Music for this chapter is on my profile, as usual. Please R&R!
Chapter 14
Previously…
As Ali watched, Jim and Morph came in through the back entrance. Jim was pulling B.E.N. up with one hand. In his other hand, he gripped…the map.
"Ali, Doc, wake up!" He said excitedly, moving further into the cavern. "I got the map." He bent down and held out the sphere…right towards where Silver was sitting, hidden by the shadows.
Ali bit down hard on the hand over her mouth, making its owner grunt and let go. "Jim, no!" she cried.
ooOoo
Jim snapped his head towards the sound of Ali's voice. Before he could do anything more, a hand reached out and took the map from him. The hand was mechanical.
"Fine work, Jimbo," Silver drawled, leaning forward into the light. "Fine work indeed."
Jim's eyes widened, and he looked around in panic. Behind Silver were Ali, Delbert and the captain, only now visible through the gloom. They were all tied up and guarded by pirates. His panic spiked. Pirates emerged from the shadows, surrounding him in a slowly shrinking circle.
Jim tried to make a run for it, but two pirates grabbed him and pulled him back, holding him tightly by his arms as he struggled. He heard Morph squeak, and one of the pirates holding him shouted in pain. A moment later, though, Morph flew into his pocket, whimpering. He supposed Morph had attacked the pirate in some way, with no success. Even B.E.N. had been taken captive; Jim could hear the bot saying fearfully, "Not the face!"
Ali cursed, struggling against her own bonds again, as Silver stepped close to Jim, casually tossing the map into the air and then catching it. "You're just like me, Jimbo," he said smugly. "You hates to lose."
Silver looked down at the map, twisting it in both hands; but nothing happened. He made a confused sound and tried using his cyborg hand, changing it into various tools. Each tool yielded zero success, and he grew more and more frustrated with each failed attempt.
Ali shared a smirk with Jim. Silver would never figure it out. Before the voyage, she and Jim had tried countless different combinations on the map, and nothing had worked except the original combination.
Silver thrust the map towards Jim. "Open it!"
Jim's captors released him, and he caught the map in both hands. He looked at it for a moment, then up at Silver, his lip curling as he glared at the man.
At Jim's silent refusal, Silver changed his cyborg hand into a pistol. "I'd get busy." He pointed the gun at Ali's head. "Before your little girlfriend suffers the consequences."
"Go to hell, Silver," Ali spat. But Jim could see the fear in her eyes. Glancing towards Delbert and the captain, he saw Amelia shaking her head and Delbert nodding, and then shaking his head when he saw what Amelia was doing.
"Come now, Jimbo, I haven't got all day." Silver loaded his pistol.
With one last glare, Jim activated the map, twisting the sections without even looking. Green light shot out of the sphere, collecting and forming a glowing replica of Treasure Planet. As everyone watched, the replica dissolved into a jet of light that zigzagged through the air and out of the cavern, pointing the way.
Silver gave a triumphant cackle, and then gestured towards Jim. "Tie him up, and leave him with the others 'til we—"
He stopped as the light zoomed back into the sphere in Jim's hands, which closed again with a hum. "You want the map, you're taking me too," Jim said firmly.
"And you're not leaving me here!" Ali declared.
Silver gave the two teenagers a long look, and actually chuckled. "We'll take 'em all."
ooOoo
The longboat sped over the fungi-covered landscape, following the path of green light that stretched ahead. Eventually the light led downwards, and the longboat was anchored just above the ground.
Silver hopped out of the boat, followed by Jim, who helped Ali out. Ali looked back regretfully at Delbert and Amelia, who were left in the boat with the pirate who had tied her up. As she walked beside Jim, she pulled up her sleeves to investigate the pain in her wrists, wincing at the friction from the cloth.
Jim watched her actions with a frown. He had untied her during their ride in the longboat, but the ropes had left raw, red marks on the skin around her wrists. Morph flew out of his pocket and over to Ali, making sad noises at the sight.
