"Hello there, Doctor Robinson. . . or should I call you Judith?" Smith greeted Judith.
Judith came forward from behind Smith then came to his side.
"Doctor Robinson," Judith said. "And what do I call you?"
"Doctor Smith," Smith said, then observed the doctor while leaning against the Astronavigator. "My presence here must be opening old wounds."
"Not to me," Judith said. "He left us last year." She looked at the starcharts. "What are you looking for?"
"Nothing," Smith said. "I am trying to make sense of this astronavigator." his grayed eyes darted in different directions at the floating hologram.
"It is hard to do that when you're focused on a microscopic universe," Judith said.
Smith turned his head toward Judith.
"How did you get a starchart of a microscopic universe?" Smith asked.
Judith had a laugh at it.
"Funny story. Doctor Smith and Will were out exploring one day when they came across a small, rectangle device and brought it back the Jupiter 2. He fiddled with it, played with it, and the next we knew, we were small. It was different from the one you know as the bacteria world. We thought we had shrunk at first until it became evident that we hadn't. We had been transferred to a very large one through that machine after the Robot had scanned it thoroughly. We fought against ants, beetles, scorpions, and do you know what a centipede is like as a foe? Don tamed one, how, he hasn't told me. "
"How did that make you feel?" Smith asked.
"Jealous," Judith said.
"You're no different from Judy," Smith said.
A bright smile grew on Judith's face.
"After we had went into space in that universe, we felt like ants just waiting to be squashed by the next shoe. . ." Judith went on. "We never knew from one day to the next if there was a Earth with people our size or a Alpha Centauri system that still existed. Alpha Prime A waiting to be colonized. If the next meteorological storm would kill us because it could. Small enough to be wiped out by the smallest of all things that were now big problems. I don't know how Doctor Smith did it, from day to day," she shook her head. "just complaining about the Jupiter and making the Robot do his bidding. His mind not breaking apart at what was going on around him. He was stronger than he looked. We were wrong about him."
"Survivors are always stronger than they look," Smith said. "That doesn't change for Robinsons."
"Five years out there, you must know us in and out," Judith said.
"You're different," Smith replied. "I do not know you." he met her eyes, sadly and sincerely. I wish I did. "I didn't think you as a doctor before."
Judith sighed, looking up at the holographic screen in a fond manner.
"Didn't think Doctor Smith would be the one to hold therapy sessions with us and make sure we dealt with the new reality properly. The first month was rough for us in the microscopic universe. He took it in stride. He didn't change much in the first year in the regular universe but he had changed from being a drug addict, spy, a saboteur," she stopped unable to continue. "I got him back on his feet after the Kiss Bliss addiction. He was miserable afterwards."
Smith nodded along in understanding.
"How do you go through day to day without breaking apart?" Judith said.
"Having someone to talk to eases space rapture," Smith said.
"What is that?" Judith asked.
"Going mad in space," Smith said. "Nothing like the rapture you know of. Every living being vanishing. ."
"That's even insane," Judith said.
"I agree," Smith said. "Now, continue on about the microscopic universe."
"I was even more jealous when Don tamed a bearded dragon. Fortunately, that bearded lizard saved us several times. Doctor Smith lead him there, well sort of, after he was scared by a gigantic spider on a beach. You should have seen it. The Jupiter 2 on the hot, vast beach. The size of a seashell." Judith seemed to be lost in thought looking back at the memory. "We spent the day on the beach before we left, again. Thankfully, we had gotten enough fuel to last us three months. . . three months to figure out how to become big in a microscopic universe," she grew a faint smile. "It was the best months of our life."
"Best months?" Smith asked, perplexed.
"We laughed more," Judith said.
"Ah, I see," Smith said. "It was your golden age."
"If that's what you like to think of it," Judith said, earning a nod. "We got to watch baby turtles make their way to the shore. They were giant turtles to us but they were so small. If you like to think of it, it took us being small to see how insignificant some of our problems were." Smith could visualize Will sitting on a shell watching the sight unfold with the Robot resting beside him and him watching in awe at the scene. The colors of orange hovering in the sky above the beautiful, blue rippling ocean. Penny being there too alongside her brother holding onto Debbie watching it unfold. "Before we became small, our problems were. . . when you look at it. . . small and insignificant that we made big and extremely important. They were different from the every day threats that animals faced."
"Sounds like you were on vacation," Smith said.
"You don't realize how sometimes your mistakes turn out to be gifts, Doctor Smith," Judith said, emotionally. "You give us what we need when we least want it."
Smith shook his head.
"You make it into something good, dear Judith," Smith said, dropping the formality briefly. "That's what Robinsons do. That's the only thing both Robinsons share between my universe, however dark or bright it may be."
"Will was the first one of us to find a way to go back," Judith went on. "The Robot was the second to figure out how to work the device and then, he too left. Smith was next, because he was there, and then he was back a hour later so terrified and scared claiming that he was doomed and whimpering. Will was safe, he assured us that, how. . . I don't know. Will always finds a way to keep himself safe. A resourceful twelve year old back then. Will isn't as happy as he used to be since last year. Happy but not that happy." She began to change the subject. "Don knocked some sense into Smith so he could talk about what happened and how he undid the change. Afterwards. . . The funny thing is, Smith wanted to stay in the microscopic world claiming he would survive there easily."
"He didn't," Smith said.
"Oh, yes, he did," Judith said
"How long did that last?" Smith asked.
"He stayed over there for. . . I can't be sure, a month? Tops. Not sure, he was more at peace with his condition after that. Living among monsters. Becoming a monster himself. Didn't change his complaining, cowering, and how he back stabbed others."
"But. . ." Smith said.
"I wish I had that kind of peace with space," Judith said.
"That kind of peace takes time to be found," Smith said. "He found it first on his personal journey and I don't recommend that you take that."
"My survival relies on this ship," Judith said. "I am not that brave as him."
"That's a funny way of characterizing me," Smith said. "I was never that."
"Sure sure, Doctor Smith," Judith said.
"Say," Smith said. "How do you work this?"
"You do this," Judith said, gliding her fingers on the screen. "And this."
A series of holographic files appeared on the screen and continued to help Smith become acquainted to it. His black and white theme remained unchanged but the occasional glow in the instruction session was unsettling. Smith's eyes were intent on the view screen. It was like he was on a very important mission based off the questions that she was answering and asked about the smallest details. If these questions made him get the desire to live again, then she was going to help him along the way. And she knew, it could just mean that he was adapting to his new predicament in a much more advanced setting. She could smell something strange from his pocket but shrugged it off as that he was going to use the sonic laundry machine the next morning.
