AN: I am so SORRY about the lack of updates recently. I have a very good reason as to why this has happened. You see the day after my last chapter; I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania for four days. The next two were spent soaking my aching feet. Then my little niece was born and we had to rush over to Albany to see her. Then my parents decided to help my aunt get back on her aching feet and help take care of her two other children so we stayed up there until yesterday. So I'm really sorry but I've been busy. I promise to get updating this fast!

                        TO ElvenRanger: Sorry about not sending this chapter to you, I wanted to get this out there as soon as possible. But you can expect the next chapter coming to you soon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Five- She's Gone

                        Jim frowned and leaned down to look in the microscope. He had yet to find any real clues about the murders and he was beginning to give up hope on finding any proof.

            He was currently looking at the skin that had been under the nails of Lillian Robinson. She had fought her captures before her death, the skin under her nails told Jim. He had been proud that she hadn't gone over to death easily. He hoped that Robinson had permanently scared her capturer and caused him or her a great deal of pain.

            The skin Jim observed was definitely human, but from observing the skin Jim knew he wouldn't be able to find any DNA that would give him a murderer.

            Jim pulled his face away from the microscope with a frustrated growl. He had been at this for two days and he had nothing. No fingerprints, no murder weapon, and now no DNA. This was a lost straw, Jim thought, pressing two fingers to his temples.

            Jim was sitting in a small room given to him from McGee. The owner of the bar had grumbled and mumbled about annoying captains, but when Jim assured him it would get the case going faster he had been happy to oblige.

            The room stingy to say the least, but at least it was quiet. The room was painted in a dull gray and had a single bed with a lumpy mattress that Jim wouldn't sleep in if you paid him to. There was one, small window in the corner of the room and a single light on the desk where Jim had set up his equipment. Other then those few items the room was bare and Jim also noted with disgust smelt of some kind of fowl odor. That was the main reason Jim always went back to the Fate to sleep. He had a suspicion that some kind of animal had died in this room.

            Jim sighed and stood from his current work desk. He needed to take a break. His eyes were sore from constantly looking into the microscope and his knuckles were red and bleeding from when he had punched the desk in frustration.

            He opened the door to his room and walked out into the darkened hallway of Cutthroat's Curve. Jim frowned at the almost black walls and wondered if McGee was so stingy he wouldn't even by lights for his hallways.

            Jim passed the room with the murder victims and almost stopped. Jim shook his head and continued on. He had noticed that none of his crewmembers had gone into the room. Once they had seen BEN and Morph fly downstairs like the devil was chasing them, the crewmembers had decided they didn't need to see what had gone on in that room. And Jim didn't blame them to much.

            Jim's boots thudded against the wooden stairs as he walked down into the bar. Only McGee stood in the room. He stood behind the bar, cleaning a glass with a dirty dishrag. He frowned at Jim as he came down.

            Jim offered him a weak grin, "Slow week?" he asked.

            McGee gave Jim a glare, "Well, with an Academy Agent prowlin' ma bar, do you think most o' me usual costumers would came here?"

            Jim winced at McGee's poor speech but said, "Maybe you should try to get better costumers? You know, ones without a law problem?"

            McGee snorted, as if Jim had tried to make a joke, "On this planet there ain't no 'good folks'. Everyon' here be to busy doin somethin' illegal and that be the way it goes."

            Jim shrugged, "Hey, I can't do anything about who you do business with. I can just ask you to pick better costumers. Or maybe move your bar to a better planet."

            McGee returned to his cleaning, "Don't hold ya breath." He muttered just loud enough for Jim to here, then he said, "Would ya like som' ale?"

            Jim looked down at the dirty glass McGee was only making dirtier by using that dishrag and decided he's rather have his brain ripped out through his nose and be forced to eat it, "No thank you." He muttered and walked out of the bar.

            "Suit ye-self." McGee said as Jim pushed open the door and walked out of Cutthroat's Curve.

