Truth and Consequences:

John was surprised when Doctor Smith volunteered to assist the Major at the crash site, but the fact that West did not object left him even more perplexed.

Seated in his cabin, just before he and his wife were about to turn in, he fingered the two data modules on his desk. One of them had been removed from the robot aboard the Jupiter 6, but the other, had been found by his wife and daughter in the waste disposal system. As if she was sensing his thoughts, Maureen strode over and sat next to her husband.

"John, you've been toying with that module since I gave it to you. Why don't you just plug it in and see what is on it?"

Professor Robinson sighed, "To be honest, Maureen, I'm afraid of what I might find if I examine this cartridge. After our Robot malfunctioned, Don and I pulled the programming tape from him to see if he had been tampered with. The cartridge was encrypted. We couldn't read what was on it."

John pointed to a number on the side of the unit, 8014.

"You see this serial number?" he asked.

"Yes," said his wife, nodding her assent.

"This is the same cartridge that I removed from the Robot when Don and I secured him below. Later that day, I caught Smith fooling around with some of the Robot's components, but I became distracted when we came across the derelict ship, and until yesterday, I had completely forgotten about this tape."

"John, does it really matter now what you find on that tape? Trust me, dear. No one was angrier with Doctor Smith than I was the night that the Robot turned on Will. But a few weeks later, Doctor Smith did save all of our lives, by warning us about the orbit of the planet."

"You're right about that, darling," agreed the Professor. "Had we continued any further south, we wouldn't have had time to build the shelter. We would have all been killed. I just wish Smith would have owned up to his involvement."

"He is probably afraid, John, I mean, how many times has he been banished from the camp before. Besides, the Robot simply may have malfunctioned. Doctor Smith may have had absolutely nothing to do with it."

"No, I don't think so, Maureen. Earlier tonight, I dug out the pre-launch checkout procedure for the Robot. He was supposed to have been locked on his pedestal, with his power pack removed, and the power circuits deactivated. This procedure was to be double checked just prior to lift off, and Smith was the last person on board. I quite sure that I'm not going to like what I find on this tape."

Robinson knew that he would be angry if the tape revealed what he suspected to be true. He was a very protective and passionate man who deeply loved his wife and children. Knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Smith had intended to cause the demise of his family would tax the very limits of his patience.

"Does it really matter now, John," she asked him again.

John could not help but be moved by her propensity to see the good in everything. It was one of the traits that he dearly loved about her. It was an attribute that she had passed on to their children. Her trusting nature struck a balance to the suspicious disposition of Major West, often allowing him to find a middle ground when dealing with Smith.

"If Doctor Smith truly wants to be free of his past, he needs to be confronted by it. Otherwise, he'll continue to live in denial."

"I suppose you are right," said Maureen. "But promise me you will remember that Doctor Smith has saved all of our lives, on more than one occasion. He is not the same person that he once was, John."

"I'm not likely to forget, darling. You'll make sure of that," he said, pulling his wife close to him.

...

The next morning, after the chariot had left, Will was up on the flight deck, hard at work in an attempt to recover the rest of the corrupted files, still lost in the memory core of the Jupiter 6. He had managed to restore some of the news reports that were dated late next year. The images of an attack on United States had left him in a pensive mood. As he was about to start the next set of files, T'lan and Brina strode into the ship.

"Hello, Will," said Brina. "What are you working on?"

"Oh, hi Brina, hi T'lan," said Will. "I promised Don that I would try to recover some more of the information in the computer core from the wreck. You can me help if you like."

"I do not know what help I could be, Will. Maybe I can continue working on the star chart while you finish."

"Is Penny here?" inquired T'lan.

"She's in the galley helping my mother. You can go on down to see her if you want."

"Thank you, Will."

As T'lan went below, Brina sat down next to Will.

"Will, you seem troubled," she said.

Will stopped what he was doing and turned his chair to face her.

