AN: Another chapter! I feel so accomplished! Enjoy, readers!
Oh yeah. There's drug use here, so uh, be informed and all.
They've been walking for what seems like hours, but Delbert knows that rationally, they have only been walking for maybe thirty minutes. It's a wet kind of heat at the bottom of the jungle, but there isn't any water on the planet to speak of. No water should mean no growth, no vegetation. But the rules here are totally different, divergent from anywhere else that he has ever been.
He knows of a certain kind of moss that can enter suspended animation, should it run out of water. But that was clearly not the case here. The jungle was churning with life where none should exist. The implications were astounding to the scientist in Delbert, and he wishes he was here under better circumstances.
At one point, he was sure that one of the plants tried to eat him. It was a large and looming, though beautiful flower, langouring underneath the shade of a dying tree. Large, nearly monstrous petals sit at odd intervals on a stalk growing among a tiny patch of black mushrooms. It was an odd scene, one that Delbert wouldn't soon forget.
Initially, Delbert was enamored with it's large vermillion petals and creamy white center. It didn't strike him at all as odd when the petals snapped together like a large pair of teeth, though in retrospect it very well should have.
"Uh, Doc?" Jim's questioning tone was unheeded as Delbert drew closer to the plant.
"Stay away from it, Doctor. It's-" The Captain's words die in her mouth as the great crimson mouth lurches forward before snapping closed just inches away from the Doctor's nose.
"Gaah!" Delbert stumbles back, trying to stay steady with the Captain still in his arms.
"-Carnivorous." It's a deadpan snark, and Delbert sets his lips in a thin line against the remark.
"Well now that's odd, it's never tried to eat me before!" Ben exclaims, taking a few steps forward. Three sets of eyes roll in the robot's direction before the group takes a collective step away from the large plant.
"So, does this mean that other plants here are alive as well?" Jim looks around at the otherwise still forest with a doubting look on his face.
Amelia nods, her head craned to look up through the canopy of the trees. "There aren't any other forms of life here. Perhaps the plant life is the animal life as well." A glance is tossed in Ben's direction before she settles back into the crook of the Doctor's arm.
"I had noticed that as well. Perhaps it's one giant organism, like a swamp?" The group moves through the dense hanging moss, dodging tree branches and oddly swinging vines. "The implications of how life evolved on this planet are astounding, to say the least." The usually demure doctor is fully in his element in this alien environment, and his curiosity is running laps in his head.
Amelia looks up at the Doctor through new eyes. "I didn't know you were an ecologist as well, Doctor."
"Oh," He bends down underneath a thorny looking branch, "I study life. Cosmology, astronomy, ecology. All very fascinating views into life, and the meaning of."
Amelia chuckles, fingering the sling. "But you aren't a medical doctor."
"Ah, no. No, no I'm not." It's a throwback to a previous conversation about his other mental capacities, and she grins.
"My my, but you are charming. In a bumbling, impotent sort of way." Amelia's finger slides along his jaw slowly before dipping into the column of his throat.
"That's a wonderful way to thank me." He knows he's grousing, but he is more than a little upset that she isn't just a little bit grateful.
"It was your idea! I was perfectly happy to leave it all alone, but you had to be the hero." If she could cross her arms right now, she would. A scowl in his general direction would have to suffice though.
Delbert stops. He knows he did the right thing. No sane person would have left anyone behind. "Give me one reason why I should have left you there." Delbert steps through a patch of mushroom like growth, keeping his pace brisk to keep up with the unencumbered Ben and Jim.
"I will only slow us down."
Delbert laughs, an empty maniacal sound. "You would have survived, if only to nag me about it later, should I have left you behind."
Amelia coughs, convulsing against the sharp pain in her chest. "That does sound like me." Her voice is low, and Delbert can tell that she will be in need of the morphine he had pocketed earlier.
"If you're in pain, I have something I can give you."
Amelia's eyes roll to the back of her head just before her lids close. He can tell from her rapid breathing that he is going to need to do something about it soon. White as a sheet, Amelia presses her face into his vest for a moment, burying her nose in the fabric before pulling away.
"No-" more heavy breathing, then she just stops. Her jaw slacks against his coat and her head sinks down to her chest. Although her breathing evened out finally, her unresponsiveness to his whispered calls worry him. Up ahead, Jim must have heard because he stops, turning on his toes.
"Is- Is she okay?"
Delbert just gives him a questioning look. "The pain must have knocked her out. I have something I can give her though, to ease it."
Jim smiles, gesturing to a large rock covered by a bed of moss. "You'd better dose her now before she wakes up."
Delbert sets the unconscious Captain down, and to his great surprise, she doesn't stir. "I suppose I could, but I don't know the first thing about this stuff."
