"WARNING! WARNING! Alien shuttle headed this way! Warning!"
"Everyone inside!" Maureen ordered.
The family went inside of the craft except for Maureen who held a spear in one hand as she looked on. John noticed that she was the only one remaining inside. He tried to jam the door open but found the door refused to move when he noticed that she had put the spear in between the two door handles.
The family were in the kitchen watching the events begin to play out. B-9 was by her side with electricity cackling from his claws as the doors opened to the craft. A familiar woman in her fifties with short shoulder length hair that was beginning to gray came out of the craft with a sly smile facing the younger woman. Her fingers slid down the arch way of the shuttle then folded her arms. She had long sleeves to a unique spacesuit that draped to the ground that were lined in gold. She wore a sparkling pure silver tiara on her head lined in sapphires, gems, and jades.
"Like what I did with myself, Maureen?"
"You know as I do that is a exaggeration of your nature."
"You don't like it."
"I don't care for it. What is your name?"
"Jessica Harris."
"B-9." Maureen said.
"I detect deception."
"Enough is enough, Smith." Maureen's hands rolled into fists. "Tell me your name."
Harris looked toward the machine.
"I see that you got a replacement for Robot." Harris said.
Maureen's attention shifted from the machine then toward Harris.
"He found us." Maureen said. "Your name. Your real name."
"It's June Harris." Harris said.
"B-9. . ." Maureen said.
"She is being truthful." B-9 replied with his voice unable to hide the layers of disgust much longer. "You should have saved Doctor Smith instead of leaving him to die."
Harris raised her brows then toward the machine.
"You can talk in full sentences?" Harris asked in intrigue as she strolled toward the machine. "What kind of machine are you?"
"I am the kind where loyalty cannot be bought." B-9 said. "It can only be earned, and you do not deserve my loyalty." She began to frown at his reply. "Only my electrified power and your untimely destruction at my claws. If you pose any harm."
"I liked it better when he said few words." Harris scowled then turned toward him. "My current residential friends likes you to hand over the illegal life form that you took from the last planet you were on."
"We don't have him." Maureen said.
"Our sensors say that you do. Don't be a drag, Maureen." Harris said. "They are willing to make as many trenches until they find it and this will be the first place they search."
"Let them." Maureen said. "We haven't seen him for a year. And we're not leaving without him."
"Why did you take a alien aboard your ship? You stay high and mighty about following the prime directive but this breaks it." Harris said. "Are you slipping, Maureen?" it was hard to tell if she were being concerned or being not real concern. All just a act, Maureen wagered. "Is the stresses of space really getting to you?"
Maureen kept herself together, against the odds, against the annoyance, against the taunting, against the monster outside her walls trying to chip away her shields.
"Why are you working with aliens?" Maureen asked.
"We have a beneficiary relationship." Harris said. "I get to be their de-facto-queen while they desperately search for her. After they find her, they will give me a ride to Alpha Centauri as a hitch hiker." Maureen observed the woman walking around her. And they are holding the Jupiter 2 in there until they find her." She pointed up in the sky. "Claim I share a striking resemblance to her," she snickered. "Flattering me."
"B-9." Maureen said.
"That is genuine." B-9 replied. "Does she call herself Queen Jessy? Mommy Jessy?"
"No? Why?" Harris tilted her head. "What kind of name is that?"
"Stay away from my family unit!" B-9 raged striking a bolt of electricity and she jumped back.
"I recommend you get going, June." Maureen said. "The man who can cool this machine down is gone and I can't speak on your behalf."
"If you hand over the life form, we are willing to hand over the ship." Harris said. "With certain conditions."
"And that is?" Maureen raised a brow.
"Return the engine to where it came from including the castaway that was aboard the Resolute. It is really causing a ruckus in this system. I can't do it. Robot refuses to do it. He keeps saying no even after all the torture that my people have put him through." She shook her head as she loudly spoke for everyone to hear. "Not at all in good shape to do anything. Weak and hurt but has some energy. Energy to be defiant instead of compliant. It doesn't need to be violent."
"Robot." Maureen said with widened eyes and covered her mouth heartbroken with tears and Will shrieked from within the shuttle.
"Geeeet OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!" B-9 roared.
Harris looked over then sprinted away as he sent electricity after her. B-9 continued this until she were back inside the shuttle. The shuttle lifted up from the ground then flew on back into the sky from whence it came. Then B-9 lowered his long arms and sighed, leaning forward, allowing his arms to fall as he released a long pent up sigh.
Maureen opened the door to the craft then was embraced by her family and relief.
Don was the only one silent then their attention shifted on toward him as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"About that." Don said. "He is where Rodney is. He has been in a stasis pod this entire time."
B-9's helm bobbed up in alarm.
"Let's put a cork in that and let them dig in the landscape." Maureen said.
"Maureen, are you sure about letting them waste their time?" John asked.
"Gives us enough time to make a plan and have steps." Maureen said then she brightened up with glee then twirled her finger in a circle. "I have got the start of the plan swirling like rockets."
"Great!" Will said.
"Is this going to be one of your fun plans?" John asked.
"No," Maureen said with a shake of her head. "The most exciting one of all."
"Penny, Judy, get the chalkboard out." John said as B-9 rolled through the forest. "This should be entertaining."