"So, he did sabotage Robot." Was all John said.
The family nodded, one by one, around the campfire.
And Will stared into the pit of fire as he thought over the last few days with him.
Don was the first to exit the space van two weeks after the revelation. He walked over and paused beside the front half of the expanded ship looking over toward the older man. His view hadn't changed of him little since they first encountered each other; mysterious, maturer, older, yet full of sorrow. The kind of sorrow that he walked around with ease that masked the pain of being homesick. He had a Earth that he could return to, Don envied. They didn't.
"Hey, Doctor Locksmith," Don said.
Locksmith lifted himself up from the garden.
"Yes, dear Don?" Locksmith tugged at his pant legs as he turned his pant legs up.
"Will's been thinking about our alien machine. A lot. He has known him for two weeks." Smith's brows furrowed in response. "Two weeks."
The older man's brows relaxed.
"What happened in those two weeks?"
"Um. A lot. Life saving stuff, making a light signal, fighting eels, finding pebble insects, colorful flowers that only open up when you clap, finding Robot's crashed ship, taking his astronavigator, finding alien creatures along the way, finding out the hard way that she wasn't Doctor Smith in Jupiter 18, Harris knocking out Maureen in the middle of giving us directions and leaving us to die, finding space bats that produce space shit to get the rest of the Jupiter's off the junk planet, her using Robot as a tool against us, then her using the harpoon to retrieve John and I."
The man was silent.
"Oh and Will saved Robot from a burning tree and reattached him him to his lower half. Then we set up the electric fence generator for the animals which was better because we weren't setting out up for people," Locksmith's eyes flew open in horror. "Everyone was distrustful and suspicious of Robot because of the attack that he launched on the Resolute. He hurt a lot of people, took a lot of people away, and that pain doesn't go away so easily because he is good. Will didn't get it. So, John had to teach Will some responsibility."
Locksmith nodded, lowering his gaze, briefly closing his eyes then reopened them.
"And you're afraid that he is taking responsibility too far over a sapient being." Locksmith said.
"Yeah." Don said.
"Like a pet." Locksmith said.
"That's it in a nutshell." Don nodded.
"I will handle it." He walked past the man. "And tell them that they should have asked me themselves."
Don watched the man march off the forest further and further until he couldn't hear him so Don followed to see where this was going. He went quietly, his marine training coming in handy, so the older man didn't hear him as he went on further and further into the forest until it towered over him. It was noisy in the forest with chirping birds, tree branches being disturbed by the wildlife that lived above, yet peaceful.
Don watched the man pause in his tracks growing still. Abruptly, Locksmith fell against a tree root. The older man began to sob with a closed fist against his mouth then sniffle as his figure began tremble and closed his eyes. Locksmith lowered his hand down then hunched over with his arms against his chest. When Locksmith was all alone, he bellowed out a pained and heartbroken scream sinking to the ground. As soon as Don saw, he felt he was intruding on a private moment, then quietly left.
"Did you meet a human who looked robot with a glass helmet out there?"
The older man paused.
"Booby, please go ahead of us."
B-9 lowered his helm.
"Affirmative." B-9 replied
"What is it, Doctor Locksmith?" Will asked, joining Locksmith's side, then looked up.
Locksmith's shoulders lowered then pointed toward a nearby tree stump.
"Please, dear Will," Locksmith started, eeriely calm but quite lacking in energy himself. He was acting resigned, heartbroken, and sorrow that concerned Will for a moment. It could only meant to him something was wrong. "sit down on that tree stump."
"What is this about?" Will asked as he walked over to the tree stump. "Something wrong?"
Locksmith turned toward the young boy.
"It's about devoting your thoughts and mind to that alien machine," Locksmith said.
Will tilted his head.
"What about it?" Will asked.
"That is not being a friend." Locksmith hissed looming over the boy. "That is obsession over a POSSESSION." His hands rolled into fists by his side. "He is a sapient being. If you dare search for him then he will never find you. He has to find you! You're devoting your entire head to him and that isn't healthy for a young man."
He walked away, his hands clasped in his lap, looking through the forest.
"No, you are not thinking of him as a person."
"Yes-"
"You're not," He snapped back turning toward the boy. "You are thinking of him as a helpless two legged walking piece of property that needs constant help and belong to you."
"No, I-"
Locksmith pointed down toward the boy and Will silenced himself as he realized the old man was right.
"He belongs to one person. Himself. He can help himself! He can take care of himself. He has been around LONGER than you have!" Locksmith emphasized. "And if he wants to find you, let him." he lowered himself down to the boy's level then gestured a hand toward him. "A friend spares some thoughts to their friends once in awhile. But never, NEVER, do-" he was disturbed as he shuddered and shook his head. "Do they consider them being THEIR property."
