"Did you find Sam?" Jason asked.

Parsafoot was silent, shaking his head, sharing the same cell as Jason.

"Her starfire was destroyed," Parsafoot said. "Stella is gone, Brookes is gone, and Peepo is gone too."

"Damn," Jason said.

"But we fixed that," Parsafoot said.

Jason looked toward Parsafoot.

"You said her starfire was destroyed," Jason said.

"Yes," Parsafoot said. "I did."

"Professor, what is going on?" Jason asked.

Parsafoot grew a confident smile toward Jason, full of hope and optimism.

"Look, Jason," Parsafoot said, pointed toward the corner. "It's starting to show."

Jason looked over to spot Samantha and Prentiss looking into the security room as transparent figures that vanished a moment before the guards could notice.

"What is starting to show?" Jason asked. "Start from the beginning." And Parsafoot began to explain.

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

The lights went out from above Dragos and Gampu.

The persona that had been detailed by Tee Gar began to fall off.

Smith looked toward the doorway unclasping his hands from behind his back. Earth! Home! Home! The thought of home fueled him up from the seat. Smith bolted toward the doorway only to find it refused to open. Dragos moved in the dark into the nearest chair. Smith turned around, his back to the wall, as it sunk in. The main power was connected not only to the lighting but to the doors. And simply put, a feeling of deja-vu sunk in, being trapped in the same room as the cruel emperor.

"The reserves will be kicking on in five minutes, Commander," Dragos said. "Take a seat."

Smith faced the chair then instinctively began to tug at the collar of his Jupiter 2 civilian wear only to find nothing was there.

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

It was dark in the cell block but there were distinctive figures that could be made out. Two figures appeared in the cell block then kicked over the chairs to the security guards. They got up to their feet looking around searching for the figures only to be given a punch to the face knocking them down against the table. The goons fell to the floor then thrashed their claws toward their attacker. Prentiss kicked the first goon to the floor. Tee Gar summoned the strength of his ancestors then delivered a punch into the chest of the second goon delivering a blow that made the goon go limp. Tee Gar came toward the cell then grabbed on to the bars and called upon his ancestors, a second time, I am sorry that I used your strength to kill someone. Can you ever forgive me?

Prentiss's hands were caught by the goon then smacked his head against their forehead sending them tumbling back.

Prentiss delivered a kick to the goons head sending them falling over on to the floor on their face.

"That's enough, Matt!" Jason called, making Prentiss stop in his tracks. "They are out."

Prentiss's hands were in fists.

"Oraco," Was all Prentiss said, relaxing his hands.

Tee Gar pried open the bars then ripped out one of them and threw it to the side making a threshold that a weak Jason came through. He had a hand on his stomach and the other hand on Tee Gar's shoulder. Jason's arm came on to Parsafoot's shoulder who took a grip onto the hand that was laid down carelessly. They moved in the dark while the Robot was standing still, silently, in engineering surrounded by unconscious goons and some of whom were fleeing into the reserve section of engineering that was divided from the main room by a glass wall. The scene went into the hangar bay where Opas and her team stood. In the next moment, they were gone and they were no where to be seen in the dark.

"Go!" Tee Gar announced.

Prentiss came toward the door then slid it open and stood up watching the crew go in.

"What happened to that crew?" Jason asked.

Jason was laid into the chair.

"They weren't there at all in the first place," Tee Gar said. "They just went back where they should be."

"So it's true," Jason said. "We're in a unstable time loop."

"Stable now," Parsafoot said. "The changes are now kicking in."

"Prentiss, are you coming?" Tee Gar asked.

Prentiss stood in the doorway shaking his head.

"Smith needs to be lead to the escape pods," Prentiss said. "I can do that."

"You may die,"

"I am dying," Prentiss said. "I am supposed to die."

Tee Gar had a pained look on his face shaking his head.

"If I gave you the order to go with us . . . " Tee Gar started.

"I would directly disobey it," Prentiss said. "Despite my great respect for you."

"Why?" Tee Gar asked.

"No one came to my rescue when I was trapped here and no one knew I was here," Prentiss said. "But I know someone who needs help that I can provide. I am supposed to be here for him and I would do it a thousand times again despite the outcome."

Prentiss surveyed the damage to the seeker.

