Robot lured Spider through the corridors of the Jupiter 2 then took a turn and the circular door slid open revealing the basic necessities of the kitchen. The kitchen appeared well taken care of and clean. Spider admired the aesthetic of it. It appeared to be made of metal but in reality, with a single screech, it became clear it was a regeneratable unusual crystal just like the rest of the ship. He looked at it curiously then turned toward Robot.

"Why did you bring me into this kitchen?" Spider asked.

"It is time that we flexed your cooking skills." Robot said.

"Me?" Spider put a hand on his chest, appalled, awestruck. "COOKING? No! Never!"

"Then you're going to starve and die." Robot said.

"Is this your way of telling me that I have to provide for myself?" Spider asked, lifting a eyebrow ridge.

"Yes." Robot said. "I have greatly expanded your privileges in the last few years as you have been. . . improving."

"Improving." Spider said. "You mean doing tedious and unnecessary actions."

"You are using silverware to eat your food and a napkin." Robot reminded. "That is a drastic improvement."

"Hmph." Spider rolled a eye folding his arms turning his back to Robot. "What I really like to eat is strictly finger food."

"Time for you to brush up on how to cook." Robot said. "Make yourself a sandwich." Robot wheeled forward as the creature grimaced at the machine's statement. "You are ready to be trusted with cooking tools."

"Disgusting." Spider said. "I like chicken legs better."

"It is faster and the effort is worth the time." Robot wheeled out then paused but handed off the gloves to him. "You will find the ingredients waiting in the fridge."

Spider looked toward the food pantry, reluctantly, then put on the gloves.

"Why do I need gloves?" Spider asked.

"To become familiar to them when you need to use them as the cook for our good guests!" Robot said. "I will return in twenty-five minutes and you better be eating when I return." he leaned halfway out the doorway then wheeled away. "Tomorrow, we start with making scrambled eggs."

Robot wheeled out of the chamber and Spider shuddered.

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

"Are you sure that you can trust these people?" Spider asked.

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"When people are determined on a task, they mask their thoughts, their faces, it is hard to tell if they are being truthful." Spider said. "Like me." He lowered his gaze. "You have just met them two standard hours ago and now you are willing to let them in you? This is gravely concerning." He was bothered by the set of facts. "On most occassions in this long journey, it has taken several of your weeks to allow them in and repair some minor part."

"I carry a risk of a atomic engine leak. You will die." Robot said. "And the Robinsons will awaken."

"And they will fix your little problem." Spider said. "Why are you believing them? It can't be the engine leak, my boobed friend. The chances are highly unlikely." He lifted a long index finger up. "Is something bothering you?"

"No." Robot declined. "I want to have a heart that won't threaten any passing visitor for the time being." Robot turned away then admitted in a small voice. "I enjoy our outings on planets."

His eyes flashed open at the revelation as certain facts that he had released came together then frowned.

"You worry about everything, worry wart." Spider said. "Do I need to do a wireless reprogramming of your concern protocols?"

"Even if you wanted to, the Jupiter 2 would not allow for that." Robot said. "You are not allowed as a administrator."

"Not for a great hacker like I," His eyes flashed open with a smile. "I can take care of that little problem." He glared down the machine. "If you let me help."

"No." Robot declined.

"Time for you to go to jail then," Spider said. "You've been framed for murder." He moved his piece on the platform and grinned. "And I get a billion dollars!"

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

The Jupiter 2 was once more silent, decades into her long voyage. Darkness penetrated every hull and crack of her shielding. Silence was the only sound that was to be heard. A figure moved among the shadows shifting through materials searchingly, frantic, determining what they were and what was the problem with the unresponsive parts. Creatures, humanoid, with large eyes, tall ears, and fur that coated their figures were walking through the corridor with laughter from across.

"Can you believe that machine believed we were going to give him a solar engine instead a atomic engine?" The first lieutenant asked.

"We can't give him that because we are not meant to be working with the light!" the security chief said.

"Light is very dangerous," the captain noted.

"Thankfully, he listened to us and turned off all the lights," the first lieutenant said.

"Boys, did you hear that?" A member stopped as a figure darted past them. "Something else is in here."

"There is only one lifeform." replied the captain. "That machine was the lifeform."

"We didn't find any organic processes in it," replied the crewmember as a dark feeling crept over them. "I think we went into the wrong ship."

"Superstitious." The lieutenant rolled their eyes.

"This ship is perfect." The captain said. "Can house all of our troops and send them to war en masse!"

"It is perfect." the security chief agreed.

"I don't think it is perfect as you say it is. I am getting out of here." the crewmember vanished and it was down for four.

"Coward." The second lieutenant said.

"What can you say? Engineer, spooked by the slightest of sounds by the ship, they are always this way in old geezers."

"Hmm. Let's check that robot. Just to be certain that we are alone." The captain said. "Might find out the organic process."

"This ship is already off course as it is to the original destination, I really doubt they are interested in talking, captain."

"Lieutenant, man the course."

"Aye, captain."

The crew dwindled down to three as the small team went down the corridor. The fourth crewmember went to the console and began to slide their fingers on the material when they were grasped by the shoulders then their head was snapped with a single jolt. They fell with a light thud. And the figure was picked up. And the sound of liquid hitting the floor could be heard echoing down, lightly, from the other half of the corridor.

One by one the members of the crew turned on the lights on their shoulders and the path of them became highlighted. They came closer and closer until they paused in their tracks. A large towering thin creature was looming over the empty chassis - resembling a boombox- of a large machine that had been taken apart only minutes ago with his lower two hands on it and he hissed raising his head up staring back toward them. It was a unworldly creature that was pitch black, with all four rows of teeth standing out, a creature that could have only came from Hell itself.

The creature tapped on a series of buttons on a large device on his forearm. Then a forcefield was generated over his skin. And a evil glint went off in his eyes. He didn't say a word but proceeded to bring himself up to his feet standing over them in a towering way and his neck stretched out as his legs and arms folded to that of a roughly humanoid spider was standing. The spider flew after them, tackling them, ripping them apart limb from limb, over their screams.

"All. of. it. was. liiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeesssssssss."

His eyes lowered down toward the captain as phaser blasts were firing at him and missing at every point, he drew closer, intimidatingly, a unstoppable force, undeterred.

Spider grasped the captain by the shirt then lifted them up staring them in the eyes.

"You will be eaten last for taking my dear friend apart."

Spider smacked the captain against the wall and they were gone.

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

Smith awoke in the darkened ship and met by a fresh wave of pain stirring from his bones. There was little sound to hear in the corridor. His eyes winced in pain as he flung over to his side grasping on his figure. Familiar pain that was haunting and agonizing to him. He clenched his hands together laid on his side, his eyes squeezed shut, he could have done for some sedatives.

"Oh, the pain. . ." Then he screamed. "The pain!"

He let out a scream that echoed through the ship until he was done. Until he could release all those feelings tied to it and his grip over his emotional well being tightened. And he could recompose himself. His figure trembled as he hugged himself searching through the darkness that didn't have definite shape. He searched above for the light fixtures.

"How strange," Smith noted, looking from side to side, perplexed. "The lights are all out."

