Hannibal moved silently throughout the ship making his way to the float tank to deliver a message from the bridge to the Captain. On his way there he performed a routine sensor check on the various systems even though this task could have been performed from the bridge. Hannibal, a Flight Class Robot, found it satisfying to perform the task simply because it gave him a sense of purpose. Had he possessed lips they would have formed into a thin smile at this thought. Should a Robot, any robot, need to have a sense of purpose? This was one of the great questions that had plagued humankind and Robot kind for the past decade.

Information had to be programmed in but the modern Robots had begun to take on a life of their own. A sense of purpose was only one thing that troubled a modern Robot. Another was should a Robot have a human shape? The ship's computers ran everything and the fact that he was aboard had more to do with tradition than necessity.

Hannibal enjoyed human contact and rather than piping the message down to Captain Conway, he had decided to bring it to him in person. 28 days ago they had entered the void and tension was running high aboard the ship. Outside there was nothing. Far out in space, just on the very edge of sight, the twinkling of stars could be seen. But between the ship and that faint horizon there was nothing. Till now.

Stephen Conway floated some three metres above the floor feeling as if he were outside the ship and flying alongside it. All around him was the darkness of space. All that separated him from the vacuum was a near invisible metre thick plexiglass wall. The Float Tank sat on the outer hull of the ship and was primarily used for experiments in weightlessness. Lately though the crew used it for recreational purposes. For planetary Orbits and emergencies the Float Tank could be retracted. There was soft hissing sound followed by the clattering of rubber track against metal that told him that Hannibal was here. He pushed himself gently down to greet him.

"Good morning Hannibal," he said cheerily, "How are you today?" Conway was lying at right angles to the Robot and was looking straight into where his eyes should be.

Hannibal tweaked his sensors, "It is 14:30 hours," he replied, "In the vernacular, this would be afternoon, not morning."

"But there is no morning in space," Conway answered, smiling as he did, "Only what we program in," he pushed himself so that his feet were level with the Robots' treads, "And besides," he continued, "I feel like it's morning." Hannibal's sensors tweaked once again as if he were about to comment then stopped,

"I have bought a report from the bridge," he said.

"Serious?" Conway asked, "Couldn't you have piped the message down?" Hannibal's sensors shook,

"I wasn't doing much," he replied, "A robot duties....."

Conway held up his hand and stopped Hannibal from talking, "I know Hannibal," he said, "The computers do everything," he paused, then asked, "So what was the message?"

"At 13:45 we received a coded signal. At 13:50 I deciphered the signal," Hannibal paused, "The main computer deciphered the message at 14:10. I was faster."

Conway frowned, "Stop gloating," he said, "The ship's computers are always busy. What was the signal?"

"In essence it was a homing beacon," Hannibal answered.

"The message was in English?" Conway asked.

Hannibal replied, "Yes. Originally it was a mathematical sequence. The translation then was in English. I did not have to run it through the Computer's Translators."

"Well that makes life interesting," Conway added as they walked towards the exit, "Anything else?"

"It gave the co-ordinates for a planet," the Robot paused, "There was also a single word contained with the co-ordinates."

"What was the word?"

"Trimea."

Conway grunted, "Trimea?" he replied, "Do you have any references to that in your memory banks?"

Hannibal shook his sensors in the negative, "We have plotted a course for the planet," he said, then, "It is the first system that we have encountered since entering the void."

"Well then," Conway replied, "That makes it a good reason to go and visit." Conway paused, "Hannibal?" he asked as the Robot trundled away, "Has anyone christened the planet yet."

"No sir," Hannibal replied, "The general consensus is that the word 'Trimea' refers to the planet."

"My thoughts too."

Trimea was a brilliant blue - green sphere circling a small yellow sun and had a passing resemblance to Earth. So great was this resemblance that several of the crew openly wept at the sight. They had all been away too long. Conway sat in the captain's chair watching the reactions of his crew and smiled. Preliminary reports had already established that the planet could sustain human life. If nothing else they could have shore leave. The system contained three other planets but none held the promise that Trimea did. The Homing Signal still repeated itself. Several attempts at contacting those who had sent the signal had met failure so Conway called for landing party to assemble by the Shuttle at 1700 hours for a quick flight to the planet surface.