"Hey," Tee Gar said. "We tried searching for you and the team. Gampu searched for hours the most with Laura and Chris. . ." Tee Gar stopped what he was about to say next.

Smiles grew on the men's faces at the success then Prentiss surveyed the damage.

"The fin's damaged and the hull is covered in laser burns but I can't say the same about the interior of the seeker," Prentiss said.

Tee Gar bolted toward the console.

"Damn it!" Tee Gar said. "They destroyed the navigation console," he looked toward the other side of the bridge observing a few burns here and there but nothing that was terribly severe. "But not the communications and piloting. . ." he raised his head up. "I can try to fly this blind."

"Matt, how did you get the seeker out of here?" Jason asked, curiously.

"Before we found out we can just pass through metal, we studied how the hangar bay was operated," Prentiss said. "I can do it. Only when Dragos's ship has returned with power."

The white lights kicked on above.

"Well, what do you know?" Jason asked, looking toward the hangar bay with a grin. "Speak of the devil."

Tee Gar pressed the button looking toward Prentiss who then bolted away from the doorway.

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

"It's so strange," Don said. "We're not going in light speed but the speed that we are going. . . we should be."

"A modern miracle," John said. "A miracle of science."

"I can see the stars from here, planets," his eyes grew big at a passing planet. "We have passed by Pluto!"

The Robinsons loudly cheered.

"It's been a long time since we were here," Maureen said, observing space from the back.

"It's so beautiful," Penny said, looking on toward the front window standing alongside Will.

"Asteroid belt, here we come," Don said.

"Everyone find a seat," John said. "And hold on."

"This is going to be a bumpy ride," Don added.

Judy and Penny sat down into the front seats including with Debbie. Will sat down into the furthest chair and from across sat down his mother. Will looked over anticipating to find Smith clinging on to the Robot for dear life only to find nothing there. The seeker twirled and turned avoiding colliding against the asteroids. The Jupiter 2 cleared the path then resumed flight in the direction of Earth. Loud, delighted cheers filled the seeker heading in the way of the moon. The Earth slowly came up before the front screen. To Don, it had been a eternity since the launch.

John felt emotional at seeing home for the first time in almost a year. Maureen placed a hand on to John's shoulder and he reached out taking a hold on to hers. All the familiar faces and familiar surroundings replacing the desert scenery. A way of life that didn't make them into space pioneers forever. No more struggling to survive against outer space. Will was playing around with the space monitor using the buttons along the red counter. The blue outlined screen had a target on space, he could get views from both side then got a view from the back end. There was only the planets being passed by.

"Dad," Will said.

"Yes?" John said, turning from the front window.

"I don't see a seeker tailing us," Will said.

"Now, that's a little odd," Don said.

"We should contact the academy before we do anything else," John said.

"They could be experiencing few problems with the seeker," Don theorized. "or with Smith in general," Don flipped switch from above. "Seeker to Space Academy."

Carbert's head and shoulders appeared on the sizzling screen.

"Space Academy here," Carbert said.

"What is going on with Doctor Smith's seeker?" John asked.

"About that," Carbert said. The ball had finally dropped. "Doctor Smith left thirty-three minutes ago with Commander Sooms's crew to Dragos's ship to rescue Jason. Gave Professor Allen and his medical staff the slip shortly after you left."

"When do you think they will come to Earth?" Don asked.

"It's hard to tell, sir," Carbert said. "Commander Soom was under the distinct impression that they may not come back at all. We're waiting for the next transmission to leave this planet."

"Thank you," John said. "Seeker 1 out."

Will came over from the seat.

"Doctor Smith wasn't awake when I left him," Will said. "If he awoke, I would have heard."

"What if he did wake up?" Judy asked, joining Will. "When you left."

"It is possible," Will said. "But if leaving him alone was all it took to wake him up then I would have done that hours ago."

"I heard your voice, Will," Judy said. "That is what brought me back."

"I didn't say anything," Will said. "But I thought it."

"What were you doing when you thought it?" John asked, turned toward Will.

"I put my hand on hers and squeezed it," Will said. "Like this."

Will took Penny's hand and gave it a squeeze as Don rubbed his chin.

"Is there a chance that Will could be a little. . ." Don stopped what he was going to say.

"A little what, Don?" Maureen asked.

