Disclaimer: Okay, I don't own Treasure Planet in anyway. They're property of Disney and are going to stay that way.

                        AN: Okay, this chapter's a little of a dozy. Eleven pages… wow! That was longer then I had thought it was going to be… anyway enjoy and review!

Chapter Two- The Return to the Benbow Inn

                        James Pleiades Hawkins sighed as the Benbow Inn came into view. It was time for a vacation. At the age of 24 and having captured some of the most dangerous pirates in the galaxies, he deserved the break.

            He sat at the helm of his ship, the R.L.S. Fate, watching his crew prepare the landing procedure. Normally he would have been overjoyed at seeing his childhood home, but his failures at the Raeford Galaxy still lay heavily with him.

            James, "Jim", gave a startled yelp as something cold traveled up his spine. He jumped from his set and glared at the pink glob that floated out of his shirt collar.

            "Morph." He growled, capturing the pink glob in his hands.

            Morph gave a laugh and slid through Jim's fingers' like liquid and then reformed into a small animal with a red mouth and big eyes. He looked up into the captain's glaring eyes and quickly turned into a miniature form of Jim. The Mini-Jim glared right back at the real Jim until the real Jim laughed and held out his hand.

            Morph quickly changed back into his regular form and plopped gently into Jim's hand.

            "Alright, alright, Morph. No more brooding." Jim promised.

            "Captain," came Jim's helmsman's voice, "we're about to dock."

            Jim looked up and nodded, "Very, Rochester. Prepare to eliminate artificial gravity and go on with docking procedures."

            Rochester nodded. Jim's helmsman was a green alien from the planet Debtor. He had horns all over his scaly body and wedded hands and feet. His eyes were extremely sharp and he was good at taking orders.

            Fate slid into one of the docks located a few feet away from the Benbow Inn. Despite his depression over his failures, Jim smiled at the familiar building. It was a small three story building made of wood. Light burned from all the windows.

            Jim turned to his 20 crewmembers, "Alright men, good job. Go take your vacation and meet me here in three days."

            There were whoops from the crew as they hurried to finish their tasks of manning the ship and then hurried off the ship to a ferry port where a ferry would carter them back to the Montresser Space Port.

            Jim was the last one to exit the ship. Over Jim's shoulder was a rucksack filled with the things he wanted to take into the Benbow, most of his cloths he had left on the ship in his room. As he and Morph stepped onto the solid ground of the planet Montresser, Jim turned to look back at Fate. He smiled fondly at the ship before heading up to the Benbow Inn.

            Jim looked up at the gray sky and shivered. Rain would soon start splashing down onto the brown planet. The last thing he wanted to be was caught in it.

            Jim smiled at Morph, "Come on, Morph! Race ya!" He took off into breakneck speed with Morph trailing behind him.

            As Jim and Morph raced, the sky opened up and started to pour. Jim laughed and futilely raised a hand to the top of his head to ward off the rain. It didn't work at all and Jim got sucked.

            Jim dived onto the porch of the Benbow Inn and was thankful for the protection from the rain.

            Morph shivered at Jim's side. He shook off water on him onto Jim's shoulder. Then he dived into Jim's coat and shivered there.

            Jim laughed and turned to the door of the Benbow Inn. He quickly tried to fix his rain soaked hair so he looked somewhat presentable and pushed open the door to the Benbow Inn.

                        "Jim!" Sarah Hawkins shouted in delight at the sight of her rain-soaked son. Without a care for his wetness, Sarah threw herself into his arms.

            Jim gladly held his mother there. He hadn't seen her for seven long months and was happy to embrace her.

            Sarah pulled away from Jim's embrace and smiled at him, "I'm so glad you're home. How was your trip to the Raeford Galaxy?"

            For a moment Jim's face fell, but he forced it back into a smile, "It was great, Mom. I got the pirate."

            "You did?" Sarah laughed, "Oh that's wonderful!"

            Jim watched his mother move around the small restaurant of the Benbow, cleaning up the messes of her guests. Jim guessed they had all headed upstairs to their rooms to sleep.

