hands in the air having the time of his life. Isaac was the first to crash down to the ground and land to his two feet then walk on. There were a series of ridges that acted as a climbing tool up above the slippery slide.
"See?" Isaac asked. "I found it as I said that I would."
"That, you have." Ry-anne said. "What a nifty lab." Ry-anne admired the technology decorating the cavern. "Turns out our work in progress stasis tubes are going in the right direction."
"Very." Val-tor-ium agreed as he went further in behind Ry-anne.
"This machine has its caveats." Isaac said.
"What is it?" Val-tor-ium asked.
"A life for a life." Isaac looked up from the console once dusting it off. "One life acts as the beacon home and the passenger is returned safe and sound."
"But?" Ry-anne asked.
"The beacon goes out."
"A life for a life . . ." Ry-anne said. "How many passengers?"
"One." Isaac reported. "One of you can easily be acquainted to Peepo with some assurances."
Val-tor-ium folded his arms glaring on toward the older man.
"Bull shit!" Val-tor-ium exclaimed. "YOU are the GODDAMN MISSION, you shifty wacko! No way in hell I am letting you stay behind!"
Val-tor-ium was tapped on the shoulder then he froze as he stepped forward toward the older man.
"You," Ry-anne said as the older man's eyes lifted up toward him. "Get in the beacon tube."
"I am surprised." Isaac said. "You? I didn't take you for a Vegan."
Ry-anne wiped off the make up to reveal the stripe on the side of his face.
"I have always been a Vegan." Ry-anne said. "We are better than you Terrans."
"Yes, you are." Isaac agreed. "Capable of freezing anyone with a touch . . . Must be very useful for those annoying you."
"And we will make Earth great again." Ry-anne said.
"Those are very. dangerous. words." Isaac said.
Ry-anne gestured toward the tube then Isaac obediently went into the tube. Isaac turned around then faced the lobby of the lab keeping himself composed but he was visibly trembling. Ry-anne went to the console as the children came in the front entrance. He turned the machine on then made a bolt for it toward the lab and hopped inside. The door closed before him then he grinned in excitement.
Will and Penny came to the console then watched as the pod glowed a bright gold on and off. In the blink of a eye, Isaac vanished and was replaced by someone else strikingly familiar to them, only aged by thirty years, sliding the door to the pod open. Will was stunned with widened eyes spotting that he had shrunk in height and his hair had grayed over completely.
Ry-anne watched as the pod door was forced open by the elderly man with widened terrified eyes.
"Who are you?" Ry-anne asked.
The man silently directed the man out of the tube then turned toward the small gathered group.
"Doctor Zachary Smith." Smith replied. His voice had changed in ways that Will hadn't known were possible; his voice was different, but his emphasis on his name was the same. "I am the last survivor of a destroyed timeline."
Will and Penny's eyes widened, exchange a glance, destroyed timeline?
"I sacrificed myself to time to stop Mariza Bronius from getting them out of the time transport and take their place, change the course from the recently launched Jupiter 2, and the course of her personal history as well. I sacrificed myself to save them." he shook his head, bitterly. "Instead, I turned the people I loved into unrecognizable versions of themselves. And doomed any sort of relationship with them."
He looked down with a sigh.
"I shouldn't have fallen into that time hole to stop her and instead fell into the final variation of my own destroyed timeline."
He looked toward Ry-anne.
"That matter isn't really important-I distinctively feel that your companion is not performing any bitter sweet sacrifice."
"You shouldn't be possible." Ry-anne said, in horror.
"I am quite aware of that. It consumed me. Regurgitated me. And since then," he shrugged. "I have a odd connection with the creature of Time since intertwining my fate with the appalling spider humanoid." He approached the man and eyed at him. "What is your reason invading her?"
"To go home." Ry-anne asked.
"And?"
"Be a hero." Ry-anne said.
He stared at Ry-anne, exasperated.
"You have no reason to be a hero sacrificing someone you were trying to kill, my dear sir." He lifted a brow then smiled. "Time is filling me in."
"Doctor Smith?" Will said. "Is that you?"
Smith reached his hand out then shook it with his attention toward Ry-anne.
"Time would like to do one thing with you. " Smith said.
"Anything!" Ry-anne said.
"This way." Smith said walked into the tube that Isaac had once been in.
Then Smith slid the door open and shoved Ry-anne in.
"Hey!"