"Uh, um, a little telepathic," Don finished. "It's something I don't even want to seriously consider but. . ."

John and Maureen exchanged a glance with each other.

"He did have a high score on his ESP rating," Maureen said.

"So is it a good possibility?" Will asked.

"It is," John said. "Will, have you felt or heard anything strange lately?"

"I heard this crashing sound when you woke me up," Will said. "It was easy to tune out."

"I felt the ground trembling when it wasn't," Penny added in.

"Debbie heard it," Maureen said, looking toward the monkey. "Debbie was covering her ears when we were on Priplanus."

Debbie was on Penny's side observing the spinning planet laid before them.

"And Smith wasn't on Priplanus," Don added.

"Alpha Control can wait for us for another hour," Maureen said.

"It can," John agreed.

One by one there was a nod of agreement from the Jupiter 2 crew including the monkey. The seeker turned around and bolted away passing by the familiar planets, gas planets, and through the asteroid belt that could have been their demise, returning to the scene of Priplanus. Instead, they saw saucers and elongated triangle ships appearing in to space. Medusa's vessel was fading in and out approaching the scene. Will took out a collinear as Don moved the seeker in between the appearing and disappearing shots. Dark gray smoke was appearing before them on the surface of Priplanus.

"Will Robinson to Doctor Smith," Will called, pressing a button. "Can you read me? Over."

Will waited.

"Will Robinson to Doctor Smith," Will repeated. "we're searching for the hangar bay, if you can hear me, please join us there! Over."

"A castle," Penny said, back up front once more.

"Father," Judy said. "Is that. . ."

"It could be the king of Priplanus," Penny said.

"If he survived that rite of passage with his son," Don agreed. "I doubt that his spaceship of choice would be a castle."

"I get the distinct feeling of that too," John said.

Before their eyes, Dragos's ship was attacked viciously. The lights in the ship went out as holes began to appear in the hull and figures came flying out of them. It began to fall sideways twisting and turning repeatedly being fired on by the castle. Will was slowly moved away from the front while frozen in a state of shock watching where his friend was undoubtedly inside breaking apart before his eyes and the academy flew out of space soaring right past them. Don looked toward the professor giving him a look of 'be with your family' and John agreed moving out of the navigation chair.

Don observed the flickering lights struggling to remain powered on the academy that had silent buildings with holes decorating the walls that demonstrated a battle torn ship. It had been hours ago that he had walked those rocks into one of them. The lights finally gave out on the upper decks. There were pieces of debris still falling from below the academy being sucked out from underneath leaving behind a trail of corpses. Don noticed his hand was back in the shape of grabbing on to a joystick and the console before him was changing. He looked over to find the Robinsons were appearing in and out of his vision surrounding the young boy. The background changed, waving away into a flat but curved end to the space drill.

Don turned away and looked off in the battle unfolding before his eyes then saw a falling starship then pushed the space drill forward very intently.

Not on my watch you're going to bury my ship!

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

The path was very familiar to Prentiss. Dodging the goons, hiding on the cieling, and deliberately making his way to the bridge was easy. He remembered sneaking around the starship initially with his crewmates taking the most painful care in not being seen until it became apparent hours later that no one could see them. It felt like days hunkering down in the unused section of the starship. There was space between walls that they used to go and from. Paths that they used to get to their damaged seeker and try to repair it. It brought back memories being back in the wall passage ways.

There were many academy seekers in the collection that Dragos had but their damages were worse than red team one's seeker and had enough energy units to make the escape. They harvested the energy units into their seeker hiding it in the back. It was the only source of hope that they had to get out of purgatory. A purgatory that involved stealing food straight from the plates of the crewmen when they had their backs turned then returned the plate before they turned back to the plate if they were not in the mood to break into the pantry again. He never wanted to steal food ever again.

The dragonship turned sideways sending him against the wall.

"Close enough to the bridge," Prentiss said. "Here goes nothing."

Prentiss moved toward the large wall panel corner then slid it open and fell down landing against the wall. The lights briefly flickered from above in the dimly lit hallway so he turned toward his side then continued the walk to the bridge. The turbulence sent him to the side striking against the side of a large wall thorn. He grabbed on to the large thorns protruding from the wall then used them as his guide heading toward the main doorway toward the bridge.

