Yo and hello everyone! It's been such a crazy, hectic, stressful week, and I was really feeling kinda crappy what with Midterms and everything else that's going on, but I know I can always count on my stories to cheer me up, and this one really does- my story seems to be gaining some support! I'm so happy! And of course everyone knows that a happy author updates better. In my case, not so much sooner b/c of my once a week schedule, but I'll update more writing! Yes, my last chapter was very short. Actually, this one and the next were going to be short as well, but since you all seem to be so very eager for updates, I combined chapters four and five into one big 3-pages-on-Microsoft-Word chapter. And if you like this, I'll warn you- the new chapter 5 is going to be six pages. Anyway, onto the review responses, and keep reading!
Siriusblack1007: Ah, don't be disheartened by the short chapter. I have decided that from now on, if I have a short chapter, I have to write another short chapter and put the two together. Hope this one has some more meat on its bones for you this time around!
YokianKim: Well I haven't gotten anywhere NEAR writing B.E.N. in yet, but I promise you when he does show up, he will be at the very least just as funny as he is in the movie. Of course with the new character and added "dimensions" and stuff, I'm hoping to write him in some new lines that make him even funnier. We'll see what I can do, but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
Dreaming: You take Latin AND French? I commend your efforts; I'm just a lowly Spanish speaker. I know EXACTLY how you feel with stress and all, I swear if I make it through this next week I'm writing like ten fics to take my mind off all the tests. But anyway, good luck, and enjoy this update!
Tallemera: The people have spoken, and they want longer chapters! And so they shall get...longer chapters! YAY!
Abby/Angie: Oh boy, you have no idea how hard it is to get the dialogue accurate. I have to watch the movie on my laptop and keep Microsoft Word open at the same time. I watched the Silver scene like 14 times to get his accent worded just right (thank GOD for subtitles!). Anyway, here it is, enjoy!
Just so you know, what is supposed to be chapter 5 (but is now like, 4.5) is separated from the REAL chapter 4 by a dark line, if the formatting works. Enjoy!
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The view out of Sarah Hawkins' window changed as she adjusted the picture-blinds. If only everything were that easy, she thought.
"Thanks for listening, Delbert," she said aloud. "It helps."
"It'll be all right. You'll see," Dr. Doppler assured her as he rose to leave.
Sarah smiled, and she opened her holographic locket. Small, animated photos of Jim from years ago flashed before her eyes.
"I keep dreaming that one day I'll open the door, and there he'll be just the way he was. A smiling happy little boy with a new pet, begging me to let him keep it."
Delbert opened the front door as a crash of lightning and thunder resounded, illuminating Jim and Skye in the doorway. They were both soaked to the skin, Skye's skirt was torn and muddy, and between them hung a sagging creature.
"In the dream, was the pet dead?" Delbert queried.
"James Pleiades Hawkins!" Sarah exclaimed, rushing over to the three figures now through the doorway.
"Mom, he's hurt- bad," James explained, as he and Skye lay Billy Bones on the floor. Bones gasped, and reached out his clawed hand.
"Me chest, lad," he strained, panicked, and Jim pushed it towards him. Moving as quickly as possible, Bones pressed the combination to unlock the chest.
"He'll be coming soon. Can't let them find this."
Bones removed an object from the chest. Instead of some kind of fabulous treasure, he pulled out an object wrapped in a plain, dirty oilcloth.
Jim asked, "Who's coming?" Bones grabbed his shirt once again, and whispered in his ear.
"The cyborg! Beware the cyborg!" Billy Bones pressed the object into Jim's hands. He gasped, and sank to the floor, dead.
The four remained standing around this strange spacer, but there was no time for grief. A rumbling overhead signified the arrival of another ship. Jim moved to the window, and separated the picture-blinds a crack. Between the slats, he could make out numerous armed figures heading towards the Inn. The large one in front had what looked like a laser cannon.
"Quick, we've got to go!" Jim grabbed his mother's wrist and pulled her up the stairs. Skye sensed his panic, seized Dr. Doppler's arm, and pulled him behind her as they ran up towards the last room in the hall. They were not a minute too late- the door cracked behind them as the laser broke through the wall, and dozens of pirates burst into the Benbow Inn. They tore through the house, searching for something, knocking over the stove in the process, setting the floor on fire.
Jim and Skye watched in horror as pirates began running upstairs. They'd be found in a minute. Dr. Doppler was at the window, preparing Sarah to jump into his carriage below.
"On the count of three...one-"
"Three!" Jim yelled as he pushed Delbert and Sarah out the window, and they landed in the cart with a thud, Skye landing a moment later. Doppler cracked the reigns and the carriage barreled away from the burning Inn.
