When I opened my eyes, I appeared in a dimly lit alley…dark, cold, and wet. I looked down to see that I was standing, barefoot, right in a puddle…naked. Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea to leave without grabbing a jacket or something…
As I tried to travel through time again, I realized that I couldn't, "Must've used all my energy getting here", I thought to myself. Then I heard a chuckle right above me and as I looked up, I saw a young man sitting on top a pile of crates.
I narrowed my eyebrows, "You like what you see", I said angrily as I placed my hands on my hips. "Trust me, sweetheart, you're not exactly my type", he told me, I lifted a brow at him, "Don't call me that", I said as I looked around the alley, where it was lit, to try and find something to cover me up.
"What are you looking for", the man asked me, "Something to wear", I told him annoyed, "Out of that garbage", he asked.
"Yes", I yelled as I stood straight to look at him, "Do you have any other places I could go look", I asked him.
"Well, there are shops down the block…but in your current state…I wouldn't suggest going there", he told me as I narrowed my eyebrows.
"Here", he said and then threw me his coat, it was long…old looking, but I pulled it on, then buttoned it up and tied the belt.
Then I looked up at the man, "What exactly is it do you want", I asked him, "I'm just being a decent human being…is that so hard to believe", he told me, and I lifted a brow at him.
"Who are you", I asked him, "Tim Vale and you", he asked me, "…I don't have one", I told him and this time he lifted a brow at me.
Suddenly we heard hollering coming from around the corner, we looked at each other before running towards the noise as Tim slid down the box of crates.
"Did you see that", "That was amazing", "It was like a shooting star", we heard voices say all around us as Tim and I shoved our way through the crowd. Once we stopped at the end of the bridge we saw a bright green light sparkling at the far on the edge of the ocean and at the far distance you could see outer space.
"What is this place", I asked breathlessly as I glanced around a futuristic Victorian city, "Welcome to Planar Terra or what the locals call, "Flat Earth", Tim told me.
"What do you mean by "flat" …. are you telling me this is just a flat island floating through space", I asked him.
"Not exactly…there's the engines that keep it flying through space and the dome to keep the atmosphere as closely resembling to earth as it can", Tim told me.
"And what do they use this place for", I asked as I saw an alien family walk by, "Everything…homes, farming, trading, building weapons, and…", he said as he turned me around as I narrowed my eyebrows.
That is until I looked up and saw all sorts of different ships flying above us, "A space station", he told me.
I looked back at him, "You want to go after that green light", I asked him, Tim just stuffed his hands in his pocket and smiled, "…And you want me to go with you?"
"Sure…why not, but there's a catch", he told me, "What", I asked, "We need to gather a crew to come along and…we need a ship", Tim told me.
I glanced back at the ships, "We may need to steal one", I said quietly, "What was that", he asked me, "Nothing! How about I get some actual clothes…instead of just a jacket covering my body and then we can go about getting a ship and crew", I told him.
Later, we were able to find a shop that sold some cheap clothing, I was able to find a corset, arm bands, pants, and boots. For whatever reason Tim wanted me to get some sort of swashbuckler hat with mechanical goggle wrapped around it…I mean they looked nice so…I decided to get it.
After I was done putting my clothes, boots, and hat on I noticed right outside that Tim was surrounded by a group of people, I narrowed my brows as I walked out.
"Um…Tim? Who are all these people", I asked as I pointed at the group, "Oh this", he said as he gestured to the diverse group, "Is our crew…they were all I could find cheap", he told me.
"No…it's fine, but...we still need a ship", I told him, "That's taken care of…because they actually come with their own ship", Tim told me.
"And it comes with their own Captain", one of the crew members told me, "Oh…I was under the impression we were getting our own", I asked Tim annoyed.
"Well…I heard what you said under your breath earlier and you were right…we need to steal a ship to go where we need to go since no other ship is willing to take the risk to go there", he told me.
"Why", I asked him, "It's cursed ma'am", "Yeah, but it has treasure", two of our crew members told me.
"The people here think it's cursed, the green light is seen as some kind of omen…and others think it'll have treasure and there are those who think it's some sort of passage", he told me.
"A passage to what", I asked Tim and he seemed pleased when I said this, but he shrugged.
"Okay…but how are we going to go about stealing this ship that your all employed to…we need some sort of- ", "Disguise…it's already handled", Tim told me, cutting me off.
"Okay…then let's head off to the ship", I said, "Aye, Captain", the crew told me, and I was a bit surprised at this, "Captain", I asked Tim as we all began walking to the ship.
"Yeah…thought you'd appreciate that", he told me, "Why do you want me to be Captain", I asked him, "So I can be your first mate", he told me, and I lifted a brow at that.
Then I sighed…I just agreed to steal a ship with a man and crew that I hardly knew…am I making-
"I think I found a name for you", Tim told me as he interrupted my thought, "Oh, yeah? And what's that", I asked him.
