The Jupiter 2 crew go back inside and Maureen says that they stick to the plan. She notes that the lightning storm will start in 97 minutes and they need to be ready to spark the engines when it starts. Will wants to talk about the metal trench causing the waterfall, wanting to know who built it. Maureen tells him that they need to focus on collecting the energy from the storm, and the ship will protect them. She tells Smith to do nothing and touch nothing, and the others go to their individual assignments.
John, Penny, and Maureen work on taking down the masts and sending up the lines to collect the energy from the storm.
Will hears a ticking noise inside the hull. Don finds him and dismisses the ticking as a rotator in a cooling slat. When Smith on the bridge hears over the radio that Will is heading to the cockpit, she quickly sits on the window ledge. Will asks what she's doing, and Smith says that she's keeping out of the way. The boy wonders if Smith is looking to be appreciated for navigating them through the storm, and says she was doing it to save herself. Smith reminds Will that he never came to visit her when she was locked up, and says that they're the only ones to know what it's like to be connected to the Robot. Will insists that she was using him and he wasn't, and Smith says that it was a bodyguard for her and a friend for Will.
Don and Penny check the thrusters and Penny hands Don a crowbar to pry a kelp-like substance off the hull. She complains that Maureen always gives her the dummy jobs while Will gets the smart jobs and Judy gets the tough jobs. Don tells her that flying under the radar is a good thing, and it worked for him until he met the Robinsons who keep getting him into trouble. Maureen calls on the radio and says that Jupiter 2 will fly once he gets the kelp off.
Once Don signs off, the kelp "bites" him through the leg of his spacesuit and he falls into the water as his leg goes numb. Penny calls to the others and Maureen leaves the kite to John while she checks on Don and Penny. It flies off and John tries to grab the line. He manages to swirl it around one of the masts.
Maureen gets to the thrusts, and Penny loses her grip and is swept into the ocean. Her mother swims after her and they're both swept toward the waterfall. John calls for Will and Judy, then goes down after Maureen and Penny but can only watch as they're swept into the chasm below.
Maureen and Penny land at the bottom unharmed and John sees them. He has the women confirm their suits are undamaged, and Maureen notices a metal spire. She figures the lightning is drawn to it, and tells John to stay with Jupiter 2 and they're fine. There are alien glyphs on the metal surface and Maureen takes photos of them. She then tells John that they'll find a way back up.
Judy and Will haul the paralyzed Don, and Will tells Judy that Maureen and Penny went over the edge. She sends Will to help John while she treats Don, and Smith watches from the doorway.
Maureen has John lower down the kite line and warns that they have 67 minutes until the storm hits.
Judy tries to cut the kelp off of Don's leg.
John climbs the mast, and it starts to pull free from the hull as he reaches for the line. It falls off of Jupiter 2 and it and the other metal girders plummet toward Maureen and Penny as John falls clear. Will arrives and checks on John, and the kite flies free. Maureen assures Penny that they're okay, and radios to John that they're safe.
Judy tells Smith to make herself useful, and Smith figures that it's nice for her to be in charge for once. Don goes into anaphylactic shock and Judy prepares to give him a blood transfusion. As Smith cleans up the kelp, Judy confirms there's only one person who has the same blood type as Don. Smith agrees to help but Don refuses, and Judy warns him that he won't survive without the blood.
Maureen focuses on the problem at hand even though they've lost the kite, then apologizes for snapping at Penny for considering more problems. Penny figures that Maureen would rather have Judy or Will there with her to work out a solution, and Maureen says that each of her children have unique talents. Maureen tells Penny to stop putting herself down.
John and Will go into Jupiter 2 and try to get as much as rope as possible, but it's not enough. They both wish the Robot was there. John talks about how he knew he'd do whatever it took to get back to his family when he was deployed, and figures the Robot feels the same way. He tells Will that he knew his family would keep each other safe, and they have to do the same now. Will gets an idea and suggests that they make an improvised Faraday cage out of the Chariot to protect Maureen and Penny from the lightning, the same way Jupiter 2 will protect the others. The boy tells his idea to Maureen and Penny, and Maureen suggests that they use the Chariot and the wire they're lowering it with to conduct the lightning into Jupiter 2's battery. John notes that the Chariot garage is underwater, and Maureen notes that John is a Navy SEAL.
John and Will prepare the Chariot, and John warns that the garage will be flooded when they open the ramp. They attach the winch cable to the battery and Will sees a piece of a Robot. He stares at it for a moment and then goes back to work. Once he and John get clear, John lowers the ramp but they realize that it's stuck. Looking out the window, the two Robinsons confirm that the kelp is growing all over the ship.