"Congratulations, you have just won a eternity in Hell." He turned away as Ry-Anne smacked the door. "Hello there," Smith began to smile turning toward the two. "You must be, er." he tapped on his chin, unsure at first, then he smiled. "Of course! The William and Penelope of this universe."
"Oh. . ." Will said.
"You're not that Doctor Smith." Penny said.
"Right, you met the result of my sacrifice." Smith replied then grimaced, regretfully. "The anti-matter version."
"Did it end on a bad note?" Penny asked. "In the pro-matter universe? The original pro-matter universe?"
"No, my dear child." Smith replied with a small but aged reassuring smile down toward her with his hands clasped in his lap. "It ended on a good note. A triumphant but redemptive note." he shook his head in disappointment. "The only good note that became a bad note in the end. . ."
"Can't you stay?" Will asked.
"I can't, my dears." Smith replied, sorrowfully with a shake of his head. "Four Doctor Smith's running around never ends well."
"F-f-f-f-four?" Penny said, stumbled.
"Technically,one." Smith amended. "But it's four no matter how you see it."
"FOUR?" Will exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
"We have none." Will said with a shake of his head. "Are you counting Daddy Zach?"
"No." Smith replied, wistfully smiling down upon the children.
"Then how is there three of them," Will said. "Unless. . ." Will frowned then it dawned on him. "He is alive."
"He is alive!" Penny said. "Gosh! How long? How long has he been alive and we haven't known?"
"Ooops. My bad." He turned away, apologetically, sheepishly then looked on spotting a large forming time bubble before him. "And no."
"No, what?" Will asked.
"There are two people who know and one of them isn't aware that they are." Smith said.
"What kind of obliviousness is that?" Will asked.
"They won't look alike." He grinned clapping his hands together then rubbed them together. "Excuse me, the professor and William are preparing to celebrate the major's birthday." he looked toward his left with a fond smile. "I can hear them calling for me."
"Smith, get in here, you made this alcohol birthday cake." Came a different man's voice. "Help us lift it to the upper deck!"
"Doctor Smith, I need help adding the last bits of decoration to the galley." Came a voice older than the other man.
"Smith." The younger man said. "Are you there?"
"Adieu, children." Smith hugged them, unexpectedly. "You will love and hate what the universe has in store for your kind of happy ending."
"Stop hitting yourself!" Penny watched as a tall pitch black being covered in scales smacked a man against the floor like a rag doll. "Stop hitting yourself!" The creature dropped the older man then approached him with a sinister grin. "Oh, right," He loomed over the man's figure. "I am YOU!"
Flashes of time crossed their eyes.
"You are a DANGER to EVERY planet YOU STEP FOOT on. You are a PLANET KILLER! How many planets have to die because of fossil fuels? HOW MANY? How many animals have to be driven to extinction! Burned alive by forest fires, boiled alive by extreme heat, children struggling to breathe and developing asthma that kills them because YOU make it EXPENSIVE."
"Alpha Prime A was your second chance and you killed it in two hundred years instead of using renewable energy! The sun was your friend and you ignored her! IGNORED HER. None of this computes. This is not what the Robinsons died for. You are leading the effort to use fossil fuels to kill a planet on the third try to do better. You will not live to continue to lead that effort." Then there was sound of loud plasma firing.
Pieces at random.
Will appeared walking the multiphasic barrier.
It was hard to blink watching it happen.
"A human body can't withstand radiation."
"My body can, major." Attention focused on to Smith. "I am a reformatted human."
The events were transpiring like scenes out of a movie.
"Wait, please! One moment!" The younger Smith protested as he was shoved into a strange pod. "One moment!" Binds wrapped around his hands and legs making it hard to get off. "There is someone who doesn't belong among in this universe on Earth!" he struggled to free himself then watched as the pod door closed and his eyes widened in horror. "Someone, LISSSSTTTTTEEEENN TO ME." His eyes were masked by a strange visor object and his frantic demeanor faded then he fell asleep.
Will's eyes widened as he watched the montage play out with the man remaining in stasis.
The pod remained inactive until the door abruptly opened and he was dragged out by a pair of hands that lead him into the large and gloomy bridge. He crashed with a thud to the ground. He lifted himself up to spot the major of the anti-matter universe beside Jeb.
"If you like to space him, you can do it to this version."
"I like this welcoming present."
Smith shrieked as he tried to crawl away then stagger to his feet.
