Chapter 3
"Hey John, come here. I think we have a problem," Major West called from the forward control panel.
John looked up from the astrogator, and hurried over to Don. "What is it?"
"It seems that the NGS scanner isn't responding. It must have been damaged by the meteors," the Major reported.
"Well, can you fix it?"
"I think so. There's only one issue. The scanner is outside the spaceship. One of us will need to suit up to make the repairs."
"I'll do it," said John.
Around thirty minutes later, he was suited up and ready to go. The rest of the family had come up top to watch him. Don was giving him instructions. "I'm sure it's the NGS scanner," he said. "If you can fix it, we might be able to tell where we are."
"I'll do my best."
"Look for the last time," Don pleaded, "space walking is part of my business. Let me do it."
"Now we've been through that," said John, "You're the only one who can pilot the ship. I'm expendable and you're not." With that, he fastened on his space helmet and made his way towards the airlock. Once inside, Don closed the hatch, and joined the rest of the family at the small observation window to watch as John repaired the scanner.
"There's Dad!" cried Will as John exited the airlock.
He hooked his line to the ship and began the process of climbing the hull. After a few minutes of trying it became obvious that space walking was something John did not have much experience in. He kept slipping and sliding back down the ship. Then suddenly the unthinkable happened. His line snapped.
Everyone gasped in horror as he began to float away from the ship. Penny began to cry. Will and Judy looked shocked. Maureen turned to Don. "What can we do?" she asked. "How can we get a line to him?"
"By rocket gun," he replied, "if he doesn't drift too far away." He handed her the intercom. "Talk to him. Tell him the plan."
Maureen nodded, "John," she said, "we're going to get a line to you by rocket gun. Don is going to suit up now."
"No, not Don! He's got to stay with the ship!"
Don rolled his eyes and snatched the radio away from Maureen. "Now look here, Mister," he snapped, "If I don't suit up you're going to die out there. Is that what you want?"
"Don, let me do it," Maureen volunteered.
Don sighed. "Okay," he said reluctantly. He went and retrieved another space helmet and vest and helped her into it. Then he led her to the airlock.
"Be careful Mom," said Judy.
Maureen smiled at her children as the airlock began to close. A few moments later, the hatch opened and she stepped outside the ship. After she had tethered herself to it, she located her husband. Taking a deep breath, she aimed her rocket gun at him, and fired. Unfortunately her aim was wide, and it missed John entirely.
"Oh no," was all she could say.
John was trying desperately to reach the line but it was too far out of his reach. She had failed.
"It's okay Maureen," she heard Don's voice through the radio in her helmet, "just bring the line back in and try again."
Maureen nodded and pulled the entire line back in and reset the gun. Once again, she took careful aim, and fired. This time she was successful and John was able to grab the line. Carefully he pulled himself hand over hand back to the ship.
"He did it!" Will exclaimed as he watched them, "He's safe!"
A relieved sigh could be heard from each of the passengers as well as a little laughter. Their moment of rejoicing was cut short however when a beeping sound was heard from the scanner. Don hurried over to examine it. When he saw the blip, he shook his head.
"What is it Don?" Judy asked.
"A comet," he said grimly, "and it's heading our way."
"Is it going to hit us?"
"It won't have to. Even if it misses us by 5,000 miles, its heat could shrivel us to a crisp in nothing flat."
"Can't you change our flight path?"
"With your parents outside? Their lines would immediately snap. We need to get them back inside," As he spoke, he picked up the intercom, "John, there's a comet heading our way."
"How far?"
"I'd say we have a little over three minutes."
"Good, that should be enough time to fix the scanner."
"Leave that for later."
"No. Now. That's why I came out here in the first place."
Don sighed and hung up the microphone.
Judy smiled at him. "Dad can be quite stubborn sometimes," she said.
The major nodded, "Well let's hope his stubbornness doesn't get us all killed."
It did not take long for John to fix the scanner with Maureen helping him; they easily finished in under three minutes. As they came down off the hull, the light from the comet nearly blinded them and the heat became almost unbearable. John hurriedly pushed the hatch control button. He waited for a few seconds but seeing that the hatch wasn't opening he pushed the button again harder this time. Still the door would not respond.
"John, hurry! You and Maureen need to get back inside now," he heard Don say. He tried once more this time hitting the button with all his might. It was no use. The hatch wasn't opening.
"The hatch is jammed," he told Don. "The heat from the comet must have expanded the metal. Can you get in the airlock and open the hatch from your side?"
"I'll try."
Don set the intercom down and turned to Judy, "Help me suit up," he said. She nodded and hurried over to the storage compartment. Soon he too was suited up and inside the airlock, pushing the button to the hatch. He too got no response. He tried to force the hatch open but that too proved to be fruitless.
"I can't budge it from here either," he told John.
"Don, if you can't open the hatch in a few seconds, get back in the ship, start the rockets and get out of here!"
