Tales of a Stowaway (and a robot)

[Shadowsearcher]

Lost in Space fanfic that's also an AO3!

Chapter One

AKA Shadow keeps losing her best friend and she is not happy.

TAKES PLACE AFTER THE EVENTS OF S1E3



"There's something on the ship," hissed Will. Robot tapped the wall of the Jupiter 2, and a loud clunk answered him. It was coming from inside the walls. "What's going on?" asked Penny, peeking around the corner.

"There's something-or someone-on this ship," repeated Will, pointing at the wall. "There's something in there."

A sudden scraping, scrambling sound resonated through the wall as it traveled down the hall. Will and Robot exchanged knowing looks. "Keep an eye out tonight," he whispered to Robot.



later that night



Robot quietly clunked through the halls. He knew that this thing on the Jupiter was there, but he'd never seen it. He whirred nonchalantly when he almost stepped on something soft. He froze and glanced down, and stared at the thing.

There was a person. A human. Crouched there, with a hood up and a mask on and glancing around as if searching for a way around the hulking mass of metal. "What. The. Hell. Are. You," she snarled, glaring at Robot. He whirred. "Danger, Will. Robinson."

Will flung the door open and stared. "Who are you?" he asked quietly. The girl didn't respond. She stood to her full height. She seemed to be just about as old as Penny. "Shadow. Shadow Mistaken of the 4th Colonist Group."

Shadow's voice was steady but firm, but with an edge of suspicion that was as sharp as a knife. "I'm Will Robinson," he said softly. "This is the Jupiter 2," he whispered.

Shadow's eyes widened. "What."

"What's wrong?" queried Will, now a little worried. "I think I'm on the wrong ship."

------------------------

"What do you mean, you're on the wrong ship?" asked Maureen, as she stared incredulously across the HUB table. "You seem very young for a captain."

Shadow winced. "Co-captain. My crew died in that crash," she growled softly. "I may have misread the "2" for "27"," she murmured. "We saw your ship, it was blown to pieces in that forest, how did you end up here anyways?" asked Maureen. "I got lost," Shadow replied simply. "I couldn't see in the storm, I was only following a signal from a Jupiter."

"Did you happen to hear any weird screeches?" she asked suddenly. Will recoiled. "Yeah. They came from his ship," he murmured, pointing to the robot in the corner.

Shadow suddenly froze, as if remembering something. She pressed a small button hidden in the side of her mask and started making odd whirring and chittering sounds. Robot replied with more chitters and whirrs, and Shadow suddenly bowed and whirred something along the lines of "sir".

Snarling, she whipped around to the Robinsons, releasing a loud, shrieking whir. She froze again and pressed the button on her mask. "Excuse me. But as I was saying, do you all have no respect?"

"I'm sorry? What?" asked Maureen, staring at Shadow. "And first of all did you just... speak Robot?" asked John. "Yes. Yes I did," replied Shadow cooly. "My mask works as a translator. So does this earpiece," she added, pushing back some of her hair to reveal a silvery object.

"And by the way, your Robot is a general. treat him with a bit more respect, please."

"How do you know that Robot is a general?" asked Judy. Shadow glanced at Robot. "There's a symbol carved into every robot showing their rank," said Shadow. "And Robot's just happens to be that of a general."

"Oh."

"There's also this other robot I visited sometimes on the Resolute," said Shadow quietly. "I'm not sure how he's doing now, seeing the situation..."

Shadow sighed. "Hastings doesn't want anyone to know this, but a robot has been flying the Resolute for a long time. I'm not sure how he got there, but he's there. Have you all ever wondered why Robot attacked the Resolute?"

"He attacked the Resolute?" asked John, the air in the HUB suddenly becoming more tense than usual. Will glanced at his father sheepishly. "I meant to tell you sooner or later," he murmured. John shot him a look that said "We're going to talk about this later".

Maureen glanced at Shadow, confused. "How do you know it was him?" she asked incredulously.

"I recognized his face and his voice. When he was on the Resolute, he was yelling "WHERE IS 'CROW" on repeat, and I put the pieces together. He was looking for his friend on the Resolute."

"His friend?"

"Yes. The robot flying the Resolute... his name was Scarecrow. Robot must have been looking for him, hence "'Crow"."

John took in a shaky breath. "So then... all we've been told was a lie."

(More chapters will be posted soon, I swear it gets better eventually please)

[Shadowsearcher]

Ch. 2

Shadow reconsiders her life decisions.

(also, Shadow calls Robot "General". A bit of a smol note ig)

---
That night, Shadow lay on the floor of her makeshift room. It was really just one of the Jupiter's storage rooms. She leaned onto one of the softer containers and sighed, contemplating her life decisions that led to all of this. Penny walked by, peeking in.

"Hey, wassup?" asked Shadow, turning her head to the side. "Oh, just... couldn't sleep. Y'know, the usual..." she replied groggily.

"Ah."

"I do have a little question," said Penny quietly.

"Proceed."

"You seem really fond of Scarecrow, what's he like?"

Shadow chuckled. "It takes some serious devotion to fight guards every day. They had to give me a keycard to slow down the casualties," she said softly, but dangerously.

Penny gaped at her.

"Yeah, I know, a little violent, but that's not the point. Scarecrow's amazing. He's easy to talk to once you get to know him, and, well, he's got some attitude. He's sweet but snarky. Sarcastic, even," said Shadow, staring off into space as if he might've just been out there somewhere.

"So, boyfriend material."

Shadow coughed. "What?"

"I mean, you seem like you really, really like him," said Penny pensively. Shadow sighed. "I do care for him a good lot," she said softly.

"You miss him, don't you?" murmured Penny.

"Yes. Yes, I do."
-----------------
The next morning, Penny called Shadow to the cockpit. She reluctantly hopped on over.

"We're running the expansion process," she told her. "...Cool?"

"Yeah, I know, and Will and Robot are out there pushing a rock, look at how strong he is!"

Shadow looked out the window, and sure enough, Will and General were shoving a rock crag out of the way. Shadow gaped as General pushed the crag away from the Jupiter.

"I may have underestimated General a good bit," said Shadow slowly. Penny laughed. "Robot's, like, super strong. He can lift anything."

"Wow."

----------------------

"EXPANSION COMPLETE."

Shadow heaved a sigh. "Well, that's cool, do you have any thing I could do around here other than standing awkwardly?" asked Shadow.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you could help me with my 97 chores," said Penny irritably.

"97 chores... alright, lead the way!"
--------------------
"So... they're building a beacon, essentially? To signal the Resolute?" asked Shadow as she stared at the hulking mass of reflective Mylar foil. "Yeah," said Penny, "and our job is to collect all of these shiny sheets."

Shadow nodded and bolted into the Jupiter, running into the storage room. Sifting through the boxes, she found rolls of aluminum and gold-looking Mylar foil. She heard Penny and Judy teasing each other in the other storage room, but Shadow paid no mind to it. She caught the words "vitamins" and "boy being here" and sighed, carrying the rolls of metal outside to the beacon.

"More sheets," she reported. Shadow looked around, suddenly noticing the absence of General. "Have you seen Ge-uh, Robot anywhere?" she asked. "No, I haven't, actually," replied John, looking around. Will shrugged. "I guess he just wandered off," he said quietly. Shadow was almost sure that he wasn't being as truthful as he should be, but she just shrugged it off.

"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually," she said.

Smith came strolling in at that moment. Shadow turned. "Oh hey, nice to see you're back from... ah... where were you?"