Locksmith walked on.
"B-9 and my dear boy . . . were . . . they consider me as a person and they feel responsible over me because they care about me." he lowered his head, regretful, touched, and full of warmth at the same time. His voice grew softer and smaller. "It took months for my friend to start and keep a friendship with me."
Will watched the older man take a few steps away from him.
"I didn't make it easy." Locksmith admitted. "I didn't want it to be easy."
"Why?"
"I didn't want any association with him."
"Why?"
"Because, dear, I had no interest in hanging around children."
"He was interested in hanging around someone older than him."
Locksmith nodded as a small smile snaked on to his lips as he tapped on his lip looking back fondly.
"And yet, he went over my fences, barbed wires, and asked to hang around with me." Locksmith said. "B-9 was by far the easiest for him to befriend. They spent more time around each other than they did with me in the beginning." He paused. "Strike that off the record. We spent equal time around him."
"If we had lost our dear boobed friend in the beginning, we would have gone after him because he was necessary to the mission." Locksmith continued on folding his arms as he recalled the past and the action that would have been taken if it had been changed. "If it happened, we would fight for him in any way that we could and so would I."
"How much?" Will said.
"With our lives if it came down to it. And the ship, too. I and the women would have survived if it was a terrible disaster to get him back," Locksmith recounted. He had a moment of pause grimacing at the situation that could have been. "He is our protector, our friend, and family member."
"He is a mix of all three." Will said.
"Indeed!" He turned toward the young boy with a smile. "But, love. . . When it comes to it being his choice, we have to let him go."
Locksmith turned toward the boy with a glare that hurt.
"You are thinking of going after him because he is your property." Locksmith said approaching the boy then towered over him. "Don told me that you were bestowed responsibility with him but you are taking it too far thinking that he is YOURS."
Will was silent as Locksmith jabbed a finger into his chest.
"Someone you are to be responsible for and be alongside constantly. Someone to make sure they didn't blow up and kill everyone! Someone, I am not." He turned away from Will cupping his hands together into his lap looking on toward B-9. "Someone, B-9 is not."
Locksmith looked up toward the morning sky.
"My friendship with my dear friend was similar to that. Except, he wanted to be around me and so did B-9. Someone who wanted to be around us. Someone who wanted a friend." Locksmith's words were sharp into the boy's heart. "That is the fine difference between my friend and you. That is a difference between a friend and a owner."
Locksmith looked aside, sorrowfully, but plainly.
"I doubt that my friend would have gone after me if I had been taken two weeks after being stranded on Priplanus," he looked toward the sky then shook his head, heartbroken, yet sadly. "He wouldn't have."
Locksmith lowered his gaze, closing his eyes, shaking his head then walked on.
"Wait. . . . So all these months, I have been considering him as a object?" Will asked. "Is that what you have been saying?"
Smith whirred toward Will, loudly proclaiming;
"YES!" and birds flew into the sky.
Locksmith's voice rang out in the forest.
"Consider him a person and you will be his friend. Friends do help each other." he leaned against a tree for a single moment and frowned looking down upon the boy folding his arms. "But, what you are doing is not helping him in the least!"
"So, how do you deal with a dangerous machine around you who can be-" he made a hand motion. "uh, reprogrammed?"
"He is family, someone I can help, someone I can forgive, someone I cannot leave without," Locksmith said. "And if he gets exiled then so do I. I won't leave him all alone in this galaxy. I can afford to do that because I am becoming part plant and part plants don't need to worry about wearing garments."
"But, your family." Will said. "We are the only ones on this planet who has arrived to this planet recently. It could be your one way ticket!"
"I won't do that to my dear. . ." he looked toward the figure of B-9 setting up the camp and began to sniffle at the thought of abandoning him. "silly. . lovable. . . old. . . bubble. . . headed. . . booby."
Will was silent looking down toward the grass as the older man sniffled.
"So, is that your answer?" Will looked up toward Locksmith. "You wouldn't dismantle him, make sure he is destroyed, or help in stopping him? You wouldn't leave him behind?"
"Oh, I shall help him be stopped with little to no damage on him." Locksmith looked down toward Will. "I will only be angry at the person who got their hands on him." he sighed. "No, I wouldn't leave him behind." he shook his head, closing his eyes, then opened them with notable resolve and conviction in his words. "We go together, or not at all."
Locksmith resumed walking on toward B-9 who had set up the fishing site with chairs and fishing rods.
And Will followed.