For a moment Don froze in disbelief over the order that he was just given. Finally, he found his voice: "You don't really expect me to do that, do you?" he asked.
"You don't have a choice," came the answer.
Don chose not to reply to that and instead put all of his energy into trying to push the hatch open.
"Don please," this time it was Maureen who spoke. "Please start the ship."
"Don't you guys worry. I'll have this thing opened up in a minute," he groaned as he pushed on the hatch.
"Don, you've got to forget about us and save yourselves."
"Nothing doing John. When I leave you're coming with me."
Meanwhile inside the ship, the others were pacing nervously.
Penny went over to the observation window to look out. She gasped when she saw that her parents were now unconscious. "They're not moving!" she cried. "Do you think they're still alive?"
"Sure Penny," Will answered, "they've got to be."
The sound of the elevator was heard bringing Dr. Smith up top. He was wiping his brow with a handkerchief as he hurried over to the children.
"Something has got to be done about the comfort control system. It's blazing hot below. Where's the Major?"
"In the airlock," Judy replied, "Mother and Dad are trapped outside the ship and there is a comet that is getting closer."
"A comet!" Smith exclaimed, "What is the major doing in the airlock then? He should be in here trying to get us out of this inferno before we burn up!"
Will rolled his eyes and picked up the intercom, "Don, what about the fire extinguishers? Maybe they can cool off the hatch."
"Good boy," Don praised, "one of you go and get the big one from below, and hurry, we don't have much time."
"I'll do it," Smith volunteered. He made his way over to the elevator.
"I'm coming with you," said Judy, and she followed him below.
A few minutes later they returned with the big extinguisher. Will opened the airlock hatch and Don stepped out and took it from them.
"Thanks," was all he said before closing the hatch again.
They all watched him anxiously through the small window on the hatch door as he began to spray the outer hatch down. He did this for several minutes until finally he felt that it had cooled down enough to push. He set the extinguisher down and then began to apply pressure to the hatch. Everyone gave a small delighted gasp when it slid open just a tiny bit. Slowly, as Don continued to push, it began to slide open even further until finally there was enough room for him to slide through. Outside the unconscious forms of John and Maureen greeted him. Gently he took hold of Maureen and dragged her inside the airlock. Next he took John. When they were both safely in he began the process of pushing the hatch shut. Fortunately, John had regained consciousness and the two of them were able to slide it all the way closed. As soon as they were finished, they opened the airlock hatch.
"Don, get us out of here," said John, removing his helmet.
The major nodded and hurried over to the controls. John meanwhile turned towards his still unconscious wife and carried her inside. He knelt on the ground still holding her in his arms.
"Maureen, Maureen, can you hear me?"
Slowly she opened her eyes eliciting sighs of relief from everyone. She looked up at her husband and smiled weakly.
"Was I - was I really out there?" she asked.
John smiled back at her. "You really were, darling," he said tenderly.
Dr. Smith checked them both over and pronounced them to be suffering from heat exhaustion although it was nothing that could not be cured with a little rest. He ordered them both to their quarters to which they happily obliged. Will and Penny decided to turn in too while Don, Judy and Bethany stayed up top.
When Smith returned below he was pleased to see that everyone was in their quarters leaving the public space of the lower deck unoccupied. He went over to the robot, who had been put back into its magnetic lock, and opened the lower programming compartment.
"The last time I reprogrammed you, you ran wild," he said. "Almost wrecked the ship with me in it! But we can't have any more of that, can we? You will respond to my voice orders only hereafter, if you want us to stay friends. And you do need a friend, just as much as I do."
The robot didn't respond, but Smith didn't expect it to. He began his work of reprogramming it. After about an hour he was finished. He stood up and faced the machine.
"Alright," he said, "let's just see how much you've learned. Turn left."
The robot obeyed.
"Extend right arm."
It did so.
"Extend left arm."
Again it did so.
Smith smiled. "Excellent," he said more to himself than the machine.
"Excellent does not compute," said the automated voice.
"Extend right claw," Smith continued, ignoring the statement.
The two pincers that composed the robot's hand spread as wide as they could go.
"Very good," Smith nodded in approval. "A little more homework this evening, my friend, and we will be able to take over this whole expedition, and return immediately to our native soil."
As he spoke, he procured a large metal cylinder from the ship's lab. He placed it between the two pincers of the robot's right claw.
"Crush," he commanded.
The robot brought his two pincers together, bending the cylinder in half.
Smith gave an evil laugh. "Beautiful," he praised.
He still had a couple of adjustments to make and so he reached into the lower programming compartment and pulled out a couple of the parts. He then made a swift departure to his quarters.
It had now been a whole day since their lift off from earth. Don was still up top at the controls trying to figure out their location. He had sent Bethany to bed and Judy had excused herself a few moments ago too. However, Judy was not gone for long; she returned a few minutes later with a cup of coffee for Don.
