Last week, as you recall, the Robinsons were called before a tribunal to face charges that they had broken laws in space. Although Major West and the Robinsons were exonerated, Doctor Smith was not. He was placed under the guardianship of the Robot only after the Robinsons asserted that he was quite insane. Dr. Smith then bought a female android named Verda from a machine owned by the Intergalactic Department Store. The children loved Verda, but she was thought to be defective and was to be turned into scrap metal, but she was found to be part human, and was, therefore, extremely valuable. She chose to go to a place where she was truly needed. Now, the weather station was not functioning properly and Dr. Smith was examining it when it seemed to be ready to explode…

The Deadly Games of Gamma 6 (Written by Barney Slater)

John turned off the machine, however, before he had a chance to check it, a male alien warrior walked up to them. John extended his hand in greeting and the warrior flipped him over his shoulder. John bested the male in defending himself and was approached by a self-proclaimed 'fight promoter,' Mr. Myko, who had a proposition for him. Mr. Myko felt that John had the intelligence, strength and agility to be a contestant in the Gamma Games. John was not interested, however, Dr. Smith couldn't resist negotiating on John's behalf. He promised to change Professor Robinson's mind in exchange for half of the winnings and passage to Earth. Myko make the deal.

Back at the Jupiter's campsite, Will was giving the family a blow-by-blow description of John's fight with the warrior.

"Boy, I wished I'd been there," Don commented. "You really covered yourself with glory."

Maureen replied that John covered himself with his own blood too. "Really, Don, I'm surprised at you," Maureen said.

"Oh, Don's not condoning the fight, darling. It's just that – well, when it's forced on you like that, you – you can't run away," John stated.

Judy agreed with her mother. "Well, when your opponent is bigger and stronger than you are… it's only sensible to back away."

Will's response confirmed the division of the sexes on this issue. "I think that's kind of cowardly."

Dr. Smith entered the discussion at that point. He did his best to manipulate John into accepting Myko's proposition, but he only succeeded in irritating not only Don, his usual victim, but John and Maureen as well. John stated that he would not fight and demanded that Smith get off his back.

Before Don and Judy turned in for the night, Judy asked him, "Don, what would you have done if you were in my father's shoes?"

"I don't know, Judy. If I thought I could compete and had a chance to win… maybe I would have agreed."

"Don! Why? To feed your ego?"

"Well, weren't you flattered when Marvello invited you to travel with the circus?"

"That was different."

"Different? How?"

"That was based on talent. Fighting is not a talent."

"Tell that to Mohammed Ali!"

"Oh, you would never have been invited to participate in the games anyway."

"So you're saying that I'm not as good as your father at fighting?"

"If I remember correctly, you haven't won one fight yet. In fact, if it weren't for me, you would have been pummeled by Mr. Hapgood."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!" Don exclaimed and walked away.

Judy felt badly that she had bruised his feelings. She shrugged and told herself that he always wanted her to tell him the truth. And that was the truth.

Will was greatly disappointed that his father wouldn't join in the games and Dr. Smith played this to his advantage. John had a talk with Will. He acknowledged that Will was disappointed in him. "Every son wants to feel that his father's the greatest, that he can succeed in anything."

"And you can too!" Will commented.

"No. No, Son, I can't. I'm a man like any other man. Some things I do well. Others I don't do so well."

"You could win in Mr. Myko's games. I know you could."

"Maybe. But I'm not a fighting man, Son. I'm a scientist. My battles are fought in a laboratory, not a prize ring. You understand."

Will didn't, but he let the subject drop.

John, Maureen, Don and Judy were finishing up their dinner while Penny and Will ran off with Dr. Smith to help him 'train.'

"I can't believe Dr. Smith accepted Mr. Myko's invitation to the games," Judy stated.

"Yeah, and he's sure that he's going to win. Something just doesn't sit right with that," Don added.

"Well, Myko wanted an Earthling. I suppose when he couldn't get me, he recruited whomever he could," John said. "He must have promised him an awful lot to get him to take that risk."

"The only thing Dr. Smith would want is a return to Earth," Maureen said.

"I wouldn't trust Myko to follow through on any promise," Don said.

"Do you think Dr. Smith is in danger?" Judy asked.

"That's quite possible, Judy," John answered.

"And when Smith is in trouble, you know he drags the rest of us into it," Don added.

Suspecting deceit on Mr. Myko's part, Don and John visited his training camp and discovered the true purpose of the games. The participants were expected to be representatives of their home planets and the loser's planet would be attacked by the forces behind the games.

Dr. Smith, as expected by everyone but him, lost his bout. Will complained to Myko that the fight was unfair, but his complaint went unanswered. He realized that he had been wrong about being disappointed in his father's unwillingness to be a contestant in the games. "Now, you just learned something through experience, Son. That's the best way," John commented.