The landing party would consist of himself, the Shuttle pilot, Christopher James, Ship's doctor, William Taylor, and three guards. Hannibal, of course, would come along as it was traditional to have a Robot in a landing party. At least that was Hannibal's excuse.

Wryly Conway thought, well if we need soil analysis or are attacked by a giant carrot we'll have Hannibal there to throw into harms way.

As they pulled away from ship the pilot pushed the shuttle into a slow and lazy 360 degree roll over so that all on board could see their mother craft. The Orion was a large blistered cylinder that was showing it's age. She was one of the original Deep Thrust Cruisers and should have been retired a decade or so ago. It had been taken out of the main stream Space Exploration Assignments and relocated to search and locate missions. It would be sent into explored space and search out the remains of earlier expeditions.

Others had the glory work, the Orion was left with the paper work. The Orion was receding into the distance when with out so much as a shudder they entered the planet's atmosphere and descended to the surface.

The exact source of the signal had been located and he had decided to approach it at ground level rather than just dropping into the area from the sky.

Conway knew procedure and had no intention of being mistaken by anyone as a god. He had discussed this with Hannibal who had suggested that a possible reason for there being no answer to their transmissions could be that those on the planet may not be the original senders of the signal but their descendants.

They found themselves following a wide blue river that cut its way through a rugged, heavily forested mountain range. It reminded Conway of his native Tasmania. The Ranges spread out to reveal a wide gentle valley with numerous streams flowing into the river.

Along side the river were the signs of habitation.

"They're cultivated fields down there," called Chris James over the intercom, "And I'm getting readings of a small settlement just over 10 kilometres away."

Dr Taylor said, "Should be visible soon, then.."

Conway nodded then called to James, "What readings are you picking up, Chris? Radio Transmissions? Beacon lights?," he paused and smiled as he asked, "Tribal Drums?"

Dr Taylor laughed, "Very funny."

"Well, Captain, I have visual," Chris James replied, "There are wooden dwellings. The way they're spaced suggests there may be streets. There are some objects I can't decipher and," suddenly he paused, "I don't believe it," again he paused only this time the pause was longer, then, "Sir, I can see a small crowd of people. Readings say humanoid. Captain I'm going to take the shuttle in as close as I can get." There was a long silence and then, "It is!" came the reply, then, "You're not gonna believe what's here. It's unbelievable! I can't believe it."

Taylor sighed, "Ah, I love it when they keep you in suspense." he said sourly.

"Ah, Chris," Conway asked, "Do you think that we can see what you're seeing?" Slowly the window near the Doctor opened and momentarily they were blinded by the outside light. Then, as their vision cleared, they saw what had made their pilot so excited. "I think we've just become famous," Conway gasped, "...Hannibal is that what I think it is?"

Even as Hannibal rattled off all the information Conway knew that he was seeing something from their own history. It stood over two storeys high. It stood upon three legs and was saucer shaped. Years of exposure had left it a dull flat silver colour. There was a small dome on top of it that was flashing regularly. It sat not far from a few small wooden dwelling as well other dwellings made from what appeared to be metal.

Not far from this site stood another vessel though Conway had never seen such a craft. Anyway, his attention was on the saucer.

"Ah Chris," Conway muttered into the intercom, "You are getting this all down on video aren't you?" Excitement occasionally blinded some to their assigned tasks.

"Yes Sir," came the reply.

The Shuttle landed in a cloud of dust and after a few minutes they embarked to be greeted, somewhat cautiously, by a small group of people. They were all obviously humanoids but Conway could see that there were two distinct species here and one was definitely human. Conway stepped forward and called out;

"My name is Stephen Conway, Captain of the Cruiser Orion," he stopped unsure of what to say next, then added, "We come in peace." He thought to himself, how lame.

