Treasure Planet: The Last Seed
Chapter One
A dash of blue painted a streak in the darkest corner of the sky. James Pleiades Hawkins watched intently through his telescope in the newly constructed observatory in the top of the Benbow. What joy he found in watching the galaxies, not to mention, being up there with them, and sailing in them. It was such a great freedom compared to solar surfing. Now being something in his blood, he couldn't leave it alone; he couldn't get enough of traveling from planet to planet. Although, he'd most likely not admit to the fact that it had become an empty addiction. The occasional map or treasure that he'd find was, of course, a thrill and rush through the veins. But, it seemed in the pages of his life that there was a part gone unwritten, a page or two skipped. But, so is life, it goes on. It had been a year and two months since he was given the privilege of becoming a cadet, he was happy to be able to visit with his Mother at the Inn for awhile away from missions and that sort of thing. As usual, he was totally submersed in one of his current finds. Pulling his attention away from the telescope for a moment, Jim looked over the ever-puzzling riddle.
"For those you love and hold so dear," He read the almost antique looking piece of paper, "In this Utopia, I shall hold the spear." The calligraphy was written out in red ink, "Corin's spear." He pondered aloud, brushing his finger under his nose, quickly reading over the poetic hint twice more, "Utopia…" He mumbled, looking away for a moment.
"Utopia…" The little floating, pink blob next to his head echoed quickly, with its munchkin imitation of Jim's voice.
"What does it mean, Morph?" Jim distracted himself for a moment, "What does it mean?"
Morph shrugged in his adorable fashion, looking from Jim back to the paper. A slight thud was heard just outside. Being well into the evening, no one else was up. Jim briskly walked out of his room, tossing on a jacket.
"Jim?" A woman's voice said behind him.
"Sorry Mom, it's important, I've gotta go!" He said quickly, half out the door.
"You and I have to take inventory tonight, you promised." She reminded him.
He flung his head back, "Oh right! I'll be back in a while."
"Alright." She smiled, proud of her boy, "I'll be waiting."
Morph followed closely behind as Jim rushed into the large scrap metal field to find whatever it was he thought he was looking for. Yes! There it sat, slightly lodged into the moist ground. It was in somewhat
of a starburst shape, it looked weighty and it was several inches taller than him. Placing his finger on it, he flinched, it was very cold to the touch. However, the contents contained within it weren't very visible, it was frosted within. There was only a shadow of something that lay inside.
"What are you?" He said, sort-of leaning on the object.
Rubbing his palms together, stretching his arms out, he readied to really give this big heavy-looking crystal the best he's got to get it out of the ground. Straining his muscles, he pulled up and the blue object went flying, it was lighter than he'd calculated after all. Falling on his back, he gave a currently laughing Morph an irritated glare.
"A little help would be nice, you know." He said, getting back on his feet. Jim picked up the feathery item and took it back to the Inn.
Jim sat the blue crystal against one of his walls, he was going to study and observe it for a few days.
"Jim?" Sarah, his mother, entered the room.
Smacking his hand to his forehead, he ran his hand through his hair and down to the ponytail he'd let grow back out, "I'm sorry Mom! I forgot! Inventory."
Although feeling a little put off, Sarah smiled at her boy, "It's okay, we'll just do it tomorrow." She patted his shoulder and cheek, "It's just good to have you with me." She looked over at the crystal, "What's that?"
"I found it." He replied, taking a pride in himself, "Delbert is going to be so jealous!"
Sarah laughed at first, "Well, don't worry yourself over all of these 'findings.'" She said, a stressed look overcame her briefly, "Honey, you need to take a break."
"Mom, stop it. Don't worry about me so much." If one thing was certain, Jim did not like it when people worried about him. Even if he appreciated their concern, being worried for Jim was, in effect, not a good idea. Especially if he was agitated.
The more than concerned Mother placed a hand back on her son's cheek, "James, it's not you, it's me. You know, I won't be around forever."
"Geez Mom!!" Jim said, uncomfortable with the idea, "Don't start talking like that!"
"I'm sorry. It's just…" She sighed during the pause, "I want to see you happy and… you know… settled down."
"What?" He wasn't sure of where she was going with this.
"I'd at least like to see my grandchildren." She finally confessed.
"Mom…" The annoyance was evident in his voice. So that was where she wanted to take it.
"Well, at least think about it, okay?" She added, knowing he was considering otherwise, "Jim, there are a lot of girls out there, but the right one doesn't just fall out of the sky. If you don't at least try to look now, you may not find someone. And that scares me, the thought of you having to live life alone truly scares me."
"Okay Mom…" His soft spot showed, "I'll think about it. I can't guarantee it'll work, but, okay."
Of course, despite the fact that marriage and a family was less than the last thing he wanted to think about, he'd possibly do it, even if it was just for his Mother's sake. But then his mind would flip back to thinking he'd make a horrible father, and an even worse husband as he recalled how his own parent had treated him. The same blood ran through his veins, what if he wound up just as pathetic as his own Dad? Luckily for him, he didn't dream about the subject that night.
Unfortunately, the next day, when he and his Mother went into town, everywhere they went it seemed everybody had somebody. Whenever the subject is prevalent in the mind, that's usually how it is. Jim felt like such a loner. Girls never really noticed him, let alone wanted to talk to him, then again, he had no interest in talking to them. In fact, he couldn't recall a time when a girl he may have thought was somewhat attractive gave him the time of day. So, he spent his time pining away about the projects that lay in his very room, up in the observatory. In his daydream, he didn't realize that he'd bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry." He said, glancing at the tan girl.
"No worries!" She seemed quite gleeful, "Are you lost?"
"No." He replied, then, his Mother's request rang in his mind, and the girl wasn't all that bad looking. Jim opened his mouth to say something, then the girl smiled, grabbing the arm of her alien boyfriend and said, "Okay then!" Her boyfriend gave Jim quite the unappreciative glare. With a sigh, Jim sank back into daydreams once more. Finally, his Mother was finished and they could head back to the Inn.
As soon as they got there, Sarah reminded her boy, "Tonight, inventory."
"Yeah, I remember. I'll be in the observatory!" He went back into his room, beaming with excitement. Morph tried to joke around with him, but, Jim was lost in his world. It became late in the evening again.
"Jim!! Are you coming?" His Mother shouted.
Jim looked over at Morph, "Tell her I'll be down in a few." Morph saluted him and headed out the door.
A few minutes more passed by, "Okay, I've had enough." Jim said, pushing his work aside. He got up and took one last glance at the now room temperature crystal. Making a sound of curiosity, he turned to exit the room, placing his hand on the door knob. He halted at the sound of cracking glass. He looked over his shoulder to find that his new and cherished blue crystal was breaking.
"No no no!" He hurried to go to it. At that, the top front of the crystal shattered.
"Jim!" He heard his Mother in the background.
"Be right down!" Jim called without taking his eyes off the half broken crystal. Slowly, with caution he moved towards the accident, the icy frost met with the normal temperature, steam-like clouds rolled out of the crystal. When, finally, what seemed to be a head peeked out from the crystal. As the steam dispersed, he was able to make out exactly what the unknown was.