His vision was poor and awful as he squinted, adjusting his vision, his once clear vision had difficulty adapting to the darkness. He felt around the halls until his fingers found something long and hard, but with softened flat edges. He slid it down and the lights above his head popped out to life. He wandered through the area. What had happened? He could only recall watching the sun set with Will . . . The rest was hazy. Foggy. A nightmare.

"H-h-h-h-h-ello?"

Smith looked from side to side, frightened, holding his hands in his lap.

"William? Professor? Doctors? Major? Judy?"

Smith heard tapping around him as he stepped forward and his heart raced.

"Anyone there?"

Smith quietly walked and the noise stopped. He came to a pause spotting the familiar scattered about on the floor in several pieces. And his heart fell into several pieces at seeing the damage. The fury, the outrage, and the feelings seeing him that way began to make him growl, his facial features twitching, clenching his hands in his lap. It was beneath the Robot. Humiliating even disgusting to see him scattered about the floor this way.

The Robinsons were some where and the aliens that had taken him had put apart Robot then abandoned him after finding what they needed. He arrived to the machine then gathered the parts in his arms and retreated into the room that he had awoke in. He knelt down then put Robot together piece by piece with care connecting his large treads. It took hours at a time, shifting through his memories, with determination. Robot by all appearances, was undamaged even his prized mechanical parts. It wasn't a firefight, Smith became convinced.

Then how and why was Robot in pieces?

After several tries, shifting through the pieces like parts of a puzzle, Robot was put together and the atomic engine kicked to life.

"Good morning, booby."

Robot bobbed his helm.

"Doctor Smith! You're back! You're back!" His helm twirled. "I did it! I did it! I did it!"

"Did what?" Smith asked. "What in the heavens are you celebrating for?"

"You're YOU!" Robot said, his voice on the edge of sobbing then Smith tilted his head.

"Yes, I am me." He folded his arms. "What else is new? Where are the Robinsons? Where is William?"

"I can't believe it took this to bring you out of your mind," Robot said. "I shouldn't be shocked and surprised."

"Yet, you are." Smith said. "What are you referring to, my dear bosom?"

"Your mental recovery." Robot said.

Smith used the table as his support squinting at the machine then heard the familiar clicks beneath him and froze.

And Robot knew it was too early for him to have came out.

"Do-do-don't look down, Doctor Smith." Robot plead as his voice trembled. "Please, don't."

Smith looked down and shrieked as he absorbed in every changed detail of his figure. He jumped back, horrified, dejectedly, frightened as his other hands slid out from under his arm with a tremble. In a instant, he recoiled back where he had came from and the spider took over. His figure became still and his horror became intrigue. Robot's atomic engine began to ache feeling the pain of losing him again. He was so close. Still was and he nearly had him in his grasps.

The spider was back scanning his hands quite curiously tilting his head and observing his additional hands. Robot was trembling as he wheeled forward feeling, his atomic engine's sensor readings felt as if they had been kicked and severely damaged when they had not, his claw stretching out the spider. He slowly looked down toward the machine.

"Ah, brand new!" Spider clapped his hands together with a loud smack then rubbed them. "I knew I would get you put together after a good nap."

Robot's claw was trembling as he lowered it down and Spider frowned.

"Is something wrong, my dear old friend?" Spider asked.

"I am fine, Doctor Smith." Robot said.

"I heard they changed the course," Spider said. "We could be off by a few days."

"A few days of delay is nothing." Robot said. "I will correct the course."

Robot became still as he wheeled on ahead of Spider.

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

One day, Robot threw a cardboard on the table.

"What game are we playing now, jailer?"

The creature was keeping his distance away from him as Robot kept his claw aiming at him.

"Puzzle."

His claw was trained on his figure sending him to be wary and on his feet.

"A simple meager game is beneeeath me."

Robot opened the package then tipped it upside down sending the contents flying on the table and kept the plasma blaster aimed at him.

"Your previous state of mind is beneath you, Doctor Smith." Robot said. "This is right at your level."

The creature eyed back at the machine staring at him with one hand on the lid of the cardboard box.

"What is your intentions playing puzzle? Is this to distract me? From what you have going out there?"

"Negative," Robot backtracked out of the doorway then pressed a button and the forcefield came back up. "It is a surprise."

Robot flew out of the corridor and his two eyes tailed after him watching him vanish down the corridor.

"What has him in such a hurry?"

He looked toward the mass of puzzle pieces.

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

Will tumbled down to the floor then shook his head and rubbed his shoulders. Robot dropped a warm blanket on his shoulders then waited for him to come to in the meeting room. He handed Will a glass of hot chocolate and the teenager downed it. It took some time but with a good meal, the teenager was wide awake and not as groggy.

"Are we there, yet?" Will asked.

"Negative." Robot replied.

"Something wrong with the engines?" Will asked.

"Negative." Robot said.

"Robot, what is the matter?" Will asked, concerned.

"I am trying to retreat Doctor Smith out of the fractured mind." Robot reported. "I have found a suppressor."

Will shook his head.

"Robot, it won't work. Suppressors won't last for long. Besides, he will need a new one to replace that once his body becomes immune against it."

"I want my friend back." Was all Robot said. "I will be armed. He will not pose any danger to you."

"How can you trust him?" Will asked.

"I said I will be armed," Robot reminded. "I have the door unlocked."

"Robot!" Will stood up to his feet. "Are you mad!?"

"Not," Robot said. "If he is as self-preserving as Doctor Smith, then there is hope that he can be retrieved and live a human life that is possible." He twirled toward the doorway. "He hasn't come here so there is hope."

Will slowly sat back into the chair.

"Robot. . ." Will said. "How long have you been doing this project?"

"A great while," Robot said.

"Robot, I don't think it is going to go the way you want it. All the bitter failures we had to face before dad accepted that he is never going to get cured. And before I had to accept it. . ." Will looked back, sadly. "You said so yourself, he is never coming back."

"I was wrong." Robot said. "I will be the first to admit that."

"We were lucky that he held himself together that long until we came across Hastia." Will said.

"He had a chance to be a semi-operational hybrid being acting close to the man that we know and we lost it there." Robot admitted. "He has fallen deep into his mind. Concealed himself, a place where he can be happy, but he has been breaking it apart with session. With time, perhaps I can give him a tour!"

"Robot," Will said, exasperated, lowering his head. "That thing is playing you."

"My sensors indicate he is not," Robot said. "I would know. With help, counseling, and some attempts at doing psychological acts to make him to come to terms with his newly born half, he will be the annoying Doctor Smith that we both loathe and love. Hope is all I have."

"Have you been lonely?" Will asked. "You could always take me out and spend some time with me if you liked."

"I will not answer that question." Robot said. "It is important you age along with your family. My processors have told me that he will be a old man once we get to Alpha Prime A. And it is the perfect time to reestablish his presence. Before I use the suppressors. The pain killers have been easing his mind to someone similar to the Doctor Smith that we use to know."

Will had a long exasperated sigh.

"How long have you had him out of time stasis?" Will asked.

"I rather not answer." Robot said.

"Five?"

"No comment."

"Six?"

"No."

"So five?"

Robot turned away, now by far, silent.

"The beginning was difficult. It was painful." Robot admitted. "It has gotten easier over time."