"What are we going to do now, Dad?" Will asked.

"Well the aliens think that the Earth people can be beaten easily. We're going to have to show them they're wrong."

John jumped into the ring and requested a rematch with himself and bested Dr. Smith's opponent, but Myko said that it was too late to change the outcome. John then challenged Myko to the "Wheel of Life," a Russian Roulette type of game. Myko was unable to sustain the courage to finish the game. John commented that, "…just because we don't want to fight doesn't mean we won't." Myko respected this observation and stated that Earth would no longer be a target for invasion.

That evening a meteor storm had the family sequestered in the Jupiter. Upon leaving the ship after the storm, Penny found a golden bottle that reminded Maureen of an old television show. "It's like the bottle that genie lived in. What was the name of that show? I Dream of Jeannie?" she commented.

"Oh, I remember that show!" Don stated. "It was the one where the astronaut lived with the genie who always called him 'Master' and she would blink her eyes...'

"Don, you weren't even born when that show was on TV."

"I saw it in syndication. I watched anything that had to do with space."

"I don't think that show had a whole lot to do with space, Don. Are you sure you weren't watching it for another reason?" John teased.

"Well, I always did like blonds…" Don stated with a sidelong look at Judy. She tried to ignore him, but smiled behind her hand.

Will and Dr. Smith, as ordered by Professor Robinson, were checking on some equipment when they ran into a thief who stole their tools and swiped his sword at them…

The Thief from Outer Space (Written by Jackson Gillis)

The thief introduced himself as Sheik Ali Ben Bad, Terror of the Cosmos. He proved himself to be a cruel, heartless humanoid. When told that there were no 'rich people' on the planet, he threatened his own strong man with a whip because, as navigator, the poor man had said that the 'golden arrow' had pointed to this planet, but there was no treasure to be found. Then he and his subject disappeared.

"Dear Joan,

Now I know we've been in space too long. Will and Dr. Smith recounted this fantastical tale about a thief and his slave who stole his tools and tool bag. Dad found no trace that anyone had been on the planet. I suppose he was just dreaming, or Dr. Smith planted those thoughts in his head.

Don and I have been having our ups and downs. He is so sensitive sometimes. All I did was tell him that he's not such a good fighter and he got upset. I don't know, Joan. He wants me to be honest with him and then he gets upset when I am. We still have a lot of work to do on our relationship.

Oh, oh… Mom said that Will and Penny are missing. I'll go out and help her look for them. It'll be dark soon and they should know better, but that never stops them from getting into trouble."

The children were nowhere to be found. Don had been tracking an asteroid that was orbiting their planet and he noted that it was getting closer. Little did they know that Penny, Will and Dr. Smith had all been transported to that asteroid, which was the home of the thief. The children, however, returned and confused their family by telling them to pretend that Will was not their son. They told Don to hide behind a rock and the thief appeared. John dueled with him and Don grabbed the man.

The thief had been looking for a beautiful princess who had many riches. In the ensuing confusion, Will discovered that the golden bottle Penny had found earlier was the home of the very princess the thief was searching for, but, when the thief set her free, he was quite disappointed that she was not the beautiful young woman he expected, and he returned her to her bottle.

Later that evening, when the children were discussing their experiences, Penny stated, "I'm glad that's over with. That man had no respect for women."

"Why should he? Women cause nothing, but trouble," Will commented.

"Now, Will, that's enough out of you," John commented. "Women have their place."

Maureen stared at her husband. "Have their place? And what place is that?"

John looked towards Don. "Don't look at me. I know when to keep my mouth shut," Don commented.

"Donald West! What do you mean by that?" Judy asked.

"Nothing!" Don replied.

Judy pressed on. "I'm sure you meant something. Now tell me what it was."

Don was incredulous. "Now I'm in trouble for what I didn't say?"

Judy stood and exclaimed, "It was how you said it!"

Don looked helplessly at John.

Maureen stood up along with her. "Come along, girls. Let's see how well these men can get along without us. Good night, gentlemen." The women entered the ship and closed the hatch.

"Looks like we sleep outside tonight," John stated.

"Oh, no, we don't," Don stated. He went around to the ramp where the chariot was stored. Getting in was no problem, however, when Don went to open the door that led to the interior of the Jupiter, it was locked-up tight… Don banged on the door in frustration, then turned to Will and John and asked, "Who wants the front seat?"

The next evening, Penny and Will were out bird watching and having their usual argument about which gender was more intelligent when luggage was hurled out of a passing space ship. They opened up a trunk and found gambling articles, but before they could explore further, a moan caught their attention…

To be continued…

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