Chapter Three

The next week we were on the ship went at about the same pace.  I talked to Jim more and more often, slowly making a new friend.  Nothing really happened, and no one really cared.  It was like any other trip I'd ever been on.  Then, at the last day, something happened that would change everything.

The day started out usual, and was almost over without any trouble.  When suddenly an explosion knocked the boat to its side causing everyone to fall to the ground.  I looked around to see what was going on.

"Good heavens!"  I heard the Dr. exclaim over all the commotion "the star Pelusa!  It's gone supernova!"

"Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" the captain ordered.

"All hands fasten your lifelines!!" Mr. Arrow bellowed.  Everyone ran toward the lifeline pole and tied a rope tight around their waist.  Windows shattered and boards flew all over the place.  Chunks of rock shot through the sails leaving holes.

"Mr. Arrow!  Secure those sails!" screamed Captain Amelia.

"Secure all sails!!" hollered Arrow.  The crew got to work and began to take all the sails down.  We had just finished when something came to view that was too big to ignore.  I giant rock at least 300 times the size of the ship inched closer to us.  The gunman had tried to fire at it but it was far too big to destroy.  Just before the rock hit, it began to back away.  Confused and shocked, everyone watched.

"It's devolving into a black hole!" Doppler gasped.  The black hole began to pull us in, along with the rock.  A giant wave flew past us knocking everyone to the floor once again.  The force caused Mr. Turnbuckle (the person at the steering wheel) to shoot off to the ground.

"Blast these waves!  There so deucedly erratic!" exclaimed the captain.

"No, captain!  There not erratic at all!  There will be one more in precisely 47.2 seconds!" yelled Doppler, hovering over the computer "followed by the biggest magilla of them all!"

"Of course!  Brilliant Doctor!  We'll ride that last magilla out of here!" Captain Amelia exclaimed.

"All sails secured, captain!" yelled Mr. Arrow.

"Good men.  Now release them immediately!" she ordered.  Confused but not hesitating to follow orders, Mr. Arrow did as he was told.

"Aye captain," he said, and then turned to the rest of the crew "You heard her men!  Unfurl those sails!"  A few people complained, but did as they were told.

"Mr. Hawkins!" the captain yelled "secure all lifelines good and tight!"

"Aye-aye, captain!" Jim answered as he ran over to the pole where they were all tied down.  I began to release the sails when suddenly Mr. Arrow flew off the ship.  I ran to help him but Scroop beat me to it.  Without warning, Scroop cut the rope before I could do anything about it.  I watched in horror as Mr. Arrow slowly faded away into the black hole.

"Captain!  The last Wave!  Here it comes!" Dr. Doppler screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Hold onto your lifelines; it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" yelled the captain.  I stood stiff in my position, too shocked to move.  Jim noticed me standing there and grabbed my arm.

"Chris!  Hold on!" he yelled as he pulled me to the pole he was holding onto.  Coming out of my trance I gripped the pole.  Jim still had his arm wrapped around me.  I closed my as the ship was swallowed by darkness.  I waited for a sign of movement, not exactly sure if we made it out or if we were dead.  There was a huge "boom" and the ship shot off out of the black hole.  Jim let go as everyone began to rejoice.  We made it out!!  Everyone jumped up and down with joy.  I would have been happy too, but a scary thought lingered in the back of my mind.  Mr. Arrow died!  How could I ignore that!?

"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" Captain Amelia called out, but there wasn't an answer "Mr. Arrow?"  Right then, Scroop walked up holding Mr. Arrow's hat.

"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost.  His lifeline was not secured," Scroop lied.  The captain turned to Jim with disappointed eyes.

"I checked them all!" Jim claimed as he ran over the pole where they were attached "I-I did.  I checked them all!  They were secure!  I swear!"  Captain Amelia took a deep breath, trying her best not to show her emotions.

"Mr. Arrow was a fine spacer.   Finer than most of us could ever hope to be," she managed to choke out "but he knew the risks, as do we all.  We carry on."  She headed back into her stateroom, griping the hat tightly in her hands.  Scroop grinned at Silver, thinking he had done something good, but he was wrong.  Everyone eventually left, but Jim stayed behind, staring at the lifelines in disbelief.