            Not at bad idea, Jim thought, stifling a yawn. Before he allowed himself to indulge in a long, deep sleep a reunion was in order.

            "So, where's Delbert, Amelia and the little ones?" Jim asked and Sarah groaned.

            "Amelia and Delbert are trying to get them to sleep up on the third story, but they refuse to sleep until you get home." Sarah pinned her son with a glare, "Seems they have it in their heads that you'll be bringing presents for them when you return. Now what could have put that thought into their mind?"

            Jim laughed and glanced at Morph, shifting the rucksack on his shoulder, "I have no idea." He said.

            Just then there was a crash from upstairs and an adult shout. Both Sarah and Jim's eyes drifted up towards the ceiling. Sarah groaned and shook her head.

            "Amelia and Delbert are so lucky that all my guests are heavy sleepers." Sarah said, grabbing more dirty plates. She pushed open the swinging wood door to the kitchen and almost dropped the plates with surprise.

            Before Jim knew what was happening, he was caught up in the cool metallic in embrace of Bio-Electronic Navigator or BEN Jim smiled affectionately at the robot and Morph rubbed his tiny body against BEN's metal head.

            "Jim!" BEN gushed, "I've missed you so much! I was so worried something had happened to you!" If the robot had been able to cry, Jim was sure he would've been.

            "I'm fine, BEN" Jim said with a laugh, "And you know you could've come with me if you had wanted to."

            BEN shook his metallic head, "I'll have to from now on! I mean the worry tore at me! I'll just have to deal with all the life threatening things that go on during our adventures. Anything is better then biting your nails with worry."
            "BEN, you don't have nails." Jim reminded the robot. Sarah rolled her eyes and disappeared into the kitchen.

            BEN began to ramble about how badly he had worried over Jim. Behind BEN, Morph had transformed into the robot and was making fun of BEN by making the Mini-BEN sob uncontrollably and suck his metal thumb.

            Jim's mouth twisted from suppressing the laughter babbling in his throat. This was the life he wanted.

            There was a childish squeal from behind him and the next thing Jim knew, he was tumbling onto the floor of the Benbow with BEN under him. His rucksack clattered to the floor a few feet away from him.

            Jim gave a small gasp of pain as BEN's metallic thighs pressed into his rib cage. Pain shot through his stomach, but it was gone quickly when he felt two small hands probe his back. He grinned.

            "Uncle James! Uncle James!" Cried Amelia Junior, better known as AJ. She sat upon Jim like a victor of a wrestling match. Her slender cat-like body was light against his back, "Did you get me anything?"

            There were two more squeals and AJ's siblings, Delbert Junior, DJ, and Emily. They were kind enough to not jump on Jim. Instead the came in front of Jim's face and looked him in the eye.

            "Get off James, AJ. And as for the three of you, leave Jim alone. He's probably very tired from his trip." Came the firm tone of Amelia Doppler.

            Jim grinned as AJ got off him with a groan. He stood up, brushed himself off and swept all three of the children into his arms. They screamed with delight and weakly tried to free themselves.

            Jim placed them back on the floor and smiled at Doctor Delbert Doppler and Captain Amelia Doppler. The dog-like man and the feline-like woman stood side by side, their whole bodies glowing with love for one another. A dull ache in Jim's chest told him how much he wanted what they had.

            "It is good to see you back, Jim." Delbert said, scooping up Emily in his arms as her twin siblings chased her around his legs.

            "I take it the mission went well?" Amelia said, stopping AJ and DJ from running around the room with one look.

            Jim almost paled. Amelia, ever since she had convinced the Academy to allow Jim to study there, had been his mentor. The last thing he wanted her to no about was his failures at Raeford. She had worked hard and long to get him into the Academy and now that he failed at one of his most important missions… well, it might look bad on Amelia's part and the last thing Jim wanted to do was tarnish Amelia's excellent Spacer record.

            So Jim forced a smile onto his face and said, "Sure did."

            Emily pushed away from her father's chest and looked up at Jim with Amelia's dark eyes, "Did you get me anything?"

            "Yeah, did you get us anything?" DJ and AJ said at the same time.

