Rendezvous to the Future

Chapter Two

Much later the crowd dissipated, and when the lights beyond the window had gone dark and the ones in his own cubicle dimmed, Zorro heard the hiss of the strange door as it slid open. The boy peered in and motioned to him. The black-clad man saw no reason not to trust the young man and walked on out of the little room.

Then the boy motioned for him to stop. "Can you leave the cape and hat?" he whispered. "At least we might fool the guard who comes by and checks the monitor occasionally."

“Monitor?” Zorro asked. 

“That’s a thing that allows the guard to see into each room,” Will said, pointing to the small screen set into the wall near the door.

Zorro stared at it in awe and then nodded and removed both articles. The bed was rearranged and a cursory glance would serve to fool anybody but the most observant individual.

The three went to what appeared to Zorro to be a storage area of some kind. The boy led him behind some boxes. "This is where Penny and I come sometimes to talk privately.  As far as we know, we can’t be heard. By the way, I am Will Robinson and this is my sister, Penny." he said. "Is Zorro your only name?"

"I have been called other names, but you are children and I will not repeat them," he laughed softly. "How did I get from Los Angeles to somewhere out in the stars, if I understood what you were saying earlier about a ‘space ship’?"

"This space ship travels from planet to planet, you know among the stars." Will had to keep remembering that even though this man seemed very intelligent, he was still from 1820. "They came to California and captured you."

"Hmm. How do you and I get back to our homes?" Zorro asked, pointedly.

"Will says he can figure out how to get back to our family, but I don’t know about your home," Penny said softly, still in awe of the dark clad man.

"Wait, they have crewmen that look human, if we could get you a uniform, then you could accompany us to the command deck and I could get into the central computer to get the coordinates for both of our homes! There is something in the uniform of a crewmember that doesn’t trip the alarms. It would look normal for you to be taking us anywhere in the ship," Will said excitedly.  Zorro just stared at him as though he had begun speaking a foreign language. Will correctly interpreted the look and explained, "Take my word for it, if you can help us get to a certain part of the ship, then I can find out how to take us all back home or at least get help."

Zorro nodded. Even though the boy was still a child, he seemed to have the mental capabilities of an adult, as well as knowledge of this time and place, so the outlaw would defer to the young man’s judgment in this matter of escape. "Then shall we go find one of these uniforms?" They crept to a smaller storage room and found uniforms to fit every size and shape. Finally Zorro found one that would fit him; in fact he found it to be a bit big, so he slipped it on over his costume. It was a one-piece outfit that opened in the front, with no obvious buttons, strings, or hooks. "Will, how do you fasten this thing?" Zorro asked in consternation.

Will zipped it up for him, chuckling. Zorro laughed softly with him. "Too bad we do not have these in Los Angeles. Very useful."

"Uh, sir," Penny hesitated. "You’re going to have to take off the mask. I hope you don’t mind."

"Well, since we are not in California, it really does not matter." He undid the knot in back and slipped the mask and bandana off. As he was putting them inside the uniform, he heard the children make soft cries of surprise. They were staring at him in total shock.

"What is wrong?" Diego asked, a bit disconcerted at their sudden change of behavior.

"Except for the mustache, you look like a younger twin of our Dad," Will said in surprise.

"How interesting. But I think we should do what needs to be done and then maybe I can meet this twin of mine." Diego picked up the saber where he had laid it down and strapped it on. "This may look very obvious, but I am not leaving it here. Who knows, maybe this backward outlaw might be able to surprise these strange looking jailers of ours."

Will led the way straight to the command deck. To Diego, the corridors seemed very plain and austere. Everything was made of metal and their boots made soft, hollow sounds as they walked to their destination. Diego thought it strange that there were no guards. Maybe these people didn’t expect any trouble from any of their prisoners. They shouldn’t have underestimated these two children, though, especially the boy.

Will handed him a small card.  It was about the size of a bruha card, but it was hard and rigid. "Put it in the slot right there, and act like you are our guard." Diego put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and looked stern. The door hissed open and the three slipped inside. There was only one being in the room. When he said something that Diego couldn’t understand, the Californio just calmly walked up to him with a smile and quickly slid the sword out, letting the point rest between the being’s eyes. Penny clouted it with a book of some kind, and the creature slid to the floor with a grunt.