Ali smiled and patted the little blob, touched at his concern. "It's ok, Morph. I'm ok." She looked over at Jim. "Really, I am."
B.E.N. came to walk behind the two teenagers, babbling to Jim. "WAS I EVER DANCING WITH AN ANDROID NAMED LUPÉ?" He suddenly shouted, making Ali jump.
Can't he keep his voice down? She thought incredulously. We're surrounded by short-fused, trigger-happy pirates!
Jim shushed the robot. "This isn't over yet," he said quietly, glancing at Ali again.
Ali nodded in agreement. She wasn't about to give up either.
Silver eyed a tall clump of reeds, which the now pulsating beam of light was pointing through. "We're gettin' close, lads! I smell treasure a'waitin'!" Changing his cyborg hand into a machete, he hacked through the reeds. Everyone hurried through…and then stopped in confusion.
They had come to a cliff that overlooked a huge valley. The green light ended at the edge of the cliff.
"Where is it?" someone growled.
"I see nothing! One great big stinking bunch of nothing!" Mr. Onus shouted.
Silver watched as the green light went back into the map and vanished completely. "What's going on, Jimbo?" He demanded.
"I…I don't know," Jim said in confusion, twisting and pressing at the map to no avail. "I can't get it open!"
"We should've never followed this boy!" Exclaimed a female pirate, pushing Jim to the ground.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Ali protested.
"Oh, don't worry, girlie," the pirate sneered. "You can join 'im!" She gave Ali a push as well, sending her tumbling to her knees beside Jim.
"I'd suggest you get that gizmo going again, and fast," Silver told Jim. "A'fore my crew decides to do something drastic to you and Miss Ali."
The pirates immediately began to shout suggestions. "Let's rip his gizzard right out!"
"Throw her over the cliff!"
As the pirates continued to shout, Ali shot Jim a panicked glance. "Jim, any ideas at all?"
Jim didn't answer her; he was looking at the ground in front of him. He cleared away a patch of moss to reveal a circular divot a little smaller than his hand. Quickly he inserted the map into the divot.
Ali gasped as the cliff suddenly lit up. Before everyone's eyes, a glowing green sphere floated up from the ground, spinning slowly. Streaks of light raced across the valley floor and up the cliff, converging into one long vertical line that reached high into the sky. The line opened into an enormous triangle, with what looked like deep space inside.
Jim stared at the image. "The Lagoon Nebula?"
"But that's halfway 'cross the galaxy," Silver said in disbelief.
Ali stepped forward and touched a spot on the floating globe. The triangle closed back into a line and then opened again, showing a series of floating islands. She touched another spot, and the image changed to a desert landscape. "A big door, opening and closing…"
Jim raised his eyebrows and came to stand beside her. "Let's see…" He scanned the globe and then grinned when he found what he was looking for. "Montressor Spaceport." He touched the spot with one finger, and the triangle—the door—in front of them closed and then opened, showing the crescent-shaped port clear as day.
"So that's how Flint did it," Jim said in awe. "He used this portal to roam the universe stealing treasure!"
"But where'd he stash it all?" Silver shoved Jim and Ali out of the way, and started pressing random spots on the globe. "Where's that blasted treasure?"
"Treasure!" B.E.N. exclaimed from next to Jim. "Treasure…is buried in…"
"Buried in the centroid of the mechanism," Jim finished for him. Ali could almost see the gears turning in his head. "What if the whole planet is the mechanism, and the treasure is buried in the center of this planet?"
The pirates immediately started digging at the spot in front of them, only to have their tools break as they discovered that the ground was made of metal.
"And how in blue blazes are we supposed to get there?" Silver demanded.
Realization hit Ali like a thunderclap. "Just open the right door." She stepped forward, pushed Silver aside, and pressed a particular symbol on the globe: a planet with two rings around it.
The door opened to what looked like an enormous chamber full of sand dunes. Ali stretched her arm out, and the air in front of her rippled, like a layer of reality was being distorted.