"I thought you might like this," she said.
Don took the cup from her and smiled. "Thank you," he said, bringing the cup to his lips. The taste of the strong black coffee instantly invigorated him. He set the cup down, then looked up at Judy curiously. "Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" he asked her.
Judy shook her head. "I can't sleep," she sighed, "not until we know something."
The Major smiled, "You'll be getting pretty sleepy," he said.
Judy gave a little laugh, then turned her attention to the big window gazing out at the stars. She pointed to one particularly large cluster of stars off to the port side. "That could almost be the great galaxy of Andromeda couldn't it?" she asked.
Don looked over to where she was pointing. "It could," he answered. "Although from where we sit it might almost be anything."
Judy sighed, "Funny how easy it was to identify all the galaxies back at school. We used to just sit there and rattle them off like there was nothing to it."
"Do you want to go home, Judy?" asked the major quietly.
For a long while, Judy remained silent, "I don't really know," she finally said. "I guess I just want my family to be together and unharmed through this whole ordeal. Whether that means we land on Alpha Centauri or return to earth."
Don gave an understanding nod as he pushed some more control buttons. "Well hopefully, we will soon have enough information to get us to one of those destinations," he said.
Down below John Robinson had emerged from his quarters and was in the process of wishing each of his children goodnight. The first door he knocked on was Penny's.
"Come in," said the voice from inside.
He entered and smiled at the sight of his daughter lying in bed listening to her tapes. A man's voice was heard reading. John listened for a moment then looked at her curiously.
"Shakespeare?" he inquired.
Penny nodded. "Shakespeare."
John smiled. "Goodnight darling," he said before closing the door.
He next went to Will's room and knocked.
"Come in!" his son called out.
He opened the door and was surprised to see Will lying on his bed with a large scientific calculator in one hand, and a pencil and paper in the other scribbling something down.
"Well," John laughed, "I thought you'd be asleep by now."
Will shook his head and looked up, "I've been trying to figure out our position," he explained.
"Any luck?"
"Well," said Will slowly, "if Alpha Centauri's velocity is the same as ours, and if our bearing deviation is not more than five degrees, Don should be picking up a signal about now."
"Well maybe you'd better tell him," John suggested.
"Okay," Will grinned and hurried up to the top excitedly. His father looked after him with a proud expression. As he turned his attention to the third cabin door, his smile disappeared. This had been the room that Dr. Smith had taken over although it was supposed to be for Don. John sighed and went over and opened the cabin door.
"Excuse me Doctor I-" he stopped suddenly.
Zachary Smith was sitting at a small table, a screwdriver in one hand, and several mechanical devices strewn out over the table. He looked up from his work in surprise but managed to keep his composure.
John frowned and moved closer to the table. "Where did you get these," he wanted to know.
"Ah, well" Smith sighed, "I had planned it as a surprise, but now I suppose you'll give it all away and deny me the simple pleasure of presenting you with a robot in full working order."
John was not amused. "Dr. Smith, why didn't you ask permission to tamper with that robot?"
"Tamper?" Smith asked in disbelief, "When every bit, every circuit, every last contact in it is as familiar to me as my own name? I don't tamper, Dr. Robinson. I create new pathways in cybernetics for our little friend."
"Oh it's 'pathways' is it? The kind of pathways that could have wrecked this ship, and almost cost us all our lives?" John asked in an accusatory tone.
"But that's absurd," Smith gave a nervous chuckle, "I was in the same danger as everyone else."
"Now you listen to me, Dr. Smith," said John sternly, "how you came to be on this ship when we took off doesn't really matter right now. But just remember one thing. As far as I'm concerned, you're a stowaway and you're going to be treated as such. Until further notice you are confined to your quarters!"
As he was speaking, he gathered the bits of machinery from off the table and exited the cabin, shutting the door firmly behind him. He was about to go and take it all to the lab when suddenly, a pulsing electronic whir was heard throughout the ship.
Maureen, Penny, and Bethany emerged from their cabins listening to the strange sound.
"What is that?" Maureen wondered aloud.
"I've never heard a sound like that before," said John, depositing the pieces of the robot on a nearby table. "Let's go upstairs." He hurried up the ladder to the top deck with the others following closely behind on the elevator.
As soon as they had gone, the door to Smith's cabin opened and he emerged from inside. He gathered up all the pieces that John had confiscated, returned to his room and closed the door.
Upstairs, the noise was much louder. When the others arrived up top they saw that Don, Will, and Judy were at the control panel, looking quite confused.
"Don, what happened?" John inquired.
The Major shook his head. "I tried to get a fix on Alpha Centauri according to Will's calculations," he explained, "I got this signal instead."
"Did you get a spectrometer reading?"
"Yeah, the whole spectrum. But the relative concentrations don't read like anything I can identify."
"Maybe it's an asteroid," Bethany suggested.
"Then it's not Alpha Centauri?" asked Penny disappointedly.
