By pure cosmic coincidence, the Robinsons would soon be experiencing winter, just as Smith would. The axis of their temporary planetary home tilted at a slightly sharper angle than Smith's, but the orbit and distance from its sun were remarkably similar. As the weather cooled, the Robinsons and Major West shifted their focus to stockpiling whatever safe food they could find and to repairing systems on the Jupiter 2 in order to withstand the coming winter. Building the deutronium refiner would have to wait, as surviving the impending harsh, cold conditions had become top priority.

Will carried a bundle of native vegetation up the Jupiter's ramp. Penny followed close behind with a bundle of her own. As they neared the top of the ramp, they found two booted feet sticking out from under one of the nearly dismantled consoles.

"Are the environmental systems fixed yet, Don?" Will asked.

"Almost," Don smiled. "I just finished rewiring. We have heat again and the filters are working. I have a few minor adjustments to make and we'll be all set. Will, can you give me a hand putting this back together?"

"Sure thing," Will replied as he handed off his bundle to Penny.

Penny excused herself and went below to help her mother and sister with preserving and storing the newly harvested vegetation.

As the lift lowered her to the bottom level, Penny saw her father at one of the science workstations peering into a microscope. Greetings from her mother and sister broke Professor Robinson from his analysis of whatever was under the scope and he looked up to see his youngest daughter handing over two large bundles to her mother.

"How's it going?" Penny asked as she came alongside her father to see what was capturing his interest.

"Quite well," he replied. "I've identified another safe source of sustenance."

Penny giggled. "You sounded just like Doctor Smith." Both briefly smiled at memories of the doctor's frequent use of alliteration. "So, what is it that's safe to eat?" she inquired.

"The large rodent-like creatures we saw near the prairie," he said apologetically. He knew his daughter had been trying to befriend some of the furry creatures.

Penny wrinkled her nose. She disliked the thought of eating something she considered cute and furry, but with limited food options, the family didn't have much of a choice. They had moved the hydroponic garden inside under artificial grow lights to supplement their stored goods, but its yield alone would not be enough to get them through the winter.

Penny put the unpleasant thoughts out of her mind and joined her mother and sister in their tasks.

Smith slept later than he had intended. The warmth and protection of the cave had allowed him his first full night of sleep uninterrupted by weather, animals, or nightmares, since the Robinsons had left. Sunlight streaming through the small opening at the mouth of the cave shone on the doctor's face. He shut his eyes tight and rolled onto his back, stretching and yawning. Artemis yawned and stretched as well, then plopped down next to Smith, rubbing her head against his face.

"Good morning, my dear," Smith scratched affectionately under her chin. He stretched again and threw the sleeping bag open. Stumbling sleepily to the hot spring, he kneeled and splashed a handful of warm water on his face and yawned again.

Smith had no desire to do anything but laze around in his new home, but he had long since lost that luxury. There were no Robinsons to manipulate into keeping him in the manner to which he had become accustomed. His stomach was protesting loudly and it was up to him alone to remedy the situation. He picked up his laser pistol and thought for a moment. No, he had to be conservative with its use, as he had no way to recharge it. He sighed, but strapped the pistol on anyway, just in case his spear was not sufficient for defense against whatever he came upon. He grabbed his spear and pushed away the rocks he'd piled at the entrance to the cave.

After he ducked through the small cave opening, he straightened himself and groaned, massaging his lower back with one hand. Artemis emerged next to him, nose held high, sniffing the air. She was now a far cry from the cub that fit neatly in one of Smith's hands. She was becoming a formidable and powerful predator whose shoulders nearly came up to the doctor's knees. Smith estimated she would be fully grown in a few more months.

Artemis grunted and thrust her head in one direction. With a swish of her tail, she was off, tracking something. She lead and Smith followed. She'd found prey before and she'd found the cave. Smith was coming to trust her nose and her instincts implicitly.

Artemis stopped suddenly and Smith spotted the rustling in a patch of tall grass. He didn't want to startle their quarry by speaking, but how would he coordinate with Artemis? She looked up at him, seemingly asking "How do you want to handle this?" Smith pointed to the right and she immediately crept low towards the right end of the patch. One of the doctor's eyebrows lifted in surprise at how easily Artemis understood him. He crept toward the left end, spear at the ready. Artemis looked down toward him to make sure he was ready, then darted into the grass. The chase was on. The creature, whatever it was, was much larger than he had expected. It bolted by him so quickly and closely that it startled him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall on his backside. Artemis stopped in her tracks and stared at him for a moment. Smith, in his embarrassment, felt as if it was a glare of disgust. Then, she continued her chase of the creature.

He'd blown it. The doctor ran a weary hand over his heavily whiskered face. Get it together, Zachary, he admonished himself. Stupid missteps like that could mean starvation. A few minutes later, his despair dissolved as he saw Artemis carrying a wriggling, pig-like creature nearly as large as she was.

"Artemis, my dear! Once again, you save the day," Smith beamed.

She stopped a few feet in front of him and dropped the creature. It promptly took off back in the direction Artemis had come from.

"What are you doing?! Artemis! It's getting away!" Smith yelled.

