"You can't feel guilty when you've done nothing wrong...."

They failed.

They couldn't get help back.

They didn't make it far enough.

They left everyone all alone.

But all the kids could think was, they were gone. An aura of sadness, loneliness filled the main hub, something familiar to a certain 12 year old girl. There was still little hope, as only a beeping sound could be heard.

Will didn't want to accept the fact that maybe his father was really gone, he just couldn't. He and John had this messenger radio, by which they could send each other messages in code by fast radio bursts. If his father survived he would surely reply back somehow.

"Maybe its the repeater, I'm still adjusting. Or the wrong frequency. Maybe the parabolic reflector's interfering with the signals." Kept rambling Will when he got no response from his father as Judy kept interrupting him.

"You can't reach him."

"You don't know that." Defended Will.

"I saw it." Reasoned Penny.

"What colour was the explosion? Was it red? Red could indicate low temperature combustion which proves parts of the ship could still be intact."

"It wasn't red." Penny mumbled sadly.

"Did you see any pieces fall to the ground?"

"I don't know." Answered Anna, also not wanting to give Will fake hope.

"Dad was wearing a suit. He'd have oxygen. He could be fine. We don't know for sure-" Will got cut off by his oldest sister.

"Okay, but here's what we do know. Dad would not want us to be focused on him right now. He'd want us to find mom."

"How? Dr. Smith could have taken her anywhere." Pointed out Penny. She was so mentally exhausted.

"Well that's the point, isn't it? Smith took Maureen that tells us that she clearly needed her help otherwise she  would have taken Will." said Anna.

Will told them that Smith had the robot's head with her and she mentioned that she could somehow bring him back. But that still didn't explain the fact that that why she needed Maureen for that. If she just wanted that, she would have taken Will's help.

"Where are you going?" Asked Anna when Judy started to exit the hub.

"Sitting here doesn't help. They can't have gone too far."

"Wait, I'm coming with you." Spoke Will.

"Will, no okay? Just stay here."

"But, I can help."

"No! You've done enough."  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." Apologized Judy after a second she realized what she said.

"No, its my fault. I let her out. Its okay. Go." And with that he exited the hub and went to his room after grabbing his  radio messenger. The three girls glanced at each other and knew that they shouldn't intrude and let Will go for the moment.

After a while they heard Will calling them to his room. They ran to him wondering if everything is okay. Will had tears running down his face, his room was messy but, he seemed to be at little satisfaction.

"Whats going on?" Asked Anna.

"No, seriously what is going on is here?"  Questioned Penny as she sniffed the room, it had a very unpleasant smell.

"Remember this?" Asked Will motioning to the rock in his hand.

"Yeah, the rock from the cave." Replied Anna.

"Thing is, I don't think its a rock."

"Then what is it?" Asked Judy with a hint of hesitation.

***
"

"Highly concentrated biomass." Stated hiroki. The kids took the 'rock' to him so he could examine it. It might be the solution to their question and their only chance of survival.

"So, petrified super poop?" Humored Penny. The man answered in affirmative. "Okay, excuse me, I'm washing my hands now." Said Penny as Anna gagged thinking that they spent one whole night in such surroundings.

"I was thinking-" started Will but it was like Hiroki read his mind.

"The waste converters."

"Every jupiter has one. And since it can turn human waste into biofuel-"

"It is possible." Said hiroki, confirming Will's theory.

"Wait, didn't mom say it would take at least three years to produce enough waste to launch a jupiter." Interjected Judy.

"Yes, but we don't have to produce it, whatever, most probably disgusting creature's been living in that cave has been doing it forever." Explained Anna.

"Just to be clear, we spent the night in what is essentially, an alien toilet?" Remarked Penny.

"It was Will who found the cave." Joked Anna, defending herself while pointing at Will who laughed upon his friend's words.

"You better hope that whoever used it is no longer there. This sample contains digestive material from every creature I've logged on this planet. Whatever created it, it's from the top of the food chain. An apex predator."

"That just makes everything so much easier." Muttered Anna sarcastically.

"Anybody got a better idea? The resolute leaves in nine hours." Asked Judy.

"Dad may not even have that long." Mumbled Will sadly.

"Lets get on the radio, we'll need all the help we can get." Told hiroki, after a moment of silence.

"All right while you guys work on that, I'm gonna go find mom." Judy suddenly woke up. All this time it seemed she was packing for journey, maybe the essentials or her med kit she might need.