"No dear," John answered.
"I'll give us a three-second boost," said Don.
As he did, the object that had been giving off the strange signal became visible.
"It's a spaceship!" cried Will.
"Is it one of ours?" Penny asked.
John just shook his head. "I don't know," he answered.
The ship was quite different from anything that they had ever seen before. It lay horizontally and was divided into three segments which were fused together. The first part was a sphere with five antennas attached around it. The second part was more of an oval shaped piece. It was about three times bigger than the sphere and looked to be the main body of the ship. The third part was in the shape of a cone that did not quite taper off at the end. It was smaller than the middle piece yet bigger than the sphere. The cone was composed of five pieces of metal that looked fused together and the tip of each piece was a miniature sphere. The most impressive thing about this ship though was its size. Compared to it, the Jupiter 2 looked like a little toy spaceship.
"Let's move in closer," said John.
"I wonder how big it is?" said Penny.
"It's big enough to use us for a lifeboat. That's for sure," John replied, "Can you get us around to the other side, Don?"
Don shrugged his shoulders. "If you insist," he said unwillingly.
His tone was not lost on John, "Well look at that thing!" he exclaimed, "Where's your scientific curiosity, Don?"
"All in one basket. On Alpha Centauri." Was the major's short reply.
"What do you think it's made of?" Bethany asked John.
"Probably some alloy we never even heard of," The professor answered. "It even baffled the spectrometer!"
"Where do you think it's from?" asked Will.
John shook his head. "I don't know. One thing is for sure, I've never seen a ship that big in my life."
"It looks like a ghost ship," Judy remarked. "It doesn't seem to be moving."
"Well if it was in the path of that comet, the heat may have destroyed whatever life was on board," said Maureen.
"I'd like to make sure," said John. "A ship that size… Think of the payload it must be carrying, the fuel, the power unit! Why, it might even have a guidance system that could help us no matter where it's from."
"Or it also could be manned by an alien crew," Don stated grimly.
Suddenly, the ship began to move closer towards them. John cried out in alarm, "It's moving in!"
"No we are!" said Don, "It's pulling us and I can't break away! We're going to collide!"
"Wait, look at it now!" Maureen pointed.
The cone part of the strange ship had opened up as it drew the Jupiter 2 closer to it.
"It's going to swallow us!" John exclaimed.
Slowly their ship passed through the opening of the strange vessel and into the interior. It was pitch black inside with just a little light coming in from the stars outside. However, that light quickly disappeared when the opening completely closed up, encasing their ship in darkness.
Don shook his head and sighed as he surveyed the situation, "I'm going to have to land the ship," he said finally. He pushed a few buttons on the control panel and brought the landing gears down, then he slowly lowered the ship until it touched the ground.
Everyone stared out the front window in amazement. Hanging from the ceiling in thin strips were crystal-like webs. Other than that, not much else was visible. Even the walls of the ship were not to be seen.
Maureen turned to her husband. "There must be life aboard, John," she said.
"Perhaps," John didn't seem convinced. "Or the ship may be pre set to swallow visitors."
Suddenly Bethany looking around said, "Hey, where's Dr. Smith?"
"Oh I forgot about him," said John. "I had just confined him to his quarters when we sighted this ship. You had better go down and get him."
Bethany nodded and hurried below.
Don gave John a curious look. "You confined him to quarters?" he asked. "What happened?"
"I found him monkeying with some robot equipment," John answered. "He told me that he was trying to repair the robot but I'm not sure I buy that explanation."
"You don't think he was the one that set the robot against us, do you?" asked Maureen.
"I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand it seems completely illogical to reprogram the robot and subject himself to the same danger as us."
"Unless the reason he was trapped aboard was that he couldn't get out in time," said Don darkly.
"That's just what worries me."
At that moment, Bethany re-appeared up top with Dr. Smith.
"Well Professor, so you finally decided to let me out," he said as he calmly stared out the window.
"Sorry I forgot about you Doctor," John apologized.
"Not at all, you had your hands full," Smith answered. "Bethany was kind enough to fill me in."
"You realize, of course, that we seem to be imprisoned here?" asked John.
"Yes, quite a predicament," Smith nodded. "Has anyone communicated with you yet?"
"Not by any signal we can read," answered Don.
"They aren't in any great hurry I suppose," Smith surmised.
Maureen looked up in surprise. "Dr Smith, how could you possibly know that, when we're almost certain that this ship is not from our planet?"
"Is that what you think?" asked Smith in an amused voice.
"Don't you?" Don inquired.
For a moment Smith stayed silent, almost as if he was pondering his words. Finally, he spoke. "Well, if you're all agreed, I suppose I must go along with you," he said with a tiny smile.
"Don and I will do some quick tests on the atmosphere, Doctor," said John, "If it proves to be breathable, he and I are going out to investigate. We want you to join us."
"Of course," Smith nodded. "Who knows what we may discover."
