Last week, as you may recall, the Robinsons were forced to lift-off from the planet they had named Priplanus as it disintegrated beneath their ship. In their travels, they came within hailing distance of Earth, but were forced to shoot out the other end of the solar system after rescuing Dr. Smith from drifting off into space in his pursuit of a nefarious 'green woman' who drank their fuel. Missing their chance to land on Earth, they continued to travel through space and were at this moment colliding with a high radiation zone that tossed their ship about the vacuum of space…
The Ghost Planet (Written by Peter Packer)
Don and John were came running up and took over the controls. They realized that they were once again 'way off course.' They passed through the radiation belt and were pulled into landing on an unidentified planet by a magnetized field. John instructed them all to strap into the couches. The female voice apologized for any inconvenience and explained that they would land at gate 1-1-5.
After setting down, the family joined the men at the viewport. The 'landing pad' was, as Don described, "as bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard." Dr. Smith insisted that they had landed on Earth and that a 'surprise party' was awaiting them inside. John allowed him to exit the ship at his own risk, but Smith agreed to allow the Robot out to analyze the atmosphere before leaving. The Robot approached the gate and turned to report that the air quality was fit for humans. Then the gates opened and he was struck by an electrical impulse that rendered him powerless. John forbade anyone else from exiting the ship until morning.
The ship was quiet for everyone was asleep except Don, who was reading a book while on watch. Judy took the elevator to the upper deck and Don snapped his head up and smiled. They hadn't had a chance to talk since Don had pulled Dr. Smith in from space. "Hey, what are you doing up?" Don asked.
"Thinking about us," she replied as she sat in her father's chair.
"What could there be to think about? I thought we were back to the 'waiting game?'"
"Do we know what we're waiting for?"
"Uh… I've been waiting for you… Do you know what you're waiting for?"
A depressed sigh left her chest. "You don't sound happy."
Don snapped his book shut. "It's not that I'm not happy, Judy… It's just that… I'm just so damned frustrated!"
She couldn't look him in the eye and guilt crept up her face. "I'm sorry, Don. I know I haven't…"
"Ah, Judy, don't apologize. It's not your fault… It's almost like someone's been colluding to keep us apart… I mean if I didn't know better, I'd swear that Smith had been paid to sabotage our relationship as well as our mission."
Judy started giggling.
Don frowned. "What's so funny?"
"Well, since I'm sure it's been leaked to the press that the Jupiter 2 has been heard from, the tabloids probably have all kinds of stories splattered across their pages about us."
"Yeah, probably that we've had orgies with aliens…"
"And babies with three toes…"
"And green skinned women chasing after our ship…"
They both laughed and reached out to each other. "I can just imagine what Joan is thinking," Judy commented.
"And Chuck…"
"At least our families know we're still alive."
"And my parents can breathe a little bit easier." Don knew that his parents would have put on a brave front in public, but not knowing if he was alive or dead must have taken its toll on them.
"Do you think Colleen and June ever got that reunion together?"
"If they didn't, I'm sure they will now. I can't believe it's been a year already."
"It has passed by pretty quickly, hasn't it?"
"You're going to be twenty-one in a few months."
She nodded. "Which brings us back to what we're, I mean, I'm waiting for."
"Just say the word, Judy and I'm ready."
"For marriage or sex?"
"Whichever you want first. It's your call."
She sighed again. "They still go together in my mind, but I just can't imagine spending my wedding night in a tiny ship surrounded by my family."
"I kinda agree with you there."
"Don, I'm not looking for the perfect situation, it's just that…"
"That you would be inhibited knowing that your family was within ear shot?"
She nodded.
"I want your first time to be a beautiful experience, Judy, as well as every time after that."
She left her father's chair and kneeled next to him. "I know it will be." He placed his hands on her face and leaned down as he drew her lips to his.
"Ahem," John cleared his throat as he stepped off the ladder to relieve Don. Judy backed away and they both stood up. "You might want to get some sleep, Don. It won't be long before daybreak and we'll have to figure out what's going on here."
"Sure, John, goodnight," he stated. "Coming, Judy?"
