"Penny, NO!" Judy impatiently stretched the arms of her younger sister and lifted them at eye level. "You have to hold your arms like this.”

Penny blew her hair out of her face. “I do that all the time!”, she said irritated.

Judy shook her head. "Rubbish! You don't listen to me!”

"Because you always talk rubbish?” Penny pushed the phaser back in Judy's hand.

An hour before both women had started the lessons near the front of the ship, ordered by their father, Professor Robinson. It sounded simpler than it was.

“Why have I learn to shoot? In which crap dad thinks we'll get into? Are we his favorite bodyguards now? He is nuts, isn't he?”

Inside the ship Dr. Smith started to giggle. West, working with him at the control console, frowned.

"This girl is a genius!”, the Doctor explained and started to clean the next diode air filter.

"Oh, really?”, West growled. "Why this?”

Dr. Smith looked up. "Do you really believe your rifle training will help us when we make extraterrestrial contact?” He nodded at the airlock and listened to the women's quarrel. "It's clear to me... Major, you just know how to fight like in a cowboys and indians game... But out here you can't know in advance on which side you stand!”

"Smith?”

“Yes, Major?”

“Shut your mouth, before I shut it, o.k.?”

“Abundantly clear as always, Major”, the Doctor said mockingly, but started working on the next filter system just to be on the safe side.

Half an hour later Don West stood up for a break and stretched wearily. He glanced at the external screens. "Smith!"

"What, Major?", Doctor Smith snapped.

"Did Judy say something about leaving?"

Startled Doctor Smith looked up. “No, she didn't report to me.” He rose and checked the communicator. It was switched on. Smith shrugged.

"Dr. Robinson is old enough to take a walk without your permission.”

"Are you crazy, Smith? Taking a walk in the middle of nowhere on unknown terrain without group com, that's  how did you express it so aptly something only cowboys would do."

West and Smith looked at each other and turned to the external ops station. West arrived first and sat on the chair. He began to tune the sensor system. Smith hovered beside him and started the automated system check of the workstation.

"Cam?” – "Sending.”

"Mike?” – "Testing... Jep, running.”

"Atmosphere sensors?” – "Yes, the data are rolling in.”

The doc licked his lips nervously. He didn't want to ask the last question. West answered it anyway.

"Bio scan active... No hits at the moment.”

For a while both men followed the incoming data.

"This is impossible”, Dr. Smith said after a few minutes. "There must be a trace of them!”

West shook his head. "There is nothing, Smith.” He pointed at the results of the bio scan.

"No life forms at all around the ship!”

Dr. Smith took a deep breath and shook his head. He couldn't believe what the data were showing: They had lost the women!

Cautiously Penelope opened her eyes. Darkness enclosed her. A suffocating smell of wet earth and mould lingered in her nose. She leaned backwards at a wall that felt slippery and crumbly at once under her fingers. Loam?, she thought and tried to move her legs. They felt like logs that didn't want to be moved. I am stuck!, shot through her head. She went on her knees. But in what?

She tried in vain to see something in the darkness around her. Then and now she believed to see a shadow. Tiny points of light wandered over the wet walls, like far sun reflexes high above her. Above me? Like a flash her memories returned. The ground! The ground gave way!

"Judy?”, she whispered cautiously into the dark. Her sister had to be near. She fell in the same trap. But was it a trap or just quicksand? Penny wasn't sure which answer would be better.

"Judy? Answer, please...” But there was no sound. "Judy, that's not funny!”

Penny felt panic rising in her throat like bile. She looked up and tried to breath normally and to calm her stomach. Don't panic!, she ordered herself. But strangely enough she thought about how hyenas lured her prey by making retching sounds. Which things would she attract if she started to scream?

"You did WHAT?” Professor Robinson's head went beet red. "This... you... I..." He gasped for air and roared: "You lost MY daughters?”

Don took a step back. He had not had the faintest idea the professor could be that loud.

"Sir – Captain, I mean Professor Robbins..."

"Shut up. All of you.” Maureen stepped beside them. She didn't bother to raise her voice but looked West straight into the eyes. West had to avoid her stare. Then she shifted her gaze to Smith, who looked sourly at her. She strode over and stood directly in front of him.

"You, of course, have absolutely no idea what happened, do you?”

"Of course I've got some ideas... but after a while they vanished into thin air.”

Maureen ground her teeth. "Stop this foolish jokes, Smith!”

Dr. Smith looked past Maureen into Johns face. ”That's right. Let's stop standing around trying to determine who's guilty.”

Behind him the airlock to the living quarters opened. Will walked through drowsily, one hand full of memory sticks, the other one holding some processor fans. Under his arm he had tucked a blueprint simulation.

"Dad?” He looked around. “What's going on? You wanted to help me with the robot, did you forget?”

Professor Robinson swallowed. "Will...”, he started, but Dr. Smith interrupted him.

"William”, he shouted, as if he had just noticed the boy. "The man of the moment!”

William Robinson, at fifteen the youngest of the Robinson children, squinted in mistrust. "What do you want, Dr. Smith?”, he asked cautiously, looking for help from his parents.