"I just found a news file that had some bad news, or what will be bad news from Earth," he said. He was still trying to come to grips with the horrific images that he had seen.

"I'm sorry, Will."

An uneasy silence fell between them and Brina decided to change the subject.

"I brought some more star information with me today. It might help us identify some of the ones we were not sure of."

"That sounds great. Just give me a minute to save these files and I'll give you a hand."

Brina smiled, "All right."

...

By now, Don was negotiating the narrow ledge that descended the cliff wall and the task was every bit as difficult as Professor Robinson had described. The previous day, Don had traversed the ledge on the way up, but going down required more skill and concentration.

Beside him, Judy had been very quiet, and Don wasn't sure if it was due to their unexpected passengers, or she was reluctant to distract him from the task at hand. Or maybe returning to our own graves has her disquieted.

"Judy, are you, okay?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the trail.

She responded placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You've got your hands full. I'll talk to you once we get off this ledge," she said.

She had stated the obvious answer, but Don knew, from the tone of her voice, that something other than the trip was occupying her thoughts.

"All right," he said, glancing very briefly at her smile.

...

Professor Robinson had been working at the programming station for over two hours when Maureen brought him a coffee.

"Thank you, darling, you are truly an angel."

"Judging from what you were mumbling, under your breath, I thought you could use a break," she said.

John blushed. He had made it a habit never to curse in front of his family.

"You weren't supposed to hear that," he said, embarrassed.

"I know, dear," she said. "You must really be frustrated."

She took his arm and led him to the galley, and they sat down at the table beside each other.

"There is data on both of those cartridges," he said. "But it's encoded. Without the access code, I can't read the program."

Maureen tilted her head, knowingly.

"Well, I may be just a lowly biochemist, who knows nothing about cybernetics, but it seems to me, that in order for the Robot to read and execute the instructions, he would have the ability to decipher the coding."

"Darling, that makes perfect sense," he said, gazing at her in admiration. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

"Perhaps you've been preoccupied," she said, her voice of reason forming an anchor for his soul. "After all, we do have a wedding coming up shortly."

"I've made my peace with that, Maureen. I know Don will take care of her. Any doubts I might have carried, were swept away when I saw the family portrait they brought from Earth. Maybe I'm just tired."

"John, you haven't stopped since we left Earth, and every day has been a struggle just to survive. You have taken that weight all on your shoulders. Yesterday had to have been just as hard for you, as it was for Don and Judy…"

"It was difficult, Maureen," he replied, gently taking her by the shoulders. "But I never have felt like I was facing our difficulties alone. Darling, you don't know how many times I was ready to give up, and it was only your strength that kept me pushing forward."

"And here I was, depending on you to keep me strong," she replied.

They drew together in a long gentle kiss, comforted by the knowledge that they needed and depended on each other.

Robinson reached for the microphone and called to the upper deck.

"Will?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"Would you send the Robot down here? I have an assignment for him."

"Right away, Dad."

...

West pulled the chariot in front of the wrecked Jupiter 6 and they disembarked from the vehicle.

"Don, I'd like to check our cabin below," said Judy. "There has to be a clue, as to why we left for Earth, down there. Maybe one of us kept a journal."

The previous day, they had gathered a couple of pictures from their room, but they found it too emotionally draining to search any further.

"All right, I'll join you in a few minutes," he replied. He hoped that they had marshaled up enough courage to face the future.

Don turned to the others, "Smith, bring up the damage report, and double check the spare parts inventory. I suspect that we might have brought extra supplies from Earth."

"Of course, Major West," he said, hurrying into the ship.

"Colonel Tyler, you said that you wanted to check the suspended animation subsystem?" asked Don, as they entered the control room.

"Yeah, maybe I can figure out what happened. I'm going to have a look at that robot as well."

"Whatever you do, don't reactivate it. Ours turned on us and we had to wipe and reprogram it."