Jim moved forward and pushed his arm into that rippling spot, stepping through with Ali a pace behind.
Silver quickly followed them, gripping Jim's shoulder with one hand, and the other pirates followed suit. The chamber seemed to give off a golden glow. And as Ali took a good look around, she understood why.
They stood on a flat portion of a globe that was the size of a moon. Miles of treasure spread out before them, apparently covering the entire globe. What Ali had taken to be sand dunes were actually piles of gold and gems. Among the gold glittered trunks of jewelry, gilded weapons and so much more. Cannon-like structures protruded from the ceiling, periodically shooting purple laser jets into holes in the floor.
The pirate crew cheered and ran inside. Silver followed suit at a slower pace, wading into the veritable sea of treasure.
B.E.N. was babbling again, something about it all seeming very familiar. Ali tuned him out and knelt down, scooping up a handful of treasure. In that one handful were seven gold coins, a moonstone bracelet, and a black opal that covered half of her palm. The black opal alone could rebuild the Benbow Inn five times over. But all the treasure in the chamber…Ali was sure it could build whole cities, enough to cover multiple planets. The situation was absolutely surreal.
"Ali," Jim tugged on her arm. "Let's go."
Ali looked up at him. "Go where?"
"Over there." He pointed to an old wooden ship that sat atop one of the treasure dunes, also heaped with riches. "That's our ticket out. We're getting out of here, and we're not leaving empty-handed."
Ali nodded and stood up, pocketing the bracelet and the opal. As she, Jim and B.E.N. picked their way towards the ship, she periodically grabbed other bits of treasure, slipping them into her pockets as well.
When they reached the ship, Ali jumped for the edge, grabbing hold and hoisting herself on board. Glancing to the side, she found Jim already on board, helping B.E.N. up. She turned around to do a survey of the boat…and gasped.
A skeleton sat atop a golden, throne-like chair. Its clothes were ragged and decrepit, from the tricorn cap on its head to the leather boots on its feet. The skull sported fanged jaws and six slanted eyeholes. "Captain Flint?" Ali said incredulously.
"In the flesh!" B.E.N. said. "Well, sort of, except for skin, organs, or anything that resembles flesh…that's not there."
Ali stepped closer, peering at the skeleton. As her eyes moved downward, she noticed something clenched in one of the bony hands. She frowned. "What's this?"
Jim came forward to look. He grabbed the hand and forced it apart, taking the object inside. It was a copper plate with several small indents on one side. It looked like the missing piece to some gadget.
Ali looked over at B.E.N., who was babbling as usual. "It's so odd, you know?" The robot remarked. "I mean, I remember there was something, something horrible Flint didn't want anyone else to know, but I just…I can't remember what it was." He put one hand against his forehead in a tragic pose. "Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!"
Ali looked again at the thing in Jim's hand, and something clicked. "Jim!" When Jim looked at her, she nodded towards B.E.N., specifically towards the hollow spot in his head.
Jim's eyes widened. "B.E.N., I think we just found your mind. Hold still." He fitted the piece into the back of the robot's head. The protruding wires fastened quickly onto the inside of the piece, holding it firmly in place.
B.E.N. spun around. "Whoa! Hello!" Data streamed through his eyes, which turned from green to blue a moment later. "You know, you guys, I was just thinking…I was just…it's all coming back!" He exclaimed jubilantly. "All my memories! Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuits so I could never tell anybody about his…BOOBY TRAP!" A boom resounded through the chamber. "Speaking of which…"
Ali looked up to find explosions spreading out from the ceiling. They lit up the chamber in a brighter golden glow; but Ali didn't like this light.
"Flint wanted to make sure nobody could ever steal his treasure," B.E.N. continued. "So he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Calipsean kite!"
Machinery on the ceiling came loose, spearing through the treasure and the floor below it to create rapidly widening cracks. It seemed that the moonlike structure had an actual core, hot enough for heat to come up in waves. Treasure started spilling into the cracks, falling through to be lost forever.