            Jim frowned as the heavy smell of smoke and bad booze filled his nose. He'd forgotten that on this planet there was no where to get any fresh air. Well, there went his idea about calming his nerves…

            "What I wouldn't give to be back on Montresser with Alyson." Jim said and suddenly grinned, what he wouldn't give to be with Alyson. He could almost picture his return to Montresser. It'd raining, as it always was on the gray planet, and Alyson would've been home for almost a week and missing him terribly. When she saw him walking down the road to the Benbow Inn, she would be overjoyed and she would run out to meet him, getting soaked in the process. After the shared a passionate embrace in the rain, they would be cold and wet and would need a shower. So… so they would take a shower together. As Jim thought about that shower with Alyson, his grin widened.

            He was so caught up in his daydream he didn't see BEN rushing to him until it was to late. Jim cursed as the robotic body slammed into his and sent him sprawling in the ground. He raised his head and glared at BEN, who stood over him.

            "Sorry, Jim," BEN said, "I didn't see you there."

            Jim grunted and pulled himself to his feet. He glared at BEN once more before saying, "Why were you running like a bat out of hell?" he asked.

            BEN blinked a moment before he remembered, "Oh, we got a radio call from the Academy. They want you to come back."

            "WHAT!?" Jim demanded, grabbing BEN's arms he shook the robot, "Why? I'm not done here. Why do they want me?"

            BEN shrugged, "I asked them, but they wouldn't say. All they said was that you needed to come back to the Academy and… well… now. They refused to tell me anything. But then why would they? I'm just a robot." BEN frowned in annoyance.

            Jim shook his head and ignored BEN's ramblings, "Well, radio the Academy back and tell them I'm busy. I'm not a damn dog that'll jump when they snap their fingers."

            "Ah, Jim, the Elders kinda figured you'd say something like that and they told me to tell you that this is an order, not a request. In other words, buddy-"

            Jim growled, "I have to go." He let out a hiss of breath when BEN nodded, "Well, great, just great! They're the ones who sent me here and now they want me to drop everything and come back!?"

            BEN looked around nervously, "Basically." He agreed.

            "Well, what am I supposed to tell McGee? He'll have a field day when I tell him I have to leave but he still isn't allowed to open his bar." Jim wondered out loud.

            BEN shrugged, "Can't you just tell him to get the one room locked?"

            "Well, I could, but McGee isn't exactly the most trustworthy person. Ah, well I'll tell him if he or anyone else touches anything in that room I'll have him hauled off to jail for disturbing the evidence." Jim muttered, more to himself then BEN.

            The metal-man nodded his head in agreement, "That'll work!"

            Jim groaned in frustration, "Alright. Alright. Get the Fate ready for take off while I tell McGee the news and at the same time try not to add another body to the murder count."

            "Aye, aye, Captain!" BEN said and ran in the direction of the Fate.

            Jim sighed and turned back to the bar. He was pretty sure McGee was not going to be too happy with Jim's news. The man would probably threaten his life. This was great! Just great! What was so important that the Elders had to order him back? They had wanted him to solve this murder hadn't they?

            What was so damn important?

                        Seven hours later, Jim finally arrived at the docks of the Montresser. He ordered his crew to take break which they all agreed to do with a whoop. He told BEN and Morph to man the ship while he was away, which they proudly agreed to do.

            Jim made his way through the crowd of the market place. There seemed to be a lot more people then usual on the Space Port and they all seemed to be in very intense conversations with one another.

            "Did you hear…?"

            "Oh my! Really…?"

            "Do you think he's…?"

            "I bet that man's behind it…"

            "I hear at least all twenty are dead…"

            "What about that one? The one who lived…"

            Jim shook his head as bits and pieces of conversations swirled around his ears. Even though he never heard more then half of a sentence he could tell they were involving the same topic. What had happened in the four days he had been gone that would get the whole Space Port riled up?

            Jim made his way to the Academy doors and saw the two guards blocking the door. Jim blinked in surprise. He couldn't remember the Academy ever having guards blocking the doors. What had happened here?
            Jim glanced up at the school. Had there been an attack inside the Academy? Had one of the Elders been attacked? Maybe a student had died…

            "Sir," One of the guard said, gripping his rifle tightly, "may I see some identification? If you're a local citizen you can't come in, sorry."

