Let it breathe, let it breathe, let it breathe for the space cadets

Down the stairs goes the wordsmith

Smith was running down the stair case.

"Doctor Smith!" Paul shouted. "Come back!"

Smith turned toward Paul.

"Pass!" Smith turned away then continued his descent down.

Loki appeared in front of Smith.

"Doctor Smith---"

Smith screamed running ahead of him.

"Could you please--"

Smith's girly scream echoed behind him.

"Help us?"

Smith tripped and fell down the stairs then finally came to a landing on the dirt. He was covered in bruises and cuts that stained him. Loki reappeared by the man's side as Paul and Laura came speeding down the long series of stairs. Smith groaned turning over to his side. His vision was blurry at first with blood trickling down his grayed eyebrow with one hand under his head. He turned over to his side feeling his body was aching all over the place. Smith spat out blood onto the sand with a hand placed on his chest regaining his breath. Loki looked over in concern.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked.

Smith screamed, crawling away from the boy.

"No wonder your parents named you Loki!" Smith said. "You're mischievous and evil!"

"Gampu named me," Loki said. "I have no idea what my real name is. Could be Charles Bobson for all I know."

"Doctor Smith!" Laura said, coming to the end of the stairs. "If you just listen--"

"Impersonating a office has serious jail time, my dear," Smith said. "and serious consequences." He used a large rock to help himself up to his feet. "I like to thrive not wilt."

"We all like . . . not to become slaves. . . or victims of . . . Dragos Evil," Paul said, in-between breaths with his hands on his knees. "We can promise you. . ."

"We can promise you payment for acting," Laura said, as Smith was limping away. "Lots of gold and diamonds."

Smith stopped in his tracks.

"Gold," Smith slowly turned toward the three. "You say?"

"Lots of it," Loki said. "Sometimes I go into the treasure room to play out a pirate fantasy with Peepo."

"Enough to use as a emergency fueling forever," Laura said. "Not like you got people who want you back in two weeks."

Smith looked off in the distance, tapping his fingers together, then back in the direction of them.

"I was exiled," Smith said. "Permanently," his eyes lowered toward the plant life then back toward them. "How old is your dear friend?"

"He tells us that he is over three hundred," Paul said. "whatever Roark says about the war, just nod along and improvise a story about the war."

"But think what you would do in his position," Laura said. "He is very cautious about danger."

"We're doppelgangers, Laura," Smith replied. "Not the same person."

"Someone very reluctant to be part of war had to do," Paul said. "There are things that he is not proud that he did in the name of survival."

"Survival," Smith said. "Now that, I am familiar to. Will one of you be with me?"

"Can't," Laura said. "It'll look suspicious."

"She can communicate telepathically with you," Loki said.

"If you need some information to fall back on," Laura said.

Smith tapped on his chin.

"That will be terrifying," Smith said. "That's good. . . I won't make a mistake being on my toes," he clasped his hands together. "Where do we start?"

"As soon as you're ready," Paul said.

"Good," Smith said. "Because you must talk to some adults before I actually go through with this charade."

"We are adults," Laura said.

"No, no," Smith said, shaking his head. "Adults who want to survive. Not just me."

"Who are they?" Laura asked.

"Professor Robinson, Major West, and Mrs Robinson," Smith said, as realizations dawned on the group. "They should be aware before a ground invasion starts." Smith placed a hand on his forehead. "And I should really be tended before I take you to the Jupiter 2."

"Camelopardus!" Loki said. "The void is a time warp."

"Come on, Doctor Smith," Paul said, then glared toward Loki. "Ignore him."

"Time warp?" Smith asked, befuddled, as he was guided along up the stairs. "You must be from the future."

"That we are," Paul said, as they went up the stairs.

Laura placed her hands on her hips.

"Loki," Laura said. "We have to abide the temporal directive."

"No one will believe Doctor Smith about the time warp," Loki said.

"You know what that means," Laura said. "No dropping hints about the Jupiter 2's future to the Robinsons."

"I can do that," Loki said.

"That's all I need to hear and see you doing," Laura said. "Not even the fate of this planet."

Loki looked up toward the twin moons.

"It will be destroyed someday in the future," Loki said. "And no one is never to see something like this again."

"It's a little weird just seeing the two moons orbiting a planet," Laura said.

"Haunting," Loki said. "Very haunting."

"It is," Laura agreed. "After all these times passing by the Alvereze Sector and going on vacations with our parents. . . Seeing the moons with those unique shapes side by side. Not accompanied by two smaller moons from alongside them. They always did look out of place on Galvan."

"I am going to visit Galvan on my first holiday as a officer," Loki said. "And maybe take a friend along for the ride."

"One thing is true," Laura said.

"What's that?" Loki asked.

"The sight of just two moons alongside each other above the mountains at night around their native planet is gorgeous," Laura said. "This would have made a great painting."

Laura went up the stairs as Loki observed the scene.

"It would have," Loki said, nodding his head.