"Just hand it here, Doc." Jim takes the bottle of morphine and the syringe that the Doctor hands him and he peers at the clear liquid with wide eyes and a large grin.
Then, with practiced hands, he pulls her arm out and rolls up the sleeve. Finding a vein is easy enough and he pulls a little morphine from the bottle.
Delbert looks on nervously, waiting for her to awaken at any moment. As Jim taps the syringe with his fingernail, he pushes the plunger once. "Where did you learn this?"
Jim looks at Delbert, his brows knit together with worry. "Don't tell my mom, okay? She would kill me if she found out."
"You aren't anymore, are you?" Delbert stands over him, studying his methods closely. She would most likely need more again, and he doubted she wanted Jim to do it.
Jim shakes his head, plunging the needle into the Captain's smooth skin. "No, I quit."
"That's good, Jimmy! Drugs are bad! I had a buddy once who overdosed on electricity once, never did get his body peeled off of the roof." Ben doesn't elaborate any further, and no one asks any questions.
Jim pulls the needle out, inspecting it for a minute before rummaging around in his pockets. "Where did I leave that thing..."
"Whatcha need, Jimmy?" Ben is suddenly everywhere at once with his long, dirty arms and loud voice and Jim flinches against the unwanted intrusion.
Jim studies the robot intently for a moment before an idea forms in his head. "Ben, you got a light?"
"We just had this conversation! You know, about drugs being bad?" The robot's tone is condescending and Jim, not for the first time that day, rolls his eyes.
"I just need to clean the needle. We'll need to use it again."
Ben, being a rather naive and trusting robot, uncaps his index finger and a blue flame erupts from the digit. "Oh, well then. If that's all."
The needle is sterilized quickly, and the flame extinguished after only a moment. "Now, we need to find that house of yours, Ben."
Delbert doesn't miss the way Jim pockets the syringe after he gets to his feet, but chooses to say nothing about it.
As if suddenly being reminded of something important, Ben's eyes go wide before he sets off into the dense undergrowth. "It's just this way. Watch your heads!"
With Amelia once again in his arms, the unlikely group journeys further into the jungle.
After a long trek, Delbert can see the canopy start to get thinner before disappearing all together before a sweeping, grassy plain. For the first time since the crash site, Delbert can clearly see the yellow halcyon sun in the sky, and the curious lack of rainfall, even with adequate cloud cover. It's a lovely, bucolic like setting, one that he had only seen in paintings.
The clouds are something else too, like everything else on this planet. White cloudy things speed across a wild blue sky at a near breakneck speed. This wasn't natural, none of this was. It couldn't be.
"It's around here somewhere..." Ben disappears into the tall grass, leaving the intrepid explorers behind.
Amelia's eyes open slowly, and her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth. She's being carried by someone, that much she is able to work out. When she thinks about it more, their scent is familiar. Notes of brandy and parchment wash over her, but it's invaded with foreign hints of spanish moss and buckwheat. Where was she? Amelia was sure she knew before, but now her brain just won't put the pieces together.
"What did you give me?" The question is succinct, and lacks nothing of the delicate precision that Delbert has become accustomed to.
"Me? Not a thing." Delbert answers honestly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Coarse dirt is kicked up from the dry ground and Delbert is caught off guard not for the first time that morning.
"I'm high." Amelia's eyes are an unfocussed glaze as her eyelids blink separately.
"You p-p-p passed out earlier. We figured it was as good a time as any." Delbert's sweating, and he wonders to himself when it had gotten hotter.
Recognition dawns on her face and she sinks into his arms. "Where are we now?"
Delbert chuckles, shifting her weight in his arms slightly. "A grassy area. Ben says it's only a little bit farther." Delbert furrows his brows. He had been saying that for what seemed like hours now, and though the terrain had changed, it didn't seem like they were getting any closer.
Up ahead, the robot stops. His mechanical head whirrs around in the bright sun before the rest of his body jumps around. "I think I made a wrong turn," Ben's fingers dig at the hole in the back of his head as his green glowing eyes pixelate in an embarrassed manner. "I just can't remember where that place is. You'd think, as long as I've lived there..." he trails off, laughing to ease the tension.
"Wrong turn? We don't have time for this, Ben. They're gonna find us if we don't find somewhere to hide."
Amelia sits up slowly in Delbert's arms, her teeth gritting against the effort. "We can't stay in the open." Her brow wrinkles and her breath hitches inside her throat. Amelia can feel her heart beating against broken bones and each throb is more painful than the last. "Get moving."
"And where do you suggest we go? There's nothing here, ma'am."
Delbert's eyes wander over the horizon before stumbling on a large structure in the distance, jutting out from the ground. "Nothing besides that."
The group turns their eyes and Ben lets out a sound of excitement. "You found it! Lets go!"
As they journey towards their destination, Delbert remembers the one curious part about his morning which was yet unexplained.
