Treasure Planet: One Love

Chapter One: Jim

I sat in the rigging, taking calm breaths and feeling the light breeze blow through my hair. Long and very black, it never cooperated in a ponytail, so I just left it down. It was getting in my eyes. I angrily gathered the clumps into my hands and forced them behind my head and into a hair band. That's when I saw him.

He was so handsome. He would have been a couple inches taller than me, maybe a little more. Half his hair was cropped into messy bangs that swayed back and forth across his brown eyes. The other half was gathered into a thin braid. A little gold hoop adorned his left earlobe.

A few minutes later, I saw Captain Amelia introducing herself to the boy, and a man wearing a weird yellow space suit. Amelia beckoned for me to come over. I quickly jumped down and stood beside her. She and I had been close friends for almost as long as I could remember. She had practically raised me, ever since my mother died.

The boy gave me a little smile when our eyes met. I smiled back.

Amelia moved to the man wearing the space suit and squinted.

"Ah…Dr. Delbert Doppler, I presume," she said. "I'm Captain Amelia, late of a few run-ins with the Protan Armada, nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars. You've met my first officer, Mr. Arrow," she gestured at the first mate, who was tall and wore a bright red-and-gold uniform.

Then she gestured to me. "This is Lia," she said, nudging me forward a little. "She works aboard the ship."

Delbert cleared his throat, "Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but may I introduce to you Jim Hawkins?" I smiled when I heard his name. "Jim, you see, is the boy found the treasure m-"

"Doctor, please!" Amelia cut him off by forcing his mouth shut. "I'd like a word with you in my stateroom."

Once the door was locked in Amelia's stateroom, she began, "Doctor, to muse and blabber about a treasure map in front of this particular crew demonstrates a level of ineptitude, which borders on the imbecilic, and I mean that in a very caring way."

"Imbecilic, did you say? Foolishness, I-" Delbert began.

"May I see the map, please?" Amelia cut him off.

Jim reluctantly pulled a gold sphere out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to the Captain. She looked at it with interest in her eyes, and then locked it into a cabinet.

"Mr. Hawkins, in the future, you will address me as Captain or Ma'am. Is that clear?" Amelia glared at Jim. When he didn't answer, she put on a threatening tone, "Mr. Hawkins…"

"Yes, Ma'am," Jim replied.

"That'll do," she said. "Gentlemen, this must be kept under lock and key when not in use, and Doctor, again, with the greatest possible respect…zip your howling screamer!"

"Captain," Delbert looked noble, "I assure you I will-"

"Let me make this as…monosyllabic as possible: I…don't much care for this crew you hired. They are…how did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee."

Arrow replied, "A ludicrous parcel of driveling galloots, Ma'am," he tipped his hat.

"There you go, poetry," Amelia smiled.

"Now, see here-" Delbert said angrily.

"Doctor, I'd love to chat," Amelia cut him off yet again, "Tea, cake, the whole shebang, but I have a ship to launch, and you've got your outfit to buff up."

"Mr. Arrow and Miss Lia, please escort these two neophytes down to the galley straightaway. Young Hawkins will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."

"W-what, the cook?!" Jim blurted out in surprise.

Without another word, Arrow and I led Jim and Delbert down to the galley, where Silver worked. Silver was a good friend of mine. As soon as he saw me approaching, he swept into a deep bow. I quickly spoke up,

"I was just here to escort them. I'll be out on deck, watching the launch." I left quickly, being careful not to glance back at Jim.

When I got back on deck, I immediately went up to the rigging and climbed up. The ship would be launching soon, and I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. All of a sudden, however, my foot slipped through the rope and I fell. I thought I would hit the deck, but I felt a pair of hands clamp around my waist, keeping me steady. I turned around and saw Jim, grinning handsomely.

"Are you alright…Lia?" He laughed a little and let go of my waist.

I laughed and smiled as well, "Yes, I am alright. Thank you, Jim." I immediately stepped back and leaned on the railing.

Soon, we heard Mr. Arrow shout, "All hands to stations!"

The crew all climbed up the rigging and up to the sails, where they undid them so they were opened up.

After a few minutes, the air felt lighter. We were all lifted off the ground. Laughing, Jim and I took each other's hands to prevent getting separated. We were both smiling stupidly at each other. It made me feel free. Then, the gravity came back, very suddenly. Jim fell first, but he still held onto my hands. He caught me with both his arms around my waist. Laughing, we both stepped back. Then I got a devious smirk on my face. I turned around and took off running, right up to the rigging. He followed closely after me. I climbed higher, until I felt a light tug on my hand. I didn't realize that Jim had been climbing right next to me, and I had never seen him.

"This is fun," I observed with a laugh. Then I swung around the other side of the ropes and slid down, landing on the deck. The ship had taken full speed, and I could feel the wind whipping through my hair. It was a very beautiful feeling.