"Don't worry, Major. I'm sure the power pack is quite dead. I want to pull its programming cartridge and find out what might have caused it to malfunction."

"Way ahead of you," replied Don. "Professor Robinson and I pulled the tape a couple days ago. The professor was supposed to be reading it this morning."

"Oh…I see," said Tyler. Well then, let's hope he can find some answers."

After Don and Judy descended in the elevator, Tyler rushed to Smith's side.

"What did you do with the programming cartridge that you had for the original B-9 robot?"

"I disposed of it some time ago," Smith lied. "Professor Robinson never had a chance to examine it."

Tyler strode over to the radio console and noted, with satisfaction, that it was still in a state of disrepair. He ran out of the ship and climbed into the chariot. Quickly he found the main control for the radio relay and switched it off.

...

In the cabin they shared together, as husband and wife, Don and Judy rummaged through their personal belongings. They found more pictures of their children as well as photos that had been taken while they were on Earth. There was a picture of Judy and her cousin Joan, taken when Judy had graduated from medical school. Don could see by the date, that the photo was several years into the future, but Judy didn't seem to have changed all that much, with one notable exception. Her eyes seemed to exude an air of confidence that could only have been gained through life's experience.

They also found a shot of Don and his father, both of them wearing the full bird insignia of an Air Force Colonel.

"This must have been taken just before we leave, or will leave," she said.

Judy opened one of the drawers and found some of her night wear. She took one of them out and held it up to herself so Don could see.

"Whoa!" he said.

"It's nice to know that we kept some spice in our marriage," she said suggestively. "At least I'll have something nice to wear on our wedding night."

Judy came across a large notebook at the bottom of her drawer.

"Don, look," she said.

Don turned to her as she flipped through the pages of the notebook. It had all been written in her handwriting, and the journal had been started soon after she found out the she was pregnant with their first child. Reading through it, she realized that it parts of it had been written before they left for Earth.

"I wrote this before we left," she added. Quickly she flipped through the pages and found a passage that had been penned while they were en-route to Earth.

"Our answers are all in here, Don. They have to be!"

"That's quite a bit of reading…"

"We can start tonight. We'll each take a section and read through it…"

"Wait a second, Judy," he said. "Are you sure about this? Some of what is in here might be personal, I mean, maybe I shouldn't be reading it."

Judy considered his objection and she had to admit, he did have a point. But when she glanced at one of the pictures of her and Don gazing into each other's eyes, a shot that had been taken after he had made colonel, she was sure that no force in the universe would quench the fire of love between them.

"I don't think there is anything in here that I wouldn't have shared with you. I'm willing to risk it, Don."

"Well, as long as you are comfortable with it," he said. "I'm going to find the spare parts for the radio system. I'm curious what John found with that tape."

...

"Professor Robinson, I have successfully decrypted the instruction set," said the Robot. It had taken him less than twenty minutes to decrypt the tape.

"Good work, Robot."

Robinson punched up the file and the instructions scrolled up on the screen. Whoever had programmed this environmental control robot had only one thing on their mind, sabotage.

The robot had been programmed to destroy only three systems on the ship, but the three systems chosen, navigation, communications, and cabin pressurization, were the three systems that would have doomed the mission.

John's heart froze when he saw the name of the programmer, without a word he dashed to the ladder, leading to the upper deck.

"John? What's wrong?" Maureen called, but her husband was already on the flight deck.

Ascending the ladder as quickly as he did, she found him at the radio.

"Jupiter 2 to chariot, come in, chariot," he called fervently.

"John?"

"Jupiter 2 to chariot! Don! Judy!"

He turned to his wife, and for the second time in her life, she saw a look of dread in her husband's eyes.

"John, tell me, what's wrong?"

"Don and Judy are in danger. Lt. Colonel Tyler programmed that robot. He has to be the saboteur."

"What about Doctor Smith? Surly he won't go along with this?"

"I don't know, darling. I just don't know."