Chapter 1
Beginnings and Boarding Schools
A calm breeze swept through the streets, sending a woman's skirt in a flurry and ruffling a man's hair. It continued its quest, carrying a store owner's booming voice as the sound waves eventually dissipated. A tree stretched its limbs in longing as the breeze rustled its leaves and tumbled over its branches taking flight once more as it slipped through an iron wrought fence toward a particularly drab building.
In the end the gust of wind split and parted ways. A portion of it swiveled toward a group of teenagers laughing and conversing, without a care in the world. The other portion of wind meandered toward an open window where a young girl sat with a crease upon her brow.
The tip of a pencil tapped against a flat piece of parchment anxiously awaiting its master's orders. At last the girl set the pencil aside as she stared at her blank paper.
For a moment she wished the bland color would swallow her up and she'd be lost in a world completely devoid of any emotion. She sighed, knowing such a thing could not possibly be.
A small gust of wind slipped through her window rustling her straight, brown hair and sending her paper somersaulting to the other side of the room. She did not get up to retrieve it, however. For a while she sat staring out the window as sunlight trickled in and fell upon her face illuminating her bright green eyes and pursed lips.
Her mind wandered as her gaze fixed itself on the sky. Oh how she longed to take off into the stars and be free from the prison of Haney's Boarding School. She was not sure how long she sat in such a dreamy state only that she was interrupted by a shriek coming from one of the girls on the lawn.
To block out the squeals of laughter, the girl slowly closed her window and was halfway through gathering her papers when a bell echoed in the halls of the school.
The kids outside leapt to their feet, determined to be the first in line for lunch. The brown haired girl, Alice, did not rush off like the others. Her stomach clenched again. She was used to this sort of routine. She had become accustomed to being the last in line: the ever persistent shadow in the background, ever since she had learned to speak.
After she was sure no more kids would be lining up for their lunches, Alice slipped out of her room and headed toward the cafeteria.
She passed other students on the way there, but they took little notice of her. Alice was glad they didn't. She enjoyed turning herself invisible; it meant that she did not have to put up an effort to defend herself from the usual round of insults fired her way.
Indeed, she was not liked by many in her boarding school. Only few seriously bothered her. Others simply gravitated away from her, scared to approach the freak.
Though, freak was hardly the word to describe her.
Alice couldn't understand at first what she had done to be labeled a nuisance. From an early age she was quieter than the others, finding it difficult to be open with the kids around her who were much older. As she matured she began to understand the other kids' point of view. Her planet, Hora, had a well-balanced economy of producing textiles and expensive fabrics.
In short Hora was wealthy. Women wore pretty dresses and attended cocktail parties, cooked, cleaned, and nurtured their babies while the men went off to work for a day. It was a very traditional society, one that Alice had never enjoyed. In an attempt to educate teenagers and keep their obnoxious behaviors away from the pristine mansions they called 'homes', parents would send their children to Haney's Boarding School; for Alice the school was her long-term residence.
She had been living at the school since she was a baby but it had never felt truly like home. Alice did not know who were parents were or why she had been mysteriously dropped off on the doorstep of such a prestigious school. Nothing was certain to her except life contained inside the walls of the building.
She became quiet, reserved, and introverted. She kept to herself so as not to attract attention, but it was because of this shy trait that Alice attracted the most attention.
The kids in the school were focused more on rebelling against the uptight society they found themselves in. It became a game to see who could upset the staff members the most and get sent back to their petty lifestyles first. They were boisterous and loud, constantly talking about their family's wealth or simply trying to be as outgoing as they could: the more friends the merrier. It never mattered who they were laughing with, so long as they were laughing with somebody and gathering more attention.
This was exactly why Alice stood out among them. She observed them but was never part of them. Her clothing was simple, her family unknown, her face plain and her hair unadorned.
Alice had no family ties, no rich mother or father sending her to the school for a better upbringing. For all Alice knew, her parents were dead. Mr. Lewis, the dean of the school, had explained to her that they had found her as a baby on the doorstep of the school with a note attached that depicted one word: her name, Alice.
They could not just sit back and do nothing for the abandoned child, so they took her in and nurtured her. All of Alice's memories were of her life at Haney's Boarding School. She was largely sheltered from the world outside its walls. In fact, the universe beyond her planet seemed like something out of a fantasy fiction novel.