            Jim glared up at the guard. He had never had to show identification before. And people had always known who he was on sight. Where had these two guards been for the past ten years? He was like a celebrity… he hadn't wanted to be one, mind you, but he was like a celebrity none the less.

            Jim reached into his back pocket and pulled out his Spacer ID card. He hadn't used it in years, but out of habit he always brought it along. A good thing to, Jim thought or the Elders would have to come out in daylight to let Jim in.

            Jim's ID card had his height, weight, full name and occupation on it. In the corner it had a picture of him. A really bad one, Jim had always thought, since he had been in a bad mood when he had gone to get it. And his anger had been totally justified, Jim thought, he had waited three hours to get his card and then he got an old lady to do his ID, so it had taken another two hours. And by the time they had finally gotten around to the picture, Jim was very annoyed. And then the picture had to be taken over and over again, because the old lady kept on missing his face. By the time the picture had finally been taken, Jim was frowning and telling himself he did not hit women, especially the old women.

            Now Jim was just as annoyed as he had been on that day. With a growl he pushed his ID card into the guards face. The guard blinked in disbelief.

            "Is that enough identification you, Officer?" Jim said gruffly.

            The guard looked very flushed and said, "Oh, Captain Hawkins, sir! Sorry I didn't recognize you. I thought you might've been an imposter. Please, please, go right in. We've all be waiting for you."

            The guards hastily moved to the side and allowed Jim to open the Academy doors and walk in. What was that all about? Jim wondered as he walked stiffly down the marble hallways on the Academy. Deep within his gut something twisted. He had a really bad feeling about all of this security that the Academy now had. Something more must've happened for the school to enhance their protection.

            Jim turned down the hall and walked towards the Elders' room. He was about halfway there when he saw someone walking towards him. Jim looked at Amelia Doppler in surprise. It was a shock to see the former ship captain walking down the halls of the school she used to work for. Ever since her retirement Amelia had stayed clear of the Academy so it was definitely odd to see her here. Jim wouldn't have been as surprised if it had been Delbert walking to him, but seeing Amelia was a bolt from the blue.

            "Amelia?" Jim said as the cat-like woman walked over to him, "What are you doing here? You're retired aren't you?"

            Jim stared at her with horror as Amelia held back tears, "Jim," she said, "please come with me. I guess that the Elders didn't tell you." She took his head and pulled him down the hall. Jim noticed she didn't turn her head to look at him.

            "Yeah, they told me." Jim said and Amelia jerked her head around at him, looking shocked, "What? They've called me back from missions before. It's really no big deal."

            Amelia looked at him sympathetically "No, they didn't tell you." She said sadly, "Left it up to me, those cowards."

            Jim noticed that he was being dragged in the direction of the Academy hospital ward. Thoughts flew into his head all at once. He looked worriedly at Amelia.

            "Is Delbert hurt?" He asked and Amelia shook her. In horror he said, "Oh please, tell me it isn't one of the kids!"

            "No, Jim, it's not one of the children."

            The hospital ward was different from the rest of the Academy. It was much brighter and cheery, mostly because the people in the ward were so depressed. The walls were painted in a very light blue and the floor was white and tiled. The doctor's office had a huge glass window where people could watch him work. For the shy patient, a curtain could be pulled over the window. Besides the doctor's office and across from it, there were darker blue doors which lead to patients' rooms.

            "Then why are we here?" Jim questioned.

            Amelia stopped at the last door on the left side of the hallway. She pushed open the blue door and motioned for Jim to step in. Feeling suddenly numb, Jim nodded and obeyed her command.

            What Jim saw was Seymour, looking pale and small, lying on a small bed, almost lost in a sea of white sheets. He saw a window with heavy blue drapes pulled over them and his mother, Sarah, sitting in a chair, crying silently. His saw Delbert leaning over Seymour with a grim face.

            None of this had any meaning to Jim as he asked in thick monotone, "What happened?" he whispered.