"Ooooh no, you don't!" West yanked him back and Smith whimpered.
"Jeb, spare me! Spare me! Jeb!"
"Have fun." Jeb walked out.
"JEEEB!"
The layered air lock door was sent open and Smith crashed to the ground.
"Major, don't! Don't! Listen to me for one moment!"
West smiled, staring from the other side, then began to put in the command.
"One moment."
"There is a young man version of Will Robinson running around and if I am suspect that I am right-there will be someone or someones very furious at you if you press that button!"
"I would be doing them a favor." West said.
"You wouldn't be doing them a favor. Not in the least. Not yourself."
"I am going to let you suffocate to death in the air-lock." he pointed toward the older man. "If your fantasy doesn't happen in the next three hours, you're dead meat, and you'll be ejected out of the ship."
"Don't let your anger consume you. This time." Smith plead. "I had to throw you to spare the Don West. The one who had more control over his anger than you. If you do that, you would be a Major West. If you don't-you will never be Don West. Someone who never trusted a door that COULD NOT HAVE POSSIBLY BE ABLE TO SAAAAABBBBBOOOOOTAAAAAAAGEEEEE."
"You're wasting oxygen." West said.
"It is worth wasting to me. Now go, enjoy your newfound future," Smith said, dismissively. "but remember; I saved the mission. You made the mission a failure dragging me along to the ship where I come from."
"Where you come from?" West asked.
His disguise lowered then West's eyes flashed open and he stepped back at the man in his forties with three eyes.
In the last trade off of events passing through their minds, they saw how things could have gone. Smith and Will making it to the space pod before Bronius shot him down then returning to the Jupiter 2 with hugs, laughter, precious pearls of warmth and love. Of returning to the Jupiter 2, fleeing the planet that could have been a tragedy, and a over due conversation ready to be had.
Of Smith being the only survivor watching the Robinsons be slain by Bronius. All while a shot to the back temporarily had paralyzed him. It was only his head being able to move watching them be killed in the firefight remaining back on the planet for him. A decisive but defiant and bold battle that resulted in a demise standing for who they were. And Smith leaving the planet briefly then returning with Robot to bury the Robinsons; shovel, coffins, and all.
Of Smith leaving the planet, arriving to Tekuchi Seven, coming across Mr Cackler, a explosion that destroyed what little balanced world Smith had left. Of Robot wheeling away from him for his protection. Of Smith being a shadow of himself and taking the freezing tube for the rest of the ride to the space station. Of Smith going to Smythe's bar to nurse the wound in his heart. Of Smith being outraged at the mention of Professor John Robinson in a negative light and going on to calmly humiliate Officer Eglardo. Of Smith seeing a person back from the dead but younger and shriek then flee. Only to be forced to cross paths with them time and time again until they had to be in each other's orbit and make the flight to Alpha Centauri with a lie that the Robinsons faces and ages were changed by a recent adventure.
Of Smith being found out at the rescheduled launch of his treachery, facially scarred from the premature rampage, sneaking aboard to escape the consequences during the rescheduled but much later launch by accident, of being exiled for stranding them, and everything more complicated; yearning to go home but unable to. Then going on to forge his own idea of home away from home. Of reconciliation of the potential reality they weren't going to let him go with them to Gamma and send a ship after him to apprehend him to return to Earth. Of the similarities between the two timelines being similar in one aspects, there was one; Robot going after Smith as a companion.
All the while fourteen year old Will participated in the repairs and the activities of the men. A sharp contrast to the way his relationship with the older man had been. The similarities sharply ended in the trader and Smith was allowed to be taken in the middle of the night after trading himself for Robot's mistake to help him with the food short age.
Only trading himself because of the scorn of the Robinsons not giving him a chance to explain that he had been trying to fish during that time. And Robot's tapes regarding Doctor Smith were wiped clean before being returned to the Jupiter 2. And Robot found out when it was too late of the older man's departure. Then weeks later, Robot took one last look of the Jupiter 2 - after putting Robbie the Robot back together for the sole task of protecting the Robinsons while he was gone - then went into the night and went after Smith. The Robinsons promptly followed months later with no news or sign of Robot's return and searched for him.
Of Smith sacrificing himself for the keeper, without the need of the creatures being released, to spare the children from becoming collected. The very same timeline where decades later they went after Smith with a star chart to the Keeper's planet and retrieved him from a lonely fate. Fighting against everything, practically the universe itself, trying to yank him out of their lives and back into the hands of the keeper until the battle was won by their sheer tenacity.