Grunting, she took off after the animal again. Some minutes later, she was back. The pig creature was a little more worse for wear, clearly wounded, bite marks visible on its hind legs. Again, she dropped it a few feet in front of Smith. And again, it began to run, though struggling because of its injuries. Smith stood dumbfounded at Artemis' behavior until she growled at him and nudged his hand that held the spear. Realization dawned on his face as he looked down at the weapon in his hand. He started to run after the creature, but even wounded it was too fast for the aging doctor.

Artemis chased after the creature, holding it down until Smith had caught up. She waited until Smith was ready and then released it. Smith flung the spear and it sank into the dirt mere inches from his quarry. Artemis captured it and held it again. Smith pulled his spear from the ground and raised it. Artemis released. This time, Smith's aim was true and the creature squealed in pain as the spear drove into its flank. Artemis delivered the coup de grĂ¢ce to the creature's throat with her sabre-like fangs and it ceased moving.

Smith marveled for a moment at Artemis. She was teaching him to hunt. For a moment, he was glad no one was around to witness his humiliation.

Smith dropped to his knees, removed his knife from its sheath, and began to field dress the creature. As the doctor removed the organs, some of which he couldn't identify, and set them aside, Artemis helped herself. Aside from the meat, he had also harvested the creature's extremely sharp tusks and dorsal spines. They might come in handy, as would the tough hide. By the time Smith hefted the butchered creature over his shoulder, his feline companion was satiated and ready for a nap in their new home. The doctor, unfortunately, still had some work to do before his breakfast was ready, but at least they'd have several meals from this hunt.

After breakfast and a short nap, Smith set about making bricks with which to fortify his dwelling. Artemis lay close by, stretched out on the ground, her tail lazily swishing back and forth as she watched Smith's movements with interest. Despite the cool temperatures, sweat beaded on the doctor's forehead as he mixed the raw materials he'd gathered. The labor intensive work stirred long buried memories.

As a young boy back on his great aunt Maude's farm, Smith ran across an old brick oven near the farm hands' quarters. Old Joe, one of the hands, found him admiring it and told him what little he knew about the structure. It had been there since before Joe had started working there, decades ago. The farm hands would hunt wild game and roast their kills in the oven they'd built themselves. He showed young Zachary the basics of making the brick. The young boy delighted in the whole process, for once in his young life having the chance to make something with his own hands. His delight was short-lived, however, when aunt Maude found him covered from head to toe in mud and clay.

"Smiths do not play in the dirt," she scolded. "And they certainly don't perform manual labor! Such indignities are beneath us."

Old Joe removed his hat and wrung it between his hands. "My apologies, ma'am. It's my fault. I was jes' showin' the boy how this heah oven was made an' I guess I got a li'l carried away."

Aunt Maude dismissed Old Joe with an angry wave of her hand. He gave young Zachary a sorrowful look and retreated back to his quarters quickly.

Young Zachary hung his head in shame and embarrassment at his aunt's admonition. It would be the first of many he would hear regarding the superiority of the Smiths. She sent him off to take a bath. When he came down to the dining room for dinner, the table had been cleared. Aunt Maude sent him to bed without dinner, further reinforcing to him the severity of his sins.

Smith smirked at the memory. Now that he was beyond the stern influence of his great aunt Maude, he was free to make as many bricks as he wanted, but he took no joy in it. This was a matter of survival. Years of being ingrained with the notion that Smiths did no manual labor had produced aunt Maude's desired effect. He loathed it, with one exception, his work on the Robot. He argued that it wasn't exactly manual labor, but an intellectual pursuit. And he was justifiably proud of his creation, though he'd never admit that to the Robot.

Smith wiped his already damp sleeve across his sweaty brow, then lifted an oblong blob of clay and mud over a crudely fashioned mold. He'd attempted this several times before, but each time, the mixture was too wet and fell apart. He released the blob and it fell into place with a squishy plop. He jiggled the mold, smoothed the top, and then pulled it up. This time, it was the right consistency and it held its shape. Encouraged, he repeated the process, forming brick after brick. It was back breaking work and by the time he'd made a few dozen bricks, he had to rest.

Major West and the Robinson family managed to stock the Jupiter 2 with enough food to last them months. No sooner had they brought the last of the provisions aboard than the storms came. At first it was just howling winds and torrential rain, but soon blizzards dropped feet and feet of snow, making excursions outside the ship near impossible. They were essentially trapped inside the ship until the weather improved, but their radar and the Robot's sensors both concluded the storm wouldn't let up any time soon.

"John, I hate to bring this up, but we're going to have to carefully budget the Jupiter 2's remaining fuel if we're going to make it through this winter. The cryotube takes an awful lot of power to operate." The Major let his final thought go unsaid. He knew the Professor would follow his logic.

"You're asking me to release Kai," the Professor stated. "And throw him out there," he hitched a thumb over his shoulder toward the main hatch. "It'd be a death sentence."

"We don't know that, John. He's an alien species and not one that we know much about. He might be able to survive. Look, I understand your moral dilemma, but we don't have much choice. It's either him or us. I don't think I need to remind you what he's capable of."

"No," the Professor unconsciously rubbed the forearm Kai had slashed during their last fight. "I remember that quite well."

"Besides," the Major continued, "why should we have any mercy for him? I doubt he had much for Smith."

"Point taken," the Professor replied. "When there's a break in the weather, we'll remove him from the ship."