"I was just out for a walk," she replied simply.

"It's going up real fast isn't it?" said John, gesturing towards the beacon. "It sure is," said Smith, staring at the hulking mass of sheets. "Let's just hope to hell it works," sighed John.

"How exactly do we know that it... works?" asked Smith.

"I assume that you skipped Victor's speech?" grunted John, chuckling slightly. "Yeah, that makes two of us."
---------------
Shadow strolled out onto an oddly purple grass plain. She spotted Maureen, covered in scratches, coming down from a weather balloon. "How's the weather up there?" asked Shadow jokingly. Maureen gave her a solemn look.

Shadow tensed. "What's wrong?"

"There's cosmic radiation up there," said Maureen, the air around them tense.

"A black hole."

Realization hit Shadow, realization coming to her so quickly she almost fell over. "The sun's been rising earlier and earlier... that explains the warmer weather and earlier sunrise," said Shadow, pondering the situation. "You noticed as well?" asked Maureen.

"Yeah, I did, I thought it was just the seasons changing or something, but with that cosmic radiation, then that's definitely something pulling us towards the sun. And there's nothing else other than a black hole that can do that," said Shadow, piling all her words into one long breath.

Shadow picked at the petals of a yellow, purple-stemmed dandelion as Maureen spoke. "We need to let the group know soon, and we have to leave this place before it's too late," she said urgently. "But don't tell anyone yet, we don't need more panic," she added. Shadow made a motion of zipping her lips. "Your information is safe with me," she said softly, still picking at the dandelion.
------------------------------------------
Shadow watched as the beacon powered up. It was a grand sight, a bright flash, and then the beacon of light shot upwards. Shadow watched, like moths to light, as fluttery insects flitted their way up to the beacon. She watched in amusement as Penny got one in her hair. Screaming, she flailed around until Vijay managed to tug it out.

But as everyone celebrated and waited for the Resolute to signal, a deafening roar broke the silence.

And then all hell broke loose.

[Shadowsearcher]

A creature, a saber-toothed lizard, roared and charged the clearing. It leaped onto the beacon, snapping at the insects flitting about. With a crash, the tower collapsed. People screamed and ran, and Shadow spotted Penny dashing into a nearby tent. Shadow turned on her mask and roared. She belted out a loud, robotic "HEY YOU" as the creature's attention diverted to her. Shadow froze. Oops. Probably shouldn't have done that, she thought, bolting. The creature chased after her, but then John yelled out, capturing its attention.

The creature glared at him. "Why aren't we running?" Judy whispered urgently. "If we turn our backs, we haven't got a chance," growled John. The creature snarled and then charged. In that split second, a flash of blue caught Shadow's attention. General!

Robot slammed into the creature, sidetracking it and giving John and the girls a chance to run.

Suddenly, more creatures roared, calling their brethren. Robot was pounced on, and a creature dug its fangs into Robot's back. Shadow heard his anguished screams, but there was nothing she could do. Shadow didn't notice Will creeping out, hiding behind a container.

Shadow watched helplessly as General was being torn apart, creatures tugging at him from both ends. Why isn't he fighting back?!

"Fight back! Please, fight back!" cried Will, and Robot turned to him with a desperate whir. "You have to be like you were before- you have to be bad. Do it."

"Be bad."



Robot's scales shifted as he turned to his fighting form, all four arms poised. He whipped around and whirred, fury in his voice. He blasted one creature and flung the other aside. He easily threw the creatures around like ragdolls. They were all gone fairly quickly.

Robot turned around, searching for more of the creatures. He spotted Victor's team and raised his claws.

"No, no, not them!" said Will, his voice breaking in terror.

"Will! Will, no!" shouted John, staring at the robot in fear and shock. Many of the team didn't know that Robot was previously a killer war machine. At that moment, Maureen pulled up in her Chariot. "Will."

Maureen watched in fear as Will gently urged Robot to calm down, and Robot's glowing claws powered down, shifting back into his blue-faced, humanoid form. "That's it," whispered Will. "It's me."
--------------------------------
Shadow stood silently the next morning, awkwardly holding a makeshift spear Aiko and Judy made. Maureen ran off somewhere and Shadow was perpetually confused as people ran about. Penny dragged Vijay somewhere and then Judy went with Victor, Don and a couple others to retrieve the fuel from Don's Jupiter.

She sighed. Is this how it feels to be unimportant? Wow, I feel terrible for Penny.

Shadow watched as the clearing started to empty. Feeling tired and bored, Shadow sat down and watched the surroundings. She sketched a drawing of Robot in a little notebook she carried around in her pocket. Turning the page, she sighed. Her chest suddenly ached as she thought of Scarecrow. Sadness enveloped Shadow as she decided to sketch down the bronze-plated robot. She carefully detailed the scales and plates, and made his claws as sharp as glass shards.

She remembered how Scarecrow used to fuss over his claws, inspecting them time to time and completely ignoring his other damages. Shadow had brought him metal polish that one time, and he used up half of it on his precious claws. Shadow chuckled to herself, her pencil scratching away. But the calmness was soon gone.
-----------------------------------------
Will and his father were back, alongside General, from their father-son-robot time. Shadow was relieved to see them back, and she gave General a small bow as he passed. But moments later, Angela came hobbling past, shoved Shadow aside and entered the Jupiter. "Excuse me? Jeez," muttered Shadow. "Rude."

Then, a few moments later, Shadow heard two gunshots go off.

"WHAT. IS. GOING. ON?!" she roared, charging into the Jupiter. When she arrived, Will had gone with General. John was being carried to the medical bay and Smith was leading Angela away.

"What happened?!" snarled Shadow. "I turn my back ONE TIME and you all go running off getting SHOT."

Maureen shook her head. "Angela was distressed and she somehow got her hands on a gun. She tried to shoot Robot, and we all know how that ended," she murmured.

Shadow wilted. "So, where's General? Where's Will?" she asked.

"I don't know. They went somewhere, probably to talk," said Maureen gingerly.

A loud crash resounded from the cliffs. Shadow turned, her face darkening. Metal on stone.
---------------------------------------
Will was back soon enough. But something was wrong. His face was streaked with tears and General was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's General?"

"I... left him behind," said Will softly.

"I'm sorry," Shadow whispered. "It'll be okay... I hope."

Shadow knew what'd happened. General had been either pushed or walked off a cliff. Shadow's heart broke just thinking of it. She'd lost another friend, just within a couple weeks. First Scarecrow, the only one she'd actually cared for, then General, the one she respected most. Shadow sighed and nudged Will up the ramp of the Jupiter.

"Go get some rest, Will. Don't worry about it," she murmured.
________________________
Judy was on the comms a couple hours later. "Hey, Mom?" her voice called from the comms in the cockpit. Smith was there to pick it up quickly, but Shadow hid behind the door and listened intently.

"Hello, it's Dr. Smith, speaking," she said, picking up the comms device. "Can you put my mom on?" asked Judy. "I know who you are," she added. Shadow's eyes widened.

What do you mean, "I know who you are"?

Shadow listened as Smith replied. "Her door's closed, would you like me to leave her a note?"

"No thanks," said Judy. "I'd rather tell her myself," she said curtly, as her comms was suddenly snatched by someone and hung up.

What.
________________________
Shadow slipped off to her storage room, confused and slightly scared of Dr. Smith. Judy's words rang in her head, repeating over and over. "I know who you are."