"The Pirate", he told me, "Hmm…I like it…I think I'll keep it", I told him, and he just smiled knowingly, which confused me.
When we arrived, Tim was quick to snatch my hat off, take off the goggles, hand them to me as he hid my hat in a bag I just noticed he was carrying.
Our Captain appeared, and she didn't seem all that pleased to see us, "So…this is my crew…they don't look that impressive Mister Vale", the Captain told us and then I looked over at Tim with narrowed brows.
"I know ma'am and it took me a while to find them…I even found you a technician…she's very good at fixing machines", Tim told the Captain as I gave him a look.
How did he know I was good with machines? Something told me he had all this planned…what was so important about that green light? A "passage" …
After we got settled, we all secretly figured out a plan that once we got close enough to the green light we would take over the ship, but for now we had to play our parts.
When I went down into the engine room just as we were about to take off, I found a couple of children hiding behind some machinery who were playing a bit of hide and seek with me.
At first, they seemed frightened when I found them, "Please, don't send us back", "Please", they told me as I studied them. They were a boy and a girl; the boy had a mechanical arm and the girl had a mechanical eye that could scan any area. Which explained how they knew I was there and where I was.
"How did you guys get in here", I asked them, "We were able to climb through one of the vents", the boy told me frightened.
"Ah…well it's a good thing we didn't take off right away", I told them, "Why are you running away?"
"Were just getting away from a difficult situation", the girl told me, and I knelt in front of them, "I understand…I know a thing or two about getting away from a difficult situation", I told them honestly and then looked at both of their faces.
I sighed, "Fine...you can stay here, but stay hidden…if any of them knew you were here- ", "Don't worry we will", "And thank you", they both told me.
"What's your names", I asked them, "My name's Wendy and he's Peter", the girl told me, and I lifted a brow at them as "Peter" said, "Y-Yeah!"
There must've been a reason they were hiding their names from me but decided not to ask them about it and instead kid with them a little.
"Okay "Darlings", soon we'll head to the star to the right and straight on to morning", I told them and they gulped, but I just smiled playfully as they sighed in relief. For some reason they reminded me of my or "they're" brother and sister.
I sighed as I fix a crack in the machinery and when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, I told the kids to quickly hide. As they did, I watched as Tim walked up to me and I looked away as I pulled down my goggles as I tried fixing a crack on one of the machines.
Soon I realized the crack wasn't going away anytime soon I placed the torch down, pulled my goggles up, and glared at Tim.
"Is there anybody down here with you", he asked me, "No", I told him, and he gave me a look, before he nodded.
"I know what you must be thinking- ", "That you can't be trusted? Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking", I told him cutting him off.
"No…but this situation is already in place and it's only temporary…and quite frankly I'm hurt…you don't trust me", he asked me, and I didn't know if he was joking.
"I don't know and that's the problem…how am I supposed to trust you with "this" if I can't trust you", I told him.
"So…I didn't tell you I worked with the Captain", he told me with a shrug, "And there's this whole…vibe about you…something is off, and I will get to the bottom of it", I told him with narrowed brows.
"I look forward to when you do", Tim told me with a smirk, "There's something I want you to see", he told me as he dragged me to the top deck, just as we were about to "set sail" on open space.
The crew were running about tying ropes and pulling up a metal sail all the way to the top of the of the pole while others were pulling lever, pressing buttons, and making sure the levels for take off were good.
The a light shot up the pole and flowed through the metal sail and you could hear the engines going as a clear air-like sphere surrounded us, then the "air" seemed to pull on the metal sail and we slowly began to rise. I had to hold onto something as I watched us go higher and higher as the stars and galaxies became more and more clear.
Honestly it took my breath away, once I saw the Captain I quickly hid and that's when Tim came up to me, "What are you doing", he asked me.
"Nothing", I replied as I took a quick glance at the Captain and then looked back at Tim who gave me an amused look, "I'm just going to go back to the engine room", I told him, before tip-toeing to the staircase.
"Miss June", I heard the Captain yell and somehow I knew she was talking to me, "Miss June", I wondered as I turned around.
I smiled up at her feigning confidence, "...I will allow you to come on board, but you need to go right back to work...do you understand", she asked me.
I nodded knowingly, I assumed she wanted me to fix the crack on one of the engines, "Yes Ma'am", I told her and then descended down the stairs.
Later, I set up beds for them down in the engine room since I knew they couldn't leave if they didn't want to be seen and brought them food as well. I had to make sure I hid each time I saw someone and hoped I wasn't seen, which I think I wasn't as I ducked into the engine room just as I saw Tim at the corner of my eye.
First day, in open space as we "sailed" towards the green light and everything has already changed…this must be what it's like for Acacia…or Voyager. As I tried to fix the crack on one of the main engines with a torch as the kids slept on the other side of the room I wondered what other things were going to happen.