Eventually, I turned around and saw Jim holding a mop and bucket. He set the bucket down angrily and began cleaning the deck. I leaned on the railing and watched him, since I didn't really want to talk to him when he looked so angry.

Then I saw some of the crew huddled around a barrel, whispering suspiciously. They stopped suddenly when they saw Jim eyeing them.

"What're you looking at, weirdo?" one of them asked. Then the creature's head walked off its shoulders and a mouth appeared in its belly. "Yeah…weirdo…" the torso replied.

Then I heard a hissing sound coming from the rigging above me. I spun around and saw Scroop, the hissing spider-alien member of the crew. He was ugly, scary, and mean. I knew right away that I didn't like him. He was advancing on Jim.

"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own…business." He stepped right up so that his face was inches from Jim's. I felt a twinge of fear in my heart.

Jim smirked, "Why, you got something to hide, bright eyes?" I wanted to slap Jim for being so stupid.

Scroop growled and lifted Jim into the air by his shirt collar. Instinctively I ran up and grabbed at his grimy red claw, trying to get him to drop Jim, but he just whacked at me until I backed off. "Maybe your ears don't work so well," he growled at Jim.

"Yeah, too bad my nose works just fine," Jim replied.

Scroop's eyes narrowed into thin slits, "Why, you impudent little…" He immediately shoved Jim into the mast. I gave a little scream of terror. The crew was gathered around Scroop, cheering and shouting. Scroop raised his claw to Jim's throat. I gasped. "Any last words…cabin boy?" Scroop hissed. Jim looked over at me. Our eyes met for a second. Then Silver, with his cyborg arm, grabbed Scroop's claw and lowered it away from Jim's neck.

"Mr. Scroop," he began, "You ever see what happens to a fresh purp…when you squeeze real HARD?" At that moment, he squeezed as hard on Scroop's claw as he could. Scroop immediately dropped Jim to the deck. I ran over and kneeled beside him.

"Jim, are you alright?" I whispered with panic in my voice.

He gave a little smile up at me, then winced in pain and grabbed his shoulder. "Jim!" I gasped. He smiled again and laughed.

"Lia…you worry too much. I'm fine." He stood up just as Arrow was addressing the crew.

"You know the rules," Arrow sounded very angry. "There'll be no brawling on this ship. Any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the remainder of the voyage." He turned to Jim's attacker. "Am I clear, Mr. Scroop?"

Scroop replied reluctantly, "Transparently…"

The crew began to disperse. "Well done, Mr. Arrow, sir!" Silver said. "A tight ship's a happy ship, sir!" He angrily picked up the mop.

"Jimbo, I gave you a job!"

Jim began to protest, "Hey, I was doing it until that bug thing-"

"BELAY THAT!" Silver cut him off and threw the mop into his hands. "Now, I want this deck swabbed spotless, and Heaven help you if I come back and it's not done!" He looked over at Morph, the little floating pink blob who could transform himself into anything. "Morph, keep an eye on this pup. Let me know if there are any more distractions." Then he looked at me. "You keep an eye on him, too." I was starting to protest when he angrily walked away.

I sighed and looked over at Jim. He was smirking at me a little bit. Then he got to work.

"So, Jim…" I started. Jim looked up but kept mopping. "What brought you here?"

He looked around to make sure no one was watching. He stepped closer and whispered, "What I'm about to tell you is secret. You can't tell anyone. Amelia and Delbert already know about it, but you can't tell ANYONE else. Okay?" he sounded urgent.

I nodded vigorously. He looked relieved. He lowered his voice to an even quieter whisper, and I had to lean in to hear him. His warm breath tickled my ear,

"Okay, a few days ago, I found an odd golden sphere, and when I opened it, it turned out to be a treasure map. It's going to lead us to the largest treasure in the galaxy. It's known as the loot of a thousand worlds." Jim looked excited when he finished. I was awestruck. I leaned in again so I could whisper to him,

"Are we really going out looking for treasure?" I couldn't hide the excitement in my voice.

Jim smiled and nodded. I gasped in surprise. We both started laughing. Then he started mopping again.

"So, tell me about you," he said while mopping. "I haven't heard anything about you yet."

I though a while before beginning, "I don't know where to begin. Ask me a question."

"Okay," he replied. There was a long pause. "Well, I actually don't know what to ask. I'm bad at this kind of stuff." We both laughed a little.

He continued with his mopping. "You seem like a very interesting boy, Jim," I mused as I watched his braid dance back and forth with his movements. He shrugged and replied, "There really isn't anything very interesting about me."

I contradicted, "I can see determination in your eyes, Jim. And you were brave to stand up to Scroop like that."

He looked up at me and gave a tired smile. Then I yawned. He laughed, "Hmm, you might want to be heading off to bed." I laughed and replied, "Yeah, I guess so."

He smiled. "Good night, Lia," he said.

"Good night, Jim," I replied to my new friend.