"Ali, Jimmy, we need to get OUT OF HERE!" B.E.N. shouted. "Run for your lives!"
Ali was inclined to agree with the bot, but Jim dove for a spot below the ship's wheel. "You go back and help the captain and Doc! If I'm not there in five minutes, leave without me."
"I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy!" B.E.N. pulled on Jim's legs, trying to get him out from the circuit board he was working on. When Jim's face came into view, however, he gave B.E.N. a death glare, holding two wires that sparked in his grip.
"Unless he looks at me like that," B.E.N. corrected nervously. "Bye, Jim!" He dropped Jim's legs and ran for it.
Ali glanced over at Jim. "All right, you've got the machinery; I guess I've got the rigging."
Jim ducked his head out to frown at her. "I thought I told you to go."
Ali raised an eyebrow. "And you thought I'd actually listen?"
Jim chuckled. "Not really."
"Good. Now, you get back to what you were doing; we've got to get this thing running. I'll see what condition the sails are in." Scaling the main mast, Ali climbed into the rigging and started to inspect the pieces of red cloth. As she expected, they were fairly tattered; but there was enough fabric intact that they would still do the trick.
She slid down the mast and ran to where Jim was still lying under the circuit board. "The sails look ok. Are you almost done in there?"
There was a final crackle, and then Ali heard the ship's engines starting up. Jim ducked out from under the circuit board. "I'm done." As the ship lifted into the air, he jumped up to the steering wheel and grabbed hold, turning it until the ship faced the chamber's exit. Ali jumped up beside him, followed by a squealing Morph. Ali smiled. She had almost forgotten about the lovable little blob.
But then a voice behind them made her freeze. "Jimbo, Miss Ali!" Silver jumped onto the boat, gripping a rope as he came up. He started to walk toward them. "Aren't you two the seventh wonder of the universe?"
Jim grabbed a sword from the deck and pointed it at Silver. "Get. Back!"
Silver stopped short and looked down at the sword. When he looked up again, his expression was dark and angry. "I like you, lad," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "But I've come too far to let you stand between me and me treasure."
He advanced on them again, slowly but surely. Jim's eyes widened, and his heart started to pound. He stepped back, still holding the sword out, until he was backed against the wheel. Ali stood frozen beside the wheel, eyes flicking back and forth desperately.
At that moment a laser beam struck the side of the ship, jolting it and sending all three of them flying off. Ali landed on the ground beside the ship, and looked around frantically for Jim. Not finding him, she looked over the edge of her spot. What she saw sent sheer panic pulsing through her body.
Jim had fallen through one of the larger cracks in the ground. He had managed to grab onto a hunk of metal protruding from the inner wall, and was hanging on for dear life. The hunk of metal was slowly but surely receding back into the wall. Far below, the molten core pulsed and flamed with a deadly promise.
Ali leaned as far as she could over the edge, stretching out a hand. "Jim! Grab hold!"
Jim half turned in the air, reaching one hand towards Ali. "I can't!" He lost his grip on his handhold, falling several feet before grabbing hold of another, much smaller protrusion. Like the first one, it was also shrinking back into the wall.
"No!" Ali cried. How could she do anything for Jim now?
Then she heard a voice gasp, "Jimbo!"
She turned her head. Silver held the edge of the old ship with his cyborg hand, keeping it in place. His distressed gaze was fixed on Jim.
"Silver, please!" Ali called. "Help me save him!"
Silver started to move towards Ali, loosening his grip on the ship. But as he started to let go, the ship began to fall into the laser's destructive path. He stopped and gripped the edge of the ship again.
"Silver, I'm begging you," Ali was close to tears. "Help me help Jim. If he falls, he will die."
The big man looked at her, at the treasure on the ship, and back to her, conflict raging in his eyes. Then he looked down at Jim, who had only moments left, and his distress tripled. "Oh, blast me for a fool!" He released the ship and went to Ali, holding her by the ankles so she could reach down farther.
