The Jupiter floated through systems at a time as the months went on. They shared occasional visits down to planet side and preliminary checks and gathered more fuel for the trip to the system spending a week or two to a month at a time depending on the hospitality of the planet and used the space pod to clear the search quickly on barren words. The activity bore reminders of a road trip that everyone was aboard and wanted to be part of.

Will sulked in private as he blossomed to a seventeen year old who remained shorter than his father and the major. It was different being able to age. Will had always imagined that when he did, he would get to share that experience with his old friends.

Yet, cruel, he wasn't allowed to out grow them. Robbed of a experience that he would have wanted. It was agonizing to know he could have had it. But, he had lost it. If only he believed him. That was another form of agony. The cruelest kind of knowing how it came to be.

Some of the traveling along the planets that he knew by heart, by memory, were softened by Penny's presence as a form of company. He looked toward his sister often and found her best strength being amplified; being able to carry on with hope.

To make tomorrow even better than the last.

Just as he had for the last thousand years.

Her companionship along with babysitting Eddie and Joshua made him laugh.


"Eddie, get back here!" Penny chased after the young girl.

Joshua was held in Will's arm as he followed on.

"She can walk, but she can't hide." Will laughed. "After three ways of just rolling, she is running around."

"EDDIE!" Penny cried spotting the three year old quickly walking into a forest.

Eddie squeaked as she fell out of their sight.

"EDVARD!" Will shouted.

The siblings came to the top of a hill and Eddie fallen over a figure and a machine that was quickly falling figure. Penny sprinted down the hill then took Eddie off the figure's back. It was a android by all accounts with a silver cap and colorful clothing with springs set underneath their ears and above their ears facing forward. And bronze antlers instead of silver antlers unlike Vikari.

"We're so sorry," Penny apologized. "Mr. . ."

"Dana." The android supplied.

"Eddie just. . ." Penny tried to start.

"Put that child on a backpack leash," Dana said.

"No!" Eddie cried. "No!" She pointed at a rock. "No!" She pointed at the machine. "No!" She pointed at Dana. "No!"

"What's a backpack leash?" Will asked.

"Will, if we do that, then we're treating her like a animal." Penny said.

"If it keeps her out of trouble then I am sure this can fly by mom and dad." Will pointed out. "Judy and Don would appreciate it the most."

After a moment of thought, Penny nodded.

"You're right." Penny said.

"Thank you," Will said, taking the backpack and slipped it on to Eddie's arms.

Joshua the four year old was looking on sucking on his thumb looking down upon the scene.

"Do you happen to have another?" Penny asked. "For this little guy."

"I have a stash of it." the android returned then handed the backpack to Penny who handed it to Will. "I patented it a couple hundred years ago."

Will put Joshua down to the ground then put the backpack on to the young boy's back.

"There." Will said. "Joshy, walk around."

Joshua nodded then began to walk forward and Will grabbed the leash then yanked him back. The child fell down and stared around, baffled, looking around searching for the root cause of his fall. Will began to laugh, putting his hands on his knees, wiping away tears at a time. Then after a good laugh, he leaned up and shook his head.

"Sorry about the destruction." Penny said. "What is that thing?"

"That is a super collider." Danna said.

"A-wait!" Will said. "Can't that destroy Time and Space?"

"Theoretically." Dana said. "I am just seeing if it can be assembled. Not that it can work."

"And?" Penny raised her brows as Will did with her question.

"This is my three thousandth fiftieth attempt at making it sure it stays in one piece for five minutes." Dana admitted.

"Mr, I think the universe is trying to tell you it isn't meant to made." Will said. "At all."

"You're not the only one." Dana folded their arms. "I have to submit the report tonight," They rubbed the back of their neck. "This is my very last attempt."

"What are you doing to do now?" Penny asked.

"I don't know," Dana shrugged. "I have done this for so long. . . I haven't really thought."

"No!" Eddie pointed at the ship. "Ugly!"

Dana looked toward the ship.

"I could be a ship sales person." Dana said. "This planet is covered in working crafts."