"Why black lace?" His brow quirks and his head dips toward hers to hear her whispered words.
Upon grinning, red lips, her answer is completely out of left field. "It makes me feel confident."
Delbert's lips purse themselves in an 'oh' sound and he doesn't quite know what to say. With his imagination running away with him, he clears his throat and concentrates on not tripping over himself. It should be easy to not trip all over himself, but it isn't. Nothing is easy around this woman, and it's getting less so by the minute.
Just when he thinks that he can't take any more of her, she makes a curious noise. It's a low, keening melody and it isn't until she starts quietly singing that he can place the music.
"Moon river, wider than a mile." Her eyes are closed, and a happy smile has replaced her normally stern demeanor. Delbert wasn't expecting a mellifluous voice to erupt from her at a time like this, he supposes it's probably the morphine. "I'm crossing you in style, some day." She stops, her arm clenching around her ribs.
Delbert hasn't sang in years, and when he opens his mouth, he isn't even sure where the words are coming from. "Oh dream maker, you heart breaker. Wherever you're going, I'm going your way." It's quiet, and he isn't even sure that she hears him until her ears perk in satisfaction.
"You have a lovely voice, Doctor."
"Lots of forced choir lessons as a kid finally payed off." It's meant to be said under his breath, but she smiles, her fingers splaying on her face.
"Choir lessons? I never would have guessed."
"Oh, it was every kind of terrible that you could possibly imagine. I remember trying to hide behind a rack of music stands my first day there." Delbert chuckles as he remembers his way into his own childhood. The rack of stands was just big enough that if he bent his knees, he couldn't be seen behind the large black barrier.
"I imagine someone eventually found you?"
Delbert blushes, laughing. "No. I stayed there until my mom came to get me. No one even noticed that I was gone until she found me crouched behind the rack crying."
The image of a young, awkward Delbert Doppler being consoled by his mother makes Amelia's eyes light in amusement.
"That's adorable." Amelia settles into his chest contentedly, her eyes roaming the vast landscape. Amelia can see for miles in the wheat field, and she can't remember the last time she had felt this relaxed. Combined with a light breeze, and the warm sun, Amelia can almost forget about the white hot sear in her chest.
Amelia's arm snags a large poppy and she brings it up to her face, fingering the efflorescent petals. Fragrant and beautiful, it entrances her with it's indigo center. It's a beautiful splash of color amidst a sea of golden wheat and when it slides out of her fingers, she is only a little bit upset. But much to the surprise of the both of them, the poppy re-grows back into the vine instantly, it's vermilion bloom looking none the worse for the wear.
"Did you see that?"
"The poppy? That was odd. I hope we get to come back to study the planet. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."
A sudden jolt of pain shoots through her side, and in the sudden absence of the morphine, she lets out the smallest of moans.
"Did the medicine wear off?"
Amelia bites down on her lip, a low whimpering escaping her throat. She looks so small in his arms, and Delbert feels so helpless about the whole situation.
"We're almost there. It's not much farther." He's telling the truth, he can see a set of stairs leading up to a gaping opening, dripping with spanish moss.
Delbert climbs the stairs smoothly, and when he steps into the large, cavernous area, he feels just a little bit overwhelmed by the sad state of the place.
He supposes that he is the last person to criticise living situations, his study isn't much better looking.
"I find old fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" Ben disappears around a white curtain as Delbert sets the Captain down on the ground gently, his hand lingering on the back of her head.
"How about drinks for the happy couple?" Ben reemerges from the partition with flower pots, filled to the brim with motor oil and garnished with cog pieces. It looked caustic, and Delbert tries to be diplomatic about his response.
"Uh, no. Thank you we don't drink. And uh, and uh. We're not a couple." He looks down to her to find an approving smile on her face.
"Look at these markings, they're identical to the ones on the map. They could be the remnants of an ancient culture."
Below him, Amelia leans forward, bracing herself on the ground. "Mister Hawkins, stop anyone who tries to approach- ooh." Amelia's command is cut off by another tightening in her chest and she gasps, falling back.
"Yes yes, now you listen to me." Delbert's folded his coat up behind her head and he eases her back into it gently, his hand restraining her lightly. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds, and lie still." Delbert works on keeping a stern face, and he is awarded by a delirious smile.
"Very forceful, Doctor. Go on, say something else." Emerald eyes regard him kindly and Delbert would later look back on this incident and recall it was the first time he didn't feel so vastly inferior to her.
Gunfire erupts into the tiny area and Amelia's eyes dart over to the opening as Jim tries to defend an army of pirates with a single rifle.
Delbert is brought back to the situation. He doesn't have the upper hand in any kind of capacity. Chances are, they won't make it out of this alive, and as he looks on at the unfolding hostile situation, he feels totally useless.