Author's note: Hi my name is roria this is my first lost in space story :) I havent written seriously since i was a teenager, but I've been very sick lately and this show has been instrumental in keeping me sane thruout my recovery. I read some stories on here from the very talented artists who go by Dr. Zachary Smith and LadyNRA, among others, and these stories inspired me to try and make one of my own. I'm a big smitty fan so its mostly about him. Personality wise this is closest to season 3 Dr. Smith which i call his 'cutie patootie era'.
I'm trying to pay extra attention to the ladies, esp. Penny cause I adore the strong Robinson women and they dont get enough screen time :p Anyway, thank you for reading. If you feel so inclined, leave me a review and let me know what you think! :)
I made the cover image myself! If you have a smitty-focused story, I would be happy to make one for you. I love to draw him, his wrinkled facade is so inspiring to me. LOL.
Dr. Smith complained often about his back. He complained often in general, and about many things, but his back was a frequently recurring theme. And, although most of the family brushed him off, this was one complaint that Penny took seriously. She saw the way he would grimace after the chariot jerked him harshly, or the way he would jump when he made a certain odd movement. So she moved patiently beside him as he clung to her shoulder and made slow, trepidatious steps down the hillside.
"Penny?" he began, his voice wrought with apprehension, "Dear child, I'm afraid I will never make this trip. Need I remind you of my delicate state?"
"No, you needn't," Penny answered simply. "It's not much farther. I promise."
"Oh, dear. Oh, dear," Dr. Smith repeated quietly to himself. The idea of a lakeside picnic had been enough to draw him out of the Jupiter, especially when he knew that there was hard work to be done concerning the condensation unit. And especially with as good of company as he found himself in today. Penny was patient and kind- she took after her mother in that way. Like her father, she was level-headed and thorough. She had an imagination like no-one else that Smith had ever met, he found himself getting lost in the worlds that she conveyed to him. On top of her studies, her mind seemed to be occupied by knights, cowboys, elves, and mer-people. Their adventures were dangerous and romantic. He often asked her what she had dreamt up lately, as it was the closest thing to television that he had access to.
Besides that, she had a hidden side. Curt and sarcastic. For the most part, it only appeared to chastise her brother, but Smith had seen her unleash it upon Don recently. And for that, he wanted to get to know that side of her better.
Dr. Smith had stopped complaining, and Penny knew he was lost in thought. He had a tendency to get lost in his own head, which was something Penny had recognized in herself, as well. He didn't say a word as they stepped foot onto much flatter ground, and trudged around a wall of pointed, layered rock. It wasn't until he spotted the rippling, reflecting waves of the lake that he seemed to snap out of it.
The water had a purple-ish hue, reflecting the unique color of the daytime sky of this planet. It teetered on the line between clear and murky, with the two being able to see flashes of movement underneath the surface, but not being able to make out any more specific details, or see the bottom of the lake. It was such a large body of water that Dr. Smith was surprised that he hadn't seen it before, but it was true that he rarely ventured outside of his favorite napping spots. Or wherever William dragged him off to.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Penny asked him. "Dad said it was too salty to drink, and too murky to swim in. I was hoping to see some wildlife interact with it."
"Our own little dead sea, how lovely," Dr. Smith responded with a frown. He quickly turned his attention to the picnic basket that Penny had brought along. "But I suppose it will do as a backdrop for our meal. I do hope you brought along some coffee? And some of your mother's biscuits that I like so much?"
Penny turned to him and smiled. "Of course," she said. "Let's go sit under that tree and eat." She gestured to a plant behind Dr. Smith. It was quite short and bushy, hardly big enough to be classified as a tree, but there was enough room underneath it for them to get comfortable. He extended an elbow to her and she took it, gladly, and allowed him to lead her to it.
The pair ate and talked for the better part of an hour, and then, as he was wont to do, Dr. Smith stretched himself out under the tree and prepared to take a nap. He was a multi-faceted man and one skill that Penny admired so much in him was his ability to fall asleep. He could lay across a bare desert with nothing but the clothes on his back and be snoring within twenty minutes.
As much as she enjoyed his company, she was happy to let him have his nap so that she could sit by herself and watch the water. She didn't mind the quiet at all, sometimes she even preferred it. It didn't take long for soft snores to begin to emanate from their tree, as she had predicted.
Bodies of water like this one were very important in zoology. They were something of a meeting ground for many species- where predators hunt, where prey animals drink, and where interesting things like newts and turtles scurried around. There wasn't very much to see usually, when it came to animalkind on alien planets, but Penny figured if there was anything to observe, she would be able to observe it here. Minutes passed… and nothing. A good zoologist was patient, and content in the company of themself. Penny was those things, but she was also tired after their big meal, and so the seconds seemed to drag on. The sounds of Dr. Smith's comfortable rest were infectious and she found her eyelids getting heavy… and heavier… and so, she decided to let them rest for just a minute.
"Penny!" a voice hissed. "Penny!"
Penny jolted awake suddenly. The first thing she noticed was how dark it was. Oh no…
A hand on her shoulder made her turn suddenly, and she was face to face with Dr. Smith. His expression made her begin to worry. "I fell asl-"
Before she could finish, she was met with a harsh sshh! Dr. Smith gestured with his thumb to his right. Penny turned her head.