"Dad, may I go too?" Will spoke up.
"I don't think so, Will. Not this time," John patted his son's head.
"Gosh," Will said with a pout.
John ignored his son's small display and turned to his wife. "No one leaves the ship until we get back."
"Don't stay out too long," Maureen said with a worried look in her eyes.
"No longer than I have to, darling," John said as he leaned over to kiss his wife.
"Just got the report on the ship's atmosphere, John. The oxygen and nitrogen levels are good. We should be able to go outside without a breathing apparatus," Don told him.
"Good," John nodded. "Grab the lasers. I'll tell the robot to stand guard."
"Don't trouble yourself, Professor," Smith interjected, "I'll do it." He quickly turned and went below.
John eyed him suspiciously, "Will, you'd better follow him down and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."
"Yes sir," the boy mumbled, still pouting. He hurried after Dr. Smith.
When he reached the lower deck, he found the doctor standing with the robot at the ship's lower exit giving instructions to it.
"Now, my mechanical friend, you will stand guard of the ship and make sure no one leaves until I and said members of the Robinson party return. Is that clear?"
"Affirmative."
"Good. Now two steps forward."
Will watched as the robot obeyed Smith's commands and went to stand in front of the lower exit. He gave a big grin. "It's working!"
Smith turned around in surprise, but seeing that it was only Will gave a small smile. "Ah yes my boy," he said, "Almost as good as new, as you can see." He did not tell Will that he had made the robot to respond to his voice only. The fewer people he shared that bit of information with, the easier it would be for him.
Shortly after, Don and John came down. John handed Smith a laser pistol and a large flashlight, "You ready Doctor?"
"Of course I am, Professor," Smith nodded, "Now let's go out and see what we can see, shall we?"
"Dad, would you please consider changing your mind?" Will begged.
"I'm sorry Son, but this is something Don, Dr Smith, and I must do alone. We don't know what's out there or how dangerous it will be." He ruffled his son's hair. "We won't be gone long. Take care of the others for me, okay?"
"Okay."
"Good boy," John strapped on his gun belt and turned to the others. "Alright men, let's go."
Outside they were greeted with dead silence. It was hard to imagine that there had been any life aboard this vessel before them. Cautiously, John made his way to one of the crystal webs that he had seen from the top deck. He stared hard at it and had to resist the urge to touch it.
"What do you make of them?" asked Don, coming up behind him.
"Looks like some sort of crystalline power source," John mused.
"There are so many of them!" exclaimed Don as he looked around.
Indeed, the entire ship, as far as they could see, was strewn about with these webs. It reminded them of a snowy forest during winter. They continued on slowly, carefully searching for any signs of life. There was none in sight. They even called out a couple of times to see if they could get any response but received no answer. At length as they proceeded, the silence melted away and a faint whirring noise was heard. They made their way towards the noise, curious to see what it was coming from. They finally came upon a small pavilion. Underneath it on a raised platform, was what looked like a control panel, but instead of buttons and switches, there were about ten round orbs, each giving off a pulsing glow. The three men stared at it in curiosity.
"Makes you feel rather primitive doesn't it," Smith remarked to the others, finally breaking the silence.
Don nodded, "Next to this we're still in nursery school," he said.
They advanced towards the machine in order to examine it. John got up on the platform for a closer look at the "controls". After a few moments, he turned towards Don.
"What do you think this is?" he asked.
Don shook his head, "Beats me," he said, "Maybe it's some kind of a guidance system or a scintillation detector. But if it is, how do you read it?"
As they continued to study the piece of equipment, Smith began to grow bored and decided to continue to search the ship. "While you gentlemen are admiring the instruments, let me see whether I can locate somebody." He told the others.
"Don't get lost, Doctor," Don warned.
"Never fear," he replied before starting off.
Don watched him until he finally disappeared into the darkness. He turned to John. "You know somehow I hate to see Dr. Smith wander off by himself," he said.
"Oh he can't do any harm here," said John as he continued to study the instruments.
"Yeah that's true," Don gave a small laugh, "I guess."
OOooOOoo
Will paced the lower deck impatiently. He hated being left out of the excitement. It just wasn't fair, he decided. Here he was, a curious nine year old boy and his father wouldn't take him on any dangerous mission because he was "not old enough". Finally, he had enough of the waiting and decided to act. Will knew what he was about to do was wrong but he just couldn't take it anymore. He just had to go out and explore! He just had to! There was only one problem. The robot was guarding the door and wouldn't let anyone out. Oh well, perhaps he could remedy that. He approached the robot.
"Let me pass," he ordered.
"Negative," was its answer.
Will frowned, "Now look," he said, "I know Dr. Smith told you to stand watch. But couldn't you turn off your sensors just for a moment?"
"It does not compute," said the robot.
"Step aside, will you?" Will pleaded.
"It does not compute."
"Two steps forward!"