"How long have you been doing this?" Will asked, concerned.

"A long time, Will." Robot turned toward Will.

"And you think you're close enough to getting him to become Doctor Smith again." Will said.

"Yes." Robot said.

"Robot, let him stay frozen in time if you think you are so close." Will said.

"I like to have him human before I do that and surprise the family." Robot said.

"So, this is a surprise." Will said.

"Yes." Robot said. "We need company."

"What game did you pick?"

"I chose candy land, dungeons and dragons, monopoly, and a majestic elaborate puzzle piece that would get on Doctor Smith's nerves."

Will shook his head.

"Just for one game." Will held his finger up. "And that is it."

"I accept that." Robot said.

"That is all I want to be part of." Will folded his arms then looked aside, grimacing, wincing. "Unlike you." He picked up his pace. "I don't want that false hope."

"Understood." Robot said. "I left him with a very complicated puzzle. He is having difficulty. I know it."

"Spider is probably eating it." Will said.

Robot's helm twirled.

"Follow me." Robot said.

The teenager followed after Robot to the lower half of the ship then stopped once he saw the creature was solving the puzzle.

"I have only gotten him so far because he called me 'You insidious ninny' in our fifth session and I have not gave up on him since then." Robot said. "And don't you dare call him Spider Smith!" He aimed his claw at Will as a sudden flare of rage heated up within him and Will took a step back. "I have been making significant progress in making him act human, dress human, and regard himself as something similar to being a human!"

Will nodded after listening for a short while.

"Robot, he wasn't talking like himself." Will whispered. "How did you get him to call you. . . by that?"

"I told him that I caught a corpse and was studying it when it had attacked me in the med lab." Robot elaborated. "I sterilized everything afterwards."

"And?"

"And collected the scrap metal and sterilized that as well."

"What did you do with the space zombie?"

"I shot it at the head and cooked it then recycled it into plate that you were eating from."

"Robot!"

"They picked the wrong Robot to startle!"

"Robot, throw that away."

"No."

"Robot."

"Nyet."

"This is going to go no where."

"Affirmative."

"So, how long has he gone a complete year?"

Robot's helm twirled and Will frowned as it became apparent that he hadn't lived a entire standard year.

"I space time out with him drastically. Once, I spent a entire year with him unfrozen and he caught a space flu. I do not know how he caught the space flu. It does not compute. . . well, I did have some visitors from time to time."

Will smacked his forehead.

"He ate them." Will said.

"No." Robot said. "Not all of them."

"So. . . some?"

"There are things we both did to make sure the Jupiter 2's crew remained asleep and people who asked for our help,"

"You don't want to talk about it."

"Affirmative."

"So bad people?"

"After making a 'pre-mortem one liner' to them," Robot said. "Then he ate them."

"And you let him?" Will asked, appalled.

"I had no choice." Robot said.

"Robot. . . You always have a choice." Will said. "I'll think about it. Give me some time. If I don't come back in a day, I'll be in my pod."

Will walked away then Robot twirled toward the interior of the cell.

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

Will thought long and hard about giving in to his friend's request to be there. It wasn't a direct request but it was implied. A implication that Will was unsure about giving in to when it came to his childhood friend's request. Someone who he had brought back from the dead with a single act of defiance against death itself. A act of desperation to save someone who that he could put back together. Who went on to put someone else together with little help or instruction on how to carry this out.

Someone who he had grown up and seen the change that had undertaken the man. A part of Will wasn't quite sure if the machine remembered history the way that it had happened with the older man. He wasn't going to be quite young for long if Robot kept this up, reeling Smith back even closer, further back into his old self. Something that he had once said only what had been three years ago to him.

But, Robot's insistence regarding Spider's words, and the memory of the smallest form of hope in his body language, made him give it a try.

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

He came back hours later to the cell that had been specifically crafted for the creature. And his friend was still there but holding on to two small packages between his claws.Will peered in the room spotting the cloaked figure looming over the halfway completed puzzle with his lower two arms in fists, staring down at the clump of puzzles.

"And you're still here." Will said.

"I was programmed to reach a objective goal when it came to the colonization of Alpha Prime A," Robot said. "You programmed me to be that way."

"The other Will Robinson did," Will said. "I look nothing like him."

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"Are you really ready to do this?" Will asked, quite unsure, yet afraid looking on toward the creature.

Robot twirled toward the teenager then back toward the panel.

"I have never been more ready," Robot said. "For I have been in the dark, but not too long, to recognize the light that I have made."

Robot slid out a crystal and sound returned as the creature smacked his fist against the table staring down the puzzle few puzzle pieces.

"Doctor Smith," Robot said.

Spider scowled looking toward the two.

"Who is this stranger?" Spider scowled. "Another ship wrecked traveler? Another lost colonist? A space astronaut?" then he added bitterly staring off in the direction of Robot then put his hands on the table with a loud slam then began to prop himself up. "Another 'helpless' -- " his eyebrow ridges raised at once with a questioning demeanor. "person who has evil intentions?"

"Neither." Was all Robot replied.

"Tell me yourself. What are your intentions being here, you fiend!" He pointed at the teenager then his tone grew threatening then towered over Will in the next instant. "Tell me or I will eat you alive later and spare my friend of all the trouble."

Will's face fell as he felt pieces of his heart be crushed and Robot put a claw on the teenager's shoulder.

"You used to call me William," Will said. "I am Will Robinson."

"Never met you before." Spider said.

"Called me Robinson Boy. Remember?" Will prodded. "You followed me into this cell."

Spider waved his hand with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't recall."

"You were there." Will said. "You should recal---"

"No matter." Spider cut him off waving his hand returning to the table. "I have met too many people to keep track of them. Hard to recall when every day there is a new visitor and they leave then never show up in our paths."

Will frowned then looked toward Robot.

"Is that true?" Will asked.

"Not every of your standard days." Robot insisted. "Sometimes they have stayed for several of your months. Remember?"

Spider scowled.

"Why did you bring him in?" Spider asked.

Robot dropped another box to the table.

"We're playing Dungeons and Dragons." Robot said. "You are going to be a market man joining along this quest because riches and overcharging people for cheap merchandise, Doctor Smith."

"A merchant? No fun? No appendages? No ugliness? That is horrible!" Spider cried. "Oh, the shame of it all! The shame of it all!"

"Work with it." Robot said. "Will, you can be anyone that you wish to be."

"I like to be a knight." Will said.

"First, we finish this puzzle then get the game started!" Spider insisted, smacking his fist against the table, snarling. "I won't let this game begin without that!"

"Fine, fine, Doctor Smith." Robot said.

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

It was a long day with breaks between the game.

Will was still not used to the older man being there.

Let alone nearly talking like himself when preparing to roll the dice.

The situations that, Robot, as the dungeon master brought them into made Will cry in a fit of laughter at the silly but simple plots in which the spider was playing his fragile counterpart. And a simple, but large flare of hope, that Will had only seen long ago had become highlighted in his words.

Spider went on ignoring the unexpected reaction from the teenager while studying up on the concept of the creatures Robot had introduced into the game.

Hope.

Hope that changed his mind.

