The tarp

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Morning arrived for the Robinsons. The actual morning that consisted of eating eggs and bacon, then performing the morning chores of tending to the still growing hydroponic garden. The concern was still laid in the air regarding next winter. Going up into the northern hemisphere was going to be a large issue such as going the dangerous sea, passing through the undoubted sections of Earth disturbed by earthquakes, and bearing through the freezing temperatures. It was a issue that John had thought about occasionally. The planet was likely to destroy itself in the next few years or sooner if it kept this seasonal activity up. The professor suspected that the Space Academy were aware of this matter and knew the chances of remaining for a very long time wasn't there. How Priplanus had survived millions of years without having destroyed itself was a miracle. The ancient caves easily said there was life that life flourished in cities that now had became part of the sand.

Something had to remain from the destruction or else they wouldn't have colonized the planet then been joined by other colonists. John considered the issue thoughtfully. They were not the kind of people who liked to lie and only did it when it was absolutely necessary (so it seemed) and couldn't keep the truth as a secret for long. They didn't keep secrets that often. It made sense how open Laura was regarding the truth and casual about it. Don was repairing the hydroponic pipes with considerable help from the women. The debris from the crash landing still scattered the landscape. The destroyed starfire easily stood out to the professor's eyes. The splatter of blood decorating the large boulders that ranged in sharpness and one of them had a tarp.

One that John hadn't noticed earlier.

So that is where their long missing hydroponic protective tarp went.

Smith had stolen it promptly after they had settled in to their new home.

How long he had worked on it during their year long stay was a bit of a mystery.

Smith, working?

The mere thought of it made John fight back a laugh. Despite the man's laziness, single hand backstabbing and sabotaging their attempts at getting to Earth and Alpha Centauri, it was becoming increasingly difficult to imagine him being capable of physical work. John rolled a eye then yanked the tarp off the sculpture making his path away from it. He looked down to see a makeshift plague on the floor with eroded away carvings. He placed sand into the hole then watched as the shape return to the carving that read "Created by Doctor Zachary Smith" so he lifted himself up then slid the tarp up to see a incomplete sculpture. John looked around searching for the tools that Smith had used to work on it. They couldn't be spotted before his eyes.

It was as though the unreliable doctor had promptly hidden them after his exile (or taken them with him). He looked over to see the remains of the crash disappearing before his eyes into the scenery as though a cosmic pit had finally decided to open up taking away the splotches of red that stained until all that was left a undisturbed layer of dirt. Perhaps he didn't know everything about cosmic pits as he believed. John started to reach his hand up to take the tarp off and call for Will and the Robot, safely in the Chariot listening to the star radio when a thought occurred to him. Artists hated to leave their projects unfinished. Smith wasn't exactly the kind to willingly walk into a danger zone that meant everyone died along with him and Blue team 1 had insisted that he wasn't going to go into space with them back into their time. But he was in the future alive and well for a limited period of time. He was going to come back and finish it eventually.

"Danger!" The Robot called. "DANGER!"

John turned away from the statue then bolted in the direction of the hill.

The professor collapsed to the hill sliding down with a hard thud and sudden pain like he had been hit by some laser beam. When John came to, he got up from the hill then struggled making his way to find the Chariot empty and the Robot laid in two pieces beside the chair with sparks erupting from the machines torso. John called for his son repeatedly looking around the scenery. There were no signs of boot prints that walked away from the space craft. As though the boy had been teleported shortly after the attack had been performed by whatever was there. Wincfield had a possible motive but he only did volunteers. And he had left according to the Robot the following morning.

"John?" Maureen's voice was coming over the radio. "John? Are you there? John? John?"

John grabbed on to the radio after hoping into the Chariot.

"Maureen," John said. "I am here."

"You have been out for hours," Maureen said. "we have been wondering what has kept you away."

"We were attacked," John said. "The Robot is damaged and Will is no where in sight."

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A/N On Hulu, for the last episode of season 1, they have the ending as the time Don or John got trapped in a cosmic pit and Smith is screaming out of terror. Which one I can't very well remember or have paid enough attention to the face since I realized it was a rerun of a episode opener.

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