            "Now, children, James didn't have to get you anything. It wasn't necessary." Amelia chided and the children lowered their heads.

            Jim laughed, "Now, Amelia, I'm their uncle and it wouldn't be very uncley of me not to get them anything."

            Jim winked at the triplets and walked over to his discarded rucksack and picked it up. He opened it and saw Morph was ready to help hand out the gifts.

            "Alright Morph. That one's for Emily."

            "OH!" Emily cried with delight as Morph handed her a sapphire rock shaped like a star on a silver chain. Morph floated above Emily, who was still in Delbert's arms, with the silver chain in his mouth. He gently placed the necklace into Emily's cupped hands. Emily silently brought the necklace to her chest, to happy for words.

            For AJ, Jim brought out an official captain's hat with the insignia of the Raeford Galaxy. Gleefully, AJ carefully took it from Jim and careful cradled it in her arms the way any nine-year-old girl would cradle a favourite doll. But because this nine-year-old lived with a ship captain for a mother, AJ had grown up on ships and space not dolls and dresses.

            DJ received a toy gun. It was looked extremely real and even felt real. It was what all the ship captains had been carrying of late. Because of all the pirate attacks, they had to have them. Jim had noticed DJ eyeing the toy gun in a picture one day. Now he knew he had made a good choice as the boy's mouth opened in aw.

            Delbert smiled at Jim, "That was very nice of your uncle. What do you have to say?"
            "THANK YOU!" Chimed the three voices all at once.

            "Let's go play pirates and captains!" AJ suggested, "I'm the captain."
            DJ sighed, pirate again, but then laughed, "Alright, and I've just taken Emmy hostage and you'll never rescue her!"

            DJ grabbed Emily by the arm and dragged her across the room. He tried to laugh wickedly, but failed miserably at it. His laugh sounded like silver bells, not a wicked pirate.

            Emily gave a playful shriek, "O save me, Captain AJ! Save me from this scallywag!"

            AJ race up the stairs and came back down all within a breathless instant. In her hand now rested a wooden sword.

            "Let the lady go, you swine!" AJ cried and then raced across the room to do battle with DJ.

            Jim, Amelia and Delbert stood there for a few minutes smiling at the children. BEN, who been suspiciously quite for quite some time, finally spoke up.

            "Aren't they cute?" He said, "I mean, just yesterday AJ was trying to take me apart and figure out how I work. Well… it wasn't to cute then when I was in threat of becoming little pieces of metal, but it's cute now that I think about it… and DJ and Emily are always…"

            Jim shook his head as BEN continued on.

            "You didn't have to bring them that stuff you know." Amelia said, smiling at her young children.

            "I wanted to." Jim assured her and turned his attention back to the children.

            Sarah walked into the kitchen with a wide smile, "Jim, we'll have to have a party to celebrate your return!"
            Jim grinned, "A party sounds great."

            The triplets stopped in their playing to look at one another, "A party?" They said at the same time, "OH BOY!"

            Jim laughed and Morph rested on his shoulder. Jim finally felt home for the first time in months. With the people he loved, he felt like he belonged.

            But he couldn't help but feel something was missing.

                        "I want to come with you." Alyson said the next morning, placing her lips into a pout.

            Seymour shook his head at her, "No, you stay here. If you come you'll end up fighting with Captain Hawkins and then he'll never agree."

            Alyson crossed her arms over her chest, "He has to agree. The Academy ordered it."
            "Yes, but we still want to be on good terms with our captain. He may have to pilot our ship but that doesn't mean he has to pilot it well. Besides, I need you to stay here and do more research on Dead Earth." Seymour said.

            Alyson and Seymour walked out of the Academy and into the bustling harbor of the Space Port. All sorts of creatures moved about in the Space Port. There many different languages swirled into one massive buzzing noise.

            Seymour had changed into more travel 'efficient' cloths. Even though Seymour would be traveling a long way away, he was still decked out in his Academy robes, but he wore a black cloak in case it was cold on Montresser. Alyson wore a silver cloak that was exactly like Seymour's expect for its colour.

            "Damn you and your logical." Alyson said as they reached the ferry port. It was a small brown building made of stone with a well-muscled creature manning the controls.