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

It was later, a few months after Will had been brought into the program, that it was Robot, Will, and Spider going down to the nearest planet that the Jupiter 2 was in the orbit of. He had recently been taken out of stasis for the tenth time that following year. The Jupiter was kept in orbit as the duo used the space pod to make their small exploration planet side. Spider wandered through the area, environmental suit deactivated, his hood lowered, dressed in casual wear that fit to his modified body.

He traveled through the forest with Robot not far behind him. Spider paused in his tracks once seeing a short woman struggling against a large yet thin tree. She stopped, ceasing to scream, staring up toward him in a Greek outfit, her hair finely tidied. And yet, she was exotic and well dressed for the occasion with a long cut on each apart of her dress, with her figure decorated in golden bracelets with scripture that he recognized from period pieces in holomovies.

"One moment, madame."

Spider slid off his gloves then slashed them off.

"All your troubles will be over momentarily." Spider said.

He slashed at the binds with speed until they were gone replaced by nothingness and he struck the bands instead.

"You may go, now." Spider dismissed her.

The woman knelt down, to her knees, bowed before him then he rolled his eyes.

"This is not necessarily." He helped her up as Robot came behind him. "You are very gracious but I am not one of your Gods."

She stared at him then tilted her head looking at him curiously.

"Do you not understand?" Spider said. "I will show you something that you shall understand plainly."

He hissed, lunging his head forward, extending his neck then she ran off with a shriek into the forest.

"Who was that, Doctor Smith?" Will asked.

Spider turned in the direction of Will.

"Virgin sacrifice. Dressed in white. For the Gods I can only assume. Cruel people who pretended to be Gods long ago." He shook his hand. "Let's walk away. Quickly." he speed walked away the direction that he had been walking only moments ago in. "Before her people come this way to check for her corpse."

"Oh no." Will said. "We just made things worse for her."

"Nonsense, my dear boy!" Spider replied with a loud baa. "She may be smart and lay low."

"If I were her, I wouldn't just lay low after being thrust to being killed and torn away from my family," Will said. "I would go straight back to them."

"Unfortunately, this virgin sacrifice applies to women." Spider said. "I trust that women know what is best to do after being rescued compared to young boys who don't know what to do. Her mother may have taught her all that she needs to know after being rescued quite unexpectedly."

Spider paused looking behind Will.

"Where is the boob head?" Spider asked.

He raised his head up, concerned, then his features changed as he saw warriors.

"Last that I saw, he was right behind me." Will replied.

Spider growled then handed Will the spare arm brace device.

"Put this on," Spider said.

"What is this?" Will asked.

"Force-field generator for the entire body," Spider replied then pressed the button as it slipped on to his arm. "He needs some help getting out of this mess."

Spider sprinted on ahead of Will through the landscape then the teenager chased after him.

"Doctor Smith, stop!" Will cried.

Spider tackled down one of the warriors and grinned.

"No need to fear, Smith is here!" Spider said.

A warrior tossed a spear at Spider.

"Doctor Smith!" Robot cried, waving his lone unoperational large claw in the air. "Danger! Danger!"

The spear flung off his figure landing to the ground with little show or decoration from it.

"God!" A Greek warrior shouted.

"Not!" Smith said then turned around facing the men. With a single fell swoop, he tossed the men away - using his left two arms -- from the machine then turned toward Robot, "Back to the Space Pod, you bumbling bucket of bolts!" he motioned after Will with his head. "And take the Robinson boy with you!"

He flung another row of troops away from him sending them flying aside and knocked a few of them against several trees. Robot was damaged, visibly, coming toward Will with holes in his chassis grabbing on to his shirt tugging him away, "Doctor Smith!" in alarm, as the Greeks were busy trying to subdue the creature. Spider fled away from the direction of the Space Pod and Robot and Will.

He fled down the path with a laugh then tripped over a tree branch and had only enough time to react with widened eyes.

"Shit!"

Spider fell then rolled down a hill, damaging the forearm equipment, but the force-field was knocked out. Spider hit his head against a rock with a loud yelp then landed in a valley on his side. The Greeks came down behind him then aimed their spears toward the fallen creature. From the distance, Will and Robot watched, using the safety of the thick woods looking on toward their surrounded friend. Robot restrained Will from lunging after Spider with his arm wrapped around the teenager's waist.

"Halt!" The woman from earlier said, coming to the man's aid, holding up her hand. "Deity saved me!"

The Greeks lowered their attention down toward the unconscious man then withdrew their weapons, only instead, binding his wrists, ankles, and arms together in such a way that was painful to attempt a escape. The rope was done in such a way that it wrapped him in a mummified way up to his neck with a lowered head snoring away being dragged away from the scene by horseback. Robot dragged Will away from the scene as the teenager struggled against the machine.

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

"Robot, go back!" Will demanded once the door behind him closed.

Robot wheeled toward the front console then pressed the button.

"Negative." Robot said.

"Robot, if we leave him down there, then he is going to eat people and infect other people with his infection!"

"It would not be wise to get involved at this point." Robot turned toward Will as the space pod flew into the sky heading toward the Jupiter 2. "They would not believe us. Not without proof. And we would become Gods to them."

"Then we just leave him to infect a entire civilization and destroy it in less than ten years?"

"Doctor Smith is not going to infect them," Robot said. "He knows better. He wears gloves. He never takes them off when we are planet side."

"How do you know that?"

"They make his wrists itch and he has some glove burns from wearing them too long." Robot said. "Allergies."

"Oh." Will then frowned, his brows furrowing together, putting his hands on his hips and tilting his head. "Do you mean to say. . ."

"That we spend hours at a time exploring," Robot said. "Affirmative."

"Just exploring?"

"I spend time collecting items and wrapping them up," Robot said. "Then freezing them for reaching the Alpha Centauri system for your family to pick up."

"That is really thoughtful for you," Will said. "What did you get me?"

"Still a gift." Robot said.

Robot turned back toward the console.

"And if my assumptions are correct; they are going to sacrifice him. Somewhere close by." Robot changed the subject of conversation. "Or could be somewhere in the city limits. This version of Greek culture may have a different method of sacrifice."

"We need a mole." Will said.

"Negative," Robot turned toward Will. "We do not."

"Why?"

"You are a human," Robot reminded.

"And they look human!" Will said as it dawned on him leaning off the wall and his eyes widened at the revelation. "Robot--"

"You can easily blend in if we use the uniform synthesizer and get some intel regarding the sacrifice," Robot said.

"Do they have human blood?" Will asked.

"Affirmative," Robot said.

"I can blend in," Will said. "Then we can get out of this system."

"My advanced sensors tell me they are going to a nearby city." Robot reported.

"Hmm," Will said looking down then raised his head up. "Robot, how similar are the Greeks uniforms to the Earthly ones?"

"Their warriors were dressed in accordance to fashion extrapolated from images regarding the Earth version of their era." Robot said. "Lots. Lots. Lots of folds."

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

Spider stirred awake, restrained, his head aching. He was in a dark and muggy cell as his eyes shifted from side to side as he struggled in the contraption. He looked around and sat there for awhile studying the rest of the room. He scanned the room observing there were skeletons strewn about hanging by a thread to the shackles and some of them were in careless position.