In similar timelines like it where he left with the Keeper by accident while trying to lift the ship off to Earth, Robot escaping in the nick of time, and all alone in the ship Smith suffered a nervous breakdown. They got him back three decades later, crashed on another planet because of his abrupt episode, and they started to treat him for his nervous breakdown. It was difficult helping him out of the pit with aliens appearing weekly but one that that they fought and made sure he was back on his two feet, alive, and well, fighting against his personal pet fears of being abandoned was the last step to helping him back into a proper state of mind when they were preparing to launch for Earth upon repairs.
Will watched the older man step back and turn away with a sigh.
"Why did you show us those timelines, Doctor Smith?" Penny asked, wiping a tear off.
"To show you how lucky you were." Smith replied. "You had everything, children."
"Everything?" Will said. "Getting to Alpha Centauri without him isn't everything."
"You had a second chance to get to Alpha Centauri and you took it," Smith said. "You fought for it. You had help with a shady character. You befriended him. And he backed you up at every corner when you backed him up in his troubles until the very end. You had everything and the most cruel kind of ending to that story."
"W-w-w-w-we did." Penny sniffled.
"He was a good friend." Will said.
"All the good moments." Smith continued. "How you changed him in good ways and made the experience being in space a little more tolerable with him."
"He made it easy," Penny said. "Too easy."
"Tried to shove us away after each time that he got into trouble and was mean in the first year," Will reflected. "Only showed that he cared." Then he added with a fond chuckle. "It became kind of endearing."
"Someone worth getting to know," Penny said over the man's gravel laughter. "However long he was with us."
Smith observed them with a small smile.
"Adieu, my dear children." Smith said. "You were the best people that I had to wrong to save in a long time."
Smith turned away with a sniffle then turned his attention on and made his way on. And this time, it didn't hurt as much of him leaving as he walked into the time bubble. He joined the surprised men then helped them lift it into the elevator that was a widened version of the elevator car. It resembled a large mechanical lift than the one they were familiar to in many aspects.
They watched the bubble vanish before their eyes then Penny took Will's hand and gave it a squeeze. They stood there in silence for several minutes as Ry-anne frantically smacked against the door until he popped out of existence and his pod was glowing brightly. Suddenly, Val-tor-ium moved staggering forward then looked on in fear toward the tube and let out a furious but heartbroken scream and fell down to his knees. Val-tor-ium sobbed paying little attention to the events happening around him.
"Val, young man, what seems to be the problem?" Isaac asked.
Val-tor-ium looked up toward the source of the voice with widened eyes, Isaac looming over him with his hands linked behind his back, then spotted the tube was no longer glowing.
"You're back!" He got up to his feet then grinned, widely, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.
Isaac looked around then tilted his head lifting his brow.
"For heaven's sake, what has you shook up?" Isaac asked, concerned.
"Ry-anne." Val-tor-ium paled.
"Oh. I remember now." Isaac shook his head, disturbed. "Seemed like a daydream."
Val-tor-ium grasped Isaac's startled figure then the older man relaxed.
"It hasn't changed much from the console that you were once familiar to." Val-tor-ium said. "From what I have seen." Isaac relaxed then returned the hug closing his eyes.
"Val. . ."
"I am sorry about what I said."
"I forgive you."
"You can get this all nipped in the bud."
"I can, my dear friend."
Isaac had a small chuckle then stepped back out of the hug then faced the children, mournfully, but, ruefully. His features softened to pride upon the growing children with certain bittersweet fondness.
"We know that you can't stay." Will said.
"Then why did you come?" Isaac asked.
"To give you a better farewell." Penny said. "Daddy didn't really give you the chance to say it to our faces."
"I didn't give anyone a chance with that certain mistake." Isaac said. "I destroyed the lab decades ago to make sure no one else suffered." Then he tended to the comment. "My friends did." he looked back fondly rubbing his chin. "I wasn't quite awake with that mask on my face."
"You went in it." Will said.
"A simple mistake." Isaac said. "I tried to stop it from happening again. I didn't anticipate being magnetized to the assembly line. . . and I fear they did," then he quietly added. "Too."
"Even if we never came back for you, I am sure that we will missed you terribly and it gave us a really bad heartache." Will said.