"It does not compute!"
Will gave an irritated sigh and attempted to rush past the robot to the exit, but the machine put out one of his arms to block him. Will gave an angry huff and turned away. He was just about to give up when an idea struck him. He turned back towards the robot with a smirk, and cleared his throat.
"Two steps forward my Mechanical Friend," he said, attempting to imitate Dr Smith's voice and English accent as best as he could.
It worked! Much to Will's surprise, the robot slowly moved away from the exit, allowing the boy to slip past him. He made his way out the exit, down the steps on one of the landing gears, and to the ground.
He was slightly spooked at how dark and quiet it was outside, and for a moment was tempted to return to the confines of the ship, but he immediately thought better of it. He was here to explore. He looked around but didn't see his dad, Don, or Dr. Smith anywhere. That was good. The last thing he needed was to get caught by them and be told to go back to the ship. Slowly, he took a deep breath, turned on the flashlight he had brought with him, and made his way forward into the darkness.
As he explored, he could not help but be intrigued by everything surrounding him. How he wished that he had more time to study everything, but sadly that was not the case. However, maybe he could take some souvenirs with him back on the ship to study later. With this in mind, he cautiously approached one of the crystal webs and attempted to grab a piece off of it. The moment his skin touched it though, a sizzling sound was heard and it felt like a million electric volts were coursing through him. He gave a small yelp and pulled away examining his hand. It was slightly burnt but it was nothing too bad, he noted. He was fortunate that nothing worse had occurred. Will shook his head as he thought over that rash action. He was on an alien ship! Of course he should have known better than to touch something that he knew nothing about. He could almost picture his dad's stern voice lecturing him on the importance of thinking ahead before he acted.
Will was just about to continue on when suddenly he felt a hand grab hold of his wrist. He gave a loud gasp of fear and whirled around. There, standing before him, was Bethany.
"What are you doing out here?" he hissed angrily.
"Looking for you," she replied calmly.
"You shouldn't be out here," Will scolded, "now go back to the ship before you get us both in trouble."
"No," she folded her arms in front of her in a defiant stance, "I wanna stay with you!"
Will sighed. He knew there wasn't much of a chance of him taking her back to the ship without her making a big fuss about it and getting them both caught; something that he wanted to avoid at all costs. The only other options were to have her tag along or to leave her behind and let her wander around by herself: the latter of which he was unwilling to do. She had won this match for now.
"Okay fine," he growled and roughly took hold of her hand, "come on." He pointed to the webs, "Don't touch these," he told her, "They'll burn you if you do."
Bethany's eyes widened, and she nodded her head.
They continued on for a long while hand-in-hand. At length Will spoke, "We've been gone a long time. We should get back to the ship."
"Wait, look!" Bethany pointed up ahead.
Will scanned ahead and saw a faint light in the distance.
"What do you think it's from?" Bethany asked.
"There's only one way to find out," said Will and he began making his way towards it. Before long they came upon a large tunnel where the light appeared to be coming from. Inside, the tunnel was covered from the floor to the ceiling with large, flesh-colored, cell-like protrusions. The two children paused for a moment to stare inside.
"I'm going in," Will declared.
Bethany nodded, still keeping a firm grasp on his hand.
They made their way into the tunnel cautiously. They could not walk as easily through the tunnel because of all the protrusions covering the floor. They came up to the children's knees and appeared to be sacks containing some sort of fluid. Will and Bethany were forced to walk partially on them and partially in the narrow dip in between where one sack ended and another began. Because the sacks were almost jelly-like and slippery, they had a hard time keeping their balance and not falling.
They had gone about thirty feet inside when they came to a giant room which was also covered with the fluid sacks. The tunnel still continued on branching off into several smaller and darker caverns within the room. Will and Bethany looked around in awe not saying a word.
Suddenly, up from one of the caverns there appeared a large spherical creature. It stood about six feet in height and had a circumference of about nine feet. It was rusty orange in color with one large eye near the top of its head. That eye was solid blue in color and it gave off a pulsing glow. When Will saw it, he gave a sharp gasp and nearly lost his balance.
"What is it?" asked Bethany. Then she too noticed the creature. Her eyes widened and she hid behind Will peering out from his leg to look at it.
For a long while they stared at it together. As they did, several more of the same creatures appeared from the caverns.
"What are they?" Bethany wondered aloud.
Will shook his head, "Your guess is as good as mine," he said. "They don't appear to be hostile though. They are probably just as frightened of us as we are of them."
As he spoke a series of electrical discharges were heard from one of the creatures and small electrical currents were seen coming out from its eye before quickly disappearing with a loud popping noise.
"Is it trying to talk?" Bethany asked.
"I think it is," Will said, nodding. Taking a deep breath, he turned and faced it.
"I-I'm from the J-Jupiter two s-space ship," he stammered, "p-planet earth. Do you read me?"