Will took the card from Diego and ran to the door, closing it. "Now we won’t be bothered for awhile." The boy sat down behind a box-like machine with some sort of glass window and began to push on buttons in front of it. All kinds of symbols appeared on the glass. Diego looked at it intently, but even though he couldn’t figure out what it was, he was still curious enough to watch. "If you don’t mind, would you stand by the door, in case someone else with an access card comes in?" Will asked him.

"Sí," Diego agreed, with a smile. "And you will be able to do your job without someone looking over your shoulder." Later when Will announced that he had almost finished getting the coordinates, (‘Whatever those are,’ Diego thought) the caballero heard a slight noise at the door. "Watch out, I think we have run out of time! Someone is at the door."

At the same time the ship lurched, the door slid open and a being resembling a bull without the horns and tail started in. Diego let him come all of the way in before he stepped in front of him with the sword in readiness. "Riboxis," he heard Penny gasp.

Riboxis reached for a weapon at his side, but Diego was too fast for him and the strange looking pistol had been flung from the grip of the alien and was skittering across the metal floor. Diego placed the point of his saber at the throat of the bull-man. "Do not force me to see what color your blood runs, señor," Diego warned the creature. "Stand very still." Will Robinson was making exclamations of delight and triumph, but Diego didn’t take his eyes off of the strange bull-man.

"You think that I am afraid of an oversized knife in the hands of an ignorant savage?" Riboxis sneered, reaching up for the blade. Diego whipped it around in a quick slashing circle and found that the man’s blood was slightly purple. Riboxis stared at his slashed arm and then looked up at Diego.

"You should be, señor," Diego laughed. "I will do worse if you persist." Suddenly sirens sounded and the ship lurched again, harder this time. The front glass window cleared and Diego was astonished to see vessels out among the stars in front of them.

"Zorro, watch out," Penny shouted.  Riboxis had grabbed a rod of some kind and was swinging at Diego. Ducking, he brought his blade up, and again, slashed the arm of his attacker. The rod hit the deck with a clattering noise. Riboxis charged him and Diego simply sidestepped and used the hilt of his sword to knock him unconscious. He had to do it twice; apparently Riboxis had a very hard head. Using the creature’s accoutrements, he quickly tied the alien up.

"Who are they?" Diego asked Will and Penny, in awe at the incredible sight of all of those vessels hanging in space among the stars. The children seemed very excited.

"I don’t know about most of them, but that one, (he pointed to a saucer shaped one), is my family’s." The screen that the boy had been working at lit up and a face appeared on it. Diego was astonished. This must be the children’s father, and they were right, the man looked like an older version of himself. The elder Robinson was talking animatedly to his children. He had the look of one who had recently spent many sleepless nights looking for his children.

"Will, I think that the rest of this ship is unaware of your rescuers out there. I believe we are about to be attacked." Diego stationed himself near the door, through which he heard a great commotion. "Watch out for pistol shots!" he shouted. The door slid open and pistol shots weren’t exactly what Diego encountered next. He realized that the only way for him to keep the children alive was to get the weapons out of the attackers’ hands before they could fire them, because he couldn’t fight against flame or whatever it was coming from the barrels of the weapons.

As soon as one of their enemies reached in, Diego used his sword to disarm him of his weapon or his hand, as the case may be. The Californio didn’t have the luxury of being overly humane. Finally one managed to get in and the creature grabbed some kind of pole when Diego had relieved him of his ‘pistol’. The alien attacked ferociously.

Meanwhile, Penny had grabbed one of the weapons and knowing how to use it somewhat, was taking care of the other attackers at the door. Will left the machine and grabbed one also.

His own assailant had very tough, warty-looking skin, and Diego’s blade seemed to have no effect, except to make it angry. Diego ducked and dodged, slashing and stabbing at the creature. Never had he been in a fight as insane as this one. The tough skinned creature finally was able to bat the saber away, and reached in and grabbed Diego, pulling him into a steel-gripped bear hug that threatened to crack his ribs. They were near the wall and Diego pulled his legs up to his chest and gave a mighty push against the bulkhead, throwing his attacker off balance. He was barely able to squirm out of the alien’s grasp and snatching up his sword, stand panting for air. The alien came close to him and Diego jerked his sword up, scratching the tough skinned man’s knee. Immediately the creature commenced howling, and then fell to the floor, writhing. Diego shrugged and turned to the door. Far be it for him to argue against providence.