She's new in town
Jim Hawkins finally seemed to have luck on his side. After the Treasure Planet voyage, things just seemed to go his way. The law-enforcement androids, or "copper Coppers" as the locals called them, gave him back his precious solar surfer. His mother rebuilt the Benbow Inn twice as grand as it was before. Captain Amelia- now Amelia Doppler- even managed to get him a full scholarship to the Interstellar Academy. A free ride at one of the most prestigious universities in the galaxy!
Unfortunately, the Academy didn't admit students under the age of eighteen. Having just turned sixteen, Jim was still stuck on Montressor for two years. Not that he minded much. Montressor was his home, however dull it may be. Plus, it boasted some of the best solar surfing terrain on that side of the Lagoon Nebula!
It seemed that was all he did anymore. During the day, he would help his mother Sarah around the Inn, waiting tables and doing dishes. But during slow times at the Inn, he would shoot off into the sky and soar through the clouds for hours on end. This was one such day. It was just past six o'clock, and there were only two patrons at the Benbow.
"I can manage this, honey," Sarah said to her son. "Go on, go do something!"
"Alright, mom!" Jim grinned and snapped up his coat. "Hey, Morph! Where are ya, Morphy?" Instantly, Jim's small, pink companion appeared at his side. "Ya wanna go for a ride, Morph?" the boy asked. Morph chattered with excitement and dove into Jim's coat pocket. Jim laughed. "Bye mom!"
"Don't stay out too late! Love you!" Sarah called after her son.
"Yeah, yeah! Love you bye!" Jim burst out of the Benbow Inn and barreled towards the garage where he kept his solar surfer. He threw the doors open and dragged the bronze and solar sail machine into the Montressor sunlight. "Ya ready, Morph?" With a deep breath, Jim leapt onto his solar surfer and took to the sky. He zipped around the roof of the Inn twice before shooting straight up in the air, right into a cloud. He let out a whoop of joy as he burst through the cloud and steered his solar surfer even higher. This high up, oxygen was pretty thin. Once he decided it was too hard to breathe, he plummeted back groundward. As he spun around and around, images of the surrounding terrain flashed before his eyes. The cliffs to the east, red in the afternoon sun. The mountains to the north. The girl sitting on top of an abandoned mineshaft- wait, what?
Jim stopped his solar surfer abruptly. So fast, in fact, that the momentum threw Morph right out of Jim's pocket! The little creature chattered angrily and flew over to Jim's face. On said face was an expression of confusion. Jim knew practically everyone in the area, and certainly everyone around his age. But the girl near the abandoned mine was unfamiliar to him. Who could she be, and why was she here? Jim flew down closer to the mine.
"Hey," he called out to the girl. She turned to look at him.
"Hey yourself." She called back.
"You visiting?" Jim asked as he landed. She shook her head.
"Naw, just moved. You a local?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"You're pretty good on that solar surfer." She noted.
"What? How did you-"
"I could see you flying around up there. Kind of hard to miss!" She laughed. Jim smiled.
"I'm Jim, by the way." He said, sitting down next to her. "Jim Hawkins." She stuck out her hand.
"Fee Driscoll. You wouldn't happen to be the Jim Hawkins…" she began.
"…Who found Treasure Planet. Yep. That's me." He took her hand and shook it.
"A spacer, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm not bad either. You?"
"Uh-huh. I've actually got a spot at the Interstellar Academy!" Jim's jaw dropped a bit. Her too?
"No way!" he laughed.
"What? Why's that funny?" Fee looked puzzled.
"It's just that… well, I do too! I got a full scholarship after I got back from Treasure Planet!" They both laughed.
"Really? Cuz I got a scholarship too! I went on a voyage a few months ago, and the captain managed to get me an all-expenses paid ticket in!" She busted up.
"It's a small universe after all, eh?" Jim looked Fee straight on. She was decent looking, with big green eyes and tawny hair. Being a teenage boy, her pretty face distracted him for a moment.
"So, why'd you move here, anyway?" he coughed, after a moment of awkward silence. "All Montressor's got is purp farms and crystal mines." He asked. Fee shrugged.
"Dad got a job here. Much better pay than his last one, so we moved. I gotta say, I like it here a lot more than I liked our old home." She chortled.
"Oh yeah? Where you from?" Jim asked.
"Du Lune. A run down backwater planet with a serious gang problem." She noted. Jim laughed.
"Man, I never thought Montressor would be a step up on the class scale!" he chuckled. Fee cracked a smile.
Morph chose that exact moment to pop out of Jim's coat pocket and zoom around Fee's head a bit. She yelped in surprise.
"Woah! What is that?" she swatted at the flying pink blob.
"Aw, that's just Morph!" Jim grabbed the little creature from the air and held him out to Fee. "He's harmless. Really, see?" Gingerly, Morph flew from Jim's outstretched palm to Fee's. After studying the girl's face for a second- poof! He turned into an exact replica of her, right down to her doe-like green eyes.
"Oh!" she giggled. "That's… adorable!" she poked the mini-her on the forehead, making Morph turn back into his usual gelatinous self.
"Adorable! Adorable!" he mimicked.
"Aww! Aren't you just the cutest thing!" the girl cooed, as Morph nuzzled her cheek.
"I think he likes you!" Jim sniggered a bit. He glanced up at the sky. "Oh hey, it's getting dark." He stood and picked up his solar surfer. "Here, Morph!" he glanced back at Fee. "You need a ride?" he asked. She furrowed her eyebrows.
"What, on your solar surfer?" she asked.
"Yeah, c'mon! It's fun!" he encouraged. Morph chattered happily, glancing from one teen to the other. Fee smiled.
"Sure, ok!" she jumped on the back of the solar surfer.
"Hold on tight!" Jim yelped.
"To what-Aaaaaaahhhh!" she desperately grabbed onto the back of Jim's coat as they took off. "Is it safe to go this fast?" she shouted over the howling wind.
"Safe? Probably not! Fun? Oh yeah!" Jim yelled back. "Woo-hoo!" he steered the solar surfer groundward, Fee screaming all the way. "Just forget about being afraid and enjoy it!"
Enjoy it? Fee was beginning to think he was insane. But she pried her eyes open anyway and tried to not pass out. Once she got past the fear of falling a thousand feet to a grisly and painful death, it really was fun! She felt free. Light as a feather. Over the sounds of the wind rushing in her ears, Jim called to her.
"What was that?" she asked.
"I said, where do you live?" They were circling the small town.
"Oh- right there!" She pointed to a small, well-kempt house on the outskirts of the town.
"Right!" Jim swooped down to it. Two feet of the ground, Fee jumped down.
"See? What'd I tell you? Fun, right?" Jim followed.
"If that's your idea of fun, there must be something wrong with you. But there must be something wrong with me too, because that was awesome!" she crowed. Jim's face lit up.
"Yeah!" they both laughed.
"So, uh… see you soon?" Fee asked, her hand on the house's doorknob.
"Yeah, definitely. Um- I live up at the Benbow Inn, so…"
"I'll stop in sometime." She smiled. "Bye!"
"Bye." Jim replied. Morph mimicked them both.
"Bye bye!" he chirped. "Bye bye!"
"Awww, goodbye to you too, little guy!" Fee cooed. "And, um… thanks for the ride." She smiled and opened the door.
"Hey, no problem." Jim smiled back. With that, he took off on his solar surfer and she stepped inside. As he flew back home, a strange thought occurred to him. He's never, ever let anyone on his solar surfer before.