"Do you want us to help you with these pieces of the machine?" Will offered. "We can do that if you like."

"It would be possible if you had a vaporizer to fix this problem." Dana slipped his hands into the pockets.

"That we do have." Penny said.

"Have you met someone by the name of Mariza Bronius?" Will asked. "She may call herself by the name of Mariza Gampu."

"Sure!" Dana said. "I remember her. And her little trouble making son." Dana folded his arms with a sigh. "That child played with things he shouldn't."

"Such as this machine?" Will asked.

"No," Dana said. "He ate my food collection and broke all of my swords playing pirate. ALL of it!"

"Why did you collect food?" Penny asked.

"You mean your food pantry," Will said. "He got into it."

"No," Dana said. "It was in a state of suspended animation. Food wise."

"You stalled time." Will said.

Dana winced, "eh, sort of" with a wave of his hand.

"Sort of. . ." Penny said, squinting.

"Never to grow stale, decompose, or be spoiled." Dana said. "I was going to show it off at the bake ceremony." Dana sighed then shook his head.

"But Isaac ate it," Will said.

"His mother ran away with him before I could make her pay for it only yesterday." Dana said. "I can hardly replace that collection."

"Do you have some idea where they went?" Will asked.

"My long range sensors indicated they went to a far off galaxy." Dana said. "I have it on coordinates."

"We could do with that." Penny said.

"Can you please get it?" Will asked. "My family and I will more than make up the lost merchandise in exchange."

"The ingredients are hard to come by." Dana said.

"We have been a lot places recently. Tell us the ingredients and we can see what we can do."

"When is the bake off?" Penny asked.

"Next week." Dana said then returned into the craft and returned with two datapadds. "The only time I can really go." Dana shook his head, bitterly. "And it's after my station is completely destroyed."

Penny and Will looked up from the datapadd then back toward Dana.

"That's more than enough!" Will said.

"We can have that done in no time." Penny said.

"No time, you say?" Dana asked.

"If we had your help," Penny said.

"Count me in." Dana said.

"I will get the materials," Will said. "Mom and dad will be thrilled!"

Will ran on and Penny squealed, excitedly, then hugged Dana unexpectedly holding on to the leashes belonging to Eddie and Joshua playing around with the equipment laid about them. Joshua sucked on a bolt looking around while Eddie pretended to play equipment in the way of a violin behind them. Yet, it was a hug that Dana welcomed.

"Thank you for staying." Penny said. "You don't know what those coordinates mean to us."

Dana smiled.


"We have checked here and here." John said as he pointed toward a holographic map in the dark within the residence deck using a laser pointer. "So, the only place is to go from this section of the galaxy to -" he pointed away from the familiar part of the galaxy. "here."

"We haven't looked there." Judy said.

"She is leading us on a elaborate chase." Maureen said.

"One of these days she is going to land on a old planet that she was on months ago and stay there thinking that we are not going to the places that we already searched one we clear a number of galaxies." Don said. "And we can catch her."

"Uh huh." John said. "We don't know how many friends that she has around the galaxy but with the people that we have crossed paths with-anyone that we met might be her friend." the door to the residential deck flickered open then Will came in. "Will, why are you back so early?"

"I got coordinates to where she was heading."

Will handed the datapadd to John then the pilot stood up to his feet with wide eyes.

"That's a new place!" Don said. "And it is very far out. If we start today then we may get there when Joshua is ten."

"Judy, turn on the lights." John turned off the holoprojection and Judy turned on the lights.

Don stared at the coordinates then back toward Will.

"Is she a friend of his?" Don asked.

"I didn't ask." Will said. "But, it sounded like she weren't there long to befriend him."

"Who did you get it from, son?" John asked.

"Mr Dana," Will said. "Isaac ate food that he shouldn't and now Mr Dana needs the product baked again. He doesn't have the materials-"

"But you offered to help." Maureen finished.

"Yes," Will said. "I did."

"Maureen, get the equipment ready for that bake off." John said. "And maybe, we can have a cobbler tonight."

Maureen was handed the second padd.