"No, I want to talk with my dad for awhile."
He nodded and said, "Good-night," and then disappeared down the ladder.
"So, how are you two doing?" John asked.
"All right, I guess," Judy replied.
"Just all right?"
"Well, Dad, to be honest with you, before we had to change course to rescue Dr. Smith, we were making some plans for when we got home."
"Then that's why he was so adamant about leaving Smith."
"I think so. You know, it's been so strange for us. Before we lifted off, Don and I were getting along so well and had a 'normal' relationship."
"But your mother and I weren't happy with it."
"And now it's the opposite," Judy observed.
"Well, I never thought about it that way, but you're right. Don's become my best friend, Judy."
She smiled. "I'm sure he feels the same about you."
"That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Yes. Yes it is. Goodnight, Dad," she said and kissed on the cheek before she retired. As she lay in bed wondering if Don was asleep yet, she thought about what her father had said about Don… his 'best friend.' Now there was another factor thrown into the mix. How would their relationship change if Don were to become her paramour before becoming her husband? How would it change if he became the son-in-law? She was more confused than ever. If they were on Earth, she knew exactly where they would be… they would have been married by now, but… they weren't on Earth…
The next day brought no more answers to their questions. Dr. Smith continued to chide the Robinsons about not believing that they were on Earth and volunteered to be the first to depart the ship and greet the cheering throngs he was sure were waiting for them on the other side of the door.
Don, Judy and John watched at the viewport, waiting for Dr. Smith to return. Enough time had passed that John felt it was time for him to retrieve the errant doctor. Don volunteered to go search for him. He couldn't resist some sarcasm. "After all, I am his buddy," he replied and John nodded.
"I think he's as worried about Dr. Smith as we are," Judy told her father.
Once inside the building, a voice told Don to follow the signs, but Don replied, "No, thanks. I'd rather follow my instincts." Dr. Smith came up behind him and Don nearly blew his head off with his laser pistol. Smith was evidently ready to return to the ship. The Robot had been fixed and the three of them entered the Jupiter.
Dr. Smith insisted that a banquet was being prepared in their honor. He left out the small detail that he was promised riches of unimaginable magnitude if he would surrender all of their weapons and also get the family to cooperate with the officials of the planet. John didn't believe a word Smith said and replied that in his opinion, they were on a hostile planet, and Don agreed, saying that the sooner they left the better off they'd be.
Don tried to power up the Jupiter, but the ship was drained of its power and it became a 'waiting game' of who would succumb first. Dr. Smith, anxious to claim his riches, snuck out of the ship with the Robot and carried a sack full of weapons, but Will followed them. Dr. Smith deposited the weapons with the aliens and expected to claim his rewards.
Will and the Robot were forced to follow the guards and encountered a cybernetic brain that accused the B-9 Robot with following human masters. The Robot asked for leniency as it was guilty of the charges and said that it would never happen again. He was invited into the cybernetic culture and was given the duty of supervising Smith and Will on a mechanical assembly line.
John, Maureen and Don exited the ship looking for Will and entered gate 1-1-5. The Robot spoke with John and Don, but his conversation was detected and it was announced over the loudspeaker the he was a double agent and should be destroyed. The Robot helped Will and Smith escape from the building and the family hurried back into the ship. This time they were able to lift-off and were free from the hostile planet, or so they thought.
Their radar picked up a moving body. Judy saw it from the port window and exclaimed that it was heading straight for them at a very fast speed. Don was barely able to dodge the missile, but it turned and continued to follow them. John ordered Don to head directly back to the planet. Don followed orders and pulled up at the last second just as the missile was about to hit them, and it instead crashed onto the surface of the planet. The evasive action had been successful, but they flew directly through the fires of the explosion!
Forbidden World (Written by Barney Slater)
There was a price to be paid for their close call with the missile. Don announced that the navigational system wasn't responding. The controls were frozen, having been damaged in the concussion from the missile's impact on the surface. The ship was in a downward spiral, caught in the navigational pull of the planet! John instructed Don to give the ship all the power they had, but Don argued that he couldn't do that without a navigational system.