They too looked stumped. "Yes – what do you want, Smith?”, John asked him loud and angry. "Can you conjure my daughters back?”

Will gazed shocked at his Mum. "Penny and Judy are lost?”

Smith smiled without humor. "No reason to race for the best room, William. YOU will conjure them back!”

Penelope searched her uniform. Could that be – no flashlight, nothing? She could hear her mom: In this weather, on a foreign world, without an emergency kit...

Then she remembered her DiaryWatch she had worn nonstop since their take-off.

"Silly girl!”, she scolded herself. She opened the CamWatch and closed her eyes for a moment. Inside the cam was a small LED signaling stand-by.

In the faint light, Penny looked down her legs. Up to her knees she was stuck in a lump of loam. Again she tried to move her feet, but couldn't even feel her toes! As if her safety boots were rooted in the ground! Hastily she held the cam higher. Now she recognized she was in a cave. Just a few feet away Judith lay unconsciously.

"Judy!”, Penny screamed. "Judy, wake up!”

Her sister didn't react. With a shiver Penny saw the loam that covered her boots begin to cover Judy. Her hair, one shoulder and parts of her uniform were covered already. Penelope's breath caught as she noticed a slight movement in the ground. Very slow and silent the loam crawled higher on Judy!

"No!” Penny put her CamWatch between her teeth and started to hit the slick ground around her legs with bare hands. "No!” Disgustedly she drove her fingers deep inside the ground. Loam went under her fingernails, which left only a small scratch on the cocoon's surface. She rose, thinking fast... Zack gave me a new data stick this morning!

She felt her uniform jacket. Yes! There it was! Thanks, my favorite doc!

She pulled the silvery stick from a hidden pocket and started to stab on the cocoon as accurately as possible. Tears burned in her eyes. Please, let it let loose!, she pleaded silently. She had to destroy this cocoon quickly! She didn't want to know, what would happen to Judy, if she failed...

Maureen ordered full battle dress. When they met in survivor overalls and lifeguard packs in front of the ship, Maureen gave them a dressing-down.

"It is enough we already lost two of us!", Maureen said. "Leaving the ship like running away... without rations, without equipment...” She shook her head.

"Hold on, Mum!”, Will said. Maureen wanted to discipline him, but her husband said: “Yes, Maureen. Let it be.” He looked at Doctor Smith.

"Now it's your turn, Smith. What is that idea you have?”

Dr. Smith gave him a thin smile. "William.” He winked at the boy. "Tell me, William. Which thing your Sister Penny never gives out of her hand?”

Will looked dumbfounded at him. "I don't know...”

"Oh, but you do.” Dr. Smith arched an eyebrow and looked sharply at him. "You always have to fix it.”

"Ah, I know!", Will shouted triumphantly. "Her diary! It is... of course!” He slapped his forehead. "The CamCode is in my fixing tool...” He turned and ran into the ship.

"The what?” John looked from Smith to Maureen, who smiled softly.

"Her watch, John” The PennyCam watch she always wears! Will can take a bearing on its signal.”

"Correct, Mum!” Will came running down the ramp from the airlock. Behind him, the robot rolled down, inflamed by Will's excitement: "Danger, Will Robinson...”

"Stop the clamor, you knocked together tin heap!”, the Doctor snapped.

Will ignored him and explained his Mum the scanner. "--- look, and here I see the strength of the signalm and if I do THIS....” The little box in Will's hand start to beep. "Yes, I got it... she has activated it.”

"To save her last word for posterity?”, the Doctor joked.

As an answer Will kicked him on the shin.

"Thank you, Will.”, the Doctor said gravely.

"You're welcome.”, William answered in the same serious tone.

"But where are she and this thing? And is Judy with her?”, West asked nervously.

They all looked around except Will. He went slowly one step after another.

"The signal isn't at ground level.”, he said. He pointed down. "It comes from underground”

"Underground? How is this possible?”, John yelled. "The diary is lost and lays somewhere! Major; I say it only once: If you don't find them till tomorrow, we have start without them  yes both of them!”

West opened his mouth to protest, but Maureen cut in.

"We will NOT start without MY Daughters”, she stated ferociously and stared at the men with tears in her eyes. "But leaving you three here – that would a great idea!”

"Maureen ", John began.

"Don't Maureen me! Go and find my daughters!” She enclosed the surroundings with a wide swing of her arm. John, knowing objections would be futile, started to go.

West shouldered his rifle and followed him without a word.

Smith, Will and Maureen watched them making their way into the wildness. After they had vanished, Maureen turned to Smith.

"Now, as a doctor or a saboteur...” She paused to swallow. "Any brilliant ideas?”

Instead of an answer, Smith looked at Will, and both started to smile.

"Blawp!”, they said like one.

Big lumps of slimy earth fell from Penny's boots. "Thank goodness!”, she thought as the ground gave her free. Incredulously she registered that her boots where corroded. Penny stumbled out of the loamy earth and ran over to Judy which lay still on the ground. Immediately she grabbed Judy's shoulders and shook her.

“Judy! Wake up!” Penny tried to lift up her sister. Disgustedly she saw thousands of small slimy filaments holding Judy's body down.