As much as she dreamed of freedom, Alice was terrified of taking the first step out the door. Not that she could, of course. She was stuck in the school until she was old enough to begin supporting herself, but even then she believed she'd become the next kitchen maid for them so she'd never leave.
It pained her to think about the true madness of her situation, but she didn't let it linger for long. She kept her mind active by extensive reading which eventually pointed her in the direction of creative writing. At first all of her characters were bland and quite flat, but as time went on they became more attention-grabbing and imaginative as did the power of her mind.
These thoughts rolled around in Alice's head, but she pushed them away as she approached the back of the near empty line and was handed her meal.
She walked over to a vacant table and sat down, tuning in to the chatter of teenagers around her. There were many different groups and ethnicities, some human and some an alien hybrid breed. Alice scanned the crowd silently observing everyone. Her vocal chords went unused through the hour with the exception of being directly addressed by two girls and a boy.
"So I hear you're the quiet one," the boy smirked, sitting down next to her. Alice looked at him but did not speak. It seemed as if she was unable to utter a sound.
"You don't talk much," one of the girls snorted. She had dark black hair and strange pale green skin. Alice shrugged.
"I don't have much to say," she admitted quietly.
"Be loud and proud girl! Stop this boring sulking at least and join our table," the other girl grinned, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. Alice snuck a peak over at their table. She wrinkled her nose, but kept her mouth tightlipped. The boy groaned and stood up.
"She ain't gonna talk. Come on," he grumbled shooting Alice a look of annoyance as they headed back to their own table. Alice sighed. Surely she'd find a person like her someday, wouldn't she?
Her eyes watered.
Wouldn't she?
"So you're quiet Alice?" Alice looked up, startled out of the book she had in her lap. It was another lazy afternoon and Alice had retired to the library as she often did on such days.
The girl before her sneered.
"Where are your parents, doll?" Alice took a nervous swallow. She wasn't picked on a lot, but occasionally some student would take an interest in harassing the quiet girl for attention.
"I don't know where my parents are," Alice responded when the girl suddenly snatched the book out of Alice's hands.
"Maybe we should start calling you orphan Alice," the girl snickered. "Penniless, quiet, deranged freak!" she spat. Alice cringed as she wrapped her arms around her as if to protect herself from the insults. "Got any friends? Oh wait, no you don't."
"Please stop," Alice begged.
"Did I actually hear a word come out of you?" the girl gasped in mock surprise. Alice noticed the girl glance at a boy doing his homework across the room when it dawned on her. The girl was seeking attention and approval from the boy.
Alice yelped when the girl pinched her ear and yanked her forward.
"Do you even have ears? Can you even hear what I'm saying?" Alice figured it was best to stay quiet. The boy had looked up at Alice's shriek and was watching the scene in interest. The girl smirked. "You're such a loser." With those final words the girl strutted over toward the boy and immediately began an animated conversation with him while Alice rubbed her ear.
"Alice?" The young girl looked up again in quiet dread, thinking it was the girl coming back to mock her once more. To her surprise, however, it was the librarian Miss Oaks. The woman was old and grey and wore her half-moon spectacles on the bridge of her nose. "The principal would like to see you."
Alice's heart nearly leapt up into her throat. Had she done something wrong? Why did the principal wish to see her? With her heart thundering in her chest, Alice rose to her feet and followed Miss Oaks out of the library and down the halls, up flights of stairs, and through corridors that she had never seen before possibly because it was the teachers' quarters.
At last the two stopped in front of an enormous, wooden walnut door. A gold plaque nailed to the door gave Alice the information she needed.
Principal.
Biting her lip in silent resignation, Alice was pushed into the forbidden room by Miss Oaks.
"I brought Alice, Mr. Haney," Miss Oaks said as she sat Alice down in a seat in front of the glossy desk before them.
Alice bit her lip as a high-backed black chair swiveled around behind the desk so that Alice could look upon her principal fully. She had seen him around on occasion as he talked to kids in the hall and visited classrooms to see how everything was coming along, but Alice had never been so close to him before. In fact, she had truly believed he didn't know she existed until now.