Dr. Smith took matters into his own hands and adjusted a dial on the console, shorting out the power cells. The ship was now helpless. They were heading for a crash landing. There was no time to strap down, so John instructed everyone to lie down on the floor. Don stood at the ship's controls and said, "Before we hit, I'll fire the retro-rockets."
"You'll overload the circuits," John stated. "They'll blow!"
"We've got to risk it." Don looked at John and commanded, "John, you better get down on the floor with the others. That's an order."
John wished him luck and hit the floor. Don warned them before he pulled the switch for the retro-rockets. "All right. Hang on. Here we go!"
The retro rockets slowed the ship and Don was flung away from the astrogator and into the elevator, falling to the floor, unconscious.
After the impact, John and Will immediately grabbed the fire extinguishers and sprayed the console. The women and Dr. Smith arose and checked that they were unharmed. Penny noticed that Don lay on the floor and screamed, "Don!"
Judy turned and exclaimed, "Don, he's been hurt!" as she and her mother ran to him.
Don opened his eyes and coughed. "Oh, he was a big guy and he hit me when I wasn't looking," he joked as he pulled himself up.
Maureen suggested, "I think you better stay right where you are."
"No, I'm all right. It's the spaceship I'm worried about." He willed himself to shake off the aches and pains and he and John checked on the damage, which was serious. They had plenty of work ahead of themselves.
"Dear Joan,
By now, you should know that the Jupiter 2 passed by Earth and that we're alive and well. We were so close to landing back home, Joan. Don and I were talking about getting married, but our chance for that 'normal life' is gone. We've crash-landed on another planet, thanks again to Dr. Smith. He got us involved with some cybernetic brain and it sent a missile after us. We were able to thwart it by having it crash into the planet, but the Jupiter was damaged by the concussion of the impact. We're all okay, but the ship is pretty banged up. Dad and Don are going to be spending a lot of time fixing her up. Don was knocked unconscious and I need to check on him. I hope he doesn't have a concussion."
Judy found Don working on a small part by the astrogator. He stopped and rubbed his hand behind his neck and moved his head from side to side. Judy rushed up behind him. "Don? What's wrong?"
He rubbed his eyes. "I'm okay. Just a headache."
"You might have a concussion. Let Mom take a look at you."
"Nah, I'm okay," he insisted.
"Then take a break."
"There's too much to do," he said. He squinted at the part he held in his hand and then lurched just a bit to the left. He dropped the part and grabbed the edge of the astrogator. Judy reached out and steadied him. "Whoa. Maybe I do need to take a break," he said as he shook his head to clear it.
"Come on, tough guy. Let Mom take a look at you," she said and led him to the elevator.
Maureen did indeed diagnose Don with a concussion and ordered him to take it easy. Judy volunteered to stay with Don throughout the night and wake him every hour to check his pupils. Maureen nixed that idea. "Not with your brother and sister right next door," she said.
Judy was exasperated. "Mother, it's not like we're going to do anything."
"I don't like how it would look to Penny and Will."
Judy just stared at her mother. "I can't believe this."
John sauntered up. "What's the problem?"
"Mother won't let me stay with Don tonight to check on him," Judy complained.
"Just keep his door open," John suggested.
"John…" Maureen warned.
"She may as well be the one to do it, Maureen. She'll probably be up half the night worrying about him anyway, and we'll be able to get some sleep."
"What about Penny and Will?"
"What about them?"
"What will they think of Judy spending the night in his room?"
"They'll think Judy's taking care of him, and if she doesn't, they'll probably volunteer themselves. You know he's like a brother to them."
"Well... I guess you're right. I'm sorry, Judy, I guess I'm overreacting," Maureen said.
Judy took a breath. "Well, I'm glad that's settled." She pulled down the extra bed in Don's cabin and settled in for the night. She woke him and checked his eyes before she went to sleep.
"Are you going to do this all night?" he asked her.
"Yes. I have to check on you every hour," she replied.
He groaned. "Just like when I was in the hospital after the Memorial Day explosion. I barely got any sleep that night."