At that moment, Jim ran out of handhold, plunging toward the planet's core with a scream. Ali swung down and grabbed both his wrists, holding on tight as Silver pulled them back up.
Now kneeling on solid ground, Ali pulled Jim into a fierce hug, which he returned in full. A moment later, though, he pulled away. "We have to go!" He said urgently, jumping to his feet.
Ali followed suit. "Agreed." The two teenagers ran for the exit, Silver keeping pace beside them.
"Silver!" Jim exclaimed as they ran through the portal. His voice was laced with disbelief. "You gave up—"
"Just a lifelong obsession, Jim, I'll get over it," Silver said lightly.
Ali rather doubted that, but this was no time for a debate. Once again she heard engines whirring, as the R.L.S. Legacy appeared in front of them.
"Hurry, people!" B.E.N. shouted from the ship. In one hand he waved the compass that had previously been on his chest. "We got exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds 'til planet's destruction!"
Jim, Ali and Silver glanced at each other, and then hurried on board. Standing at the wheel and steering the ship was…Delbert? Ali craned her neck and spotted Captain Amelia sitting behind him, giving instructions.
"Take us out of here, metal man!" Amelia ordered B.E.N.
"Aye, Captain!" B.E.N. activated the thrusters with a pull of two levers, and the ship took off.
"Cap'n," Silver started, sweeping his hat off his head. "You dropped from the heavens in the nick of—"
"Save your claptrap for the judge, Silver," the captain cut through his words with a scowl.
Silver made a dismayed attempt at a laugh, his face drooping. And Ali found herself torn. Silver had done some pretty awful things; but did she really want him to end up in jail? As a pirate he would be treated worse than the other prisoners; many people held a special dislike for pirates. Ali should know; she had been one of those people for a while after her father died.
A flying piece of debris suddenly hit one of the sails, sending it and the mast attached to it crashing down. "Mizzen sail demobilized, Captain!" B.E.N. said, tapping furiously at a screen on his compass. "Thrusters at only thirty percent of capacity."
"Thirty percent?" Delbert repeated in alarm. "That means…we'll never clear the planet's explosion in time."
A day ago, or even an hour ago, Delbert's statement would have sent Ali panicking again. But now, she could feel her old stubbornness surfacing with a vengeance. They had come too far and survived too much for it to end here, damn it! She ran to the edge of the boat, racking her brain for an idea.
Then she looked back at the landscape rapidly receding behind them. The ground was coming apart, lasers shooting up into the sky…and the portal was still open.
"Jim!" She called to her friend. He looked at her from his spot next to Delbert and Amelia. "You opened the portal to Montressor Spaceport before. Is there any way we could do that again?"
Jim's eyebrows shot up. "I don't know. I'd need a way to get close to the portal controller…" His eyes scanned the ship, and then locked on to a small thruster. It had been knocked to the deck by the fallen mast, but was still sparking with power.
He hopped down to the main level of the deck. "We gotta turn around!"
"What?" Amelia stood up just for the sake of giving Jim an incredulous look.
"There's a portal back there," Jim replied. "It can get us out of here!"
"Pardon me, Jim," Delbert said, losing his cool. "But didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?"
"Yes," Jim grunted. With Ali's help, he pulled a long, flat piece of metal from the wreckage on board. They set it down again, placing the thruster on top of one end. "But I'm gonna change that. I'm gonna open a different door."
"Captain, really, I just don't see how this could possibly—"
"Delbert, it's our best chance!" Ali shouted. "Do you have any other ideas?"
"Listen to the boy!" Silver agreed.
"One minute, twenty-nine seconds 'til planet's destruction!" B.E.N. blurted, still furiously calculating.
Silver joined Ali and Jim around the parts they had assembled. "What do you need, Jim?"
"Just…some way to attach this," Jim replied, gesturing to the thruster.
"All right, stand back now!" Turning his cyborg arm into a blowtorch, Silver welded the thruster to the bottom of the makeshift board. Together he and Jim lifted the board up and set it on the edge of the deck, Morph pushing up on the underside of the thing.
