A passenger who disembarked from the course

by TFALokiwriter

The Jupiter 2 lifted off at 8:17 pm (EST) on the scheduled date, and for the first 50 million miles the craft was intended to be controlled by radio telemetry from earthbound and lunar tracking stations. The Jupiter 2 landed on Earth at approximately 6:03 pm (EST) a hour and fourteen minutes before flight alongside the identical twin in the year 1997.

11. A light at the end of the tunnel

Robot was the first of the group to return through the portal followed Will and John. The professor was the first to go through the mouth of the cave then pause and look out noticing the storm had dissipated. The professor grinned stepping forward as the light hit upon him. His normally guarded and weary futures were replaced by ones of content. He could hear birds in the landscape then looked on and his eyes registered colorful strands in the distance as the darkness from space was slowly taking over the sky replaced by constellations with the alien moons beginning to stand out more than they had since the morning had begun.

"Will, look!" John pointed into the distance.

Will joined his side.

"A space rainbow!" Will said, his eyes in dumbstruck, in awe, then began to smile.

"Affirmative." Robot confirmed.

"Will, I get the feeling that everything is going to be okay tomorrow morning." John said.

"Me too, dad. Me too." Will looked up toward the professor with a smile. "I will miss him, though."

"We will all miss him." John admitted. "He is a very unique and memorable character."

"It won't be the same waiting five years for civilization to come our way without Doctor Smith." Will said.

"Doctor Smith decided to spend five years on our ship guiding us to Alpha Centauri to make sure we didn't get destroyed, if he can do that then so so we can we."

Will's smile turned into a grin.

"He is stronger than I am." Will said. "I can't do it. Going through time? Editing events? I would be fine with the way things went."

"But your counterpart seemed to disagree with that." John said.

"We will find out why in the morning." Will said. "Somehow, I get the feeling with the way things turned out, it wasn't anything good."

"It was bad enough to force him to take that action." John said. "That is answer enough."

"You're right." Will found himself agreeing to his fathers comment. "It would only dig up the past and he wouldn't be happy."

Will took a step forward but was halted by John.

"Hold your horses, son." John put a hand on Will's shoulder then grinned and made a bolt for the Chariot. "First one there is a rotten space apple!"

John laughed as did Will racing the other to the Chariot and Robot followed.