Lone Stowaway

11

Shadow padded through the plastic-covered rooms.

"Will Smith try to come back for her stuff?" asked Will.

"She can try," said Maureen. "Radic knows she's here. It's a matter of time 'till they find her," she added.

"What if she finds us first?" asked Penny.

"Don't engage," said Maureen darkly. "No. If either of you see her or if she tries to approach you, you call security."

"Hey," said Will. "How'd Smith get a copy of this?" asked Will, holding up a copy of Penny's "Lost in Space".

"I dunno," said Penny, shrugging. "She probably picked it up, somewhere."

_________

"You know, the Azevedos have a daughter your age. Maybe you'll have something in common," said Maureen lightly.

"Yeah, maybe she's been swept over a waterfall, too." said Penny.

"You never know until you ask."

A group of men with Scarecrow in a cage rolled past them. Shadow snarled. "Give them space," she said. Shadow gave Scarecrow a little whir.

"I'll get you out of there."

Scarecrow only creaked sadly.

"Come on, let's go," murmured Maureen.

"Will?"

"His lights. They moved," he said, the horror evident on his face. "Like he was trying to say something to me."

"Maybe... he wanted to apologize for trying to kill you?" suggested Maureen. Shadow instantly snapped.

"He didn't try to kill us. He was just getting around. He's missing both legs, what is he supposed to do, walk away?" she snarled, hackles raised.

Maureen shot her a look.

"Maybe I can help with whatever they're trying to do on our Jupiter," said Will hopefully.

"There are other people taking care of this. It's not your responsibility."

"It is if I can do something no one else can do."

"Sweetheart... that is not your robot. Okay? Come on, let's go make some new friends."

"Okay, bye guys, we're going to the systems hub," said Maureen. Shadow ignored her and buried her face in a sketch.

"What's her problem?" asked Elise, one of the crew members of the Robinsons' temporary Jupiter.

"Oh," said Penny softly. "She was separated from a very close friend... in a very violent way," she added softly.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey. Can I ask you something? About the evacuation?" asked Will.

"Yeah."

"My robot, did you see him leave?"

"What do you mean..?"

"Well, he was here... and now he's not. So where'd he go? Did he use a ship... or was he alone?"

"Honestly, I was too busy running to notice," replied Elise softly. "I'm sorry."

"I have to go, uh, check on Debbie," said Will, suddenly standing up to leave.

"You do?"

"I- I wanna make sure she's okay," said Will.

"M'kay."