            Seymour offered Alyson a smile, "Damn me later!" He paid the creature money and the creature stepped aside.

            Seymour gave Alyson a quick hug and stepped passed the muscle-bounded creature and into the brown stone building. As he entered he paused and turned to her and smiled.

            "I'll be back tomorrow. Meet me here?" He laughed when Alyson nodded stiffly and then disappeared into the building.

            Alyson shook her head as the creature moved to block her view from the door to the ferry port.

            "You better not make me regret this, Seymour." Alyson muttered and headed back to the Academy.

                        That afternoon, it was still raining on Montresser.

            Jim sat at a small table in the back of the restaurant, watching BEN and his mother serve the people sitting at the other tables.

            Morph sat on the table as well, sipping some soup Sarah Hawkins had cooked up for him. Jim's soup remained untouched and Jim's brows were drawn into a deep frown. Ever since Amelia, Delbert and his family had gone back to their own home Jim had started brooding again.

            Morph floated in front of Jim's face and became his brooding face. Jim groaned and swatted Morph away.

            "I'm not brooding about Raeford, Morph." Jim protested, "I just got a bad feeling something bad is going to happen."

            Jim looked out the small window at his side. Rain slashed hard against the glass. Maybe the rain's got me edgy, Jim thought. That had to be it.

            But Jim's feeling of misfortune increased when the front door to the Benbow Inn burst open with a gust of wind and rain. Inside the swirl of wind, leaves and rain was a hooded figure.

            Everyone in the room tensed. The figure in the doorway looked so spooky in his black cloak. Jim stood up from his chair, with Morph at his side, and moved to Sarah, who was staring at the hooded figure in surprise.

            Unknown hands pushed back the hood of the cloak and Jim found himself looking into the eyes of an aging man. His smile was warm and friendly. Without so much as a word, he turned and pushed the door shut with a snap. Everyone returned back to their meals and conversations, forgetting all about the man in the cloak. Since Sarah still seemed to be a little surprised at the man standing in her threshold, BEN got back to work immediately.

            "Sorry about that," The man said, smiling at Sarah and Jim, "I tried knocking but no one heard me and when I pushed open the door a little bit it flew open with the wind."

            Sarah smiled, "That's quite all right… Mr…?"

            "Blake. Seymour Blake."

            "Well, Mr. Blake, my I take your cloak?" Sarah asked and Seymour took of his very wet cloak, revealing black robes with gold lining.

            Jim's lips tightened with distaste. From the robes, Jim could tell this Seymour Blake was an Academy professor. Jim had never liked the Academy professors. In all of his six years learning he had never taken a liking to any Academy teachers. He had found them all prissy and dull. What would make this one any different?

            "I'm looking for Captain James Hawkins, ma'ma." Seymour Blake said, "I was told he lived here."

            "I am he." Jim said, stepping in front of Sarah.

            Seymour Blake's smile widened and held out his hand to Jim. Jim had never seen a professor from the Academy offer a handshake so he was a little slow in giving it. However, when Seymour Blake and Jim did shake hands, Jim was surprised at the strength the older man had.

            "What can I do you for?" Jim asked, nodding to Sarah to let her know everything was okay. Sarah looked relieved for a moment and then hurried back to her guests.

            "I'm Professor Seymour Blake, Doctor of Ancient Ruins and Cultures, at the Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Hawkins." Professor Blake said.

            "The pleasure's all mine." Jim said, surprised to see it was true. There was something about this man that made him at ease.

            Seymour offered him a smirk before continuing, "My colleague and I have discovered something that proves that there was life on Dead Earth. We were finally able to convince the Academy to fund our expedition to Dead Earth."

            Jim nodded trying to keep his face blank, but it was hard not to be interested. For years scientist have been arguing about whether or not Earth had been the mother-planet of all human beings. When Jim had been a student at the Academy he had been aware that almost every weekend scientist came to the Academy to debate about Dead Earth. Years ago, during Jim's last year at the Academy, a professor had tried to get funding for a trip to Dead Earth, but had been unsuccessful. Jim now guessed that that had been Seymour again. A trip to Dead Earth would be very expensive and no one was welling to front that kind of money.