"Ah, this will be easy." Maureen said. "The last time I made this was when that royal tried to marry Penny in order to change their mind about making us be part of their operations."

"I remember that." John said.

"Me too." Will said.

"Remember how Robot made it by accident because Smith and I mixed him up on the orders seven hundred years ago?" Don asked and everyone laughed at the memory that came back up.

"That was good times." Judy said.

"Good times." John said.

"Odd, sloppy pie joe." Maureen looked up from the list. "Who would dislike a hamburger with chicken pot pie in it?"

"People who hijack rides and go on a joy ride then gut them at a shop." John said. "Will, I like to meet Mr Dana."

Will and John left the ship leaving the women with Don.

"How can I help?" Don asked.

And the women grinned then went to work with Don.


The night before launch, after helping Dana out with his problem and shaking his hand in congratulating him for taking the opportunity to leave the planet behind for the bake off, the Robinsons had a celebration for the significant progress. All they had to do was follow the blaze that she left behind in the form of unhappy people regarding her and the trouble that four year old Isaac Gampu was getting into.

It was night when Will returned to the auxiliary window while everyone was fast asleep within the Jupiter 2.

Instead of sulking, Will was grinning with one hand on the support chair and optimistic.

Something that he hadn't been doing for quite a long time since they met dead ends.


It was odd to consider himself the adult and Smith the child when they crossed paths once more as the years long flight went on. Then again, they had those character models in the beginning. Smith had taken the child character, Will realized long after the man had admitted his role, to keep attention off him and make everyone believe that he was not capable of using technology. And Will had stepped up to the plate.

A feeling of warmth spread from his chest then he closed his eyes letting go of a tear that he hadn't quite let go for some time.

"Are you okay, uncle Will?" Joshua asked.

"I am just happy, Josh." Will said.

"Why?" Joshua asked.

"Because these are one of my old stomping grounds."

"You were here before with Isaac?" Joshua asked.

Will shook his head then put a hand on the child's shoulder.

"No," Will replied. "Robot and Doctor Smith."

Nostalgia dripped from his mind looking back and forth between how they would see the other again but not quite. All the while he stood along the terrain looking on exploring the familiar planet they had been on centuries ago.

"Were you my age when you hung out with them?" Joshua asked.

"Thirteen when I stopped hanging out with them." Will said. "I was . . maybe eleven when we started hanging out full time."

"Woooheee," Joshua shook his head, twisting his face, squeezing his shut. "I can't imagine you as a kid."

This time when he stood there, he was a couple inches taller and he felt alone. Even with Joshua. Neither can I.

"I must be ancient to you." Will said.

Will looked down toward the boy who bore some resemblance to himself as a child for the exception of red hair; his hair was brown.

"I am only nine." Joshua said. "Not so ancient to me."

"So you say." Will surveyed the scene. "I can still hear them bickering about the weather. Doctor Smith was a bit of a contradictory character."

"How was he?" Joshua asked.

"Say one thing and he said the other." Will said.

"That must have been irritating." Joshua said earning a head shake from his uncle.

"No, it was amusing. A little annoying. But endearing." Will said. "Doctor Smith baaed at Robot when informed that the ground was prone to sink from the recent storm."

"A cosmic sand pit?" Joshua said.

"No," Will said. "cosmic sandpits are never ending."

"Then what was it, uncle?" Joshua said.

"A cosmic mud pit." Will said. "They trap you, sink you in, and only let go when they are dry. By then, you might already be dead. This used to be a swampy area once. . A long time ago."

"Woah," Joshua said. "Sounds scary."

"It was scary for us." Will said. "It was still dark in the sky when he marched on down that mound and it was starting to rain hard again," he pointed down toward the ledge that had the remains of a walk way then watched as history played out as transparent specters. "I held on to a umbrella while in my raincoat struggling to keep myself steady and get it out. All before he slipped and fell into a cosmic mud pit head first with his legs waving in the air."

Will let go of a loud and long laugh looking down toward the specter of Smith's waving legs and himself with Robot's help attempting to yank the older man out of the mud pit then watched it vanish before his eyes with his hands on his hips.