One of Penny's earliest memories was going to the zoo in Santa Fe. She didn't remember walking around and seeing all the animals, or the kind lady at the gift shop who gave her a lollipop, or her father holding a branch in her hand as they fed a giraffe. She had a very distinct memory of entering an alcove beneath the cougar's exhibit. It was dark and humid, and empty beside her. The alcove was meant to be used to see the animals asleep in their dark den, but the one and only cat was wide awake, pressed against the glass, barely visible besides two wide, grey eyes. She was totally alone in the dark and it was all she could see. The feeling she had gotten was strong, and primal- it was that of being hunted. She began to cry, immediately, and that's when her mother came in and swooped her up, but Penny never forgot that feeling.
It was the same feeling that Penny felt now, creeping up in the form of a red-hot panic that seeped through her chest and up her throat. There were two yellow, distinctly wolf-like eyes watching them. Dr. Smith's hand still clutched her shoulder tightly, and she could feel it trembling. He began to whisper to her.
"I'll run for help… you distract it," he said. Penny turned and glared at him. He was quiet for a moment. "You're right," he amended, "You're much too small. It would devour you quickly, and then I would be next. Perhaps you can-"
He stopped suddenly as, out of the corner of his eye, the wolf lunged at them. Somehow, in that brief moment, his only thought was for his dear friend Penny Robinson, and before he could stop it his arm had flung itself out to shield her from the oncoming onslaught of the beast. His arm landed firmly between two sets of razor-sharp teeth.
It all happened so quickly that Penny had not even realized what had happened until Dr. Smith began to howl in pain. She felt something solid under her hand- a rock or twig, she wasn't sure, but she swung it above her head and with all her might brought it down into the left eye of the beast. It roared, and the noise combined with Dr Smith's scream into a sickening cacophony. It stumbled backwards, holding its head low, and before it had enough time to charge again Penny grabbed Dr. Smith by the collar and dragged him to his feet. They both began to run.
Penny was holding Dr. Smith's arm - the unbitten one, that is - tightly as she ran. She didn't look back until she felt him begin to struggle behind her.
"Penny!" he called. His voice was ragged and desperate. She came to a halt so suddenly that he nearly bowled her over. As the panic began to subside from Penny, she felt a new, even worse feeling. Guilt. She turned to face him. It was too dark to see clearly, but the blood reflected the light of the moon. She could see that his arm was clutched to his chest and steadily staining his pull-over and trousers. He moved unsteadily, taking another step toward her as her eyes began to burn with tears that threatened to spill over, but she did her best to blink them away as she took Dr. Smith's hand in hers and gently tried to pry his arm away from his chest. "Careful!" he warned, sounding frightened.
The fabric of his sleeve was already torn, and so it didn't take much for her to rip it into thin shreds. She tied it around his elbow, forming a tourniquet of sorts, much to his chagrin. He grunted and "ouch"ed at her, but he had taught her first aid, and she had learned it well. She knew that if it wasn't painful, it wasn't tight enough. When she was satisfied, she pulled away, and he pulled his arm back against his chest.
"Are you okay?" she asked. In the dark, she could only see well enough to see two big, sad eyes move slightly down in the motion of a nod. She could feel warm, sticky blood soaking her hands. "Can you keep moving?"
"What other choice do I have, Penny, dear?" was the reply. Penny wiped one of her hands on her dress, doing her best to get it dry, and then reached to grab Dr. Smith's hand. He took hers gratefully, and she led him along at a much more reasonable pace.
They didn't make it far, however, as they were soon interrupted by a sound between a roaring engine and the chuf-chuf-chuf of a helicopter. They both recognized it as the jetpack and Dr. Smith looked as if he might start crying 'Hallelujah'. The professor hadn't seen them yet, clearly, as the spotlight from above continued its back-and-forth movement across the land ahead of them. Penny thought about running forward into the light to signal to her father, but she didn't want to leave Dr. Smith's side, so the two of them stood patiently until they were blinded it.
The noise got louder as the professor descended, and then it stopped as he landed before them and cut off the machine. "Penny, you're covered in blood," he gasped, apparently not seeing the doctor's condition. His worry was made obvious by the tone of his voice. With the flashlight in one hand, he reached out for her, but she moved back.
"It's not mine," she told him, "It's Dr. Smith's." The light moved from her to her companion, who stood pitifully behind her, feeling weak and nauseous from the whole ordeal. The light was pointed at them, so they couldn't see John's shocked expression.
"Smith, what happened?"
He was met with a loud, long groan. "Professor… I am so weak, I could not even begin to tell you the story of our beastly encounter and my heroism in the face of great danger. I would just tire myself out if I tried to describe the spectacular battle which took place between myself and the dreadful monster- gnashing teeth and flying fists- how I, the ever intrepid, courageous Doctor Zachary Smith, single handedly grappled with death himself, and-"
"I hear you," John interrupted. "You were very brave, I'm sure." Smith quietened, and heard a click as John removed his laser pistol from its holster. He turned to Penny. "Penny, darling, I can only bring one of you back at a time, and Dr. Smith is injured. Will you be alright waiting here until I return?" He held out the pistol toward her, and she took it.
"Yes, of course," she said. "Take as long as you need. Be careful with him."
"I would never be anything else," John said. The noise of the jetpack returned as he activated the machine, and began to hover above them. He approached the doctor who, apprehensive as always, began to back away.
"I hate that ghastly machine," Dr. Smith said, "Can't you fetch the chariot for me? You know I don't like heights, and in my delicate condition, I may-"
"Smith," John interrupted, "I can go and fetch the chariot, if you're willing to wait idly here with an unwashed bite wound and raise your risk of infection."
Dr. Smith paused. Then, apparently deciding he'd fare better versus flight than versus infection, he turned around and raised his arms up to allow the professor to grab hold of him. "Please do be careful," he said sheepishly.
As soon as the two men disappeared into the sky, Penny fell to her knees and let her tears flow freely.