"You had a concussion then too."
"Well, this time, I'm going to get something more out of it than just loss of sleep… a good-night kiss every time you wake me up."
"That's fair." She leaned towards him and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"You call that a kiss?" he asked.
"Be a cooperative patient and you'll get a better kiss next time," she stated.
He smiled. "See you in an hour."
"Dear Joan,
Don did end up with a concussion. I couldn't believe that Mom gave me a hard time about checking on him throughout the night. Dad came to my rescue, though, and we had an… interesting night. He insisted on a goodnight kiss every time I woke him up and I started with a peck, but by the time I woke him up the sixth time, we got pretty passionate. You would have been proud of me, but then we heard Mom get-up and that ended things pretty quickly. It was like someone had poured cold water over our heads.
Oh, Joan, you won't believe this story about Dr. Smith. There's a strange fog on this planet and Dad wanted to test it thoroughly before any of us left the ship. Dr. Smith, however, couldn't wait and sent the Robot out against Dad's orders, and it never came back. Dad sent Dr. Smith out to look for it and then he was lost too. We finally found him this morning. He drank this liquid that was fuel! Then he was in danger of exploding and had to stay away from us in case he blew up.
Poor Dr. Smith. Don teased him about not to getting the hiccups, and, of course, he got the hiccups. Don apologized when Mom said that it wasn't funny.
Dr. Smith somehow got the fuel because he and Will ran into the aliens who live here. Actually, as the alien pointed out to Will, we're the aliens on this planet and the natives think that we're invading. They said that they were mobilizing thousands of troops and had a secret weapon that they would use against us.
It never materialized, Joan. In fact, when Will went to visit the alien for an antidote for Dr. Smith (which did work, by the way), he discovered that there were no legions of soldiers ready to come after us. It was just one single man who wanted to live as a hermit. Since we've invaded his territory, he has up and moved to another part of the planet, wanting nothing to do with us.
So we're stuck on this planet, now, for God knows how long… I just hope it's more hospitable our last stop."
Space Circus (Written by Bob and Wanda Duncan)
Penny, Will, Dr. Smith and the Robot were on an expedition to look for cobalt magnesium for their water purifier. What they had found so far was only .0005 of the substance and Don had told them that it needed to be at least one percent cobalt magnesium for it to work in the purifier. If they couldn't find the cobalt to work on the plants, their food supply wouldn't last more than a week.
Dr. Smith shirked his way out of continuing with the children and was approached by what looked like the Abominable Snowman. He screamed in fear, but, by the time Will and Penny came back, Sasquatch was gone. It turned out that Sasquatch was real and part of a traveling circus that was run by a Dr. Marvello. He asked Will and Penny to hand out advertising bills announcing the arrival of the show, and was quite disappointed when he was told there were no towns or villages nearby. He offered to put on a show in exchange for dinner, and Penny ran home to tell her family.
"Dear Joan,
This planet has been awful. It's been hot and the plants have developed a blight. Don's been working on the purifier, but we can't find the cobalt magnesium to make it work. He's been spending every minute trying to find a way around the problem. I know Dad is worried about our food supply, and he's been irritable.
Oh, a space circus is coming through the area and the owner is willing to put on a show for us without being paid. All we have to do is feed them… which is a problem since our food supply is low. When Penny and I offered to give up some of our food rations, Mom got Dad to agree. I know what you'd be thinking, Joan… 'a circus?' Life is so boring here, Joan, any kind of entertainment would be welcome."
The show went on and the highlight was none other than Will's participation. The troop rolled out a large machine that was purported to materialize whatever object the subject was thinking about. The woman, Fenestra, would suggest what the subject should think about, and it would 'magically' appear when she pressed a button on the side of the machine. On this particular night, the machine malfunctioned, but the object, a goblet, appeared nonetheless. She asked Will to think of an object without suggestion and he thought of a blue frog, which appeared in his hand. As Fenestra told Dr. Marvello, Will had 'the gift,' and they made plans to take him with them as part of their troop.