OOooOOoo
When Dr. Smith left Don and John he began eagerly searching for any signs of life on board the ship. Unlike the others he did not believe that they were on an alien vessel, but rather that they were on one of the many ships that his superiors owned. He only needed to find one of the crew members, and his troubles would be over. Before the day was over, he would be on his way back to earth with enough riches to begin a comfortable life and the Robinsons would of course be imprisoned aboard the ship never to be heard from again. Everything was falling into plan, if only he could find the crew aboard this vessel!
As he searched he came upon a tunnel that appeared to be covered in all these strange bubbles. Inside, he could see the faint glow of a light. He stood at the entrance for a moment quite intrigued by what he had found. The next moment though his heart nearly stopped when he heard a familiar voice from inside the tunnel.
"What is this spaceship? Where are you from?"
Dr. Smith was puzzled. Had he just imagined that or was that Will speaking? It couldn't be Will! The robot had been instructed not to let anyone out of the ship. At that moment Smith's thoughts were interrupted by the crackling sound of electrical discharges from inside the tunnel. After a few seconds they died down and the voice was heard again.
"Will you let our ship out of here?"
Once more as if in response to the voice, the crackling of electricity was heard.
At this point Smith could wait no more. That voice had to be coming from Will and if he had somehow stumbled upon his superiors… Smith wasted no more time thinking, but as quickly as he could waded through the bubble tunnel until he finally found what he was looking for. In the big room stood Will and Bethany in front of several horrid looking blobs trying to communicate with them. By this time Will and Bethany had heard the sound of his footsteps and they both whirled around.
"Oh, Dr. Smith," Will breathed a sigh of relief, "It's you." He pointed to the blobs and motioned him forward, "Look what we've found."
Slowly the doctor made his way toward the two children, trying in vain to conceal the horrified look on his face. As soon as he was beside the children however, he drew his laser pistol and was about to point it at one of the aliens when Will stopped him.
"No, don't shoot!" Will protested, grabbing hold of the gun and forcing it down. "They were in those caverns. Beth and I must have disturbed them. I think I might be able to communicate with them."
"B-but, they're not human," Smith said in disbelief, "They're alien! And I was so sure…"
"Humans out here billions of miles from the earth?" Will looked shocked that Smith would even think such a thing.
Dr. Smith did not reply. Instead, he attempted to train his weapon on one of the aliens again, but once more, Will stopped him.
"No, don't! Maybe they can help us," the boy said. "I mean they don't look like us, but maybe on the inside, they are."
At this Smith reluctantly lowered his gun. "Very well my boy," he acquiesced, "See what you can do."
Once more Will addressed the aliens, "We are on a mission to Alpha Centauri," he began, "but we have drifted off course. Can you help us find our way back?"
The main alien that was doing most of the communicating let out a few more electrical discharges.
"What do you suppose that means?" Smith asked.
"I don't know," Will shrugged, "but I don't think it likes being asked to guide us anywhere,"
"Let me try," Smith suggested. He then addressed the head alien, "We are from the planet, earth. We are perfectly willing to stay here, if you will show me how your guidance system can get us back there."
"But we don't want to go to earth, Dr. Smith!" Will interrupted, "We want to go to Alpha Centauri!"
"You do. Not I." Smith replied sharply.
None of the aliens responded.
"It doesn't really matter," Smith sighed, "They don't seem very cooperative."
"They were before you got here," Will growled.
With great effort, Smith bit back the harsh reply that was on the tip of his tongue. "Very well," he finally said wryly, "Try again, and I hope you realize how important their guidance system could be to us."
Will rolled his eyes and turned back towards the aliens. "My parents are on the Jupiter 2 spaceship," he explained, "as well as my sisters, and Beth, and Major West (he's our pilot). And Dr Smith here… Well, he just seemed to be aboard when we lifted off."
"They're not interested in your passenger list. Ask them something sensible!" Smith said impatiently.
"I can't ask them anything until I get them to realize we don't mean any harm!" Will snapped. He continued on. "We are friendly. We're from the planet Earth. We're on our way to Alpha Centauri."
"No no no! Back to Earth!" Smith cut in.
The aliens gave no response.
"They don't seem to read me no matter what I say," Will groaned.
"They'll read this!" And before Will could stop him, Smith had drawn his gun and fired at the head alien. The laser beam hit the creature with an explosion leaving a gaping hole in its flesh but contrary to what Smith hoped, it did not destroy it. Instead the crackling of electricity was heard as all the creatures began making their discharging noises.
Will turned to Dr. Smith angrily. "You ruined everything!" He exclaimed, "Why did you do that? They're much bigger than we are!"
Bethany pointed at the aliens. "Look they're coming for us!" she shrieked.
Sure enough the aliens had assembled into a long line. And were advancing toward them.
"Everyone run!" Will cried.
OOooOOoo
John stifled a yawn as he continued to study the instruments. There were no buttons or switches, just these ten glowing orbs. How was he supposed to work them? Absent-mindedly he placed one of his hands over one of the orbs as he worked.