Angry with what Scroop had done, I walked over to where Arrow had fallen off.  In the corner of the boat was his lifeline.  One of the ends was frayed-it must have been where Scroop cut it.  I picked it up and headed back to my bunk bed to hide it.  I knew Scroop would be looking for it so that no one could prove that he killed Arrow.  I headed back up the stairs and ran into Jim.  He looked depressed.

"Jim," I began, still deciding if I should show him or not.  He kept on walking as if I wasn't there.  He was upset and probably didn't feel like talking, but he had to know.  I just had to show him.

"Jim, wait!" I called out.  He stopped walking, but didn't turn around to face me.  I couldn't say anything, I was really too afraid to.  Realizing that I didn't have anything to say, Jim continued on his way.

"Jim, I need to show you something," I told him.  I then forced myself to walk over to my hammock and pull out the rope.  I handed it to him, but he just looked at me funny "Its Mr. Arrow's lifeline," I informed.  Jim looked at it closer.

"Wait a minute," said Jim "the end is cut!"  I nodded in a way of saying "keep going".

"Did someone cut it?!?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it wasn't your fault at all; Scroop cut the rope when he thought no one was looking.  I saw the whole thing," I admitted.  I suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?" asked Jim.

"I heard something.  I think someone is listening to us," I informed as I crept around the corner.  No one was there.

"I don't see anybody," said Jim.  I thought for a moment.  I knew someone was there, I just hoped that it wasn't Silver or Scroop.

That night was really rough.  I couldn't help to feel awful for Mr. Arrow who died with no reason and for Jim who had been blamed for something he didn't do.  And I was afraid that an extra pair of ears heard what I told Jim.  If it was who I thought it was, they'd be after me.  And with those dreadful thoughts I fell asleep, hoping and praying that everything would be okay when I got up the next morning.

The next morning, I woke up due to Morph, who thought it would funny to kick me with Jim's boot.  I jumped and looked around.  Under me was Jim holding a shoe in his hands.  Tired but giggling, I picked up the other shoe and hit Jim.  He jumped awake and looked at the boot that had been placed there by Morph (but neither of us knew that yet).

"What the," he said as he too looked around for the culprit.  He probably knew right away that it was me so he began to hit the bottom of my hammock.

"Hey!" I hollered as I bent over.  Just then Morph began laughing and chattering.

"Morph!" Jim and I screamed at the same time.  We jumped out of bed and began chasing Morph through the kitchen and out onto the deck.   We continued to run, trying to grab the little pink blob.  He popped down onto the small gated area that connected from the deck to the kitchen.  We defiantly couldn't fit down there ourselves, so we walked back to the kitchen the way we came.  We couldn't find him (but we really didn't try to hard) so Jim headed back to the bunk room.

"I'm going back to bed," he moaned "it's too early for games."  I began to follow him when I voice stopped me.

"Ah, 'tere ye are Miss Flint," said Silver "can I have a quick word wit' ya?"  I didn't want to talk to him, but what else could I do?

"Now lass, I thought we were gonna keep 'tis a secret," he said.  He must have been the one that heard me last night.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd kill anyone," I answered.

"Now, see here," he began, but I interrupted.  I had a lot of time to think about what happened that night, and I wanted to give Silver a piece of my mind, no matter how much trouble I got in.

"I'm not gonna let you kill the only people I have let in this world all because of some treasure again!" I screamed.  I had wanted to tell him that for a long time "I'll say what ever I want to if you're gonna go that far!"

"I'll say what's ter say!!" Silver bellowed "And as fer you, ya better not tell anyone else, or so help me, I'll be sure that you're dead by 'te time we arrive!!"  I glared at him.  He knew what I meant earlier.  He was the monster that I saw over and over in my dream.  He was the one who killed my parents.  Up on the deck, someone screamed "land ho!" and everyone became excited.  Except for me.

"Ya know, come ter think of it, I know of a way we can end this problem right now," Silver chuckled.  He brought his hands brought his hands behind his back, hoping to conceal what he was doing.  He made a small *ping* noise as he turned his mechanical hand into a gun.  Scared of what he might do, I backed up.  Unfortunately, I hit the wall, and I was trapped.  I saw Jim poke his head around the corner.  He caught sight of the gun and picked up a knife.  Silver on the other hand, brought the gun into my view and aimed it at me.  Suddenly, Jim charged at us, and stuck the knife into Silver's robot leg.  Silver screamed in pain as Jim grabbed my hand and ran for the captain's stateroom.

"Change of plan boys!" Silver hollered "we move now!!"