Sunlight

07: Escape

Jim stood close to Nova, keeping his hand on her shoulder at all times. He had this strange need to protect her.

Jim, Nova and Delbert stood behind Amelia as she fiddled with her closet. She took out a flintlock and tossed it over to Delbert. "Doctor, do you know how to use one of these?"

Delbert held the gun away from him. "Well, I have seen, well, I have read-" He accidentally shot at Amelia's globe, earning him a glare. "Well, no. No, no I don't."

Sighing, Amelia took out the map and tossed it toward Jim. "Mr. Hawkins, protect this with your life."

Midair, Morph caught the orb and played keep-away with the boy. "Morph, no! Give it back!" Jim grabbed the map and shoved it into his pocket, Morph making a home inside that same pocket.

The group could hear them trying to open the lock of the door. "Are yeh gonna be all day with it?" yelled Silver over the laser noise.

"Let's go!" Jim called, taking the flintlock and blasting a hole into the floor.

Nova first, followed by Amelia and then so on, they ran toward the hatch, barely hearing Silver call out, "Go after them!"

They reached the hatch, Nova following after Jim at this point.

"To the life boats!" ordered Amelia. She went to the latch and pulled it toward her. The door underneath them slowly, surely opened up to space.

Jim entered first, helping Nova inside beside him. Doppler shortly followed. Summersaulting into the longboat, distracting the other three, Morph used this opportunity to grab the map and fly off the little dingy.

"No! Morph!" Jim jumped out after the pink creature, fuming and frustrated. His arms uselessly reach for the sneaky pink ball.

Nova gasped, looking onward at her friend. "Jim, hurry!" The boat had started to lower.

The pirates have at this point swarmed around them, and Amelia, in a futile attempt to protect themselves, shot at them. On a whim, Doppler aimed upwards at a pulley and shot at it, causing it to plummet onto the deck the pirates were on. They fell quickly into the voids of space, leaving both Nova and Amelia awestruck.

"Did you mean to shoot that?" Amelia mused.

"You know, actually I did?" In the midst of answering, they were fired at once more.

Now Nova joined in the crossfire, using her sunmaid-given powers to blast anyone that came close. But these men were big, and most of them barely affected by the blasts.

Silver had come up to the lever and closed the hatch, causing Amelia to mutter something inaudible. The woman, strategically, looked then faced Doppler. "Doctor, when I say 'now' I want you to shoot out the forward cable. I got this one." By "one" she was referring to the pulley on the other end of their boat. Doppler nodded understandingly and stood at the ready.

Nova watched as Silver and Jim fought with Morph for the map. They were whistling at him like he was some animal, and the poor thing looked utterly confused on which way to go. Finally, Morph hid inside some tangled rope, map still in his mouth. Silver's injured android leg gave out under him, and the man went falling, giving Jim an advantage. He reached inside the pile and grabbed the orb, looking for only a second at Silver, almost hurt, before running away.

Jim jumped onto the side of the longboat, holding onto the side. Nova stopped attacking the remaining pirates and reached down to help him.

"Now!" hollered Amelia, shooting at one pulley as Doppler shot at the other. They tumbled downward, into space, Jim sliding along the edge of the boat.

"Jim!" called a panicked Doppler, helping Nova pull Jim into the boat. Amelia took the responsibility of steering, starting the solar sails and flying away.

As they believed they were out of harm's way, even for a moment, Doctor looked up and screamed, "Captain! Laser bullet at twelve o' clock!"

It shot right above captain, taking down their solar sail. They began plummeting down onto the planet. Without thinking, Nova wrapped her arms around Jim, shocking him, and concentrated, turning back into her normal self and flew away from the falling boat. She raced after them, holding Jim from under his arms, hands locked at his chest. She safely lowered him down onto the ground, transforming her tail into jeaned legs before helping Jim lift the boat off of the doctor and captain.

"Sorry; I could only save one, and I grabbed who was first," Nova said feebly.

"It's fine, Nova. Nothing but a couple scratches." As Amelia tried to brush off Nova's apology, she fell down once more, holding her side. "Oof!"

"Captain!" The Doctor exclaimed, reaching down to help her up, though she only shoved him away.

"Oh don't fuss," she strained to say, picking herself up a little quicker, though not so normally. "Slight bruising. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain." She brushed her uniform and turned to the Doctor. "Mr. Hawkins." Squinting, realizing she was referring to the wrong person, she faced Jim. "The map, if you please?"

Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out the map. It began opening on its own, without him even unlocking it- only to discover it wasn't map, but Morph, playing a trick.

"Morph… Morph, where's the map?"

The little creature transformed into the coil of rope he'd hidden in before and the map, representing the location of the map.

"Are you SERIOUS? It's back on the ship?" Jim began grabbing at Morph, who wasn't at all taking the situation seriously.

Amelia, having looked up, gritted through her teeth, "Stifle that blob… and get low. We have company."