"Then the xeno-soil-sampler showed up claiming the dirt was radioactive, something Robot backed up, then insisted that Doctor Smith recovered in his lab for quarantine after helping him out." Will said. "It feels all so long ago."

And he could still hear the man's muffled and frantic pleas for help stuck in the mud Something that haunted him. As he had asked for help prior to leaving the ship and Will lied about being able to help him. It wasn't a clear 'help me' the way that he worded it but a 'help me' being unsure of his own sanity in the first few hours after Bronius entered their lives.

Will was distant from Joshua in his thoughts.

He could have admitted the truth and admit that he didn't know what to do on how to make everything right again. And that would have been help enough to tell him that he was in the same boat as Smith was, Will was certain now, of the situation that had began to unfold changing their lives slowly.

"How along ago was that, uncle?" Joshua asked.

"Not that long ago." Will said. "Not that long ago. . ."

One more year and their search would be close to over. And seeking for him was going to be a easy task for a specific ten year old. The ten year old wasn't going to be Smith. But, the child was Gampu. Someone, like Smith, got into trouble in his youth. Will could only hope that the boy learned from his mistakes. And if he made a big mistake then it would be easy to find him.

"You must miss them a lot." Joshua said.

"Every day." Will said. "I wish . . I wish. . . We had listened to them. Just that once and it wouldn't feel like we're going through Hell."

"No one ever talks about what happened to them." Joshua said. "Just around it."

"Because it was the biggest mistakes we made." Will said. "I guess . . ."

Joshua put a hand on his arm.

"If we hadn't made that mistake, Time would continue to not bother with us and I would still be a immortal thirteen year old." Will frowned looking aside quite unhappy. "If I had known what I knew now then I wouldn't have minded that existence."

"A immortal thirteen year old? You look younger than my dad! " Joshua asked. "How can you have been thirteen forever?"

"A Time lab resetting and destroying itself." Will said. "The other Doctor Smith fixed that. So, that is why I look like a young man."

"Can I become immortal?" Joshua asked. "Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Will laughed looking down upon the boy.

"I thought we were all immortal." Will shook his head. "We were just unable to age. And no."

"Ah darn!" Joshua pouted.

"And we hardly had to clean Robot up." Will noted.

Eddie was chasing after a small meerkat below them in the valley.

"That must have been fun." Joshua said.

"It was hard work." Will said. "Something I missed doing after a time."

"Hard work!" Joshua said earning a nod. "Getting not to do hard work and you were not happy about it? You were nuts."

Will laughed, warmly, looking down toward Joshua.

"I must have been." Will agreed.

"Why did you stop aging for a time?" Joshua asked, curiously.

"It all started because Doctor Smith wanted to go home," Will began to explain with fondness. "As every day started with before but every day after he stopped that habit. He traveled through time, stopped himself, and stayed behind."

Will snickered growing a small smile.

"But, a asteroid would have killed us if we continued on our course with no interruptions," Will said. "so Robot had to convince him to go back." he frowned. "And he failed."

"Horrible." Joshua said.

Will shook his head looking toward Joshua.

"Doctor Smith convinced himself in the end." Will replied. "And the lab worked overtime to correct back to the original timeline. We didn't come back for a long time as we left Chronos behind to deal with the sensitive matters of his lab." he looked aside in regret. "We should have after we noticed we weren't aging. But, the risk was too great in losing more of our time or one of us to Chronos as a servant or slave to work on the time lab forever. So. . . we didn't go."

Will sighed, regretful, as Joshua blinked absorbing in the story.

"Tell me the story behind Doctor Smith's death." Joshua said. "And Robot's."

Will guided Joshua to a fallen tree then sat down.

"Well. . . " Will became quiet then looked up toward the sky. I miss you, my old friends. He looked down toward Joshua. "I will tell you my side of those stories."

And Joshua listened on as Will went over the uncomfortable but ugly details while Eddie collapsed to the ground exhausted by the chase and faced the sky watching the clouds pass by overhead.