"Thank you, Miss Oaks, you may leave now," Mr. Haney nodded and the librarian left the room leaving the two in silence. For a while Alice observed her principal in the quiet of the office. He was a tall man, who had on a sharp, clean suit. His hair was cropped short, but styled in a perfect shape. There was not one hair out of line. Alice came to the rather hasty conclusion that he was quite the perfectionist and after taking a cursory glance around the precisely ordered room she confirmed her logical guess.
At last the man opened his mouth.
"Something quite recently has been brought to my attention, Alice." The young girl said nothing, too scared to even make eye contact. "In all of your studies here at our delightful school –" (Alice could think of several different words to describe the school, none of them being synonyms of delightful.) "– have you ever heard of a planet called Montressor?"
Alice's brow creased. What was he getting at? After a few moments she swallowed back her original alarm.
"Yes, Sir. Is it the small mining planet nearby?"
"Indeed it is, but perhaps the word mining is too uplifting. It's more of a small wasteland if you ask me." Mr. Haney sniffed as he adjusted his tie. "The people there are quite barbaric. They have not been blessed with an elite society such as ourselves."
Alice did not enjoy planet Hora's culture at all, but it did sound better than the word 'barbaric'.
"Anyway, I have lately received word from one of my old friends," Mr. Haney continued, though the contempt was obvious in his voice. Alice had no doubt his friend was more of an acquaintance rarely discussed. "His name is Doctor Delbert Doppler. He lives on the mining planet of Montressor and wastes away his time studying the stars. He's an astrophysicist of course," Mr. Haney added as an afterthought.
"What does Mr. Doppler have to do with me?" Alice asked, tilting her head a bit to the right.
"It has come to my attention that he is funding an expedition to a legendary trove called Treasure Planet." Alice's eyes went wide.
"The Loot of A Thousand Worlds?" she gasped. Alice had been fond of the myth since she was a child and still read the story every now and then.
"Yes. A rumor is afoot that a young man named Jim Hawkins discovered the map. I, of course, refuse to believe that such a map exists and that it landed in Doppler's lap so easily, but nonetheless it is a voyage that has come at a very opportune moment," Mr. Haney sighed, looking at Alice across the desk. "I sent him a letter and after a few days he replied. Tomorrow morning, Alice, you are to take a space ferry to Montressor Spaceport, otherwise known as Crescentia, and meet Doctor Doppler on the pier," he concluded.
Alice's jaw hung open in amazement.
"You're going to send me on a voyage to a legendary planet?" she asked, digesting the words he just spoken.
"Oh tosh, don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows this whole thing is just a fairytale, but yes you are going on the voyage," he replied. Before Alice could speak again, however, he continued. "To be frank, Alice, you do not belong at this school and you do not belong to any of the parents that help support this school. For a while now I have been puzzling over what to do with you. At last I decided that a voyage, however fantastical it may be, is still a chance for you to come to terms with the world beyond this one and to discover yourself."
Alice felt a flood of emotions hit her all at once. Excitement, terror, sadness, and anger. She was excited to finally be able to explore the world she'd always dreamed of. Terrified, because the only things she had ever known were the walls keeping her locked inside Haney's Boarding School. Sadness, because she did not yet belong anywhere, and anger because Mr. Haney seemed to treat her like an inanimate object to be passed around.
For a long time Alice said nothing.
"Will I be expected to know what I'm doing? I've never been on a ship before," she choked out, sorting through her feelings at last. Excitement was the most evident and seemed to wash away her apprehension for a short while.
"You'll probably be handed a rank as cabin boy, or in this case girl. You'll learn along the way," Mr. Haney assured her. Alice nodded in understanding.
"I suppose venturing to a secret treasure trove isn't so bad," she smiled. The reality of her situation was beginning to dawn on Alice. Not only would she finally learn to sail, but she'd be living and breathing a real adventure just like all of the ones in her storybooks!
"Very good. Here is your ticket. Mr. Lewis, the dean, will escort you to the pier at the crack of dawn to catch a ferry to Crescentia, otherwise known as Montressor Spaceport. From there you shall meet Doppler and Hawkins near their own ferry: Montressor Express. They'll escort you to the ship. Be up and ready by then. I suggest taking the rest of the day off to pack, Alice," Mr. Haney concluded, handing Alice a ticket. She took it with a sense of glee and cradled it as though it were a block of gold. Knowing where they were going it probably was.
"Thank you, Sir," Alice said appreciatively as she turned and left the room a sense of happiness she had never experienced before washing over her.