"Me too," Penny said. "Good-bye, Isaac Gampu."
Penny held a hand out then Isaac's larger hand took hers and shook it. He shook Will's hand as well. It was a slow handshake that felt different compared to the other handshakes that Will had done. The handshake felt a little more special to him.
"Good-bye, Commander Gampu." Will said, once withdrawing his hand.
"Good-bye." Isaac said then bowed his head with a grin and warmth mixed with fondness upon them. The fondness was so great that the reference of title was ignored. "Young man. Young woman."
He turned away then walked on into the tube from across, and Ry-anne stood. This time, they both vanished at once. Penny and Will were all alone. Will took Penny's outstretched hand and gave it a squeeze. They exchanged a smile then began to perk up and grin.
"Let's tell everyone the news," Penny said.
"This will make everything feel fetter," Will said with a rapid short nod.
With renewed spirits, they tore toward the entrance.
Smith helped Chronos catch up with time as he removed strips of tape at a time along with other people in Chronos's debt. Smith realized, eventually why he was so insistent on keeping him, most of the people here were clumsy with scissors. And he had to sew up their fingers then watch as they worked as if they were never separated at all with no scar. A matter of minutes of operation and it healed as if years had passed by. Speaking of years, he would look at the women trapped in a trance state and continue mulling about how the matter of their freedom.
As Smith had started earlier, he nagged Chronos at every moment that he could snatch about freeing one of them and the professor sent him away to other tapes that needed to be handled after declining. Smith sulked during his task and his shoulders felt tense being hunched together that way. Smith paused, hearing the familiar voice of a boy call for him, he turned away from the tapes as the other debtors stopped what they were doing then looked on toward the pathway leading out. He stepped forward, his eyes scanning the dark, until his eyes widened in the viewable darkness seeing a familiar orange glowing grill standing out against the dark.
"Doctor Smith, come here little frightened man. Come here little frightened man."
"Doctor Smith!"
Smith grinned.
"William! Gunter!"
Smith ran toward him.
"Doctor Smith!"
Robot bobbed his helmet up.
"There you are, frightened little man!"
Before they could crash in a reunion hug, Chronos appeared and slid his scythe between them.
"No. He has a debt to pay for what he did. He can't come right now. He isn't done."
"When is he going to be done?"
"Not for a long time. There is a lot of history that hasn't been combed through. Lots of it."
"It feels like it has been three hours since Doctor Smith, Penny, and Judy came back." Will said.
"Feels like three hours. . ." Smith began to grin and radiate. "Feels like it has been three hours! FEEELS LIIIKE IT HAASSS BEEN THREEEE HOOOOOUURS!"
"It has been three hours and forty-three minutes since your departure," Robot reported.
"I like my sisters back if you can't let Doctor Smith return."
"Please, do." Smith said. "As I have been lobbying for three miserable hours. Let them live. They haven't had their time. I have. I won't go. I promise."
Chronos eyed at the man.
"Do I have your word?" Chronos asked.
"You do." Smith said.
"That is sincere." Robot said.
"Then the boy will have them." Chronos said.
"Chronos. . . I. . . How does all the tape I spent for the Robinsons not count as not fulfilling my debt?" Smith said. "I must be dim witted because I don't understand."
"You have to do manual labor to repay for the destruction of this lab." Chronos glared. "Return to your station."
"As you so wish." Smith bowed his head then relaxed and turned away.
Will reached out a hand grabbing a hold on to the older man's elbow.
"Hold on, Doctor Smith." Will asked. "How much did you spend on my family?"
"Close to four hundred twenty years." Smith replied, proudly turning toward the boy. "You will grow old on Gamma, my dear boy. I made sure of it."
"But, Doctor Smith, we had a entire adventure about that." Will protested. "You have to exist."
"He is right." Robot said. "It wasn't a pretty adventure. It was the worst two weeks I had on recent tapes."
"I have no fate in this positive matter universe," Smith said. "My fate belongs where I was born." he squeezed Will's smaller hand. "I want my fate to be noble so dearly. I want to educate young sponge like minds-but, it can't be." his voice began to crack as he drifted Will's hand off his arm. "It won't ever be."
Smith shook his head in dismay turning away from Will, squeezing his eyes shut in hurt, unable to face the child.
"Do me one favor," Smith said. "Remember me. That is a fate I can have."
"I will, Doctor Smith." Will said.