Shadow glanced out the doorway at Smith, who was looking around warily and then walking away. Suspicious. Shadow did find it odd that the first person she accused of giving Angela a gun was Victor, and she'd accused him so quickly. It's partially her fault that General is gone, thought Shadow suddenly.

If she'd found out that Angela got her hands on a gun, she could have prevented her from trying to shoot General, and Will wouldn't have seen him as a threat. Shadow sighed, leaning onto the storage containers. It was a lot of information to take in. Shadow absent-mindedly reached for a small block of wood she usually kept with her. Its surface was smooth, as she'd run her hands over it so many times. Shadow decided that she might as well put it to good use.

Picking up a small knife, Shadow chipped away at the soft wood, carving out the face of a familiar robot. She remembered Penny's words a couple nights before. "You miss him, don't you?"

Shadow scraped at the wood a little more, carving out the painfully large amount of scales on Scarecrow's shoulders. The soft scraping of the knife was nice, at least it was better than the angry scraping of a Jupiter on stone, Shadow thought. Memories of the crash came through her mind.

The alarm blaring through the cockpit, the blinding explosion, and Shadow waking up all alone in the wreckage of a ship. The bodies of her crew and family were incinerated on impact and the captain, her cousin... they'd died from the initial impact.

Sighing again, Shadow focused on the little wooden sculpture that was slowly forming a pile of wood curls on the floor. Smith came by a moment later. "Quite the mess you're making," she drawled, "Who's going to clean it up?"

"Me," replied Shadow icily. "It's none of your business," she added.

"Who's that?" pressed Smith. "Do you want to... talk about it?"

"Absolutely not," hissed Shadow, know holding her knife like a weapon rather than a tool. Smith sighed and turned away. "Well, see you soon," she said, leaving.

later

Shadow found Will in his room with Judy, seemingly building a mini-General using parts of a Chariot model set. "Seems like we both have the same idea," said Shadow, leaning on the door frame. Shadow held up her 5-inch Scarecrow.

"We're both building our friends out of spare parts," she added, chuckling.

"Is that Scarecrow?" asked Will.

"Yep, replied Shadow, smiling at the memory. "Maybe we can see him on the Resolute sometime."

"Yeah."

-------------

Little did they know, Smith had gathered up all the broken parts previously making up Robot, and she was planning to use them.
____________________________________
Shadow was alerted by a sudden, loud whirring noise. Shadow bolted outside to see what was going on.

Maureen and John were back (again) and John leaped into the rapidly-closing door of the Dhars' Jupiter.

They were about to take off. And leave us all behind, Shadow thought suddenly. The Jupiter suddenly powered down. Whatever John was doing worked.
___________________________________
Everyone was soon herded to the Jupiter 4. John had contacted everyone from the Dhars' comms, saying "We'll explain when we get there".

Shadow was now extremely confused. Apparently Judy had lost almost all the fuel and one of the colonists, Evan, had been killed in the accident.

"There's been a new development in our situation," announced John, gathering all the colonists at the Jupiter 4.

"It seems that our planet is on orbit... that will bring us dangerously close to the sun," he said. "So, it's going to get hotter and hotter, until, um... well, until it's too hot."

"Are you saying the planet is dying?" asked Prisha nervously.

"Not dying. Just entering a phase malignant to human life," said Hiroki, almost bluntly.

Hiroki went on to explain the atmospheric anomalies and rises in seismic activity, and how that explained most of the issues on the planet. Shadow sighed.

So, we're going to have to go somewhere..? Shadow thought. Again?

"How long do we have?" asked one of the men in the colonist group.

Maureen came down the ramp with a notepad in hand. "Long enough."

[Shadowsearcher]

"I know everyone has probably heard by now that we only have enough fuel for one Jupiter to make it to the Resolute so whoever goes is gonna send back help. But if we're going to get this one off the ground, we're gonna have to lose things we thought we needed," said Maureen. "Like... like, the navigation system itself weighs 1.3 tons and..." she trailed off.

"Back in the day, NASA space capsules were basically tin cans. All the instrumentation was handled from the ground at mission control. So, we are going to launch off this planet the old-fashioned way."

A wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd, a mixture of surprise and doubt.

"Welcome to 1962."
_________________________________
Shadow was now helping to unload everything from the Jupiter. She carried a storage box off the ship, dragged a dolly cart out of the ship and threw a couple boxes around.

This is fine, she thought. Nothing stupid about this at all.

Although Shadow worried for this mission. The first two missions before the Mercury-Redstone 3 had blown up. And this was just like it. Shadow was worried that they'd lose more people, and losing people was never Shadow's forte.

Shadow glanced around and entered the Jupiter again. John was right; this place would get hotter and hotter until it was uninhabitable. And having black hair didn't help at all. Shadow could almost swear she could cook an egg on her head. Rolling up her sleeves, Shadow hoisted another box onto her shoulder.

"Hey we need those!" yelled a man. "Cushions? Seriously?" she snapped. "Not necessary."

Shadow shook her head and carried the box outside.

Judy suddenly approached Shadow. Putting the box down, Shadow glanced at her. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Did you notice anything sketchy about Smith?" she asked, as if expecting a right or wrong answer.

"Not quite. I mean, she's annoying, but..."

"Look at this."

Judy handed Shadow an ID card. "Dr. Z. Smith," it read.

"Wait, but isn't Smith a woman-"

"That's the problem," said Judy. "The Smith we have here isn't the same "Dr. Smith"."

Shadow winced. "Then what happened to the real Dr. Smith?"

"We don't know," replied Judy.

"Well, one thing's for sure, one doesn't go so far if they don't have something to hide," growled Shadow, narrowing her eyes at Smith. "And whatever she's hiding, it can't be good."
_________________________________

Shadow stormed into her room. Dr. Smith wasn't the real Dr. Smith. She was hiding something, and Shadow knew it. The storm of emotions overtook her as she sat down on the floor.

"Smith gave Angela the gun, didn't she?" snarled Shadow.

"That's what Mom thinks, at least," replied Judy. Will came running.

"Hey Jude, do you have the access codes? Mom told me you had them, but I couldn't find you at the Chariot," he said, breathing heavily. "Oh, yeah, sorry, I have them," said Judy, handing him her mother's computer.

As Will left, Shadow turned to Judy again. "But why? She probably knew that Angela was mentally unstable, did she want Angela to try and shoot General?"

"..General?"

"Robot, General, whatever. But that's not the point."

"I don't know..." murmured Judy.

Judy glanced at the corner of the room, where Shadow kept all of her belongings. "Hey, did you make that?" she asked gesturing to the little wooden carving of Scarecrow.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's really good," said Judy.

"Thanks."
_________________________________

"Alright, so who's going to pilot the Jupiter that's about to run off into space?" asked Shadow incredulously. She could barely believe that John was about to take yet another risk and fly that metal death disk out into the open.

"Full cognitive recovery in 19 seconds," murmured Maureen. "It's the record, and just enough time to get out there."

"Well, then... John?"

"Yep."

John it is," said Shadow curtly.

"Hold up, Mom, you told us that you had two pieces of information to give us," said Judy suddenly.

"Yeah, you did, what's the second part?" asked Penny.

"Right, I did. No one goes anywhere near the garage."

Shadow gave Judy a sideways glance.

"Smith," Judy mouthed. Shadow nodded slightly.
_________________________________

John sat in the pilot's seat in the Jupiter, wheezing. "Is he going to be okay?" whispered Shadow, leaning towards Judy a little.

"Yeah, I think so," she whispered.

John stood after his simulations.

"Hey, why don't you go get some air, huh?" he asked, still huffing from the effort.

