"Squeeeee-merrrrr-meeeeeeeeep!"
A pink blob emerged from behind Jim's head as he and his mother stood among a crowd of thousands waiting to board the ship that will depart Montressor. They only had approximately two hours to get on the ship, for impact was predicted to happen only an hour after the ship's launch.
"Morph, it's alright, buddy! We're just gonna go on a little trip…" He heaved a sigh. "Well, more like a long trip…"
"Jim, careful with the perp sack. We don't want them to get bruised by the time we need to eat them". Sarah was carrying three large bags of clothes, necessities, and other irreplaceable items. Meanwhile, she had asked Jim to handle their sacks of food as well as his own belongings onto the ship.
"Mom, it's fine, I got this baby. No perp of ours is going to go black by the time we finish them."
"I know, Jim. But now's not the time to make light of the situation. Stay close to me so we don't get lost in this mob."
Jim rolled his eyes in response to his mother's stern words. Just two days ago she had praised him for being more grown up. Now she saw him as her baby boy again in this time of uncertainty and confusion. "Whatever you say, Mom…" Meanwhile, Morph jollily bounced around with smiles as a sluggish-looking crowd waited for their time to get on the ship.
The spaceport had never been this packed before. Not only was it crowded on ground level, but so was above it. Hundreds of small flying taxis and ships came in all at once, dropping off passengers and unloading all of the belongings they could carry with them. Entrance to the ship had already commenced approximately thirty minutes ago, but the process was a slow one, for all evacuees needed to be checked by the security before settling into the ships.
Jim was growing irksome from it all. Stupid crowd… Why can't we just get on already? He caught himself with surprise at this thought. Just yesterday, while he was busy packing, he seemed so reluctant to leave the home he knew all his life. Now, the stress and anxiety from the crowd just annoyed him to the point that he only cared for his comfort. He couldn't wait to just plop on the bunk and outstretch his feet. They were going to be standing there for at least an hour, watching the line slowly get shorter until it was their turn.
"Mom, where are Doppler and Captain Amelia?"
"Probably somewhere in the crowd, or on one of the ships. I just hope they will be safe during the journey…"
"I just hope we see them again…"
The time to unwind finally came. After an hour of waiting, Jim could finally kick off his shoes and lie flat on his back. Even in the event of the emergency, the ship's quarters were actually fairly comfortable – enough to ease everyone of the stress of leaving home. No wonder they wanted to make this place feel like home.
"Say, Mom, did they ever tell us where we were going?"
"I don't know, Jim. I never had the time to call the agency about it because of all the packing I needed to do. Perhaps ask one of the crew on the ship. They should know about it."
And with that, Jim quickly fastened on his shoes and jumped out of his bunk. It was strange that the evacuees were heading to a place no one knew where, or even knew about. It just seemed too fishy to give into. And Jim was going to get to the bottom of this right now. "Morph, you stay with Mom and help her unpack. I'm going to have a word with the captain of the ship."
"Jim, really now?" Sarah was going through his luggage and found his old treasure hunting books. "Of all things, you had to bring these along?"
"Hey Mom, you said to take things that were not replaceable."
"Oh, somehow I knew you were still a kid at heart." She then gave Jim a small grin, the first time she had done so since they departed the Benbow Inn forever.
Before meeting with the Captain, Jim was going to quench his thirst. He made his way over to the complimentary bar and asked for a glass of perp juice. "Hey, thanks, man," he added with a nod to the bartender before taking a large gulp of his favorite beverage…
… only to find himself drenched by his own drink.
"Whoa, man, sorry about that!"
Jim flushed a shade of red as he picked up the spilled cup off the ground. He had clumsily bumped into a tall, burly fox-like man in uniform. "Sir, I apologize for that… That was so stupid of me."
"Me boy, it's quite alrigh'! Accidents happen e'en to the best of us."
"Here." Jim grabbed a stack of paper towels and offered them to the fox.
"Thanks, me lad," acknowledged the fox as he began to absorb all the purple stains off his uniform. As he tended to his clothes, Jim noticed his name was engraved on a silver plated name tag. 'Captain Maurice Fox.'
Whoa, this is the guy I've been needing to talk to. "Excuse me, do you happen to be captain of the ship?" ventured Jim.
"Why yeh, me lad! Captain Maurice Fox, nice to meet ya." He offered his furry hand to Jim.
"Yeah, read the name tag. I'm Jim, by the way. Jim Hawkins."
Fox's mouth dropped as soon as Jim ended with his name. "Ye don' say! This be the real Jim Hawkins? Well, bless me soul! The 'hole planet knows about your discovery of ol' Treasure Planet! What was it like out there, boy?"
Jim raised an eyebrow at his surprised reaction. He didn't realize that the expedition actually made him… famous. He shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, well it was no big deal I guess. All I did was help the crew get back to Montressor Space Port."
"Jim, you be too humble! E'eryone knows you led the way out of that hell hole! Come now, let me take you down to the captain's quarters. Anyone valiant enough to risk his life for the crew deserves to stand in the company of my fine crew."