Alice had not slept at all the night before. Dreams of gold, ships, stars, and adventure were coursing through her head as well as the names Doctor Doppler and Jim Hawkins. She was shy and underdeveloped in the matter of making friends. What if they didn't like her and sent her back?
She tried to extinguish these thoughts as she dressed for the day pulling on a pair of tan cargo pants and a light blue long sleeved shirt. Once she had taken care of her personal hygiene she grabbed her knapsack filled with everything she would need for her voyage. She was just pulling the bag over her shoulder when a knock came at her door. Alice eagerly flung it open to see Mr. Lewis.
He was short for a human male with messy blonde hair and yellowing teeth. Upon first glance one might be tempted to stay away from him, but when he smiled it was as if a sunflower had just grown in the middle of the room. Alice liked Mr. Lewis out of all of the faculty members at the school. He seemed to be the only one that had ever given her an old man's attention. Although Alice never saw him as a father figure, it was nice to see his smile once in a while and on rare occasions he'd stop to ask what book she was reading.
"Ready to go?" he smiled. Alice returned the expression and nodded as he led her out of her room and down the halls. They walked past students who looked at them oddly, past other dorms, classrooms, and sitting rooms. At last they reached the main entrance hall, but they did not stop there. Alice followed after Mr. Lewis' short strides as they headed down the stone steps and across the lawn toward the gargantuan black gate and sleek walls surrounding the campus.
Mr. Lewis pulled out a ring of keys and as he was unlocking the gate, addressed the fifteen year old girl beside him.
"I hear you're going on your first voyage to the legendary Treasure Planet," he said. Alice, who had been taking one last look at the campus, came back to her senses.
"I suppose so," she replied, her voice its normal quiet. Mr. Lewis smiled as he unlocked the gate and held it open.
"Well when you come back, Alice, I want to hear the whole story," he chuckled as he led Alice through the gate and pulled it shut behind them. Alice blinked in amazement. She was outside. She was actually free from the prison she'd been stuck in for as long as she could remember. Mr. Lewis didn't let her linger long. He waved her forward, leading her down the cobblestoned streets of the town of North Portmore on Planet Hora.
For a long time, Alice felt completely overwhelmed with the change of scenery. She had never seen so many older people so elegantly dressed, nor such vibrant shops or houses.
But the ships! Oh the ships! They were truly magnificent, with enormous wooden masts stretching high into the sky and sails flapping loose, catching the sunlight to power the solar engines. Even their bows were made of pristine mahogany wood that looked as if they could impale an asteroid if they tried.
The ships weren't the only means of transportation, however. Alice was led over to a small rectangular vehicle made of plated steel with a few portholes for windows to see out of. Alice could spot the engines at the back of the space ferry and on each side were three poles about three feet in length jutting out in order to hold the square cloths of the sails that would catch the sunlight used to power the ferry. The vehicle was painted blue and red with the words: Hora Express elegantly inscribed on the side.
"This is your method of transportation then," Mr. Lewis said.
"Thank-you, Mr. Lewis, for everything," was Alice's sincere response. Mr. Lewis just smiled and gave Alice an awkward pat on the back.
"Go on now," he muttered, waving her forward.
The nervous girl handed the ferry driver her ticket as she boarded. He took it without looking as she continued on down the aisle, finally coming to an empty seat next to a small circular window.
It still felt quite surreal, and Alice pinched herself a few times as the ferry doors closed and they began to rise. The stars seemed to envelope her like a long forgotten friend as the ferry took off into the sky.
If this was a dream it was the most wonderful dream Alice had ever had.
One Alice would soon realize she'd never wake up from.
A/N: I apologize for all of the confusion with my Sky Sailor Series. As of right now I am in the midst of rewriting the entire first story and editing up all the others! So please read the first book, because (if I do say so myself) it sounds a lot better than it did! Alice and Jim's characters were just…ugh…annoying. I had to start rewriting it. I realized all my characters' emotions were terrible, and I really didn't dive into some relationships as well as I should have.
As for my character Alice…let's just say she entered a world of renovation. So now she is sort of remodeled to make more sense and her personality isn't different in every book.
Okay cool stuff! So if any of you would review and give me feedback it'd be greatly appreciated, especially if you see something that doesn't make much sense. Cool stuff. A hearty thanks to you all! :D