Will said something Shadow didn't hear, and headed out.

Suddenly Judy got a signal. "Mom? You should put on the radio," she called, power walking over to the cockpit. "What's happening?" asked Maureen.

"The Resolute," said Judy breathlessly.

Penny pressed a few buttons as Maureen popped on over.

"Engineers have detected evidence of Hawking radiation, which indicates the presence of a gravitational singularity," the Resolute reported. "The black hole," whispered Maureen.

"To protect the lives on board, we'll be forced to vacate the current orbit 24 hours from now. This decision was not made lightly. We're aware that some of you may still be out there, trying to make it back. So, it's with a heavy heart that the surviving members of the Resolute 24th Colonist Group send this final broadcast."

"No!" said Maureen, staring at the radio in disbelief.

"24 hours," muttered John.

"No, no! That's not enough time!"

"I can be ready," said John firmly.

"That's not enough time!"

"I can be ready."

"You sure?"

"Yeah!"

The Robinson siblings held each other tightly. Shadow watched awkwardly from the HUB. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"Contact the others," said Maureen. "They have to know."
_________________________________

Shadow sat in her room. Picking up the little sculpture of Scarecrow, she gently ran her thumb over its face. "I wish I could talk to you," she whispered. "I really miss you, Scarecrow."

She cradled the carving in her hands. "I mean, I wish you could see all this, but it's absolutely insane. Like, first we crashed here, Will found General, buncha people show up, one of them who has a concussion tries to shoot General, Will walks him off a cliff and now- now, it's even worse, John Robinson's about to launch himself into space to try and contact the Resolute, where you are."

Shadow felt crazy, talking to a wooden statue. She set him down onto her makeshift bedspread. She scoffed. "As if it could get any worse from here."
_________________________________

"Don's going. Judy convinced him."

"What?"

"Don's going. Dad can't vent and steer at the same time, so Mom wanted Don to go as well," Will told Shadow.

"Makes sense," said Shadow, "But has Don flown a Jupiter before?"

"Sure he has, I mean, he crashed his Jupiter here as well," said Will.

one (painful) test later

"Nailed it!" said Judy, congratulating both Don and John. Shadow nodded slowly. "I need to learn how to fly, ASAP," she muttered under her breath.

"Tonight, we do it for real," said Maureen happily.

"Shouldn't we run the test one more time?" asked Will.

Maureen sighed. "We don't have any more time."
_________________________________

That evening John and Don were ready to go. Suits on and helmets in hand. John nodded as he got ready to get onto the Jupiter 4. The Robinsons said goodbye to their father and Shadow gave him a small bow. They watched as Don handed Judy a box containing Debbie, who clucked in protest. "Bye, Debbie," said Don, turning to the Chariot.

Shadow watched as John and Don left in the chariot to the Jupiter, driving away and kicking up dust.

"He'll be all right," murmured Maureen shakily.

"All right, I'm gonna go inside, pre-launch protocols start soon," she said, turning to go back to their own Jupiter.

"Okay, let's go,"

"Yep, let's go..."

----------------------

"Do you think we can see it from up here?" asked Penny quietly.

"We should," replied Judy. Shadow stood to the side and inhaled some of the nicer, cooler evening air. Penny and Judy sat down on top of a pair of crates and Shadow joined them.

"Hey, where's Will? she asked.

"Oh... I think he's too nervous to watch," replied Penny.

----------------------

"They're about to take off," whispered Shadow, her hands clenched into nervous, cold fists, as a low whine split the silence. Shadow muttered a whirring, robotic prayer. "May the Free One guide you," she murmured.

----------------------

"Launch will commence in T-minus 60 seconds," reported Maureen from the Jupiter.

A plume of blue-white smoke enveloped the Jupiter as it took off. Shadow gaped at the sight, as it circled then took off into the sky.

"Looks good," said Victor, almost proudly.

"Come on. You can do it, come on. Come on-" Penny was cut off suddenly as a loud BANG cut through the air. Judy jolted and Shadow stood suddenly. The Jupiter had blown up.

[Shadowsearcher]

Shadow immediately tried to contact Maureen. Turning on her comms, Shadow tried to contact her. Static.

"Guys..."

"What is it?" asked Judy, comforting Penny at the same time.

"Your mother isn't there. I think something happened to her that caused the explosion."
_________________________
Will, Judy, Penny and Shadow sat at the HUB table. Will was frantically trying to send a Morse code signal to his father. Whatever he was doing, it wasn't working.

"Maybe it's the repeater. I'm still adjusting," he said softly.

"Will."

"Or the wrong frequency."

"Will, we can't reach him."

"You don't know that."

"I saw it," said Penny, attempting to keep herself from crying.

"What color was the explosion? Was it red?" asked Will. "Red could indicate low temperature combustion, which proves part of the ship could still be intact."

"It wasn't red," said Penny quietly. Shadow bowed her head.

Will tried again. "Did you see any pieces fall to the ground?"

"I don't know," murmured Judy.

"Dad was wearing a suit. He'd have oxygen. He could be fine. We don't know for sure-"

"Okay, but here's what we do know," said Judy, cutting him off. "Dad would not want us focusing on him right now. He'd want us to find Mom."

"How?" asked Penny. "Dr. Smith could've taken her anywhere."

"Exactly," said Judy. "But the fact that she took her tells us something," she continued. "It means Smith needs her. We figure out why... and we'll know where to find them."
_________________________
"...How is that gonna help her?"

"I don't know, but she had it," replied Will.

"...The robot head?" asked Penny, visibly creeped out.

Shadow winced. "Why would Smith need General's head? What, to see better?"

Will ignored her. "Yeah, and Dr. Smith said she could bring him back."

"But why would she need Mom for that? If anything, she would've needed you," said Penny.

"Yeah, I agree, it doesn't add up. There's gotta be more to it," added Judy. She turned and started to walk away. "Where are you going?" asked Shadow, confused.

"Sitting here doesn't help, they can't have gone far," replied Judy.

"Wait, I'm coming with you," said Will, getting up after her.

"Will, no. Okay? Just stay here," said Judy.

"But I can help."

"No, you've done enough!" snapped Judy. Shadow fixed her gaze on Judy, piercing her soul.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't mean that," she said softly.

"No. You're right. It's my fault. I let her out. It's okay, go." said Will, eyes watery. Will turned, took his radio and left the room.

Shadow facepalmed as Judy left. "Where are we even going? We don't have a clear idea of what Smith is doing, how do we know where to go?"

"We don't."
_________________________
Will suddenly opened his door again. "GUYS!"

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Judy, running into Will's room. Shadow peeked around the corner. "What's that smell? Yeuch," Shadow hissed, recoiling from the musky odor. Penny sniffed and groaned. "Ugh, seriously, what is going on in here?"

"Remember this?" asked Will holding up a chunk of rock. "Yeah, it's the rock from the cave," said Penny.

"...cave?"

"Long story. Thing is, I don't think it's a rock," said Will.

"Then what is it?" asked Judy. A thought suddenly came to Shadow's mind. "Petrified organic matter," she murmured.

"Exactly."
_________________________
"Highly concentrated biomass," confirmed Hiroki, peering at a fragment of the rock under a microscope. "So, petrified... super poop?" asked Penny.

"Uh, yes, exactly," replied Hiroki.

"Okay, excuse me, I'm washing my hands now," she said, starting to leave.

"Okay, I was thinking," started Will.

"The waste converters," Hiroki finished.

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

"It is possible."