Jim gave another shrug. "Well, whatever you say, sir. I'm really not that big of a deal. I just work as a waiter at my mom's restaurant." Maybe, this might be the perfect excuse to ask him where the heck they will be taking us…
"Hey, if you don't mind asking me, can you tell us where you will be taking us?" He gave Fox a skeptical eye brow raise. "Seems a little fishy that you're guaranteeing our safety, and yet you won't let us know where we will be going."
"Well, aren't you a curious l'ttle lad!" Fox nudged Jim in a playful manner. "Boys like you. Always asking questions."
Jim wasn't amused by the captain's cheekiness, nor did he appreciate his light-hearted attitude in this moment of crisis. "Well, it'd be nice to know where we are going to spend the rest of our lives. I mean, after all, we are leaving behind a place most of us knew for all our lives."
"Not a problem, Jimmy boy. Come now, we'll discuss that once we get to the captain's quarters." With that, he put his arm around Jim's shoulder and led him up the grand steps.
"G'day crew! I'd like ta introduce ye to a lad I met at the bar. Ol' fella spilled some perp juice on me, but ye'll never guess who he is! Jimmy Hawkins! The lad who led the RLS Legacy out of Treasure Planet!"
"Well, you don't say!" cried a few sailors.
"You mean, the Jim Hawkins?"
"Ye famous, lad!"
Jim couldn't help but offer a nervous smile as the sailors in the room praised him for his heroic efforts. "Guys, thanks… but really, I didn't do that much…"
"Oh ho, don't be so modest Jim boyo!" Fox playfully nudged Jim once more. "No matter how much ye gonna dumb yeself down, everyone on this ship knows ye got a bright future ahead of ye."
Jim shrugged his shoulders, although he still managed to keep a small smile. "Gee, thanks. I've gotten that a lot before… Appreciate it."
"Well, Jimmy, as promised, 'ere are the captain's quarters. This 'ere is the lounge where all sailors need a lil' time to unwind! We've got a bar, high definition pictures, anything ye can think of as home." Fox then led Jim to the sailor bunks. "A little stuffy in here, and it tend to get rocky from faulty gravitation controls, but comfortable nonetheless."
The whole time, Jim was barely listening to the captain ramble and boast about how great his crib was. Sure, it was visually appealing and appeared a lot more comfortable than the bunks for the passengers, but that was one of the things he could care less about.
"And this 'ere is my office…"
"Erm, Captain. Hate to interrupt, but we were going to talk about – "
Fox stopped and paused. "Oh yeh, where were we…?"
"Um, about where you guys plan on taking us?"
"Oh yeh, that's right me lad!" Fox pulled out from his desk a yard by yard scroll. He unraveled the scroll to reveal a map of where the ship will be taking them: a green volcanic-looking island in the middle of the sea.
"Um, where is that exactly?" Jim raised another skeptical brow.
"We don' know what it's called yet, lad! But one thing's fer sure, it's filled with life and e'ergy. Plenty of food and resources for us to keep the Montressorians alive! The journey is only a few stars away. It should take less than a week to arrive the'e safely."
Jim gave a small snort. "You mean, this is in a star? An island in a star?"
"Thas' right me boyo! The Montressor Space Society commissioned me and the crew to find a safe refugee site for the survivors. We didn't get very far 'cause of the little time we have to get e'erybody safe, but I can tell ye it's going to be a marvelous site!
Jim was not amazed by the prospect of living on a secluded island surrounded by only a body of water. "I dunno, doesn't sound as 'marvelous' as Montressor." He looked out of the window where he caught his final view of the planet he was born and raised in. "I'm sure gonna miss this place…" He tried his best to not get all emotional in front of a pompous captain he had just met. The last thing he wanted was someone who had so much respect for his hero duty see him cry and think of him as a wussy.
"Cheer up, Jimmy! Ye can't say ye won't like the island when you haven't even seen it yet!"
"I – I guess so…" Jim replied sluggishly.
"Well, we don' know if we will live there permanently. But if the people want to, we will see what we can do abou' that!"
Jim suddenly remembered that Fox had mentioned 'plenty of life' was on the island. That posed a good question. Would they be interacting with a different sort of species? "But, what if there are other creatures living there? Do they know about this? That we are seeking refuge?"
"Unfortunately not, me lad. We have never seen, or 'eard of the island before. We don' even know if anyone is living on it at all. We tried to send a signal to the island, 'oping they would receive it and get in contact with us. Sadly, no one picked up."
"So, I guess the best we can do is hope for the best, then?"
"Thas right, lad. I wouldn't worry too much. We mean no harm at all. All we need is a place to temporarily land on so we can figure out where our next course will be."
Jim shrugged again, not bothering to smile. At least, for now, it was only temporary. "Well, cool then. Guess I have something to look forward to in a few days."
"Keep your hopes high, lad! It's going to blow us away!"