A plate was slid out the lower half of the door and his eyes sparked with glee and his stomach rumbled. He flopped over his side then began to crawl toward the food on his knees dragging himself forward using his head to drag himself forward. He was too determined and focused at first to notice the upper half of the door open revealing widened eyes as he came closer to the doorway.

"One of the Gods have fallen."

They were speaking in whispers over the sounds of him eating.

"This God may require to be sacrificed to be sent back up where they came."

The eyes darted from side to side watching him bite into the plate.

"Very much."

Spider slid forward a piece of the plate and began to attempt cutting through the binds at the sharpened edge as he proceeded to eat the stale meat and day old bread.

"Very healthy."

They exchanged a glance.

"Then we do the soul ceremony, yes?"

The high priest lifted her head up.

"No. Too quick. We do it very slowly. We do the organ removal." The male priest became horrified glancing toward the tall woman. "That way the God of lizards learns not to fall and Their intrusion on the mortal realm will be forgiven."

"That is a cruel way of sending the God up." her counterpart advised. "We should restrain them, tie them to magma rock, and toss them into the lake to be eaten by the pet of Thunder."

"Your way is painless," The high priestess said. "And does not teach them a lesson. They would also get the last laugh. And come back."

Her counterpart gave it some thought.

"Your point is clear, High Priestess." Her counterpart said. "And very thorough."

Spider lifted his head up then lunged at the door knocking them back.

"Guards!" The high priest called staggering back.

Spider was arched when he charged forward and the two high priests fled out of the way. The door fell down beneath his feet. Spider gazed from side to side watching as the guards filled the corridor surrounding him and launched a combined attack on him. With his movements, they were able to tear holes in his articles of clothing, grabbing on the spears that tore his clothing then breaking it in half and dropping it to the ground. He grasped on a fine long spear then yanked it forward.

His arms untucked - revealing a secondary fold of the sleeve - grasping on the pile of spears then the men began to take several steps back away from him. Spider stepped forward with a growl then knocked them aside with a single blow sending them fall falling to the ground. He lifted his head up focusing his attention upon the squirming high priests in the corner of the room.

"Thank you for the meal." Spider waved. "Nice evening, my dears."

Spider began to walk away from them.

"Can't stay for your sacrifice to your Gods." Spider said. "Watching sacrifices was never a long lasting past time."

Spider began to make a run for it as his instincts were screaming at him by each minute that passed.

Something was very wrong as he noticed a servant hold their hands up and raise it up at the same time that a wall appeared across.

Something is wrong! His guts screamed. Something is horribly wrong!

He rolled his eyes then lunged his head forward, fangs exposed, biting into the wall, repeatedly. Spider chewed quickly with deliberate speed. He chewed a large section out of the wall then proceeded to run through corridor as the warriors dropped their spears with a tremble as he looked on, judgingly, then passed by them and they fell over in a heap. The officers fell down to the floor falling unconscious. Spider stalked by the crowd then watched as a another was summoned down.

Three short men were whistling away constructing a new part of the cell as he passed by them knocking over a ladder and bricks fell on the one at the left then the left one tapped on their friend's shoulder then jabbed them in the eyes after a short trick knocking them down causing the entire wall they were working on to fall behind them. Spider looked over then smiled tilting his head and snickered at the source of the commotion the men were making and the cell block was starting to collapse with each struggle to start putting things right again.

Spider bolted through the corridor and found another wall that was eight feet away. He proceeded to do this over and over and over for a number of times before he fell to his knees clasping on to his stomach that was bloated. He fell down to his knees leaning forward feeling unwell. He flopped over to his back then placed a hand on his stomach feeling lethargy gripping upon him. He curled into a ball turning on to his side hearing a rumble around him and dust fell down beside his head. The high priestess stood over him then knelt down to his level.

"What strange gloves you have," the high priestess said.

With a sudden burst of energy, Spider swatted her hand away.

"Don't you dare or you shall threaten everyone you hold dear to your heart!"

The high priestess withdrew her hand, catching what he meant, then smiled.

"No matter," the high priestess said. "Your power will be gone with this sacrifice and it will become a memorabilia."

As it should be. Were one of Spider's last thoughts as he was dragged under.

Then it became crystal clear as his dulled blue eyes widened.

Wait a minute! And he was out.

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

Will had a plan set out for what he intended to do in how he came to the rescue.

Only after he snooped around and did some investigating where they were going to do the ceremony.

It wasn't one of his most elaborate ideas.

It was a far simple idea.

He changed from dark clothing into bright clothing that was white and orange with a dark brown cloak - himation-- laced with a brighter orange theme. It was odd, being in such bright colors, instead of the usual dark and dreary ones. He looked at himself and when he did, he saw a young man of Ancient Greece looking back at him, with a smile. And, looked quite better in brighter colors.

He left the dressing room.

"Are you ready, Will?" Robot asked.

Will nodded.

"Dad is not going to believe this story." Will said.

Robot paused.

"He won't." Robot said. "Tell him once we get there."

"Oh boy, I will!" Will said, with a laugh.

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

Spider awoke slouched in a cage with a stomach ache.

"Oh dear, I ate too much!" He clasped on his stomach then looked down observing that he still bore his gloves. "The courtesy of them is very generous."

He looked down observing that he wasn't in dark clothing but donned a black and bright green chiton that contrasted against the main theme of the outfit. He slouched up against the steel cold bars of the cage looking out between the bars. His hands were unbound as his eyes felt heavy. He looked up observing figures that were on the rooftops watching him being wheeled down the passageway of the street.

The sound of laughter, gasps, and children playing echoed in the area that was noisy as a city street. Asides to being on a alien planet, being stared at by spectators, it felt as if he were on Earth. The familiarity were too bittersweet to swallow so he stared them back with a heated glare that frightened some of the men and the women stepping back. He looked on ahead spotting large cattle then was taken back. The cattle were strange massive rhinos coated in fur standing side by side trudging forward in the wide city limits.

He waited this way as the horses trudged their way into the landscape then paused in front of a great staircase. The door flew open then a rope was tugged and he was pulled back out of it with a yelp landing on to the ground then watched a ring attached to a stick come over him. He closed his eyes flipping on to his back feeling a thick ring against his neck and he was yanked back in a cruel manner.

With some trepidation, Spider was forced up to his feet, his shoulders feeling cold, instinctively, he lowered his two arms and rubbed his shoulders as the onlookers stared in awe. He was yanked forward by the same ring attached to a long pole being handled by a muscular bearded man with shackles that appeared to have grown into his ankles. Over cheering, he was yanked forward - presumably a volunteer gladiator -, away from his place of restraint.

"What in the heavens do you think you're doing, my dear sir?"

Spider's question was largely ignored then it came back flooding to him then his eyes flashed open in horror.

"Please, stop!" Spider plead. "Spare me! Spare me! I beg of you!"

Spider was yanked up the staircase with each pull.

"Please!"

Spider was tugged up further and further as he searched around for a means of escape, anyway, however way. He stared on with a tremble then came after roughly hours of climbing with his resistance to the top of the temple. It was his way of delaying the inevitable giving them a struggle. Giving the Robot and Will time to find them. His stomach ache had faded but he felt little energy was available to provide what they wanted; a show of force.