As Judy sets Smith and Don up for the transfusion, John comes in and confirms she used a plasma torch to cut the kelp off of Don's leg. Judy says that Don and Smith will be okay for a few minutes and goes with John to help him, and Smith tells Don that they're alone at last.
Maureen wonders what's taking John so long, and Penny assures her that they're fine. Her mother notes that Penny saved them in the diamond storm, and asks if there's something wrong with Penny. Penny asks Maureen if she read her book, and Maureen claims that she did but can't remember the contents.
Smith reads Penny's book to Don and notes that the girl likes her hair. The book reveals that Don is a smuggler.
Judy, John, and Will go to the garage with plasma blades and work on cutting through the kelp.
Smith tells Don that they're both outsiders and criminals, Don starts to get his speech back and insists that they're nothing alike. He says that she'll go back to jail if they make it to civilization, and Smith points out that when they first met he was trying to steal a Jupiter. Don was running away instead of doing his job, and aided and abetted her escape because deep down he knew what she was. Smith tells him that if they make it back to civilization, she expects his support backing up whoever she claims she is.
Judy complains to John that he didn't tell her Maureen and Penny were in trouble, and he says that he didn't want to distract her from helping Don. She gets some kelp on her glove but shakes it off before it can puncture her suit. John tells them to go up top because of the danger, but Judy refuses to go. Her father insists that he wants to keep the ship's doctor safe, and Judy reluctantly goes with Will. John cuts away enough kelp to flood the garage, and Will assures Judy that their father will be okay. Despite that, Judy goes back to rescue John as he's caught in the flood waters. He runs toward the ladder and gets her up as the Chariot floats out of the garage.
The Chariot falls over the edge and stops halfway down, dangling from the winch line. As it continues lowering, Maureen tells John to lift off once the lightning hits the Chariot. It stops 30' above Maureen and Penny, and John confirms it's reached the end of the cable. She figures Jupiter 2 shifted, and they hear the storm approaching. Maureen suggests that they use the rigging from the sails that Penny gathered earlier.
Don tells Smith that the Robinsons will tell the authorities the truth about Smith, but Smith figures she only needs one of them. The smuggler figures the family will stick together no matter what.
Penny and Maureen lash the struts together with the rigging and hoist a makeshift ladder up to the Chariot.
Smith tells Don that they'll see if the Robinsons will back each other.
With 90 seconds until the storm arrive, Penny and Maureen climbs up to the Chariot. Penny slips but recovers her grip, and Maureen tells her to keep going. John tells Judy and Will to strap in, and waits until Maureen and Penny get into the Chariot. The electricity interferes with the radio, and John straps himself in. He says that they'll launch as soon as the lightning hits, and insists that Maureen and Penny will be there.
Once she gets in, Maureen tells Penny that she didn't read her book but she will as soon as they're back on Jupiter 2. As they hug, the lightning hits the Chariot and Jupiter 2 powers up. It lifts off, towing the Chariot behind it. Once the crew get the Chariot into the garage and close the ramp, they go to check on them. John pries open the charred Chariot, and they confirm that Maureen and Penny are safe. Judy tells John that she's 19 and can handle more than he's letting her. He says that part of being an adult is realizing that just because one can do something doesn't mean they should.
As the family prepares to go upstairs, Will hears the same tinking noise as before, coming from the Robot piece. It extends an arm which collapses, and Will realizes it's from the second alien Robot that attacked them. Maureen says that the glyphs in the trench look like the one on the Robot, and Will figures that whoever made the Robot made the trench as well. Maureen says that they're heading away from the planet, and they need to worry about how many more of the alien Robots are there. When the others go back to the bridge, Maureen stays behind and notices a crate and the panel Smith was studying.
Penny goes to the med bay and sees Judy checking on a recovered Don. Smith notices Penny and goes after her, and congratulates her on her book. She asks if Penny considered staying behind on Earth, and says that Penny can take care of herself or needs permission from her family. Smith asks if she can keep the book and read it, and Penny agrees before going to get some rest.
Penny goes to Will's cabin and gives him the photos Maureen took of the glyphs. Will promises to find the Robot if he can't find them, and Penny says "Good" before leaving.
John and Maureen study the trench from orbit, as it's visible even from their height. They hear a proximity alert and confirm that something large is passing them. As the others arrive, Maureen confirms that it's the Resolute in the distance. She confirms that they can't get to it, and Smith goes to the med bay and grabs a discarded piece of the kelp and hides it in her copy of Penny's book.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 28, 2019