"Wait, please, its dangerous. Your mother would want you to stay here." Hiroki tried to reason with the oldest robinson.

"Well, then I guess its a good thing I take after my dad." And with that she left.

"Judy wait." The girl heard Anna call her while she was going into the garage. She turned her back to see the young girl.

"Can I come with you?"

"As much as I'd like that, you should stay here, help everyone." The little girl sighed in understanding.

"Fine, kick smith's ass for me, will ya?"

The robinson girl laughed and nodded her head. "Good luck and take care of yourself." Wished Anna after giving Judy a slight hug.

***

They all got the help from other survivors as they needed. After a long hike they finally reached the cave the kids previously spent the night in. Having a torch in one hand, they entered the cave along with a few others. It was best not to take the whole crowd in until they were sure it was safe.

"I don't remember it being this warm." Commented Penny as they scrutinized if there was any sign of danger.

Hiroki smelled the piece of the biomass he just cut. "Uh, what do you think?" Asked Will.

"I think we'll need a lot more." Hiroki replied.

"What about here? It goes even deeper into the cave." Anna called the rest to where she was at.

The team slowly walked even further into the cave carefully, hoping they wouldn't find anyone or anything that wasn't human. They stopped as the tunnel ended and they found themselves in a whole lot bigger space.

"Is there enough down there?" A man asked.

"Lets find out, Anna do you mind lighting up the room a bit?" Said Victor.

The girl nodded in response and lightened up the room with her powers only bright enough to see.

"Why not brighter?"

"What if there is actually something here, the light could trigger it."

The group looked at all the biomass formed, there was just enough. It was incredible but also very disgusting.

"We are, literally full of shit." Said Penny.

"Seems like we're alone here, should we get a look?" Suggested Victor.

The adults made the kids stay back until they were completely sure. It was going all good until Victor stepped on shit.
No, literally.

"What is it?" Asked hiroki.

"Its fresh." Replied Victor, who bent down to get a closer look.

Yup, they were definitely not alone. The adults slowly started to look up. Upon hearing the conversation, Anna sent light rays upwards allowing all to get a closer look.

There were holes in the roof of the cave, where inside were alien creatures, alive and snarling.

"Shit."

***

Mustering up the courage they finally decided to tell others about their current situation. Victor decided to take the lead and inform everyone about the  creatures.

"So there's some good news and some bad news." Victor started.

"Well that's one way to start." Anna murmured making Will and Penny snicker.

"The good news is there's enough biomass to get all our jupiters off the planet." Hiroki decided to ask.

"Whats the bad news?" One of the survivors asked.

"We have to break it apart and haul it out of there without making a sound." Told Victor.

"But thats impossible." Someone objected.

"Yeah, I don't understand why do we have to be so quiet?" Another question erupted.

"Right. Well there's some uh worse news."

"Oh my God." Said Anna, exasperated by the poor choice of words. She finally decided to take the lead here, when the other people asked what was wrong.

"Okay everybody so, apparently the worse news is that we won't be alone in that cave inside. The alien creatures producing the biomass are still inside, living in the roof of the cave. So unless you want to get attacked by those vicious creatures, we have to be quite as possible."

Most of the eyes in the small crowd widened. The other people broke out in murmurs, thinking what could be done.

"Well I'd say that went well." Said Anna after waking back to Will and Penny.

"Oh totally."
"Definitely."

***

It was finally time to go in the cave. Evergone was gathering their supplies and going in. Before having to go in Will tried to contact his father one more time. He also felt guilty for releasing dr. Smith. Once Anna saw the sad expression on her friend's face she decided to talk to him.

"Hey." She greeted, sitting beside him on of the boxes. He said the word back with a little smile.

"Listen Will, I know how hard it must be for you right now. Even though my opinion doesn't matter as much but for what its worth, it wasn't your fault that Smith took Maureen, you didn't know so, please don't blame yourself. Once we're done here, we'll get Maureen back and John as well."

"You-you believe me?"

"Well I don't think we have anything if not belief." The girl quoted making Will ponder on that for a moment.

"I'm sure they're all right." Said Anna, giving Will's hand a confronting squeeze. "I'm going in, you come when you feel good alright." And with that she walked inside the cave but not before giving Will another smile.

Hello its me again.
So sorry for the late update, I couldn't find enough time because of school work load.
But I'll try to post as much as possible.
I feel like no one is reading this book but the views says otherwise.
So, if you really are reading give it a vote or comment, even an emoji anything.