Smith and Will ran away from what had once been a dome.

Don stood at the side of the doorway as a watch out for Bronius.

His gaze was fixated on them in such a way that he could see both.

One group featuring Smith and Will then the loner starting to get up. He watched her stare with intent, of murderous rage, of resentment. Bronius proceeded to bend her fingers aiming toward them. Smith saw it as well then his eyes flashed open wide then screamed dropping his laser pistol.

"Run, William!" Smith cried. "Run!"

"Smith, Will, come on!" Don called.

It was a matter of fatal seconds that happened next. Smith and Will bolted toward the space pod as she sent out balls of power that missed striking the neighboring trees around them and the boulders that cracked with a roar. John and the rest of the family hid in the back of the space pod with the professor in the lead.

They were getting closer to the space pod so Don started to reach his hand out with a eye out for Bronius. Then he noticed, she smiled calmly, readjusting her aim. He started to shout a warning but the words never came. He didn't have the time. Abruptly, Smith shoved Will forward then he was struck in the back. Smith winced with a yelp then his eyes opened.

Don and Smith's eyes met. Pained met horrified. Regretful met shocked. It's over.

Don watched as the bright blue eyes started to lose their light.

Smith left before his eyes as eyes slowly closed then the body fell landing with a thud to the ground.

"Bronius!" Don lifted the laser pistol and fired at her.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Don regained consciousness to the distinct throbbing feeling coming from the back of his head. Memories of what had happened before flashed before his eyes. The event that could only be described as part of a nightmare. A nightmare that was all too real as he knew much to his chagrin. His eyes began to open quite slowly adjusting to the lighting in the room.

His neck and shoulders ached at once, unexpectedly, as if he had suffered a terrible crash. His eyes fluttered open then gazed to see Judy by his bedside leaned over with her hands in her lap fast asleep. He was propped halfway up with his head pressed against the spare pillow that had been generated and supplied with chicken feathers.

"Hey. . . Judith," Don said.

Judy raised her attention up and her eyes flew open.

"Don," Judy took his hand. "You are awake!"

"How long have I been out?" Don asked.

"A little over ten hours," Judy said.

"My head feels sore," Don started to lean up but was stopped by her hand guiding him back down on to the cool and comforting ice pack.

"Stay right there, Donny boy," Judy said, endearingly. "Your bad bump may be gone but that head needs time to become a little more solid."

"A little more . . . solid?" Don repeated, raising his brows up and down, confused. "You make it sound I had a major skull fracture from a crash land."

"The chance is pretty high that he did," Judy said. "And Doctor Smith regenerated that portion after he arrived."

"What you mean by regenerated?" Don asked. "Did that prick chip off a piece of my head?"

"We don't know," Judy said. "Until your head stops aching, you are on bed rest."

"Right when I don't want to rest," Don said. "I do feel tired," he rubbed his forehead. "Even with all that sleep."

"Feeling hungry?" Judy asked.

"Boy, am I!" Don said.

"We saved some food for you in the galley," Judy said. "I will get it. . ." she was about to get up but stopped. "I was scared for a moment that I lost you."

"I don't think you are capable of losing me," Don reminded, squeezing her hand, sporting a reassuring smile. "Not for a long shot."

/////////////////////////////////////////////

Smith stared at the long and wide mirror propped against the cracked wall of the cavern standing naked. His neck was capable of becoming longer than a normal human. His long, slender fingers felt along his neck. He seemed humanoid with some alien characteristics. And yet, even as human as he felt and disguised himself to be, it did nothing to comfort him. Was this how the other Professor Robinson had seen him every time he looked at him? A monster? A monster that had been born. The look in the other John Robinson's eyes said that much contrasting the eyes of the more innocent version who saw him as a man rather than a monster.

He called the Kavalarian's misfits. Stupid, idiotic misfits. He was a misfit himself. He had been stupid, he had been greedy, and he had been a monster. He had became one in his DNA and physical appearance not only in his actions. There was no shame in being proud of who he was. But, there was shame on what he was turning into. The Smith family name was becoming tarnished and degraded being simply attached him.

Only hope could reach out and make sure what was left of his relatives were making the name Smith be a proud name to say. Unlike what was happening to Smith. It wasn't something that was to be proud about happening to him. Something that he had made happen with his actions. It was a bitter form of poetic justice. After all, wasn't that how it always felt to be the villain on the receiving end of the word?