            "Now that the Academy had agreed to fund our expedition," Seymour went on, "we need a crew and captain. The Elders of the Academy said you were the man to come to."

            Jim shook his head, "Sorry, I'd love to help, really, but see I'm on vacation right now."

            Seymour actually flustered, "I had a feeling that was so, but the Elders insisted I take you. I'm afraid you don't have a choice." From in his cloak, Seymour pulled out a letter, "The Elders wrote you this."

            Jim, with narrowed eyes, took the letter from Seymour. It had the seal of the Academy, a space ship, in thick, red ink on the fold. Without any hesitance Jim broke the seal and began to read. He was vaguely aware of Morph reading over his shoulder.

            To Captain Hawkins from the Elder Rockwell;

                        Captain Hawkins, I am aware that you are taking a holiday after your return from the Raeford Galaxy. The Elders and I understand that this vacation is well deserved on your part and we planned not to disturb you, but something of grave importance has come up.

            Professor Blake and Professor Christopher of the Academy have brought to my attention proof that there was once life on the now dead planet, Earth. I have always been a firm believer in the Mother-Earth theory and am pleased with this discovery. This is history in the making.

            Because this journey to Dead Earth is of the utmost important to the Academy, no ordinary captain and crew would do. We needed the best, some one we knew we could trust to deliver Professor Blake and Professor Christopher safely to Dead Earth. You are the only man that fits this description.

            We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you, but this letter is an order not a request. You are ordered to take Professor Blake and Professor Christopher to Dead Earth.

                                                                        From Elder Rockwell of the Academy

                        Jim almost crushed the paper in his hand in anger. Well it figures! You couldn't trust the Academy to keep their word, something would always come up. Since he was the best ship captain the Academy had, he of course would be their first bet for this mission.

            But it won't be so bad; Jim tried to reason with himself. Seymour looked like an enjoyable man. Seymour's colleague, this Professor Christopher, couldn't be so bad either, right?

            Very slowly, trying to keep his voice leveled and even, Jim said, "So am I to take you and this Professor Christopher person on your trip to Dead Earth?"

            Sheepishly, Seymour nodded, "Yes, sorry. I tried to get a different captain, but the Elders wouldn't see reason."

            Jim shook his head, "The trip to Dead Earth is very dangerous. The Elders were wise to choose me." He offered Seymour a weak smile, "Are you going back to the ferries?"
            Seymour smiled, "Ah, no. The ferry closed down as soon as I got off."

            "You can stay with us."

            Seymour nodded, "Thank you. How should I pay-"

            "No charge. I always show respect to the professors. My mom, Sarah Hawkins, will show you to your room in a moment. You can sit down and I'll be around with food for you." Jim said, motioning to the table he had been sitting at.

            Seymour nodded once more and went to sit down. Jim turned and found himself looking into Morph's big eyes.

            Jim sighed, "I'm okay, Morph. I'm not too angry."

            Morph nodded and then changed into a form of BEN. He showed BEN with a shocked face turning quickly into one of horror.

            Jim laughed, "Yeah, we'll have to drag BEN along. He's a really good navigator and he said he would be going next time with me."

            Jim then walked off to find BEN and ask him if he was ready for another adventure.

                        Later that night, Alyson walked into her room located on the third floor of the Academy, her shoulders almost sagging from the weight of the heavy books in her arms. All the teachers slept on the third floor of the Academy while the students slept on the second.

            Alyson's room was painted in a pale amethyst colour. In the room was a small bed with a pale purple, pale green and pale yellow quilt. Next to the bed was a night stand with a digital clock. She had a closet filled with cloths and shoes that she never normally wore. The only other thing in the room was big, beached wood colored desk. On it was piles of papers. Most of them were papers on ancient cultures or ruins, but there were of few sketches of people. Behind the desk was a window that gave a perfect view of the setting sun.

