REGRETS

There is a brief reference to the third-season episode entitled "Kidnapped In Space."

            Robinson and West did the best that they could to tend to their suffering shipmate.

            Robinson offered, "I promise you, Smith, Don and I would not have chosen now to clobber you, if we'd known that we were about to be stranded here. We'd have waited until we were back at the ship, where Maureen and the children would've tended to you more skillfully."

            Smith nodded quietly, the best he could manage, under his painful circumstances.

            "Now wait a minute, John," West protested, "We had no way of knowing that the chariot was about to break down. Let's not take the blame for that."

            "No," Robinson agreed. "But all the same, Smith needs more practical help and compassion than you and I are qualified to provide. I'm just expressing my honest regrets."

            West acknowledged ruefully.

            "Actually," Smith replied breathlessly, and slightly wheezing, "I, too, have regrets to express."

            West guessed with a crooked smile, "Regrets that you didn't obey us, and stay out of trouble?"

            "Well, that, too." Smith's response turned West's half-smile into a sour half-frown. He went on, "But my biggest regret is that I didn't remain nine years old when I had the chance. I don't think you two would've beaten a nine-year-old."

            "How's that again?"

            "Oh, you remember, Don: Smith fiddled with that backward-time-spanning machine that those aliens had where the Robot surgically cured their leader."

            "Oh yeah, I do remember that."

            "I would feel safer right now with you two, if I were only nine." Smith coughed, and winced at the pain that the cough caused him. "Am I dying?" he asked faintly.

            "No, no no," Robinson assured him, still semi-skillfully treating his injuries. West tried to help as best he could. Then, the former added, "You're completely safe with us right now; we're not going to beat you twice, or before you heal, or before we're all safely back at the ship. And I doubt if you're in any condition to cause any more trouble, anyway."

            "No," he admitted flatly. "Nor have will to do so."

            West's expression showed that he felt like teasing Smith. "But you know, Smith, if you were still nine, you'd get spanked instead of beaten up."

            "What?!!" Smith was clearly horrified.

            "By me," West semi-joked.

            "Or by me," Robinson added seriously.

            "You sound eager to do it now!"

            "No no," said Robinson. "Remember, I told you we're finished hurting you until some future date when you make trouble again."

            "You sound so certain that it will happen," Smith sniffed mournfully.

            "And you doubt it??" West challenged sarcastically.

            "I suppose not," Smith conceded softly, with another sniff. He hesitated. "I don't mean to complain while you're taking care of me, but I'm getting awfully cold."

            "It is getting colder," Robinson agreed. "I guess we'd better spend the night inside that cave."

            West nodded shortly. "I'll get a fire started." He picked up their gear and headed into it. Robinson carried Smith.

            Before long, they had a warm fire inside a cozy cave, and the entrance as rock-blocked as they could manage, against the cold and against predators.. But Smith was still shivering, despite the blanket that the men had spread over him. So they both crawled under as well, on either side of him, to share body heat. At last, he quieted.

            Gradually, Smith reached out each hand, and found the nearer hand of each of the two men, and clasped it.

            "Why do you want to hold hands with us?" Robinson inquired awkwardly.

            "Human connection. I've been odd-man-out throughout our entire expedition. It's been so hard to deal with. So lonely."

            West suggested, "You're not trying to be manipulative? To get us to agree not to hurt you again?"

            The older man shook his head. "I know it wouldn't work anyway. I just need human connection. I need to feel as if you two care about me, even if I'm only fooling myself."

            "All right then," agreed Robinson, and West nodded also. They allowed their hands to be clasped by the one who had such a need.