THE DEADLY GAMES THAT SMITH PLAYED

This is an AU based on the second-season episode entitled "The Deadly Games Of Gamma 6." There are brief references to the first-season episodes entitled "Invaders From The Fifth Dimension,"  "The Keeper, Part II,"  "Island In The Sky,"  "There Were Giants In The Earth," and the second-season episode entitled "A Visit To Hades."

            A few hours after Smith had verbally tormented Robinson, trying to convince him to enter Mr. Miko's games, and nearly resulting in the powerful man's violence against Smith, Smith came upon Robinson and West together in front of the Jupiter II. The frosty sideways glance that Smith received from Robinson revealed how much the younger man still held Smith in contempt, and how severe his grudge remained. The meaningful glare fired at him by West hinted at just how much Robinson had already told West about the risky incident.

            Humbly, self-consciously, Smith approached the men, and said, "Professor, I sincerely apologize. I'm truly, deeply sorry. I should never have said such things. Especially in front of Will. I hope that you can forgive me."

            "Maybe in time," Robinson replied shortly, and stalked into the Jupiter II.

            "Oh dear." Smith sighed.

            "So," West said sternly. "You had a close call with John today, didn't you?"

            The irony of that was not lost on Smith, since most of his close calls were with West, not Robinson. Smith nodded timidly. "Not the first. But definitely one of the scariest."

            Now West nodded. "And absolutely one of the closest. He told me, he nearly failed to restrain himself."

            Smith shivered in fright, and West didn't even smile, demonstrating the seriousness of their discussion. "I sensed that he barely managed to hold himself back. I fled, and he let me. Of course, I guess a scarier one was when Will was missing, and the professor had hold of me, and had me pinned up against the chariot, and made a fist...." He shuddered. "But at least then, his dear wife was there to try to pull him off of me."

            "You got lucky then, too."

            "And then, there was that horrible affair with The Keeper. The professor threatened to break my neck." Both hands went protectively around his throat.

            "Gee, so did I, during that same incident," West reminded him. "That was a stressful time. Still, I'm usually the one to threaten you. And John usually stops me."

            Smith nodded slowly. "Of course, there was the one time that you stopped him."

            West couldn't place it. "When was that??"

            "When you and the others had just brought him back from when he had landed ahead of us on that first planet."

            "Oh, well that was only because at the time, you controlled the Robot. I was protecting John, not you."

            "You needn't remind me." Smith sniffed.    

            Loosening up slightly, West remarked, "It's a pity that, whenever you have a close call with John, I miss it, and only get to hear about it later. Gee, come to think of it, it's also a shame that when you have your frequent close calls with me, John almost never misses it. He's always there and stops me."

            "Thank heavens for that." Smith thought further. "But, there was that one dreadful time that he didn't stop you, and even encouraged you. When you wanted me to tell you about Morbus. Plus, there was that one time when he wasn't there to stop you. When you were ordering me to go out and stop the Robot from hurting Will. You had me cornered in the galley, and you made a fist at me." A tremor assailed him again.

            "Yeah, well, you only got out of that one, because you said, 'I surrender.' In fact, you gave in with the one regarding Morbus, too, which was all that saved you. If I were a coward like you, Smith, I wouldn't take such risks. You'd better watch yourself. You take far too many chances. You press your luck too much. With both of us."

            "I know." He sighed again. "How can I make this up to him?"

            "I'd say, leave him alone for a while. Just stay away from him."

            "That will be difficult," Smith said, as he raised his eyes to observe Robinson returning from inside the ship, having clearly heard plenty. He hung his head in shame, and said to the new arrival, "Again, I am terribly sorry. I'll go away now for a while."