"Didn't Mom say it'd take at least three years to produce enough waste to launch a Jupiter?" asked Judy incredulously. Shadow pondered this for a moment.
"Hold up, you said you found this in a cave, correct?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"If this was found in a cave then there could be more, since whatever produced it might be living in the cave," she said quickly. "And since this is concentrated biomass, that means that this could produce more energy than regular biomass!"

Hiroki stepped in. "This sample contains digested 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."

Judy sighed. "Anybody got a better idea? The Resolute leaves in nine hours."

"Dad may not even have that long," Will sighed.

"Will."

Hiroki sighed. "Let's get on the radio. We'll need all the help we can get."

Judy pushed in a drawer. "All right. While you guys work on that, I'm gonna go find Mom."

"Wait, please, it's dangerous. Your mother would want you to stay here," said Hiroki.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I take after my dad," replied Judy softly.
_________________________
Will, Penny, Hiroki, Shadow and a couple others entered the cave. "This way," whispered Will.

"I don't remember it being so warm," Penny said quietly.

"Uh, what do you think?" asked Will, turning to Hiroki.

"I think we'll need a lot more," he replied, chipping away at the stalagmite of petrified feces. Walking deeper into the cave, Victor held up his flashlight. "What about over here?" he questioned, motioning for the others.

"I dunno, we only went this far," said Penny, turning in Victor's direction. Hiroki crept over, stepping lightly. Will followed closely behind.

Everyone ventured into the tunnel. Shadow shivered. It was terrifyingly dark.



The tunnel led to an open cavern, where more waste spires jutted out of the ground. Shadow shined her flashlight over the crags, amazed.

"Is there enough down there?" Shadow murmured.

"Let's find out."

Victor lit a flare and it flew to the center of the cavern. Hiroki said something in Japanese.

"We are, literally, full of shit," said Penny, looking around.

"Looks like we're alone. That's a good start," said Victor cautiously. "Should we take a closer look?"

"Yeah."

Shadow padded around the perimeter of the cave. "Pretty big as well," she remarked. "Lots of shit."

Victor suddenly stepped in something soft.

"What is it?" asked Hiroki.

"It's fresh."

Victor slowly turned his flashlight towards the ceiling of the cave.

"Should we bring everybody else in?" called Penny.

Everyone turned and shushed her. Shadow pointed up shakily. A soft snarl sounded from the pores carved into the roof of the cave. There was something there.
_________________________
Victor gathered everyone outside. "So, there's some good news and some bad news."

"The good news is there's enough biomass to get all our Jupiters off this planet," said Hiroki.

"And the bad news?"

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

"But that's impossible," said one of the women. Shadow turned and glared at her. "Anything's possible. We'll get off this burning rock soon enough," she snapped.

"I don't understand. Why do we have to be so quiet?" asked one of the men in the group.

Victor winced. "Right. Well, there's some, uh... some worse news."
_________________________
Shadow broke a piece of the rocky stuff and quietly placed it into a bag. Everyone worked quietly, as to not wake the creatures sleeping above them. Shadow snapped off another piece, placing it into the bag. The material was solid but a little crumbly. Shadow reached up and worked her way under a loose chunk. Snapping it, she placed it into her bag.

Someone suddenly gasped, and dropped his tool. Shadow straightened, ready to run as the tool clanged on the ground. There was soft movement above them. Shadow froze. Nothing.

Everyone shared a collective sigh of relief. Shadow regained her composure as she continued prying pieces of the stuff off the stalagmites. Suddenly, a sharp beeping sound caught Shadow's attention. Will!

All of a sudden, a loud screech came from the ceiling of the cave. Shadow glanced up, terrified. Giant bats came dropping down, roaring. The cave erupted into chaos. Victor was herding people out and everyone was scrambling towards the exit. Shadow bolted towards the exit, baskets of material in her hands. "GO! GO! EVERYONE OUT!" roared Shadow, also chasing some people out as well. Shadow swung her tool at one of the dragonish creatures and it went flying to the side, and Shadow took it as a chance to run.

"IS THAT EVERYBODY? IS EVERYBODY OUT?" shouted Victor, rushing the last few people out of the tunnel.

"PENNY!"

Shadow heard screeches and clicks coming from the cave. A rock being thrown.

Suddenly, Penny, Vijay, Angela and Hiroki emerged from the cave. Everyone cheered, and Will rushed to hug her. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing onto a rock.

Wow.
_________________________
"Resolute leaves in 4 hours," reminded Victor. "Everyone keep moving."

Shadow carried a storage container full of the fuel. Huffing, Shadow heaved it into the trunk of a Chariot.

[Shadowsearcher]

Shadow watched as the other Jupiters took off.

"That's all of them" said Will. "Almost all of them," corrected Penny.

"Hiroki's gonna be pretty upset when he figures out we've snuck off his ship," said Will. Shadow chuckled.

"Well, Robinsons stick together," said Penny, gently bopping Will on the shoulder.

"Once Mom and Judy get back, we'll be all set to go?" asked Will.

"They haven't called in a while. They should be back by now," said Penny, glancing around. Shadow looked around as well. "Yeah, I guess they should," she said softly.

"By the way, where are they? There should be a tracker of sorts..?"

"I think Judy has the last Chariot. Ours."

"Right."

Will's radio suddenly started beeping. "Is that Dad back in range?" asked Penny, rushing over to the radio. "Yeah," said Will, almost short of breath.

Shadow heard a Chariot coming. "D'you hear that?" asked Penny.

They ran towards the Chariot.

"Mom, Judy, I have amazing news-"

"No, it can wait," said Maureen sharply. "Stay calm."

Smith got off the Chariot.

"What is she doing here?" hissed Penny. Smith frowned. "I live here, in case you've forgotten."

"Yeah, there's four of us and one of you," snarled Shadow.

"Actually, there's two of me," said Smith coldly.

General walked off the Chariot. Shadow stepped back. "What."

Will chuckled. "You're alive! I want you to restrain Dr. Smith."

General did nothing, but instead stood at Smith's side. Shadow snarled. "What did you do to him?"

"You're asking the wrong questions. You should be asking "What did he do to him," replied Smith. General stepped forward. "Stop, I said stop!" yelled Will, walking towards General. He didn't even look at Will; he knocked him aside. Will fell to the ground. "Will! Will, are you okay?" asked Judy. Will said nothing.

"He's different now," murmured Judy. "He's hers now."

Smith regarded them coldly. "I saved him this time from what you did to him. Friends don't make friends walk off cliffs."

"Leave him alone," said Judy irritably.

"I'm just being honest. Right, Will? That's how we've always been with each other."

"So what now, what do you want?" asked Maureen, stepping towards Smith.

"What we all want. To fly up to the Resolute. I'm not holding any grudges. And you shouldn't either," she drawled.

Will's radio suddenly started beeping again.

"Will?" Maureen said, alarmed.

"What is that annoying noise?" asked Smith, looking around.

"Is it what I think it is?" asked Maureen, suddenly more excited than she'd been in months.

"Yeah!"
_____________________________
"M...U...G-U," Will said, spelling out the message.

"Mugu?" asked Shadow, cocking her head to the side.

"Point Mugu. It's a state park," explained Maureen.

"Boy, I used to love that place," reminisced Penny.

"But why is he talking about it?"

"It's a message. He's trying to tell us something," said Maureen, thinking hard. "Okay, so... what do you guys remember most about going there?"

"Uh, we used to build bonfires on the beach," stuttered Penny.

"Yeah, I remember that," said Judy.