"So will I." Robot said.
Smith looked aside then opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, anything. But, he had nothing to say about his fate. Instead, a sigh only came out. It was a cruel kind of agony in the scheme of everything. Helping Time catch up so everyone could age without him and he couldn't join them. It left a ache in his chest as he went about following the long list of names at the station clipping tapes at a time and replacing them with new tapes then dropping the old onmes into the boxes beside him as Will and Robot turned toward each other then went on following after Chronos.
They went down the long corridor for what felt to be a very long boring eternity coming to the heart of the land of Time. Will and Robot came to a pause spotting the women frozen in place, each of them bore defiance in their eyes, and the sheer answer of why they hadn't came back became clear as day standing at the heart of the lab.
Will turned in the direction of Smith's busy but distant figure then back toward his siblings. Chronos tapped on the heads of the young women then they blinked awake, shaking their heads, as if they were just waking up.
"Will?" Judy said then looked toward Chronos. "You froze us!"
"It had to be done." Chronos said.
"How long were we frozen?" Penny asked.
"Three hours." Robot reported.
"Your former associate is staying and you are going back," Chronos replied. "Leave. Now."
Judy nodded then yanked the scythe out of Chronos's hand and tapped on his head and Robot electrocuted the time assistant who tried to yank the time scythe out of her hand. The children stepped back hiding the six foot tall environmental robot.
"Make a break for it!" Judy said, dropping the scythe to the side.
They made a run for it. But not without Penny and Will yanking Smith from his station fleeing from the scene. They ran a good distance leaving behind Chronos and the time assistant. The time assistant awoke shortly thereafter and snapped Chronos out of the trance state using the scythe.
Smith yelped, looking over spotting the time merchant headed their way, tripping and falling. Will took the man's hand then yanked him up to his feet then followed after the women. Robot was the first to go into the portal then were the women and Will. Smith tore through the portal but found himself stuck. He was unable to move as his vision was clouded by hillsides with different scenery.
Fear, panic, uncertainty swept over him as his heart raced and his thoughts were everywhere. He flailed his trapped hand as his vision became solidified between two worlds, one was of the positive matter Robinsons starting to get up to their feet from crashing to the floor. And the other was of the anti-matter universe that he had been born from with a entire family laid dead on the ground that had Kavalarians shooting after a fleeing Jupiter 2 while they remained on the ground. It was if he were being faced with a simple question by Time and Space; which one is your home?
And the answer was simple: I choose them.
"William! Penelope! Judith! Gunter! HEEELLLLLLPPPPPP! HEEEEELLLPPP MEEE!"
Finally, Smith saw they came to his rescue and grabbed hold on to his hand. They tugged him back and forth from the archway that was having a difficult time of letting him go. With extreme difficulty, Smith reached forward a hand grabbing hold on their hands as the dark shadows that radiated off his figure in the mode of transport finally vanished. The children dug into the ground yanking him further away toward them.
With a pop, Smith was freed of the archway and crashed into the waiting arms of the small group rejoining their lives once more with a thud. Robot turned the machine off then destroyed the machine with little order. The family were panting looking at the machine being destroyed as they held on to Smith. Everyone held their breath for the machine to come back together and Chronos to reappear looking frustrated.
Several minutes passed this way.
Robot's arms returned into his arm sockets then turned toward them.
"The danger is over." Robot announced.
The family cheered.
"Did you really trade your life span for our family?" Penny asked.
"I did." Smith said.
"And you blindly accepted whatever consequences," Judy said.
"I have to face the results of my actions," Smith said. "I can't avoid them forever."
"Doctor Smith, you're the best friend I had in a very long time." Will hugged the man's side, his arms wrapped around the older man's arms, startling Smith.
"You, too." Smith returned the hug, patting on the back of the child's head, looking down toward him fondly. "My dear boy."
Ah-a-a-a-a-ah chu!
"Bless you," Will was the first to end the hug.
"Sweet heavens." Smith said with a whine. "False alarm. I am not any better."
With Penny and Will's support, over the laughter of the small version of the large family, he was helped up to his feet then guided back to the direction of Jupiter 2 for much needed rest as he sneezed. Each time that he sneezed, their laughter only grew louder. And louder as their voices became distant as they were watched by a ghostly but grinning figure under a large pine tree.
A/N More like three times Doctor Smith had to go and one time that he got to stay.