            Sarah jumped from her chair when she heard her son's voice. More tears streamed down her tear-streaked face as she brought her son into a hug. Jim couldn't understand why his mother was hugging. All he knew was that his body was suddenly cold and he couldn't think or comprehend what was going on. His brain wouldn't allow him to understand what was going on. He couldn't understand why Seymour was in the hospital ward and why Alyson was no where near.

            "Oh, Jim!" Sarah said against his shoulder, "I'm so sorry! Amelia and I… we… we heard the call from Seymour… but when Amelia got there… Al… she wasn't there! There was nothing we could do. She's gone, Jim…" Sarah broke off and started to weep.

            Suddenly, blood was pounding in Jim's ears. He remembered that Alyson had been with Seymour and Seymour was in the hospital bed wounded, which meant something had happened to Alyson… but where was Alyson? Why was his mother crying so bad? WHERE WAS ALYSON!?

            "Where's Alyson, Mom?" Jim asked in a shaky voice.

            Sarah looked at him sadly, tears coming silently down her cheeks, "Alyson's gone, Jim. She was kidnapped by whoever attacked her and Seymour."

            Jim wanted to shake his head, deny what he knew had to be true. Instead of doing either, he slumped into chair his mother had been using moments before. Jim placed his head in his hands and fought back the sobs that rose in his throat.

            "I'm sorry, Jim." Sarah said again, but Jim didn't move.

            "Sarah, Delbert, can you give Jim and I a moment, please?" Amelia said. Delbert glanced at Jim, nodded, and took Sarah's arm to lead her out of the room. Amelia waited until the door had shut before she turned to Jim.

            "Jim," She began, "I can only imagine what you must be going through right now and I hate to make this worse, but I have something for you."

            Jim raised his head and looked at the piece of paper in Amelia's hands, "What is it?" He asked wearily.

            "I have no idea." Amelia answered truthfully, "But when we removed Professor Blake's robes, we found this letter on him. It is addressed to you. I didn't read it, but my guess it is from the pirates that kidnapped Alyson."

            Jim held out his hands and the cat-woman placed the letter in it. She opened her mouth as if to say more, but then she shut it with a shake of her head. She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, deciding Jim would want to be alone.

            With shaking hands, Jim opened the letter and his dark blue eyes narrowed as he read what was written…

            Captain James Hawkins of the R.L.S. Fate,

                        Well, Jim, I warned you didn't I? I told you, you would pay for your sins and the time has finally come. I've taken your dear one, Professor Christopher, and be sure to know that you'll never see her again.

            Captain, I must tell I never though you'd be one to take a wife. After all, you lead a dangerous life and have made many enemies. Surely, you realized anyone close to you, especially a wife, would become a target for revenge? I thought you were at least smart enough to learn from my mistakes.

            Well, Captain, I must thank you for being so stupid. Without this young professor, I'd have no way to take my revenge from you. Thank you for giving the prefect opportunity.

            And now, Captain Jim, I leave with these few words. How does it feel? How does it feel to have the most important thing in your life ripped away from you and being helpless to stop it? How does it feel to know it is your fault?

            Let me assure you, Captain, that you'll never see your dear wife again. I'll see to it. I hope you realized your mistake. You cursed the professor to her fate. You should've known people like you will only hurt those around them. And you are the cause of her fate, her gruesome fate.

                                                                                    Randolph Nathaniel

            The letter slipped from Jim's fingers and slid to the floor. Jim stared blankly ahead of him, his eyes dark and misty. Once more, Jim lowered his head into his hands.

            The letter had told Jim the last thing he ever wanted to hear and that it was his fault. Jim choked on a sob that rose from his throat.

            Alyson was dead, Jim thought as he allowed the tears to flow, Alyson was dead and it was all his fault.

                        Jim sat in Seymour's hospital room for hours. He didn't say anything as he stared out into the void. Amelia, Delbert and Sarah had gone back to Montresser but Jim hadn't been able to move.