Jim hopped onto the board and positioned his feet to anchor himself as best he could. Before he could do anything else, though, Ali grabbed his arm.
"Let me come with you," she said determinedly. Both Silver and Jim turned to look at her.
"Ali…" Jim started.
"We don't have time to argue! Look, I can help. I know about the aerodynamic aspects of flying. I can help with maneuvering."
"Miss Ali," Silver started. "You'll throw off the balance of the board—"
"No I won't; Jim and I have spent years solar surfing together on the same board." Ali looked at Jim again. "You're crazy if you think I'm letting you do this without me."
Jim considered her for a moment…and nodded. "Get on."
Ali released his arm and hopped onto the back of the board.
Jim looked back at Silver. "Ok, now no matter what happens, keep the ship heading straight for that portal."
Ali watched as the two males shared a look. The look conveyed worry, desperation, and regret that this was the way they might part.
But the moment was broken as B.E.N. yelled, "Fifty-eight seconds!" Ali allowed Jim one last glance at Silver, and then stepped on the pedal that would activate the thruster, sending them speeding through the air.
The route back to the portal was like a deadly obstacle course, pillars and stone blocks lifting and crashing all around them. "Lean forward!" Ali cried. A moment later, a stone block flew through the air where their heads had been.
Ali continued to shout instructions. "Steer to the left! Now to the right! Now further right!" The thruster faltered. She stomped on the pedal again, and it flared back to life.
Her eyes widened as they came toward two pillars leaning against each other, a hole rapidly growing smaller between them. "Jim, straighten up!" Jim did as she said, and the effect slowed them enough to allow a little more control. "When we reach those pillars, veer right, then down, and lean forward again as far as you can."
"Got it." Jim steered the board and then leaned forward so far he could touch its metal surface. He and Ali made it through the hole just as the two pillars collapsed.
Ali blanched when she saw the new level of obstacles in their way, moving faster than she could keep track of. "Jim, I think it's time for some of your stunts!"
Jim's answer was to start them through the mess in front of them, moving the board in rapid zigzags, sometimes skidding against debris in narrower spaces. Adrenaline and determination burned hot inside him, his teeth clenched in defiance of the fiery planet below.
The thruster faltered again, and again Ali stepped on the pedal. But this time, nothing happened. She stomped harder, with still no results. The machinery must have run out of charge.
The board had lost forward momentum in those few powerless seconds. Now it, and its passengers, began to fall—right down a fissure in the planet.
"No!" Ali tapped the pedal over and over again, putting all of her weight into it. They continued to descend, and she could feel the heat of the planet's core stretch up towards them. "No, no, no!"
"It needs a spark!" Jim shouted. "Use the wall!"
"Right!" Together, she and Jim threw their weight sideways, making the thruster end of the board collide with the rock wall. The board scraped against the wall, and the friction created a flurry of sparks around the thruster. A few sparks took hold, and the thruster flamed back to life with a boom. The board shot upwards, with its passengers hanging on for dear life.
Ali and Jim reached the surface just as the ship flew over. Ali pressed her foot against the board's pedal and kept it there, lending the board an extra burst of speed. It was all or nothing now. They reached the side of the ship, and Ali could hear B.E.N. counting down the final seconds.
"Five! Four!" B.E.N. shouted.
Jim leaned forward as they passed the ship, reaching towards the globe that controlled the portal. He could see the crescent-shaped spot that marked Montressor Spaceport. Just a little closer…
"THREE! TWO…"
One moment, the expanse of open space was still and quiet. Then an enormous glowing doorway appeared in the air, seeming to tear the fabric of reality. Through the doorway came a ship, led by two teenagers on a ramshackle hover board. The two vehicles sped away as the doorway snapped shut, cutting off the explosion on the other side and leaving just a single short blast in its wake.
Ali barely spared a glance to the blast behind them. Her whole self was filled with a single thought: We did it!