            With a gasp, Alyson plopped her heavy books onto her desk and leaned on them. All these books were filled with information about Dead Earth, but Alyson could tell most of them were fictional. It was all based upon what people thought had happened on Dead Earth. Many of them were too gruesome to be real. There was this one story that told of these religious people hanging innocent women and men because they thought they were witches. There was no way that could be true. Who would do such a thing? It was inconceivable.

            Alyson sighed and pushed the heavy books farther back on the desk. Then she sat down on the chair in front of her desk and caught her breath. Then she opened one of the drawers on her desk and pulled out a sketch pad.

            On the sketch pad were pictures of students in the courtyards she had spied from her windows. Most where all in pencil, but there had been a few that she had coloured in. One of her favourites was the picture she had drawn of a female student and male students meeting the courtyard at night. Alyson had been making up her class plan for the next day when had heard the girl giggle. She had looked out at the window and saw the boy and the girl laugh and kiss. Alyson couldn't help it, she drew them. And she looked at her masterpiece she couldn't help but colour it in. The picture was beautiful. It was drawn expertly and coloured just as well. It made Alyson proud.

            Alyson planned to bring along her sketch pad on her trip to Dead Earth. She would enjoy drawing the majestic mother-planet.

            Alyson sighed happily and stripped off her cloths and got into her pajamas. She climbed into bed and shut her eyes.

            She dreamed of a glowing planet with hungry eyes.

                        The next day, the sun burned as bright as yesterday and Alyson sweated under her silver cloak. But she had to wear it; it was a rule for Academy professors to wear their cloaks when they went anywhere.

            When Alyson arrived at the ferry docks where she would meet Seymour she noticed that the old, stone building next the ferry building was being worked on.

            Good, Alyson thought, that building looked like it was ready to collapse. And it was true enough. The stones had actually fallen before, on the top of a woman's unfortunate head. Alyson was glad to see the old warehouse was finally getting worked on.

            As Alyson stared up at the working handymen, creatures with green skin and very sharp claws, Seymour exited the ferry building. When he saw Alyson staring up at the decaying, stone building he smiled.

            "Alyson! Alyson!" He called.

            Alyson smiled and turned, "Professor, how did it go?"

            "Surprisingly well." Seymour answered, "Captain Hawkins was a little annoyed that his vacation time was interrupted, but other then that he took it pretty well. He agreed to meet us in two days time at the Ship Docks."

            Alyson frowned, "He's not with you?"
            "No, he wanted to spend a little more time with his mother and other family members. That and his crew wouldn't be back for another day." Seymour noticed the disappointment in Alyson's eyes and blinked, "What?"

            "I just wanted to meet the famous Captain James Hawkins, that's all." Alyson muttered.

            "You will."

            "He is a nice captain?" Alyson asked, "I heard all captain were womanizing intolerable pigs."

            Seymour bellowed with laughter, "Not this one, Alyson. I'll admit to you some ship captains are rude and crude, but this one is very well mattered. Now, let's head back to the Academy and prepare to leave."

            Alyson nodded and Seymour lopped an arm around her shoulder. They walked passed the warehouse when Alyson stopped to undo her cloak, it was to hot to keep it clasped around her. She wondered how Seymour survived since he still had his cloak on. Seymour walked a few feet ahead of her and then stopped. He turned and offered her a smile.

            "A little to hot for you?" Seymour asked, grinning.

            "I don't know you survive." Alyson said, unclasping her cloak and throwing it over her shoulder, "It's as hot as-"

            "LOOK OUT!" Bellowed one of the handymen on the rough. Alyson and Seymour glanced up.

            Alyson screamed as a big piece of stone tumbled to the ground, right where Seymour stood in shock. Seymour finally realized what was happening and moved to jump out of the way. The stone piece was moving to fast, however, and the next thing Alyson knew Seymour had disappeared into a pile of smoke.

            Alyson rushed forward, her heart pounding against her ribs. She made her way through the dust that was a cause of the stone slab crashing into the ground.

            Seymour's lowered body lay trapped under the rock. His eyes were closed and his arms spread wide. He appeared be unconscious.

            "Seymour." Alyson whispered, kneeling besides him. Tears filled her eyes when he did not respond. She grabbed the side of the stone slab and tried to pull it with all her might. The slab moved not an inch.

