Telling Don was one thing that Maureen and John agreed on wasn't the kind of news that could be told lightly.
Wrestling with this piece of knowledge was difficult.
Let everyone believe that Smith had died in space after being hit by a laser blast or tell them that he suffered a fate far worse than that.
Completely abandoned by survivors similar to himself left Smith behind to die. A fitting poetic justice but the way the justice was handled seemed unjustified and beyond humane. Don had to be told what had happened but it wouldn't do so good on his moral. John and Maureen decided together that it was clearly obvious not to tell the major. It wasn't so difficult after all when it came to their children and to someone they cared about. To let them think that Smith without pain. Horrifying to bear the knowledge that Don was responsible for Smith's rather cruel, slow paced demise not Dragos.
There was a loud sound that jerked the Robinsons awake that night.
It was prominent and pointed enough to leave a echo that lingered on.
Maureen could hear her heart beat loudly in her ears observing the Robot and the men looking out for what had made the crash sound. Will leaned against the front chair with his arms on the head rests struggling to stay awake. Penny was holding on to the figure of the drowsy monkey holding on to the fabric of her nightwear. Maureen was holding on to her fingers looking on toward the window. The men came close and closer to the large rounded machine that flickered on and off with white square light out pouring from the machine. They came to a stop with their flash lights landing on the large rounded shape that had a antenna from above the circular dish. The machine was white with blue and red markings on the side.
John and Don lifted the heavy machine into the Robot's arms then returned to the Jupiter 2 campsite.
The machine was gently lifted down in front of the platform that lead up into the Jupiter 2.
"What kind of ship is this?" John said.
"Negative," The Robot said, drawing the men's attention. "This is not a ship."
"What is it, Robot?" Will asked, as he joined Don's side.
"A beacon," The Robot replied. "There is another just like it from around the academy."
On the white screen appeared a familiar face that had genuinely aged.
"This is Commander Gampu of Space Academy," Gampu started.
"They are right about the uncanny resemblance," Don noted.
"Sapient residents of this planet should be forewarned of authorized visitors who pose no harm or share any ill will to you," Gampu said. "Any hostilities will be defused diplomatically but if the conflict requires it then violence will be necessary. Do not be alarmed of the rather unusual crew members that you may see. They are from the USS Steve Irwin who are here to study the wild life and plant life. As you are aware of due to the earthquakes during the winter and the unusual orbit it has, this planet will not be around in the next 30 years. End of transmission."
The screen became black.
"Robot, can we remove the message and return it through the new void?" John asked.
"Affirmative," The Robot replied.
"John, what kind of idea are you getting?" Don asked.
"The kind that prevents the last week from happening," John said.
"Another way to make sure the battle occurred in more familiar territory," Don said, in realization.
"Exactly," John said, as the Robot opened the control panel from the back. "Don, you can record the message and we will figure out how to sent it back up there in the morning."
"So we can expect Doctor Smith still at his campsite in the morning," Penny said.
"The chances of that are high," the Robot replied. "Or being a thorn in a new comers side."
"That is a good plan," Don said.
"Alive and well," Will said.
"Yes," John said. "But. . ." he held his index finger. "we have to act as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Don't arouse his suspicion."
"That will be easy!" Penny said, chipper.
"Just tell Doctor Smith that you are checking up on him," he had a brief pause. "But if he isn't . . ." He scanned the faces of his family one by one considering the thought of it. "then we may be living out the timeline that can't be fixed."
"If it can't be fixed," Will said. "It'll be for the best," Maureen looked down toward Will. "I like the idea of him going out trying to help people rather than dying from the trouble that he got into."
"Me too," Penny said.
"Me three," Judy said.
"So do I," Maureen said.
"I can live with that," Don agreed.
Debbie gave a thumbs up.
"We all agree on it," John said, in-between the laughter that illuminated from the family. "Now, off to bed," John gestured toward the Jupiter 2. "Tomorrow is a new day."
KaraQ stared at the nice collection of humanoids that had been gathered during the battle.
KaraQ came to a stop at the last humanoid, the old man, more importantly, the one pretending to have been Commander Gampu.
The old man had a lot more guts that KaraQ had anticipated.
A feature that was admired. Acting, period, that he was someone else and playing them like a fiddle. KaraQ moved toward the console across from the ill gained specimens to future experiments. The old man had a gash on his head. His hands still coated in blood. His hair disheveled, his sleeves stained more than his fingers, and his outfit was still covered in some of the quick sand that had clung on to the outfit. The old man was stuck in the position that he had been transported in unlike how the others had their eyes closed and hands to their side, Smith's eyes were open. Clearly full of terror, his fingers out stretched, and bend in a unusual position.
Someone so admirable deserved to go first.
Kara typed in a code into the console.
The human reappeared into a booth.
In the next moment, he grew animated.
KaraQ watched him fall back landing to the corner of the object looking in both ways.
Sweat was dripping down his skin, with arms out stretched grasping on to the wall paneling. The old man screamed looking on to see the strange individual with antennas that were long but thin coated in dark fur and had unusual carved features into his face that seemed human yet alien at best. The old man fell back to the ground, shielding himself, slowly becoming incoherent and fell apart pleading for his life with a tremble.
KaraQ stared at the old man then played with the machinery watching the hysterical human.
"Ah," KaraQ said. "So helpless," KaraQ grew a smile despite the developing headache. "Right where I want you."