"John, look!" Don pointed up at the ceiling.
John looked up to where Don had pointed and found, to his amazement, that a picture of the Milky Way galaxy had appeared.
"So that's how it works," he said to himself. He removed his hand from that orb and put it on a different one. Immediately the picture of the Milky Way vanished and was replaced with one of the Andromeda galaxy. For several minutes he experimented with the controls and found that with different sequences of hand motion, he was able to bring up different galaxies, planets, and even constellations.
"It's incredible," he said at length to Don, "Somehow, they've mapped this entire section of space, and these controls work as a huge roadmap."
"Interesting," Don nodded his head, "but can you make anything of all this that will help us?"
"I think so. Apparently these planets are all classified by mass," John told him. "We just have to locate Alpha Centauri by its mass, and get its position…"
"And we'll be back on course," the Major finished.
The two men continued to work the controls for several minutes. They had almost found Alpha Centauri when…
"Dad!"
John glanced up from the controls. "That sounded like Will," he said.
"DAD!"
"It is Will!" he exclaimed.
Both he and Don abandoned the controls and began running in the direction that they had heard the yell. Before long, they had reached the tunnel with the bubbles. Inside, they could see Will, Bethany and Dr. Smith struggling to get away from several spherical bubble-like creatures that were crackling with electricity.
"Will!" John called out to his son.
"Dad help!" Will shouted, "They almost have us!"
At his cry, both John and Don drew their laser pistols and fired multiple shots, hitting several of the creatures. They did not kill them but they did give the children and Dr. Smith a few extra seconds to get out of the tunnel and back on to firm ground. Their troubles were not over however. Despite sustaining several injuries the aliens continued to pursue them out of the tunnel.
"Alright everyone, get back to the ship!" John shouted.
At his command everyone turned and began to run as fast as they could to the Jupiter 2. As soon as the ship was in sight John began giving orders.
"Bethany, Smith, go tell everyone to strap in! Don, get the ship ready for liftoff! Will, you help him. I'm going to blast our way out of here!"
As everyone scurried up the stairs. John turned and faced the wall of the alien ship, lifted his rifle and began to fire it at the wall. The laser beam of the rifle began to cut though it and John could hear the hissing noises as the alien vessel began to loose pressure. He continued firing until he had cut a large rectangle that was big enough for their ship to go through. It was still attached to the ship though but just barely. As soon as he was finished, he clambered up the stairs. He could see the aliens out of the corner of his eye and he knew that they didn't have much time. As soon as he was inside he closed the hatch.
"Liftoff!" He called up top.
At his signal, Don immediately fired up the rockets and the ship lifted into the air. Slowly, Don spun the ship around towards the rectangle that John had cut.
"Will, switch on the forward thrusters," the Major ordered.
Will nodded and with the flick of the switch, the forward thrusters were activated and pushed the ship right towards the cut section of the wall. The ship rammed through the wall causing the rectangular portion that John had severed to come loose from the alien ship giving the &@ Jupiter 2 the passageway it needed to once again escape out into space.
Once it was all done Will breathed a sigh of relief. "We made it," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
Don nodded and switched the ship into auto pilot. He then turned to Will. "You did excellent helping me pilot the ship," he told the boy. "Good job."
Will gave a proud smile.
By this time, everyone else on board were making their way up top. They all gazed out the front window at the stars. Never had space looked so inviting!
A moment later, Don gave an irritated sigh, "Well apparently our outer hull did not do so well from ramming into that wall. The port section is smashed in, and one of the inner support beams is threatening to give way."
"Can it be fixed?" John asked anxiously.
"I could suit up and make a few repairs outside the ship," said Don, "But that would only fix part of the problem and it would take quite a while. It probably would be best if we could find a place to land for a day or two so that I could make complete repairs."
"Well you're in luck," said John, "because while studying that ship's navigation system I came across a planet with a mass nearly identical to earth's that is not very far from us at all."
"It's a pity it isn't the earth." Remarked Dr. Smith sullenly.
"Really? What are the coordinates?" Asked Don ignoring Dr. Smith's remarks as he headed over to the astrogator.
"E 28; A 5." John answered.
"That's less than twenty-four hours away from here!" exclaimed the Major excitedly, "I'm going to set the coordinates."
"Are you sure about this John?" Maureen questioned her husband anxiously.
"Well, right now I'm not sure about anything Maureen," John replied, "But you heard Don. This might be our only chance at getting the ship ready to fly again."
Maureen still didn't look convinced. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could say anything more, Don spoke.
"The Astrogator is locked on the coordinates. Will, switch on forward thrusters and give us a five second boost."
"Yes sir." Will nodded and he proceeded to do as ordered.
As the ship jolted forward, John and the rest of the crew gazed out the window as they continued their journey to their next destination beyond the stars.