            Alyson was vaguely aware of screams of surprise and the heavy clanking of boots rushing down a ladder. All she could see was the stone crushing Seymour. Her nails scrapped against the cold stone. She pulled at the stone until her hands were raw and bleeding.

            Then the two handymen were besides her. They pushed their strong claw-like hands under the stone and lifted it. Weakly, they managed to move to stone slab away from Seymour.

            With a gasp Seymour's eyes fluttered open, but he fell quickly back asleep. The handymen stepped towards Seymour and one lifted him into his arms.

            "Ma'ma," the handyman said, "we're taking him to the hospital a few blocks ahead. Hurry there."

            Alyson nodded numbly, still kneeling. The handymen moved away from her and hurried up the block and disappeared into the crowd.

            Alyson knelt there for many moments, taking in what had just happened. When it finally hit, Alyson was up and running.

                        Fifteen minutes later, Alyson sat in a cool chair in a doctor's room. Seymour lay on a little table off to the side. They room they sat in was an off-white color with pictures on how the human body and certain alien bodies worked.

            "Alyson, for the last time I'm fine." Seymour said, "They say I just fractured a rib and broke my leg. It isn't that bad."

            "Isn't that bad? ISN'T THAT BAD!?" Alyson exploded, jumping from her seat and pacing the room, "You could've been killed, Professor! I thought you were dead! You have no idea what that felt like! I'm glad that all you got was a fractured rib and broken leg, but that's still a lot! You can't possibly go on the trip to Dead Earth now."

            "WHAT!?" Seymour shouted, preparing jump to his feet but when his body clenched in pain, he decided against it, "I have to go! I've been waiting my whole life for this! I'm going and no one can stop me."

            "I can and I'm afraid I'll have to." A doctor said, stepping into the room. He offered Alyson a smile before continuing, "Any stress on your rib or leg could cause it to get worse. And I need to make sure your rib and leg are healing properly."

            This time Seymour did sit up and gripped his side in pain, "But doctor I have to go on this journey! It's been my life dream!"

            Alyson walked over to Seymour and gripped his shoulders, "Professor, we'll just cancel the trip! We'll do it again when you're healed."

            Seymour lowered his head and was silent. Then he looked back up at Alyson with grief stricken eyes, "No, you'll just have to go with out me. Don't argue with me, Alyson. The Academy my not fund us again and Captain Hawkins may not be in port next time for the expedition. So you have to go for me."

            Alyson embraced Seymour, "I'll take lots of pictures for you." She muttered to him.

            Seymour smiled, "I know. You'll draw some of them for me, won't you?" Alyson pulled away from him.

            "Of course and I'll even colour them in for you. It'll be like you're there." Alyson wiped away the tears in her eyes.

            But it wouldn't be the same, Alyson knew. She would be all alone with people she didn't know. The very thought was almost unthinkable. She didn't want to go without Seymour. He was someone she could trust, someone she could count on. What would happen to her without him?

            Alyson shook her head. Whatever happened to her, she would have to go. This was her dream as well as Seymour's. She needed to go for both of them. Live both their dreams. She could deal with everything else if she just kept that in mind.

            Seymour seemed to read her thought and brushed away a tear falling down her cheek, "You'll be wonderful." He promised, "Give that ship captain something to worry about. Why, you'll have the whole crew doing your every whim."

            Alyson laughed weakly and sniffled. Seymour was right. She was Professor Alyson Christopher, Doctor of Ancient Ruins and Cultures. She wasn't afraid of being alone on a ship with a ruffian crew.

            Seymour nodded when he saw the light of defiance come back into Alyson's eyes. He then turned to the doctor, "Let's get a cast on me, Doc. I want to send the 'little professor' here off."

                        Enjoy it? I hope you did! I really like writing this fic and hope to write the sequels I have planned for it, but it's up to you! You need to REVIEW! Thanks, y'all and be sure to keep a look out for Chapter Three: Convincing the Captain. A little romance (not much, I'm afraid) is in the next chapter.

                                    Until next time…!

                                                -Lizzy Rebel