Taylor leant in towards him and whispered, "At least you didn't say 'take me to your leader."

A tall man with greying brown hair stepped from the group and walked forward. He smiled but even as he did it was obvious that he was ready for trouble. He was, by his manner, a confidant man and one used to taking charge of a situation. A military man. Even as he approached Conway recognised him from old news videos that he had seen at college.

Slowly the man held out his hand and said, "I'm Major Don West, Jupiter Two Pilot, welcome to Trimea."

Sun and Sand.

... The beach at 'Valla' had them both.

As he stood waist deep in the surf Matthew smiled at the thought of staying at 'Valla' forever. He loved this place and took every opportunity to come here.

'Valla' marked the northern most point on their maps. Many years ago the older members of the community had come here and erected a large radio tower that served a dual purpose in being part of their communications network as well as part of the system that broadcast into space the name of their planet. The tower had in the past few weeks ceased to work so he and his parents had travelled here to effect repairs. While his parents toiled at the repairs Matthew used his time to try to contact some old friends. His aunt had told him that he was a special child, talented in powers that most people did not possess.

With that in mind he placed his hands in the surf and called out, not with his voice because he did not have one, but with his mind.

At first nothing happened and a frown formed on his face but then he smiled. They were coming. Far out to sea a pod of whales broke the surface and headed shoreward. Several times the great beasts disappeared beneath the surface only to rise again and crash down into the waves. Silent shouts of joy streamed from his mind and the whales responded in kind. Far up the beach, at a place where the sand gave way to solid rock, stood the tower.

Half way up the tower a man was working at securing several cables to a transmitter. The mind sounds of his son made him look up and smile. His hair was long and he had a large wild beard that was tinged with red. His eyes still held the light of youth and he could not help but feel the joy that his son was experiencing. Matthew was young and being young cared little for the dangers that existed in their world. The man secured his tools and climbed down the tower and walked briskly to where the scrub gave way to the sand.

"Matthew, stay close to shore."

He had to shout for, unlike his son, Will Robinson was not telepathic. He removed his Singlet and trousers and slid into a pair of shorts. The tower was operational now and all that remained was to lock and seal the parts into place so he could afford to rest awhile. He ran down the beach and plunged into the water coming up for air beside his son.

Can you feel them? Matthew questioned.

Will tousled his sons' hair in the same manner as his father had then replied, "You know I can't do that," he paused as some of the larger whales had stopped just metres from them, "Call in the young ones," he said, "But tell the elders that everything's alright."

Matthew smiled and silently three small whales moved in around them. I know them, he thought, they were here the last time. They were a rich dark blue in colour and their eyes moved wildly about in their sockets. They want me to ride them, he thought to his father.

Will shrugged, "I don't think so," he said.

Abruptly the elder whales breached and headed back out to sea. In a fit of excitement the younger whales raced about and then fled to the safety of the deep. Matthew looked southward and pointed. As far as Will could see the sky was empty but the broad grin on his son's face told him all he needed to know. Company was coming.

Matthew beamed loudly, Granddad!

Within a few minutes a small speck had become visible on the horizon. The speck grew till it took on a rough triangular prism shape. It was tall enough and wide enough to carry two men although Matthew thought that it carried only one occupant. This was the Space Pod and was not generally used for short trips to Tower Positions.

"Is it Grandad?" Will asked nervously.

Matthew thought, Ah-ha and he's excited and concerned all at once. Something wonderful has happened.

"Go and call your mother," Will said, "I'll wait for Granddad." Obediently Matthew ran up the beach in search of his mother.

The Pod circled before landing. The rear door opened and a tall pale slim man stepped out. This man was not human. This man was a Tauron. He raised a hand and made a mental greeting. Will Responded by Raising his hand in the same fashion as the man. The two man embraced.

"How are you, Defore?" Will asked, "Is there some trouble back at the Settlement?'

The Tauron replied vocally, "No Trouble Will. We have visitors. Visitors from Earth" he paused and frowned painfully, "They've come to take you home."

* * *