Will awoke the next morning rubbing his head and got out of bed then joined the others at the galley table outside of the ship once having a shower and taking off the gauze. The gauze was thrown into the recycling bin alongside the threshold doorway. The wound that had been from the crash was gone leaving a freshly healed patch of skin that his bright red hair contrasted against. The family were all smiles and grins to see Will back together and functioning as normal.
"What happened?" Will asked.
"We had a bumper collision in hyper space." Don sliced his sausage. "Best I can guess."
"There was a machine chasing after a group of people." John said. "It was. . . Disturbing."
"Tallest machine that I had seen in my life." Don said.
"Dad, Don, that was Robot." Will said.
The eyes of the family widened then exchanged glances.
"Why would Robot leave his universe?" Penny asked. "Just to kill a few people."
"Penny, if what you two had heard a few years ago is true then they are morons who won't learn from the mistakes of the past." John said. "People who will never change."
"If they were allowed to exist, just imagine how much darker our continuity would get." The family exchanged grimaces at the prospect from Don's commentary. "It would be worse than how Doctor Smith's presence did to our world."
"He was a thin slice of pumpkin pie compared to them." Maureen said.
"But dark, regardless." John said. "He didn't cause the problem of the Kavalarians to become what it was. It was the anti-matter Don. What Smith's presence did for that matter was make it a very chaotic experience."
"Isn't what he is?" Will asked. "A master of chaos?"
"Yes." John said. "We were lucky."
"Very," Maureen agreed.
"Somehow, I don't think it was Eglardo's fault that Robot came to our universe." Penny said.
"A time spatial anomaly." Will said.
"Exactly." John said.
"What do we do about the other Robot?" Penny asked.
"We do nothing." John said. "He is on a mission. And once that is completed, he will retire into a tunnel and blend in with our world."
"Why?" Eddie asked. "Why go to a cavern? Why not attempt to go home?"
"Edvard," Will said. "It is because that Robot has hope that things are going to be better. That next time he is needed then it will be for a better purpose. A purpose that isn't for killing other life forms. But, to protect them or educate them for that matter."
"He doesn't have a home." Joshua said.
"His term of home is different." John said. "He is a nomad."
"What is a nomad?" Eddie asked.
"Someone who travels from place to place," Penny said. "For life forms, it is to find greener pastures."
"OOoooh," Eddie said with a nod.
"Thankfully," John started to say. "Robot is far away from here so we can spend awhile here and do some minor repairs on the parts that his fire unexpectedly hit."
"Can we look at Robot?" Eddie asked.
"Robot doesn't look like himself and isn't acting himself." Will said. "I wouldn't approach him if I were you."
"Promise me that you won't." Don said.
"We promise." Eddie replied.
"We promise," Joshua said, crossing his fingers beneath the table.
"Good." Don said.
"We can do some surveys from the area that they haven't gone in." John said.
"So you can explore, hmm, that way-" Don pointed away from the crash site of the ship. "For the next forty-eight hours."
"And is uncle Will going to explore with us, again?" Eddie asked.
"What's so bad about rock hunting with family?" Will asked.
"You make it no fun about the strange looking rocks." Eddie said.
"Those were turds." Will said. "Not rocks."
"And those relics-"
"Were not relics, Eddie." Will cut her off. "Those were traps. I have lived in space since I was a kid. In fact, I spent five hundred years watching a friend set all those kind of traps off to disastrous but amusing and chaotic results." Penny began to laugh as her shoulders shook as the positive feelings flourished through her then looked up toward Will with rosy cheeks.
"Remember how Robot would warn us before they were set off?" Penny asked.
"That part is hard to forget." Will said, beginning to smile. "We listened to him."
"But Doctor Smith hadn't." Penny said.
"Remember, Will, that one time Robot told Doctor Smith there were piranhas in the lake and Doctor Smith went in anyway after arguing about it?" Judy asked.
"And how he came back with them nipping at his heels?" Penny asked as the family began to laugh at the fond memory.
"I remember," Don said. "He was shrieking like a little girl struggling to keep his oversized trunks up."
"That is a vividly real memory that comes at me from time to time," Will said.
"Remember how Robot had to electrocute them to send the piranhas back to the water?" Don asked.
"Poor, poor, poor fish." Penny shook her head as their laughter started to die down.
"Which version was this?" Eddie asked.
"The original version." Maureen said. "The golden age version. The one who never got to come home with us."
"Children, no matter how tempting it may be to approach Robot . . ." Judy began to warn changing the subject. "When he is intent on a mission then you shouldn't get involved." she held up her index finger. "He will only get you hurt if you get in the way."
"What about after he is done?" Eddie asked.
"That is a different matter." John said. "But, we need you to wait for two days for him to blend in."
"Why two days, grandpa?" Joshua asked.
"Unlike Doctor Smith, Robot isn't being mutated." John said. "Robot was willing to befriend others and help them when his missions were done."
"Here, at least." Will said. "Dad, if he is anti-matter then he could be a 'punk' as Robot said."
"We will find out what kind of alternate anti-matter version that he is upon our own discovery. If he has a red or green grill." John said. "If he has a red grill and still killed people, that is a whole new anti-matter world." he waved his spoon in mid-air. "Identical to the pro-matter except for a few minor differences."
"A whole new ballpark." Don said.
"And very unexpected," John said with a nod. "Just as Smith was."
And the family resumed eating.