            Jim's face was pale and streaked with tears. He had stopped crying a while ago for his voice had gone hoarse and he had no more tears left. All he could think about was Alyson and the fact she was dead. As he thought about it, his mental imagine of Professor Lillian Robinson lying on the bed in Cutthroat's Curve with her throat slashed popped into his mind. Only this time Alyson replaced Professor Robinson.

            Jim gave a choked sob, which surprised him since he had thought he hadn't any more tears left but he was wrong. As a new bout of tears started a moan from the occupant in the bed ceased them.

            Seymour groaned again before he opened his eyes. At first, he seemed unaware of where he was. Then he raised his head and Jim there, looking broken and defeated. As he remembered what had happen, tears filled his eyes.

            "Jim," he said softly, "Alyson, she's… she's-"

            "I know." Jim said harshly and nothing else.

            Seymour sobbed and pressed his head into the pillow. The two men who loved Alyson, one as a father the other as a wife, lapsed into silence. Their grief was too much to speak of, but it made the room cold and empty.

            As they sat in silence, Jim felt his anger rise at the older man. Though he knew it was his fault that Alyson had been taken, he still looked for someone to blame. The only other person that he seemed able to blame was Seymour. He had been there when Alyson had been kidnapped, had survived but hadn't been able to save Alyson.

            Suddenly, his anger was too much to bear and Jim got to his feet. Seymour looked over at him in surprise and received a glare from the younger man.

            "DAMNIT, SEYMOUR!" Jim exploded, "You were supposed to be protecting her! What the hell were you doing!? You let them kill her!"

            Seymour looked at the Spacer in front of him and saw the grief in his eyes. He knew Jim was raging because he couldn't deal with the grief that was eating at his heart. Seymour decided to let him rage at him so his heels could cool.

            But as Jim spat every curse he knew, a few he made up for the occasion, Seymour felt his own anger raising. He was grieving, too. Alyson had been his daughter. Didn't Jim realize Seymour was suffering as much as he was?

            "Don't you that I'd do anything to go back in time and changed what happened!?" Seymour shouted, wincing when he side cried out in protest.

            Either Jim didn't notice Seymour's wince or he choose not to, "GOD DAMN YOU! If you had just protected her like you were supposed to do, this wouldn't have happened!"

            Jim paced the room viciously and Seymour glared at him. If he had been able to move, he would've… well, he wasn't sure what he would do. Since Jim was bigger and stronger then Seymour, and he seemed to be inching for a fight with anyone willing, maybe it was better that he couldn't move.

            Jim stopped and then moved to Seymour, his eyes almost black with rage and grief, "If you weren't injured I'd… I'd…" Jim's hands balled uselessly at his side as he glared at the professor who had once been Alyson's father.

            "JIM!" Cried a new voice and both man turned their attention to the door.

            Sarah Hawkins, pale and sickly looking, stood at the door with a look of horror on her face. No doubt she had come back to the hospital to convince her son to come back to the Benbow Inn to get some rest. The fact that her son and her daughter-in-law's father were about to jump down each other throats, added to that was the fact that one of them was seriously injured, had rage burning in her veins. She was suffering over Alyson's kidnapping, and likely death, and knowing these two men were ready to kill each other because of that had her angry because she knew Alyson would be as well.

            "Seymour is injured, Jim!" Sarah cried, stepping into the room, "Alyson would not want you two to kill yourselves over her. She'd want you to be calm and work on rescuing her!"

            "ALYSON'S DEAD!" Jim cried, tears now running down his face. In his rage, he was finally able to accept the truth. But only because his rage would not allow grief to overtake him, if he hadn't been so angry he'd still be in denial.

            "What…?" Sarah whispered, stepping backwards.

            Jim refused to see his mother's pain; all he saw was his anger and self loathing, "The pirate captain Randolph Nathaniel told me so in the letter he sent me. She's dead… and she died alone." Jim moved past his mother and walked to the door. Before he left the room, he looked at Seymour over his shoulder, "I hope you can live with that fact… because I can't."

            Sarah watched her son walk out of the room with sad eyes. She turned to Seymour, who looked like he had just been in a fight, and said, "Don't worry about Jim. He's… he's just upset."