“No! No!” With flying fingers Penny jerked at the sticky strings. She didn't feel the cuts in her fingers, while she ripped the tentacles from Judy's cheek. Tiny inflamed circles marked the points where the filaments had started to penetrate her sister's skin. “Ohgodohgodohgod” Had it been right that she had ripped this stuff off Judy's face? Would it be better to leave her and search for help? Trembling with excitement she looked around. Where she could go?

Then she got Judy free! The small loamy arms at Judy's uniform ripped away, taking shreds of fabric with them. But Judy didn't wake up.

What shall I do now? Where can I go?, Penny asked herself. For a moment she felt like losing her mind.

She heard Blawp scream! Exactly on top of her, at the point the quicksand had caught her.

A second later the sand of the ceiling started to flow in a swirl. In the center Blawp's legs appeared. The chamelionite tried to escape with a color change, but the quicksand pulled her mercilessly down.

"Blawp?”, she heard someone shout. "Quick, William, we need the robot!”

Zachary?, she thought at once and began to scream. "Zack? Do you hear me?" She laid Judy back on the ground and jumped up and down. "We're here! Zack! Do you hear me? Zack! Help us!"

Relief flooded through her and filled her eyes with tears. She covered her face in her hands and cried.

A short time later Blawp arrived beside her. Chattering at full volume she held a tiny transparent ladder in her suction cup fingers. A hundred years ago – so it seemed to Penny – a little runaway had escaped with it from her parents.

"I'm going down", Dr. Smith announced.

"No way!” Maureen stepped in his way. "Wait till Blawp returns."

"If she found Penny down there, she won't come back voluntarily”, Will said and touched his robot softly. His metal friend held the upper end of the ladder in his claws. "In thirty seconds you pull back the ladder robot. Understood?”

"Robot understood.” Before Maureen could protest Will jumped into the quicksand.

"William!”, Dr. Smith shouted after him.

Maureen screamed. "That's all your fault, Smith!” She hit him on the chest with her fists. "You put this ideas in his ear – that he is the one who will save his sisters!” She slumped down at the edge of the  quicksand. "Now I have lost them all!"

"Professor", Smith began when the robot started to pull up the ladder.

"Maureen”, Smith said in a low voice. "Let us wait and see what the robot has got.”

Snorting and spitting Penny broke through the surface of the quicksand into the light, clinging to her brother. She ignored Maureen's delight and turned to Dr. Smith: "Zack, Judy is lying down there on the ground and doesn't move!”

Without a word, Smith gripped the ladder and jumped into the sand. Will looked at his watch. "Now, robot!”, he ordered. His friend pulled the ladder up immediately. At once it stretched.

"He has her hooked!”, Penny shouted. The ladder bent dangerously.

"It will break!”, Maureen said.

"No, it won't”, Penny said confidently. "Me and four friends together hung on it bef.." She stopped speaking. She always felt a sharp pain remembering her earlier life and her teenage friends.

And there they came! Smith snorted and sneezed, but Judy hang lifeless in his arms.

"Where is the stretcher?” He coughed and pulled Judy higher. "She lost her pulse!”

In Penny's view, her mother used a magic spell to bring the stretcher so fast back to the ship. Their jump jets at full throttle, Penny and Maureen raced after Dr. Smith. With smooth, professional movements Zachary lifted Judy onto one of the diagnostic beds in the sick bay. Penny secured her sister in the bed.

"This all happened before!”, the Doctor grumbled. "Do you girls have any brains at all?" Not waiting for an answer, he started the resuscitation. The standard diagnostic program showed no life signals. Smith activated the stimulation laser without hesitation.

"Away!” he ordered, and to the EM Computer "Shoot!” Judy's body bucked. No other reaction.

"Shoot!” he ordered again. Just a quiver. Not enough.

"Shoot!” A jerk...

Will stepped to the diagnostic bed and caught Dr. Smith's eyes. Nervously Smith gripped Judy's throat and pinched her nose with his other hand. "Watch closely, Penelope!”, he ordered. He bent Judy's head back, press her mouth open and blow breath inside.

Once – twice – thrice. He stepped back.

"Shoot!”, he ordered again. Judy just twitched.

"Now, the time has come, he thought, today I will die.

"Penny!” Immediately she moved, bent Judy's head and gave her the kiss of life, following the doctor's example.

"Great, Penny. And again and away! Shoot!” Judy body jerked as if jerked by strings.

Penny repeated the kiss of life.

"Back! Shoot!” With eyes wide open Judy gasped for breath. Her body bent abnormal and she started to whimper.

"YESS!” Smith roared with laughter. Will started to howl and danced a jig, Penny threw herself into her mother's arms.

"Did it!”

"Did it!”

Zachary tightened the Judy's restraints. "You know you have to stay overnight for observation?”

Judy took a deep breath and turned her face to the doctor. "Thanks, Zachary.”

Smith smiled at her. "I would appreciate it if I didn't have to lifeguard you any more.”

Judy smiled exhaustedly. "I'll think about it...”

Not far away from the ship, just a couple of fathoms deep, Penny's data stick was absorbed into the mud.