"Okay, bonfire," breathed Maureen.

"Why would that have anything to do with anything?" asked Penny incredulously.

"Could he build one up in space?" asked Shadow pointedly.

"Yes, I think so! He's trying to tell us where he is. Let's search the atmosphere for a heat signature," Maureen said, even more elated.

"Wait. We had a plan," said Smith, cutting in.

"Same plan, slight detour," growled Shadow, scowling.

"I've had enough detours in my life," Smith said lowly.

"You said that you didn't want to hurt John. Was that true?" asked Maureen suspiciously. Smith scoffed.

"Be honest."

"How long before the Resolute leaves for good?" growled Maureen, shooting an irritated glance at Shadow.

Shadow grabbed her comms device from her pocket. "88 minutes," she said urgently.

Smith glanced at her, then nodded, as if saying "Fine".
_____________________________
Will went to see General. He held up a baseball. "Hi. um... remember this..?"

General stared at the thing. Will gave the ball to him, but General simply dropped it. Smith walked up to Will. "Hey. You and me are still friends. So that means that you and Robot can still be friends," she said.

Will looked like he was about to cry. "It's not my friend."

Shadow was surprised at his reaction.

"You said "it", not "he"."

"I guess I did," he murmured sadly.

"Hey, hey," said Shadow, suddenly turning him around as he was about to leave. Shadow gripped Will's shoulders.

"We'll find a way to get him back, I promise. A general never abandons his own allies," Shadow told him. "Trust me."
_____________________________
A loud boom resounded through the planet. Shadow jolted and sprinted to the cockpit.

"Volcano? Where did that come from?" asked Smith incredulously.

"It was always there. It was just disguised as a mountain," said Will shakily.

"Strap in now," ordered Maureen.

--------

"The volcano's gonna create significant top winds. Liftoff's gonna get pretty bumpy."

"How bumpy?" asked Smith.

"The hub is the safest place on the ship. You're free to stay here, or you can ride up front with me. Your choice," answered Maureen, feigning politeness.

"I go where you go," decided Smith. "Not that I don't trust you."

Judy sighed.

"Okay, helmets on," said Maureen. Shadow secured her helmet onto her suit, flicking the airlock. "M'kay."

"Launch will commence in T-minus two minutes."



As Maureen descended down the ramp, Robot suddenly held out his arm, stopping her.

"Excuse me, I need to perform pre-launch checks," she said stiffly.

"It's okay," said Smith, and Robot put his arm down, stepping aside.

Maureen powered up the ship's systems.

"I usually have a co-pilot," she said.

"You seem to be doing fine on your own," remarked Smith, glancing over to Maureen.

"But then, you've had years of practice of having to do everything all by yourself. Are you sure we need to go out of our way to pick up your husband?"

Maureen scowled. "Do you ever feel guilty about anything you do?"

---

"Launch will commence in T-minus one minute."

Smith scoffed. "Guilt is like a stomachache from overeating. You make all sorts of promises while you're feeling it, but once it passes, you just get hungry again."

"Most people are not like you," said Maureen quietly.

"Everybody's like me. I'm just not in denial."

"Denial about what?"

"The fact that I just wanna look out for myself," replied Smith. Maureen scoffed.

Smith ignored her.

"You think you're so different? You love John because he protects you. You fight for your kids because it gives you purpose. Even Will, all that sweetness... it's only because he's scared and he wants to feel safe."

"Don't you dare talk to me about my son."

"Launch will commence in T-minus 30 seconds."

"He's a perfectly fine kid, but he's no angel," drawled Smith.

"He's not selfless. Nobody is," she continued.
_____________________________
Launch will commence in T-minus ten,

nine,

eight,

seven,

six,

five,

four,

three,

two,

one.

The engine powered up. Shadow gasped in her seat. "Haven't felt that for a while," she half-choked, half-gasped, shaking violently from the takeoff.

The ride was, indeed, very bumpy. The volcanic dust and rock in the atmosphere made it difficult, but it was possible.

The bouncing soon slowed to a stop, and Shadow released a sigh of relief, suddenly remembering to breathe.

"Judy, Penny, Will, Shadow- we're clear," reported Maureen breathlessly. Everyone exchanged looks of pure relief and joy, and Shadow shot Will a little thumbs-up.

Shadow could practically hear Scarecrow scoffing at her. "Oh, shut up," she told herself.



But as she took her helmet off, Shadow felt that something was wrong.

"Mom, things just got weird," said Will. He repeatedly tossed his baseball, but it was refusing to float. "Are we in orbit?"

"Yes, we are," replied Maureen, slightly concerned but confused all at once. Everyone started taking off their helmets.

"And no, I don't know why there's gravity on the ship," added Maureen.
_____________________________
"Jupiter 2, this is Victor Dhar calling you from the Resolute," came the comms. "I repeat, Jupiter 2, this is Victor Dhar calling you from the Resolute," he repeated.

"I don't know if you can hear us, but every one of the other Jupiters made it here safely. And for that, we owe you a debt of gratitude. However, as you're well aware, there's a black hole making this section of space extremely treacherous. You now have 63 minutes to join us. I hope you will. Because after that time, we simply can't wait any longer. Resolute out."

Shadow's heart soared. She'd be able to see Scarecrow again!

--------------------

"63 minutes?" asked Smith dryly.

"That's plenty of time to get John."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," said Smith.

"I'll program in a search pattern now," said Maureen, typing a few lines of code.

"Course correction required. Insufficient fuel."

"Insufficient fuel?" asked Smith.

"Don't pay any attention to that. The system isn't properly calibrated," replied Maureen coolly.

"Because it sounds a lot like we won't have enough fuel to go find your husband and still make it back to the Resolute," pressed Smith.

"I'll tighten the search perimeters," said Maureen.

"That's insufficient."

Maureen sighed.

Smith continued. "It's time for you to put aside your personal feelings and get your priorities straight. Sometimes you have to let people go. Set a course for the Resolute."

"No," murmured Maureen.

"Set a course for the Resolute and you and your kids can go there with me," said Smith quietly. "Or I'll throw you off the ship and find a way to get there myself."

"You think you hold all the cards?" asked Maureen dangerously.

"I know I do," replied Smith.

"Are you sure?"

"I have a robot."
_____________________________
The Jupiter 2 suddenly pitched forward. Shadow roared and slammed her hands onto the edge of the table to keep from smashing her side into said piece of furniture.

"Warning, entry angle exceeding parameters."

"Mom?" asked Penny, uncertainty and fear lining her voice.

"Trust her," said Judy shakily.

"Five hundred. Approaching minimums."

"Are you crazy? You'd commit suicide with your kids?" Smith half-yelled.

"Four hundred. Approaching minimums."

Maureen scoffed. "We're Robinsons. Live together or die together."

"Would you do something?" Smith asked Robot frantically.

"Danger, Dr. Smith."

Robot started leading Dr. Smith away from the cockpit.

"What're you doing?!"

"Danger, Dr. Smith."

"She's bluffing!" roared Smith, attempting to get back to Maureen.

"Out of the HUB, now," Maureen told everyone.

"Let's go!" yelled Judy, and everyone ran from the HUB. Shadow darted right instinctively and nearly tripped over a storage box, but made it out just as one of the bulkhead doors slammed shut.

"One hundred. Approaching minimums."

"Danger, Dr. Smith."

"Stop it," said Smith, stumbling into the HUB as General shoved her in. Shadow managed a half smile. That Maureen's a genius, she thought.