Through each attack that shook the ship, the cadet hung on tightly and kept himself balance in between the thorns. The attack stopped momentarily. He made his way toward the door then it opened automatically that greeted him with a screaming Smith using a protective large circular with a handle and another hand grasping on to a hook protruding from the wall tugging the glass item against the wall as Prentiss looked over to observe a large gaping hole in the bridge window. Machinery were being sucked out of the room. Prentiss reached forward then grabbed on to the man's shoulder and yanked him out of the room and the doors automatically closed behind him. The two men crashed to the floor with a thud.

"Are you hurt?" Prentiss asked, observing the man pressing a hand against his side underneath him.

Smith looked over with gratitude toward the cadet.

"Could be a lot worse," Smith said. "Living and lacking my legs for starters."

Smith winced, lowering his gaze toward the floor.

Prentiss looked down to observe a shard of glass was embedded into Smith's lower torso.

Prentiss shook his head reeling back in shock then observed smaller shards of glass embedded in his face and laser burns. Half of his eyebrows were missing. How did he survive the initial blast and get the glass survival bubble it out? For a moment, he could see Gampu clearly from Smith complete with a mustache that vanished off his face including very severe electrical burns. Whatever Smith was saying, Prentiss wasn't listening to a word that was coming from him but he could assume it was regarding his injury. Prentiss raised his head up with certainty in his head facing Smith and shook his head.

"Space Academy taught not to leave someone behind who can be rescued," Prentiss said. "You don't need to walk out of here."

"What . . ." Smith started to say. "do you suggest, Lieutenant?"

"This," Prentiss said.

Prentiss helped the man up to his feet, picked him up into his arms, and speed walked their way down the corridor.

"Ow," Smith whined, weakly. "Oh, the pain, the pain."

Prentiss grabbed on to a dangling long cable protruding from the cieling during the walk then set Smith down against the wall and wrapped it around his waist. Smith was whacked with pain coming from the injury. Prentiss observed the wound then made a estimation where to wrap the end of the cable. He wrapped it above the man's stomach then twisted and tied it until it were tight against the man's figure. Prentiss picked up the losing consciousness man's figure into his arms letting one of Smith's long arms laid on his shoulder.

"I . . . had a dream. . . about this," Smith admitted. "Except we were supporting each other."

"You're dreaming right now," Prentiss said, softly. "The nightmare is going to end in just a few minutes."

"I really like to wake up," Smith said. "The sunshine, the sometimes terrible heat, and familiar surroundings to reassure me that nothing terrible as this had happened at all."

Smith looked up toward the light fixture from above him.

"You miss being on Priplanus?" Prentiss asked, startled.

"I miss being on a planet," Smith reiterated.

"Planets are like that," Prentiss said, between his laughter.

"What's your planet like?" Smith asked.

"Dirt," Prentiss said.

"The usual," Smith said.

"Uh huh," Prentiss said.

Prentiss stopped in his tracks feeling stillness in the air. There was not a sound to be heard. A dark feeling entered the hall then the next moment they were falling and holes were being made in quick succession. There was loud, terrified screaming from Smith while none at all was coming from Prentiss who wasn't afraid what was going to happen next. He grabbed hold onto the rope bringing the man closer to him right in the nick of time missing a blast that took out a section of wall paneling. Prentiss steered them toward certain passage ways heading for the section with the escape pods as silent explosions sounded off.

On his wrist appeared the life support badge including for Smith. Prentiss took out a small item from his utility and found the VetiGel that he had sneaked in during the retrieving of the materials. Prentiss ripped out the shard of glass then shoved the small laser gun into the wound and pressed the trigger then reached it out slowly until he could see the solidifying liquid. His grip on the device loosened in relief seeing that it had worked. They passed by several flying figures quickly and without direction. A long, thin piece of debris struck Prentiss in the back and he screamed out of pain letting go of the VetiGel. Smith looked over his shoulder to find the lieutenant clenching onto his side. Smith looked away, horrified. A large object blocked visual of them as they went toward the wall then passed by them and gravity was stable once the square machine was tumbling down the path.

It was Smith who landed to his feet helping the injured man down the hall looking around out of terror.

"What a day dream," Smith shook his head, then turned his attention onto Prentiss. "Stay with me."