He had his doubts about the teenager but little when it came to the machine that tried. He hadn't shown up with the space pod in hand in the sky. He had searched on the way up for the space pod, desperate, frightened. It became crystal clear to Spider. Robot had to have come to a impasse. Robot could not play God. It was part of his prime directives in his protocols that had been installed centuries ago. Little that could help him. Spider's mind wandered to the present; his bones ached with exhaustion from the fight. His waters feeling the sting from pained crying and couldn't cry if he wanted to.

He looked on spotting the woman from earlier standing above the slab of rock in a unique elaborate garment and painting on her face holding a dagger in one hand that wasn't conventional but double edged, twisted, and full of elaborate holes that had rounded holes with small sharp tips beneath them making up for the lack of a flat surface. Spider felt his heart leap into his throat as he looked to be sacrificed by the woman he rescued. And suddenly, all that exhaustion aching in his neck, hands, wrists, and joints faded away.

"No! No! No!" Spider cried stepping back. I want to live! I want to LIVE! "It can't be! It mustn't be!"

He was shoved forward then the gravity of the situation fully hit him as he was yanked forward by the muscular Gladiator. This is the end. Is it? He was saddened by the thought then resignation and acceptance befell upon him. This is it.

He looked appalled, horrified, back in the direction that he had came. He looked back toward the berth then faced the crowd with a grimace holding on to his trembling hands. His hands stopped trembling as determination and intent replaced his grimace. I won't go with a undignified whimper. He made his moves in a little less than a second but one that was clearly to be registered as defiance and will to survive fueled him.

Spider grasped a hold on to the stick then swung the Gladiator to the berth with a sudden burst of energy for a desperate bid to survive. He turned around then knocked down the guards behind him down the staircase and they came to a pause supported by the onlookers and he ran through the crowd that was behind the guards. A member unexpectedly reached their long leg out in his path then he fell down to the stairs.

He came to a pause by a waiting pair of large sandals on his side then everyone looked up to see a young man with dark red hair. The young man knelt down to the side of the creature then checked for the pulse. Spider's eyes began to open, his vision adjusting, then stared at the young man above him and recognition flashed in his eyes that didn't appear to be so dulled for a single moment.

"William? . . ." Smith asked, puzzled. "Why do you look so grown up?"

The young man above him froze, surprised, then watched as the figure fainted in the mist of his shock. He didn't have a answer to provide. Will had one, but, he didn't have the time to deliver it. For a single moment, a surreal moment, instead of a monster that he had only seen six years ago, he had seen a older man beneath the mutated alien facial features of what had once been a complete human being but looked older than how he had last seen him.

The crowd absorbed the creature back in then the young man's hands rolled up into a fist then he held his wrist up.

"Robot, start the plan." Will said.

"Affirmative." Robot replied.

"ETA?" Will asked.

"Five minutes." Robot said. "Robot out."

Will lowered his wrist then looked up toward the top of the temple.

"Hang on for five minutes, Doctor Smith."

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

Spider was dropped on to the berth then the clothing in his chest was torn apart.

His figure was draped carelessly from above and his eyes struggled to open.

He spotted a large cloud lowering on to the top of the temple and relaxed with a smile.

I'm going to be spared! They're sparing me! I am going to live, after all!

From above, a shimmer of dark clouds began to appear, as the heavily re-modified Jupiter 2 lowered over the temple.

"The God will be sent back whence they came!"

A stroke of a laser beam erupted from the bottom of the ship striking down a tower with a loud crash.

"The Gods!"

The blade was dropped as the tension was slipping off Spider's figure and he started to snore.

"The Gods are unhappy?" Another strike and another tower fell over to the horror of the onlookers. "We are only doing what you have taught us!"

Another tower fell with a loud crash.

"Gods? Gods!"

The people screamed in horror as trees were knocked down and burned in community centers.

"Immortals have no place in mortal affairs!"

The priestess in charged look around in horror then retreated as the members of the staff went inside of the temple. People fled into the tunnels leading into the stairs. The laser blast show continued for another fifteen minutes until the lone man on the staircase spoke softly into the wrist, watched by a child, then climbed up the stairs.

He slid the creature up to his feet, their figure hunched over, their arms on his shoulder and made his descent down the stairs with the partially conscious and loudly snoring God by his side to the shock of the civilians. They watched the young man go into a secluded tunnel underneath a fallen tree and vanish before their eyes. And he never came back.

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

"Robot . . ." Will said by the door to the cell watching the figure rest.

"Yes?" Robot asked, concerned.

"He called me William," Will said. "You're close."

"I have noticed," Robot said.

"You're really close to bringing him back as a whole. He was nearly there to my fingertips." he leaned himself forward putting a a hand on the frame to the doorway of the room. "Just another layer to go and he will be back."

Robot twirled toward Will.

"That layer is very deep." Robot admitted.

Will looked toward Robot then smiled.

"I believe in you, old friend." Will said. "If there is anyone who can pull it off. . . It's you."

Silently, they walked away from the doorway leaving the force-field down to the cell.

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

"I MADE BROWNIES!" Spider announced with pride.

"Robot," Will looked toward the machine beside him. "What kind of brownies are these?"

"Marijuana brownies." Robot reported.

"No." Will said. "I can't have these." he shook his hands. "I am too young for it."

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes you can." Spider said then glared aside toward Robot. "And I made non-high cookies for your family when they wake up." He looked down toward the tray. "Less exciting than these."

"I rather not get high." Will said.

"You will enjoy it." Spider slid it forward. "Just have one. I will over see you being high."

"If I have one, will you please not cook it for my parents?" Will asked.

"I give you my word, cross my heart swear to die, and promise to drop off the building if I do so." Spider said.

"Doctor Smith." Will said, exasperated.

"Have one. Pretty please? With a space cherry on top?"

Cautiously, Will took one.

"Did you wear gloves?" Will looked up toward Spider

"I am not senile, Will." Spider replied. "I know better. Don't want to get myself everywhere!"

"Okay." Will said.

"Even as difficult. Pretty please?" It was as if looking at the ghost of someone he used to know. Someone who used to call him 'William'. Someone who just called him by what he wanted to be called. He had a genuine innocent but pleading smile back at him. But this ghost was starting to act as a old friend. "If you get wasted, the booby and I will supervise you."

Spider looked down with a grimace toward the place then back up toward Will, sheepishly.

"I hate to stare at it for days at a time while it is frozen until anyone can properly eat it." Spider said.

"Temptation is strong in this one." Robot reported.

"If you were a organic being then so would you!" Spider said. "Having to eat chicken skin, oh dear, the taste of it, the softness, the texture of it-can drive a man to faint!"

"Just two," Will took a bite. "Hmm. That's actually delicious. Thoroughly delicious."

Spider beamed back.

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

They all get wasted.

And crash against a craft made of a entire constellation.

Spider checks out and refuses to exit his chamber at the sheer impossibility.

The sight was breath taking but it was annoying beyond any sound the humans had heard.

Robot detected it was meaninglyless and lacked any form of intelligence or database for a alien civilization.

Robot has no choice but to freeze the slowly being rebuilt former personality as the man is going to break apart from the noise the creatures are stirring. The noise was driving him mad, scraping against the walls, screeching over the noise, hitting his head on the wall until he couldn't hear anything, until he dug his fingers so far in he couldn't hear, and he was, in his words, "This is sweet havana." It was Will who pressed the button then retreated his hand with a tremble.