It reminded KaraQ why exactly the hysterical human was deemed a subject that would be a annoyance and tossed aside. The Robinsons couldn't replace the old man, it became apparent to them, but nothing could replace blending in for the human. KaraQ set in the lines of the experiment then watched the man hurl forward screaming in pain falling to his knees then to the floor. For KaraQ, everything was occurring in black and white. The human was glowing while laid on the floor appearing to be overwhelmed.
The human's uniform became torn at places, new sets of arms appeared underneath his arms, his figure lengthened, his dark hair became wild even thinner becoming longer than before, his ears grew larger but pointed, and his hands grew sharper even longer yet remaining the same size, the fat around his ring vanished leaving thin sinister fingers, and his face was undergoing a more painful transformation. KaraQ observed how the human kept hanging on despite the radical changes going on internally and externally.
The shoes broke apart revealing long feet with long toenails.
The life signs indicated the human kept holding on.
"How interesting," KaraQ observed. "Seems humans can stand the pain the more."
KaraQ pressed on the buttons then watched as the mutated human stopped glowing. His outfit was in tatters laying around him then slowly got up covering his body with his new found arms appearing to be vulnerable with a hunched demeanor. His body decorated in what seemed to be large gold pieces embedded into the skin. KaraQ observed the lack of the genitalia then grew even the more pleased and walked around to see the two rounded bulbs into the mutated ones back. The old man's legs were bent like the hind quarters of a dog.
"Wonderful," KaraQ said. "Wonderful."
The newly changed features of the naked, but cold old man showed pain then in the next moment, the old man was returned into the pod perfectly still and eyes were closed.
"You're going back to show what you really are," KaraQ said.
Smith reappeared on the surface of Priplanus out of thin air unsettling the sand beneath him. His legs gave out, aching, from beneath him. His head ached the most. Smith was on his back feeling his intestines were swollen. His entire body was aching. He reached his hands out to see duplicates of them in his vision. More than one vision, anyhow. His hand froze while processing the information. His numerous eyes blinked in unison turning the darkened blue sky to black without any sign of stars then reopened them again to spot his ring on one hand in each eye. Long, fine strands of hair went down his face. His body was covered in bruises from being thrown in the last few hours. Thrown against what? He had no idea while shivering.
There were dozens of them as he moved his hands from side to side. He bolted up placing a hand on his stomach then leaned forward feeling the urge to puke coming up his throat-and it came out like a speeding torpedo. Smith got up to his feet moving away from the scene then walked past a bush. He walked backwards observing the height. A memory flickered in his mind. He was giant once from eating something that he shouldn't have.
Wait, was he a giant . . . again? This time, permanently? Not a sneeze could help him out of his one. Was what Smith had felt. He felt along the small tree branches with his fingers that belonged to his two lower arms. Smith stopped, the cold temperature brushing against his skin, observing how different his arms looked. There were bumps that didn't belong that had stood out in terms of shape and size. They were never like that. Pink and full of life! Smooth but squishy. Smith reached his hands forward on to his face feeling the differences stand out and the shape of his hands became even more obvious to his eyes when sliding his fingers up his face.
Smith let out a loud cry of despair falling against the tree branches.
From the Jupiter 2, as Don was going up, he turned in the direction of the cry appearing to be caught off guard at the familiar noise.
"Just the wind," Don said, then walked into the Jupiter 2.
It was morning when the giant cyclops were foraging for food on the surface. One cyclops spotted one of the beings from the sky waving at them then slowly crept after her, she looked over her shoulder with a smile and laughed leading the cyclops astray. She vanished from among the rocks before the cyclops eyes. The cyclops stopped then glared down upon the white item in front of them. The cyclops didn't observe the Robinsons hiding behind a large rock who crossed their fingers hoping against chance with the Chariot in the background behind them. They watched the cyclops pick up the white item then climb up a mountain.
With a screech, the cyclops tossed the item into the sky where it soared through the atmosphere hurling in the direction of a small void that showed the two moons of Priplanus from across the planet then vanished into the void breaking through it. A pair of seekers came out then clasped on to the object and towed it into the docking bay. Yellow team 1 surrounded the beacon observing the damage into the metal that had been put into it. Gampu entered the room with hands linked behind his back rubbing his wrist appearing to be in one of his usual moods. He came to a stop in between.
"You are dismissed, yellow team 1," Gampu said. "Your instant response was appreciated."
"Oraco," came the reply then they split off from the commander.
Gampu approached the monitor that glowed a bright yellow then he squinted at the screen.
"This is Major West, pilot of the Alpha Centauri Jupiter 2 mission," Don's voice came over and stepped into the camera's view, drawing emotion from Gampu.
Don unexpectedly just stared at it as though contemplating what to say next very carefully.
"Major?" Gampu said, surprised. "How is this possible? You are not supposed to be on Priplanus the week after. . . " his voice dripped in melancholy while lowering taking in appreciatively the sight of a old frenemy growing a fond but sad smile. "Oh dear, I forgot how young you were."
"We lost someone yesterday who tried to help Blue Team 1 acting as Commander Gampu to make it past a threat back into present day," Gampu stroked the screen with his eyes growing emotional listening attentively to every word coming from the long dead figure. "Here is what will happen if you don't ask for protection from Fleet Command or Planetary Command, whichever it is, during Blue Team 1's graduation. . ."