"Minimums. Minimums. Minimums."

"This is what she wants," growled Smith, suddenly realizing that this was Maureen's plan all along.

Shadow heard the dreaded sound from the comms system.

"Pull up. Pull up. Pull up."

Shadow remembered hearing the alarm before her ship crashed. She collapsed to the wall and covered her head, trying to drown out the sound.

"Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up."

"Maureen, please do something!" Shadow hissed, pressing herself closer to the wall.

The ship slowly righted itself as Maureen pulled the joystick upwards. Shadow let out a sigh of relief as she stood and saw Smith trapped inside the HUB.

"Orbit stabilized."
_____________________________
"OPEN THE DOOR! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" roared Smith, and Robot, poor Robot, he had to obey and attempt to push his way out. No use. Maureen knocked on the glass windows of the HUB.

"You're in the safest room in the ship," Maureen said after a moment of tense silence.

"It was designed to survive an asteroid collision. It was designed to withstand solar flares. It was designed to repel temperatures that drop to absolute zero."

"And you know who designed it? Me. So don't expect to get out anytime soon."

"Break the glass."

General raised his arm, clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it against the glass. The loud banging resounded through the ship. Shadow winced. Ouch.

"You can't keep me in here forever," sneered Smith.

"That's true," replied Maureen coolly. "But you'll be in there for long enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find my husband."

[Shadowsearcher]

Maureen power walked over to the kids.

"You do realize you can never criticize us for being reckless again," said Penny, smiling.

"Of course I can. I'm your mother. You, Judy and Shadow get the harpoon ready."

"Wait, we have a harpoon?" asked Penny, gaping.

"Will, you're with me," continued Maureen, ignoring her.

-------------

Judy sighed as Penny moved a storage container off the stacks. "We actually have a harpoon gun," remarked Penny, opening the box to reveal harpoon parts.

"All my life, I feel like I've been missing out on harpooning things."

" All this talk of harpooning reminds me, we never got to finish Moby-Dick. Only got to, like, page 30," said Judy lightly.

"The whale kills Ahab."

"Spoiler alert!" exclaimed Judy. Shadow shrugged. "Ehh, never read it, but I guess there's that piece of information you just chucked at us," she said light-heartedly.

"It was written in 1851. You both had your shot," said Penny. Judy continued assembling the harpoon.

-------------

"You girls ready with the harpoon?" asked Maureen over comms. "Yeah. Ready," reported Shadow, as Penny slid the harpoon into place. Judy pressed a few buttons and the harpoon gun lowered. Shadow double-checked everything and nodded.

"I see them!" yelled Will, racing to the front of the cockpit.

"Hey. Nice hydrazine fire you've got there," said Maureen, relief lining her voice.

"Hey!" John shouted back. "I knew you'd find us!"

"It was a group effort," Maureen chucked. "Say hi to the group."

"Hi there," said John.

"Dad?" asked Penny, relieved.

"Dad!"

"You know what, you're not allowed to do that to us again, okay?" asked Penny in a rushed voice.

"I knew you'd be fine," said Will happily.

"Um, hey everybody," said Don, sniffling.

"Are you... were you crying?" asked Judy, looking in their general direction.

"No. Maybe. I mean-"

"Tears of joy," said John, cutting in.

"Yeah," said Don shakily.

"So what happened?" asked John.

"Where to begin..." remarked Maureen softly. "Let's just get you out of the cold," she added.

---

Maureen aimed and turned the harpoon. Suddenly, Robot's pounding stopped. The bulkhead doors unlocked.

"We gotta run," said Maureen urgently.

---

"Hey," said Maureen, climbing down the ladder. Shadow instinctively flared, arms ready to punch someone. "Whoa, whoa!" said Will suddenly. "Jumpy."

"What happened?" asked Judy anxiously.

"Get in the Chariot," replied Maureen. Shadow instantly opened the Chariot doors and got inside.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" asked Penny, genuinely terrified.

"It got out," said Will, quivering.

A loud crash broke the near-silence.

"Mom?!"

"Get in now."

Maureen handed everyone their helmets and Shadow slipped hers on, airlocking it instinctively.

"Seal the doors. It'll maintain pressure long enough."

"Mom, we can help you!" protested Judy.

"Stay in there!"

Shadow suddenly froze. She slipped out of the Chariot in the last second, hiding away.

"Hey, where's Will?" asked Judy, panicky.

General stood there, at the ladder, staring at Will. His face was blank and devoid of any emotion. Shadow felt suddenly furious at Smith. What did she do to you?!

"No! Will! Get out of there! No! Will! Hide!" yelled Penny from inside the Chariot.

"You know who I am. it's me," said Will, approaching General. "It's Will Robinson!"

"What do we do?" asked Penny shakily. Will looked up at General, determined fire in his eyes.

"And we're friends."

General cocked his head slightly to the side. He lifted his arm. Shadow snarled and turned on the carrier arm, sending General flying to the side. Shadow stood and snarled at General.

"YOU. DON'T. HURT. YOUR. ALLIES," Shadow roared. General stood, barely staggering.

"Get away from my kids!" growled Maureen.

"Go! Tie yourself onto there," she commanded Will. "And Shadow, you too!"

Shadow glared at her, turning on her mask. Shadow let out a strained but furious, snarling whirr as she stormed her way forward, roaring hell knows what at General.

"YOU SHAMELESS, STUPID ANIMAL! HOW COULD YOU OBEY SOMEONE AS MESSED-UP, AS EVIL AND MURDEROUS AS SMITH?!" she roared. General flinched.

General stood and stalked up to her, snarling. Shadow stood her ground and shoved him back. "YOU CAN GO BACK AND WORK WITH CAPTAIN FOR ALL I CARE! YOU BETRAYED US! YOU BETRAYED ME."

Maureen took that as her signal to open the airlock. General struggled as the air tried to suck him into space. He staggered towards the Chariot. A storage container came flying and hit him head-on, and he went flying. But suddenly, just as Maureen started to close the airlock, something jammed it and started to force it back open.

Another ship hovered right next to the Jupiter. Shadow flared. "MAUREEN!" she roared, turning her mask off. "GET AWAY FROM THAT! IT'S AN ALIEN SHIP!"

Maureen froze as the ship passed.

Robot's hand hit the edge of the airlock. He hauled himself up, but he wasn't alone. Maureen instinctively raised her arm to protect Will.

"That's definitely not Scarecrow," Shadow hissed as the recognized the pointed limbs. Scarecrow had described him to Shadow before. Captain.

He hauled himself on board and Will stepped back as Captain raised his face to communicate with General. Captain made a low, hollow screeching sound. Shadow turned her mask on and recognized it. It was a command. "ATTACK".

Shadow screeched another command: "STOP."

Captain ignored her. "Step aside, human," he whirred dangerously, venom lacing his voice. Shadow flinched and stepped back. "Captain."

"Pawn."

General raised his arm and pointed at Will.

"Why is it pointing at us?" asked Penny, now completely terrified. "Go!" said Maureen.

"You stay away from them!" yelled Maureen, advancing on Captain. Shadow was about to cry out a warning when Captain clicked his claws and threw Maureen aside like a rag doll. He blasted the Chariot containing Judy and Penny, knocking over Will, and Shadow roared at Captain.

Captain spotted the glowing, black object previously wedged underneath the Chariot. He picked up the pulsing object with his claws. General watched as Will's suit leaked air, and Will was losing oxygen, fast. Will desperately tried to cover the puncture, but it was no use. He was going to die here. Captain advanced on him, raising his claws.