"We're not going down that road," Will said then faced the machine closing his hand in a fist. "That constellation is a bunch of nanobots and we're going to destroy it."

"Affirmative."

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

And they did. This was performed with a controlled explosion that would cause them to repair - for infinite - using a space probe. As the world outside of them were chipped away by the forces of space until they were a small insignificant ball that turned into space dust according to Robot's simulators regarding the future of the constellation. A fate that benefited for someone who brought a uncomfortable situation to begin unfolding. And almost drove everyone to madness.

"Good." Was all Will said in reply to Robot's report.

There was fury behind the teenager's eyes.

"I am glad whoever made that machine has gone extinct." Will said.

"Will, you don't know they are." Robot protested.

"Robot, you said so yourself." Will said. "That noise wasn't in your intergalactic library of language, entertainment, and media." He walked aboard the stasis paid. "Can you tell Doctor Smith not to make any more of those brownies until we get there?"

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"That was nice." Will said in a small but low voice.

"What part?" Robot asked.

"The hours we were high before finding that." Will stepped aboard the platform then smiled turning toward Robot. "I'll have a good dream with this."

"You will, Will." Robot agreed. "Good night."

Robot pressed a button and the teenager was fast asleep.

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

Robot waited until they passed the gradually degrading strange constellation to leave the bridge. He arrived to the cell door of the chamber then slid out a crystal. Spider remained standing in the room without being kept up by time or a supernatural force with a tremble. He was covering the small holes where his ears had been for a full moment with two long metal pieces between his fingers. His dulled blue eyes opened then he looked toward Robot then smiled back, weakly, but were full of relief. Slowly, Spider sank down to the floor.

Robot turned off the force-field then slipped the mutated man's figure on to his back and wheeled up levels levels of the ship until the med bay. He removed the fallen yet dead fingernails out of the ear drums and repaired the wounds with a ear drum regenerator. He brought the man back into the chamber then dropped undressed him and carefully laid him down on to the bed. He slipped the heavy thick blankets on the trembling figure's shoulders then wheeled out of the room.

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

John and Maureen's pods unexpectedly stirred. The couple came out of the large crystal pods then exchanged a glance with each other hearing the sounds of animals around them. They exchanged a glance, confused, puzzled, then began to make their descent down the ship. They cleared deck from deck. They heard familiar distant whirring as their footsteps trailed further and took a turn to the corner. Robot was beside the panel to prisoner's cell.

"Robot," John said. "Where did you get those noises?"

"Field trips," Robot said. "Little ones."

"Did this trips delay the journey?" John asked.

"Negative," Robot said. "I have shortened the journey by eight hundred ninety-four years."

"Eight hundred ninety-four years!" Maureen said.

"Affirmative," Robot replied. "We are also well on our way to the year 2058."

"That close. . ." John said. "Whatever you have done to get us there, keep it your secret."

"Why?" Robot asked.

"We like to be in the dark regarding how you got there," Maureen said.

"So far you have done a very good job," John said as Robot wagged his large claw. "You are a very good Rambler Crane."

"Haven't needed to wake us up at all from problems complicating the ship," Maureen agreed.

"You got a A+ from us," John said. "Keep up what you have been doing."

"Why are you at the prison deck?" Maureen asked.

"Visiting." Robot admitted.

"And looking back at what you used to have," Maureen said.

"That, too." Robot said. "Doctor Smith is in front of me. But, he is not all the way there."

John peered in the room spotting the creature in the dark cloak resting on the bed with their arms folded glaring heatedly toward his direction snarling, frozen in time, shoulders hunched. John turned toward Robot, sadly, wistfully then looked toward Maureen as memories of the last six years crossed his mind. All the words that had been shared and words that shouldn't have been shared. Everything they had done leading up to this point was allowed to happen.

A human that became a creature had slowly exited their lives over time then exited completely at the planet Hastia. Detached from them, lacking a relationship, going their own way, not knowing where they were and not having a single care for that. Perhaps, John realized, they should have cared about his well being as a whole instead of a select few people being ordered to care.

Maureen put her hand on the side of his shoulder.

"Let's wake up the children and have a party." Maureen said. "Even see the hydroponics, my love."

John smiled, looking down upon her, affectionately then took her hand.

"I like the sounds of that." John said.

John and Maureen wandered away far enough that Robot slid out the crystal.

"-Juliet and Romeo were children, you bubble headed booby!" Smith got up to his feet throwing his hands in the air. "That romance was doomed!" he zapped over in front of the door holding his hands out. "DOOMED!" his hands slipped into fists. "Doomed from the start!"

"They were teenagers," Robot replied. "That adaption of Romeo and Juliet by the Vaskans was distasteful but the production was easily admirable."

"AAAAADDDDDDDDDDDMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRAAAAAAAAAAAAABLE!"

Smith wailed turning away in disgust and appalled.

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

It was much later as the Robinsons lived a full day admiring the animals that Robot had gathered as a zoo. Their precious laughter was enough to convince Robot that everything he had done to preserve them and the course was justified. He tapped on the Major's shoulder then was gestured out of the bridge. The door closed behind them then Robot sighed lifting his arm up as he prepared to release prized information then turned toward them.

"Major West." Robot said. "I can suppress the alien spider half."

"That is a nice joke, Robot." West said.

Robot whirred toward West looming over him.

"I am not joking." Robot said.

West paused.

"You're dead serious." West noted.

"Yes." Robot confirmed.

"How long have you been working on it?" West asked.

"One. Hundred. thirty. five. years." Robot's voice became edged, furious, and angry. "When we get to Alpha Prime A, I like you to do me a small favor."

"Anything." West said.

"Do not repeat those last three years." Robot said. "Any of those actions can prompt him to stop taking the medication and become the monster. It will be a very a very delicate situation, that can determine the future of the colony."

West was silent as it sunk down what he was referring to.

"So no insulting him about his alien half." West said. "And the mission is a success. Is that right?"

Robot bobbed his helm.

"Affirmative." Robot said.

West nodded in agreement.

"What have you been doing in the mean time?" West asked. "Being his therapy counselor?"

"I am talking him out of the shell that you and everyone else brought him into acting so afraid of him," Robot said. "The visitors we have crossed paths with. . . They have done some good around him. Even when he was a monster, they treated him like a person, they were not afraid of him, even in his current state of being. They didn't mind."

"Have you told the women?" West asked. "They are the ones who were around him every step of the way when it came to his health."

"I will." Robot said. "Some days, I wonder: why were the Robinsons accepted?"

"I don't know," West shrugged. "If you ask me the professor was decided to lead the effort after he discovered the planet. The whole volunteer thing was just a bunch of bullshit."

"This makes sense." Robot said. "When I see you again. You will have to apologize to him."

"Apologize? Me? No." West shook his head. "He has to apologize to me!"

"Major West." Robot said, incredulously.

"Alright, alright." West shook his hands. "I will apologize. Then he will have to apologize to me for all the shit he pulled-"

"Doctor Smith does not recall the 'shit' he pulled after you and the professor installed the bars," Robot elaborated. "That was someone else."