            Seymour watched as Sarah walked over to the chair and slump into it. He was taken back by how fragile she looked. He wanted to bring her into his arms and just hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But everything wasn't going to be okay, because Jim's words were heavy on his heart. Alyson was dead, he had said so. Could what Jim had said possibly be true? Can she really be dead?

            Sarah looked at him in horror as he tried to sit up, "Don't move!" She cried, moving over to him, "You might pull your stitches."

            Because she seemed so worried, Seymour nodded. Sarah sighed and brought her chair over to Seymour's side. They were both surprised when Seymour brought her hand into his own.

            Sarah's hands were rough and hardened like Alyson's, Seymour realized with an ache in his heart. They were the hands of a woman who worked. Sarah looked up at him and saw the mist in his eyes and realized he was thinking about Alyson.

            "Seymour, do you think Alyson… do you think… what I mean… was Jim telling the truth…? About Alyson?" Sarah managed.

            Seymour wanted to deny it, because he could see that she wanted him to, but he wouldn't lie to her. It surprised him how much he wanted to be honest with her.

            "Jim wouldn't say that unless he believed it to be true. And the pirates had… no… no trouble killing the crew of the Space-Hopper… so…" at this point Sarah gave a small sob, "But, Sarah, Alyson is an amazingly strong woman. Even though all the evidence points to her… her death, we have to count in the Alyson-factor. She's a very strong girl. If there's a chance she's alive… well…"

            Sarah nodded, understanding his meaning, "Thank you, Seymour. I don't know why, but… but that makes me feel a little better. I should go."

            Instantly, Seymour gripped Sarah's hands tighter, "Don't. I… I don't want to be alone tonight." Seymour knew it was selfish but the thought of being alone, when all he would think about was Alyson, made him sweat.

            Sarah smiled, "Of course." She leaned forward to kiss his forehead. As she did so, Seymour saw the tired bruises under eyes and felt guilty for asking her to sit in the uncomfortable chair so she could comfort him. If anything, she needed the comforting, but he couldn't seem to make himself tell her she could leave.

                        Jim didn't know where he was going, but he knew he couldn't stay in that hospital room without hitting Seymour and the man wasn't to blame.

            "It's all my fault." Jim muttered, "That stupid mistake I made at the Raeford Galaxy is the reason why Alyson is probably dead."

            Jim pressed his hands to his face and leaned his back against the cool wall of the hospital ward. He slid to the floor and sat down, to weak to move and to grief-stricken to care.

            Though his heart kept on saying that Alyson was alive, his mind kept pointing at all the evidence that she wasn't. There was the letter from Nathaniel implying he had killed her, there was the fact that everyone expect Seymour had been killed, and the fact they were pirates and were prone to kill.

            Jim also thought about all the things pirates were known to do to beautiful young woman, none of it pretty, and decided if he had to choice one or the other grim fates for her, it would be death. He'd rather see her dead then raped, but neither made him happy. He'd anything, anything, to have safe in his arms again.

            "Why didn't I make her stay?" Jim thought, "If I had none of this would've happened. She'd be safe now."

            Jim refused to listen when his mind told him that if he had made Alyson stay, his mother, and all her guests, might be dead. He didn't want to listen to his mind, which was telling him Alyson was dead. He wanted to listen to his heart who still hoped she was alive.

            But Jim, during his Spacer training, had been taught to listen to his mind and not his heart and he believed Alyson to be dead. And nothing could've have made him sadder then that fact. It felt like his heart had been ripped out.

            Self-loathing filled Jim's throat as he cursed himself for the mistake he made months ago. He thought about Alyson and how it was his fault she was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                        Poor Jim! He thinks Alyson is dead and it's his fault! Don't you just want to walk up to him and tell the truth to him? And speaking of Alyson, wonder what's going on with her? She's not the kind of person to sit down and become a damsel of distress, right? You bet you dollars she's not! Get ready for chapter five: Everyone Lies, Everyone Hurts! Until then review!

                                    "So I'm supposed to just help you out of the evilness of my heart?" –Spike, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

                                                            -Lizzy Rebel