General seemed to have snapped back to his old self when he suddenly whirred loudly, his lights flickering back to blue. He almost stormed towards Captain and violently threw him aside, forcing him to drop the egg-like object. He whirled back towards Will with a loud whirr of concern.

He knelt down and gently placed his hand over the puncture in Will's suit, heat flooding through his body, melting the suit back together. General righted himself with an almost-unnoticeable flick of his finger, like he was saying "There."

"I knew it was still you," said Will thickly.

"Friends, Will Robinson."

"Yeah. Yeah, friends," breathed Will.

As Robot stood, he was suddenly blasted from behind by Captain. Shadow lunged and threw herself at him attempting to wrestle Captain out of the airlock and off into space. General turned and took three more hits, before heating up his own hand and grabbing Captain's face, melting it. He landed one hit after the other, slashing open Captain's faceplate. He staggered and grabbed onto the side of the Jupiter's garage, keeping himself stable.

Captain roared furiously and retaliated, slashing at Robot with red-hot talons. Robot grabbed Captain's arm, burning through wires and metal, and the arm clattered to the ground. Captain turned and charged up both claws and blasted Robot through his shoulders, sending him staggering to the ground. Captain collapsed onto his knees, his face leaking liquid flames.

Will watched in horror as Robot tuned his head, although only Shadow could understand him.

"Be careful," he whirred weakly. "I must fight."

Shadow hissed and stared at Captain, who snarled and stood, the orange stuff leaking onto the floor. He powered up his blasters one again, ready to shoot, but General intervened and charged, sending them both flying over the edge, into the cold darkness of space.
________________________
Will stood, shaking, and watched the two robots fly out into space, spinning. Shadow plodded up to him and patted his shoulder.

"He asked for you to be careful," Shadow murmured. "He said he had to fight. We'll get him back eventually, he's going to survive. Ge- er, Robot's a tough guy."

With that, Shadow bent down to examine the glowing orange substance. "Might as well take this somewhere," she huffed, scooping it up into a reinforced glass vial.

" Ship's oxygen loss will reach critical levels in T-minus two minutes."

Maureen tried to get up, wincing. Her helmet was punctured and she was losing air. Shadow tucked the glowing vial away and rushed to her aid, attempting to cover the hole with her hand. Will was there in an instant.

"Mom."

"Will, are you okay?" she gasped

"Yeah, I will be," Will replied shakily.

"Mom, Will!" called Penny from inside the Chariot.

"There's a crack in the glass. We're losing air," said Judy urgently.

"Ohh, it's not gonna hold," said Penny.

Shadow stumbled over to the storage containers and tried to find a roll of duct tape, fumbling with the straps.

"The ramp won't close," said Maureen, shuddering. "The hydraulics... are damaged," she added.

"There's a manual crank outside," said Will, heading for the gear.

"Will, you can't," said Maureen firmly.

"I have to."

"Will, you can't!" Maureen repeated.

"What good is protecting me my whole life... if I can't grow up to protect you?" he asked her.

"You be careful," said Maureen softly, choking back something that sounded a lot like a sob. Will nodded and turned again, heading off the ramp.

----------------------

Will hopped up onto the outside of the garage, reaching for the handlebar that would close the ramp. He pressed a button on the wall, revealing the manual ramp system. Cranking the handle, he slowly closed the ramp, bit by bit. Shadow was starting to wonder how he'd get back in.

"Once I shut the door, I'll climb over to the rear airlock," he said over comms, answering Shadow's unspoken question.

"That's a long climb," murmured Penny.

"He knows," replied Judy.

"It's gonna work," said Will, still working at the handlebar. Shadow watched as he carefully closed the ramp. She held her breath, waiting for him to emerge from the ladder.

A painfully long moment passed.

"Oxygen loss evaded."

"You did it," murmured Maureen, relieved.

"I did do it, didn't I?"

"I'll be waiting for you at the hatch," reported Maureen.

Another moment passed.

Will's pained yell came over the comms. "Ah! No, no!" he yelled, reaching helplessly for the Jupiter.

"Will, are you okay?!" called Maureen.

"Will?!"

Something heavy hit Will like a barricade. John came sailing over, one arm on the harpoon and the other around Will.

"Dad!"

"I gotcha. I gotcha, buddy," said John. "Come on. Let's go home."
________________________
Judy carefully dabbed at the alien wound from when Robot melted Will's suit back together. Shadow winced. She had no idea that those hands could do that.

"I think it's kinda cool," said Penny, coming around with a cup of water. Shadow nibbled at a pouch of dried blueberries, her watchful eye never leaving Will.

"I have a scar too, buddy," said Don. "Wraps all the way from my waist-"

"Nope!"

"All right. No. Uh-uh," said Judy shushing him like a child.

"Seventeen stitches," Don added quietly, as if he was telling a horror story. "Used my best bottle of whiskey to clean it up," he whispered. "I was passed out-"

"Alright! No! We're done!" said Shadow loudly.

"Story time is over!" added Judy.

"-Blood was everywhere. No, listen to me-" continued Don, ignoring the girls. Shadow chuckled at their antics, padding off to her room to finish the blueberries in peace.
________________________
"It's the Resolute!" shouted John. Shadow instantly stood and bolted towards the cockpit. Don came running too.

"Robinsons, Jupiter 2, you are clear to dock," said Victor over the comms. Shadow internally cheered.

"You waited for us," breathed John.

"John, I represent every member of the colonist group, even you," came Victor's reply. Will and Judy rounded the corner and watched the Resolute come closer.

"Victor... thank you," said John, relieved.

"You're welcome."

"Quickly please, Robinsons, we've stayed longer than we should," Victor said urgently.

"Actually, we're out of fuel," said John.

"Hold tight, we'll come to you," said Victor.

-----

Everyone watched as the Resolute sped towards them, and that little spark of hope in Shadow's chest rose to a blazing wildfire.

The lights suddenly flickered, and Shadow froze. The alien screech resonated from within the ship. Shadow suddenly lost control of her body, twitching. Shadow gasped and responded with another screech, flaring.

"Shadow!" squeaked Penny, rushing to her side.

"It's the noise the robot's ship was making," said Will nervously, walking to the front of the cockpit.

"So why is our ship making it?" asked Penny nervously, glancing over to Will. Shadow sat upright and shook her head.

-----

"What's going on? Why... why are we turning around?" asked Maureen suddenly, as the Jupiter 2 pitched sideways.

"Jupiter 2, is everything okay?" asked Victor from the Resolute.

"I-I don't know," stuttered Maureen. "It's like we've lost control of the ship," she said helplessly.

She checked a screen in the cockpit and saw that the... garage was breached? The screen was glitching, a storm of lights flashing across its surface. Shadow stood and watched in confusion as the screen glitched out.

A flash of light caught Shadow's attention. "What is that?!" she hissed. The glow grew brighter before exploding into a rip in space. The light blinded her, bright blue and pink swirling. The fabric of the cosmos was torn apart right before her eyes, and Shadow braced herself.

And then they were gone.

-----

As the light faded, Shadow opened her eyes. Shadow looked around in shock.

Where the hell are we?" she hissed, staring at the merged suns in front of them, light spinning out of them like a galaxy.

"I have no idea," breathed Maureen.

"I do," said Will quietly. He carefully pulled up a picture of a sand drawing by Robot on his device. "I think we're here."

"And where is "here", exactly?" asked Shadow incredulously, eyeing the picture.

Will turned slowly.

"...Danger."