Dinner was spartan, but adequate. John noticed that all three of his children ate little, allowing the circus performers to have second helpings. Don also noticed and followed their lead. He wanted to keep Dr. Marvello talking about the many planets they had stopped at, hoping that he might find a clue to their whereabouts in the galaxy.
"Yes, life in a traveling circus is exciting. More than the monetary reward, however, is the reward of bringing pleasure to so many beings. If any of you have experienced that, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Judy has!" Penny offered.
Dr. Marvello's ears perked up. If he could talk the oldest daughter into joining them, perhaps the young boy would be allowed to follow. "Have you, my dear? What have you done?"
Judy was embarrassed. "Oh, nothing, really. Just some summer stock."
"Summer stock?" Fenestra asked, "What is that?"
Don shot Judy a warning look. He didn't like the tone of Marvello's voice. The man possessed shades of Dr. Smith's character.
"Summer stock is like a playhouse that is only open in the warm weather of the summer. We put on shows with singing and dancing…"
"So, you're an entertainer!" Marvello exclaimed.
"No, not really. I've just been in a couple of musicals."
Fenestra encouraged Judy to perform a number for them.
"No, I couldn't."
"Go ahead, Judy," Penny encouraged. "You haven't sung in ages."
"Well, all right, but I should warn you that I am rusty." She cleared her throat and stood, taking a step away from the table. She chose a song from the musical "Carousel," which was the final summer stock play she appeared in the year before she met Don.
"If I loved you
Time and again I would try to say
All I'd want you to know!
If I loved you
Words wouldn't come in an easy way
'Round in circles I'd go!
Longing to tell you
But afraid an' shy
I'd let my golden chances pass me by!
Soon you'd leave me
Off you would go in the mist of day
Never, never to know
How I loved you
If I loved you!"
Everyone except Don applauded her performance. It was like her performance paralyzed him. Judy curtsied quickly and returned to her seat next to him. He stared at her in awe, as he had forgotten just how talented she was. Her voice mesmerized him.
"That was beautiful, Judy. Do you miss the stage?" Fenestra asked.
"Yes and no. I loved performing, but I've let it go since there is no audience for Rogers and Hammerstein musicals in outer space," Judy replied.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, my dear. I could make you into the diva of the galaxy. You have an open invitation to join my troop. Between you and your brother, we would have a first class act."
A shadow crossed Don's face and John and Maureen looked at each other in alarm. Would Judy accept? They needn't have worried. "Thank you, Dr. Marvello, but no. My place is here with my family." She looked at Don as she continued. "I've given up my dreams of becoming an entertainer."
Don breathed a bit more easily and looked at John in relief. He didn't know what he would have done if Judy had accepted the invitation.
Dr. Smith stepped in where Judy did not. He visited Dr. Marvello the next day and they worked out a deal. He would deliver Will to him provided he could go along as Will's manager and that Earth would be a stop on their tour. Dr. Smith put his plan in motion. The purification system was close to working successfully, but Dr. Smith altered its settings so that it would appear that they were far from solving their food supply problem. He was then able to convince Will that joining the circus troop would be an act of self-sacrifice that would insure the survival of his family. Will, grudgingly, agreed.
Smith's plans were detected by the family and they raced off to stop Will from leaving with the circus troop. Dr. Marvello freed the Sasquatch creature and it tussled with John. Will offered to go willingly with the troop if Dr. Marvello would control the creature so that his father wouldn't be hurt. Dr. Marvello agreed. Will helped John up and he told Will to get back with the family because "You're not going with him."
"I gave him my word," Will stated.
Dr. Marvello was not a heartless man. He could see the sadness in Will's eyes. He intervened. "No. I couldn't take you with me, even if I wished. I saw in you the makings of a star, but the only great performer is the one who puts his heart into his work. You could never do that because, like your sister, your heart's here with your family…"
Since his chance of returning to Earth disappeared with the circus, Dr. Smith decided to try his hand at wine making, a creature comfort he sorely missed from home. As he, Will and the Robot were working the still, an animal appeared carrying a large machine in his hands. Will and Dr. Smith ran back to the Jupiter in fear and the animal followed them…
To be continued…
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