Jim was already cheering in front of her, and she joined in with an elated shout, the sound going on for almost ten seconds before she had to stop for air. She realized she was breathing heavily; but she continued to cheer a moment later. She had every reason to be celebrating—they had made it!
Jim was of a similar mind. He flew them over the deck of the ship, high-fiving Silver as the board passed by. Together with Ali, he flew several loops around the ship, still cheering. When Ali insisted she have a turn at flying, he let her, and she surprised him by doing several aerial turns and even managing a barrel roll. Jim laughed. It seemed Ali had picked up a thing or two from him.
Eventually they landed the board on the edge of the ship. Together they jumped onto the deck, the board toppling back into space as they did so.
Without warning, Jim took Ali by the waist and lifted her into the air.
Ali laughed wholeheartedly as he spun her around, giddy with relief and the most insanely acquired adrenaline rush of her life. He set her down, and she promptly wrapped him in a hug.
"Wow," she huffed, still chuckling.
They pulled back after a minute, arms still around each other. "What do you know? We're alive," Jim said with a grin.
"I'll say," Ali grinned back. Her eyes roamed freely over his face, but were soon drawn to his mouth.
She looked into his eyes again and cocked her head. "Hey Jim? About that kiss…"
Jim's eyebrows shot up. "Is that a request?"
Ali smirked, and stepped a little closer to him. "It's an insistent request." Her smirk faltered. "Of course, that's only if you want to—"
Jim pressed one hand to her mouth, cutting her off. "Trust me, Ali," he said, his hand drifting to her jawline. "I want to." He put a finger under her chin, tilting her face upwards; and then his mouth was on hers.
Ali wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled inwardly when he pulled her closer, his own arms around her waist. Though her feet were flat on the deck, Ali could have sworn Jim was spinning her in circles again.
Just as the kiss was becoming more involved, a pointed cough made the two teenagers pause. Breaking off the kiss, they turned to find Captain Amelia and Delbert standing in front of them. Ali squeaked and stepped away from Jim, cheeks burning. Jim followed suit, his face also red. In spite of their embarrassment, however, both teenagers were biting back grins.
Amelia shook her head, a hint of a smirk on her face. "Unorthodox methods back there, you two," she chuckled. "But ludicrously effective. Mr. Hawkins, I'd be proud to recommend you to the Interstellar Academy. They could use a man like you. And Miss Wood?"
Ali's curiosity spiked as the captain addressed her. "Yes?"
"Consider what I told you about music therapy. I meant what I said."
Ali smiled. "I'll give it some thought, ma'am. Thank you."
"Just wait until your mother hears about this!" Delbert exclaimed, eyes on Jim. "Of course, we may downplay the life-threatening parts."
Ali chuckled. "You think?"
"Jimmy, Ali," B.E.N. cut in from the right. "That was…unforgettable! I know you don't like touching, Jimmy, but get ready for a hug, because I gotta hug you!" He latched onto Jim once again, and this time Jim boisterously returned the robot's hug.
Ali watched the scene with growing fondness. This was the Jim she had grown up with, the one who she had missed since before the voyage.
As B.E.N. burst into happy tears, Ali turned towards Silver's spot by the staircase…and found the spot empty.
Her eyebrows shot up. She had a pretty good idea of where the man had gone; but did she want to stop him? He was a pirate, and pirates needed to be locked up so they couldn't do more harm. But was he really that kind of pirate?
She turned and pulled Jim free of B.E.N.'s grasp. "Jim, we have a certain cyborg missing."
Jim's mouth fell open. Comprehension slowly dawned in his eyes. "The longboats?"
Ali nodded. "The longboats." With that, she and Jim hurried to the lower deck.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OH MY GOD, this chapter took so much time to finish O_o. I give serious credit to the people who created the exploding planet scene in the movie.
Ali and Jim finally had their kiss! I hope y'all enjoyed that bit, and enjoyed the chapter in general. Please leave a review! :D