Smith looked up beginning to laugh that vibrated his figure until he were shaking and weeping lowering his head down toward the floor. His laughter small, desperate, and bitter by the passing second. The Robinsons were that hope, hope that tried to reach out, to be kind in the darkness and bring some relief to the bitterness around him. At what cost did the help come down to? At what cost would it take for them to realize that it wasn't wise to help someone from the dark universe?

Smith placed a hand on to his face feeling along parts that he knew but were becoming unfamiliar to him as time went on. He hadn't grown the long bone like points along his chin. His arms were slowly becoming coated in scales that were stacked up against the other in a row. His chest seemed to be changing as well making it seem like armor rather than a real and solid chest. Little spikes had grown along his shoulder. And he was terrified. He gently flicked a spike away feeling the rubber filmsy surface feeling. He took off the rubber spikes dropping them to the floor leaving behind scrapes along his shoulder looking down in contempt.

I will not be that horrid creature.

The memory of what he had seen so long ago seemed so distant. So long ago was coming back to haunt him. His shoulders no longer ached. With a single thought, the secondary set of arms tucked under his first set. He sat down on to the floor on the verge of even more tears. Silent tears came down his cheeks as Smith lowered his head ashamed of his actions. He wanted to live. Not as a spider-human hybrid. But as a human. He didn't want to die. And yet, despite his own decision to modify to how he best resembled, the mind that made him up was going to fall apart.

Smith combed along the side of his face.

His face had human characteristics: mouth, eyes, lips, but no eyebrows.

All the representation of his human self was in resting in his mind. A disguise, a lie, a deception. A illusion that worked better than how astral projecting did for him after several tries with Vikari and learned more of his psychic mind was powerful but not powerful enough to perform telekinesis. All that he was getting better from a supposed 'cure' snatched from the Kavalarian ship. The person that went inside of the ship had been peeled away leaving behind someone new but still ever changing and morphing into a new version of themselves with bits and pieces of the old still left behind. One large piece was his mind in a body that felt wrong.

Smith's hand went under his chin then felt the two bumps that were forming.

It's just facial hair that you have to yank out, Zachary, The lie was more believable than the truth.

He closed his eyes then grasped on to them and yanked them off with a single pull.

"Ow!" Smith yelped dropping the pieces to the floor with his chin stinging in pain.

His hands rolled up into fists then smacked them against the wall and clenched on to his chin applying pressure.

"How much, Smith? What was the price tag that you put on our future?"

The price tag had became his body.

It was everything that he loved about himself.

The hair from his head had fallen off. His goatee had ceased to exist. His skin was turning darker before his eyes including losing their pink quality. He pressed his forehead against the wall clasping his hands against his chin applying pressure to the wound. The agony that he had been in for the past few months had stopped. Right after being stretched on the stretcher during the interrogation regarding his methods of 'breaking in'. It could have been worse. Nothing could irritate his infection as it was changing him without needing to be bothered to continue anymore.

He was going to lose everything about himself. Even himself. It was a matter of time before the instincts of the space spiders took over and warped his mind. His only hope now? Was finding a way to put his affairs in order and find the right planet to metaphorically 'die' on. This wasn't the place to let go. It was full of life and visitors. He shook his head at the nightmarish memory of the space spiders decorating the roof of the Proteus and preparing to make flight for the Jupiter 2. He could remember their figures as sure as he could remember his mistake.

This place, this truly unique, almost desert filled planet wasn't his place. A place where his soul could die but his mutated and psychologically demented being could thrive on far from innocents. Innocents who would never come down so far to the planet surface. If John didn't step back from his word then the Robinsons were going to be safe from his condition. Smith opened his eyes taking his hands and forehead off the wall walking away from it. He could make it a stipulation in their deal. Make a arrangement in which everyone saw that he died and his corpse could not be recovered. In time, the bleeding had stopped.

Smith slipped into the warm and comforting bed then fell asleep snoring away.

The camera backed off to reveal the Robot leaning from alongside the partially ajar doorway.

"I wish I could help you, Doctor Smith." The Robot said, then closed the door and left the scene.