"Oh." West said then he was quiet for a long moment before replying. "So a split personality did all that?"

"Affirmative." Robot said. "It was a coping mechanism for him. This is his second chance at living a human life once we reach the planet."

"If he loses it?" West asked. "What then?"

"You cannot wait as long as I did for him." Robot said. "I can."

"That is a very long time." West said.

"I gave up on him, once. I am will not be doing that in the foreseeable future." Robot said. "I will make sure he lives his natural life span."

"Robot, that may take centuries if he has several false starts." West said.

"He is my friend." Robot said.

"Robot. . ." West said.

"I will have a rehabilitation ship prepared for that purpose alone." Robot said. "In the event that everyone reacts badly should a set of circumstances cause Doctor Smith to relapse and he retreads into the shell. It will be difficult to get him out of it but I will do it."

"That's a commitment." West said.

Robot was silent for a short moment.

"It is." Robot agreed. "That is what love is? Isn't it? What you humans call? To work on constantly and make sure it grows?"

"Yeah." West said.

West returned into the bridge joining the others back into stasis.

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

"I will be performing the test trial for the suppressors starting after I refreeze you."

"Oh, when, Robot?" Will asked turning toward the machine once inside the tube.

"Starting today." Robot chirped.

"Okay, Robot." Will said. "Can you make a timelapse video for me?"

"Affirmative." Robot said.

"I want to see if it does work." Will said.

"So do I." Robot said.

"See you in the morning." And Will smiled back at Robot.

Robot pressed a button and the young man became frozen in the crystal.

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

The suppressors were slipped in the meal of the older man each day that passed and he wasn't quite aware of it. Days passed with Robot recording it and keeping it in file then selecting few clips then slip it into a program. He watched as the older man's scaled appearances were slowly changing, thanks in part to the cameras in the crystal, the spider abdomen was itching away day by day and week by week.

Month by month that went on scanning the man's progress. The progress was significant, his ears were growing back, eyebrows were slowly growing on the eyebrow ridges, and he was complaining about his neck. "Ow, my neck! I slept on the wrong side of the damn bed!" and Robot gave him stronger painkillers.

Then he was feeling pain in his arms, "My arms don't feel so well. Feel they are not in the right position."

Again, Robot increased the dosage of the painkillers.

And Spider ceased to complain.

He stopped moving with four legs and moved completely into two legs with two arms instead of four arms.

He rubbed his forearms as his skin was slowly turning to pink before his eyes as each week waned on.

The pain had grown into aching that didn't bother him as much with the power of the painkillers.

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

"Okay, Robot." Will said. "How is it it going?"

"See for yourself," Robot said shifting toward the astronavigator that displayed the holographic video.

Will watched the video play.

"Robot. . ." Will said. "It's working."

"It appears so," Robot said. "This is management. Containment. Quarantine. Simulations and several tests have indicated it can last for seventy years."

"A human life span." Will said.

"If he lives that long." Robot said.

"I can take a guess and say that he will live that long," Will said.

"You are leaking, Will." Robot turned toward Will and bobbed his helmet up.

"It's alright, Robot." Will said wiping off a tear with a sleeve. "I am just happy."

"He will be human the next time that you wake up," Robot said. "And best of all, he will be Doctor Zachary Smith."

"A third chance at a friendship." Will said. "I dunno about that, Robot. It ended badly then and it will end badly now."

"Death will only make it end badly, Will." Robot said. "My sensors tell me this much."

"Robot, I like to go to stasis." Will said. "Okay?"

"Okay." Robot said.

Will's facial features softened.

"Good night, Robot."

Robot pressed a button then watched as the smoke become crystals and the teenager closed his eyes becoming consumed in the diamond. Robot turned away then wheeled in front of the window to the starship watching as the stars passed by the Jupiter 2 and waited, patiently, for the instruments to report a solar system.

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

"This way,"

"Where are we going?"

"Your gift."

"Hm. Long as it isn't another recycled bout of my waste."

"It is not. And maybe it is."

"Oh sweet heavens!"

Spider entered the chamber with Robot. He observed there being a living room then looked around, warily, searching for hidden consoles and began to turn everything inside out. Every so often, Spider would say, "I am getting closer to your gift!". Robot remained silent over the matter watching him going from bedroom to the living room to the bathroom. He looked behind the curtains, inside the cushions, then lowered the cushions quite startled.

"Where is my gift?" Spider asked.

"This is your gift." Robot said. "When you look human enough. I have put your plague on the wall beside it."

Spider looked around the room.

"Smaller than my prison cell." Spider said. "It'll do. At least, I have a large window."

"And there is a caveat to the gift." Robot said.

"What is it?" Spider turned toward Robot.

Robot's helm twirled.

"I am not going to freeze you after tonight."

"Oh, but tomorrow you are."

"No."

"The day after that?"

"No."

"The day after that?"

"Next week?"

"No."

"I don't understand."

"We are twenty months away from Alpha Prime A." Robot said. "To convince you that I am on your side. . I will never freeze you within time for long periods of time. If it is, it is to preserve you from a threat inside the Jupiter 2 and act as a life boat." Spider listened intently as the revelation began to dawn on him. "Should I be unable to neutralize the problem for one reason or another. The bridge of the Jupiter 2 will be ejected first and rendezvous with you."

"Let me grow old?" Spider hissed stepping back. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I care about you, dearly." Robot said. "I love you. I want the best for you. And you are fifty in your standard time, Doctor Smith. You are old."

"I am not ready for this fine, clean, and heavenly place," Spider began to walk past Robot toward the doorway. "It repulses me!"

"When you feel ready to transition to this room then the room is yours." he waved his claw around and the spider paused with his back to Robot standing at the doorway. "Time will be frozen to preserve the qualities of this room until that day comes around."

Robot wheeled forward then gently laid a claw on Smith's shoulder.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor Smith."

Smith flicked the claw off his shoulder then walked out and Robot wheeled out quickly.

"Oh," Smith sneered. "Don't trust me outside a room that can be frozen?"

"Yes!" Robot said, pressing a few buttons on the console and the material was back where it had been before they entered. "Don't get me started how you froze me in your cell -" he whirred toward the mutated man with his arms folded. "FOR EIGHT MONTHS!"

"You started it!" Smith argued pointed toward him.

"Did not!" Robot turned toward the Smith.

"Did too!" Smith argued going down the hallway,

"Did not!" Robot shot back

"Did too!" Smith shouted.

"Did not, you arrogant son of a cuckoo." Robot retorted.

"You did too!" Smith retorted turning on his heels with a flash of rage facing Robot then cooly responded before resuming the path he was headed, "Mind your brazenly small narrow language or you'll lose what little your friends that you have."

Robot bobbed his helm up then chased after Smith.

"I did not!"

This argument continued well into New Years - partially because of space pirates boarding their ship in the middle of the argument and sent the ship a little off course - where it concluded with security tapes to settle the argument.

Estimated time of arrival quickly became December 25th, 2058.

And they lived happily squabbling ever after.

//////////

A/N

Shinedown - Through the ghost.

Shinedown - I'll follow you.

Disturbed - the light

Terminator 1 theme.

All of which played a hand in this interesting but bizarre novel.

Hope you enjoyed!