Sarah buried her face in her hands at the sight of her Inn, ablaze in the night. Skye could only stare ahead. Jim looked down in his hands, where the dirty parcel that caused so much trouble lay. He pulled the string around it, and the cloth fell away to reveal a golden orb. Examining it curiously, he couldn't help but wonder what was in it, and if it was worth all this.
"I just spoke with the constabulary. Those blaggard pirates have fled without a trace. I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm afraid the old Benbow Inn has burned to the ground."
Sarah Hawkins, Dr. Doppler, Jim, and Skye were gathered around the fire in Doppler's study. It was a large area, piled high with books and scientific instruments of all kinds. Delbert handed Sarah a cup of tea, and Jim draped a blanket around his mother's shoulders. She was miserable-t hat Inn was her business, and a home. She's lived there as long as she could remember, and had inherited it from her father. And now, it was gone.
Jim walked over to where Skye stood. She had discarded her skirt in favor of the pants she wore underneath. It had been all but ruined in the escape. There wasn't anyone here who would mind her wearing pants anyway. On the table beside her was the object Billy Bones had given them.
"Ahem. Well, certainly a lot of trouble over that odd little sphere," Delbert Doppler remarked from Sarah's side. "Those markings baffle me. Unlike anything I've ever encountered. Even with my vast experience and superior intellect it would take me years to- hey!"
While Dr. Doppler had been talking, Jim had picked up the sphere from the table and been fiddling with the buttons on it. Surprisingly, after pressing two or three, they all retracted, leaving various hemisphere divisions able to rotate along the scored lines in the surface. At this point, Skye had taken the sphere from Jim to examine it. She spun several hemispheres and it clicked open, glowing from the inside. This interruption had made Doppler stop his sentence short.
Green points of light swirled upwards in a bright column. Soon the entire study was filled with a dome-like grid that emanated from the brass sphere, encircling the four people. Constellations and planets hung in the air.
"Why, it's a map!" Delbert exclaimed. "Wait- this is us! The planet Montressor." Delbert touched the near-by holographic planet, and suddenly the map began to shift, as if flying through space to an unknown destination. Doppler named several markers in space as they flew past- the Magellanic Cloud, the Coral Galaxy, and the Kerian Abyss. But it was the place the map settled on that fascinated Jim and Skye most.
"What's this?" Doppler asked as the largest planet focused.
Skye and Jim, with the same tone of awe in their voice, said simultaneously:
"Treasure Planet. That's Treasure Planet!"
"Flint's trove?" Dr. Doppler asked in amazement. "The loot of a thousand worlds? You know what this means?"
"It means that all that treasure is only a boat ride away!" Jim murmured. Looking over at Skye, he could see the same excited glint in her eyes that he had, that they both always had whenever they had a wonderful idea.
"Whoever brings it back," Dr. Doppler said, "would hold an eternal place atop the pantheon of explorers! He'd be able to experience-whoo!" He stopped abruptly as the map clicked off. "What just happened?" he asked, because he apparently didn't read the previous sentence.
"Mom! This is it! This is the answer to all our problems," Jim told his mother.
"Jim, there is absolutely no way-"
"Don't you remember all those stories?"
Sarah turned to her son, "That's all they were! Stories!"
"They can't all be just stories," Skye spoke up quietly, "if there's a map people are killing to get their hands on."
Jim was un-phased. "With that treasure, we could rebuild the Benbow a hundred times over!"
"Well, this is- it's just- oh my," Sarah sputtered. "Delbert, would you please explain to them how ridiculous this is?"
"It's totally preposterous, the two of you traversing the entire galaxy alone."
"Now at last we hear some sense!" Sarah said, relieved.
"That's why I'm going with you!"
"Delbert!"
"I'll use my savings to finance the expedition," he began, racing through his study, collecting items in a bag. "I'll commission a ship, hire a captain and a crew-"
Sarah was incredulous. "You're not serious."
"Oh, he's serious," Skye grinned. She'd seen that look before on Jim and herself.
"All my life I've been waiting for an opportunity like this, and here it is screaming- go Delbert, go Delbert!"
"Mom," Jim sighed, "I know I keep messing things up...and I know...that I let you down. But this is my chance to make it up to you. I'm gonna set things right."
"Sarah, if I may?" Delbert pulled her to the side. "You said it yourself- you've tried everything. There are much worse remedies than a few character building months in space."
"Are you saying this because it's the right thing, or because you really want to go?"
"I really, really, really, really want to go...and it's the right thing."
Sarah turned to Jim and Skye, who were watching her anxiously. She reached over and pushed her son's hair away from his face.
"Jim, I don't want to lose you." He caught her hand.
"Mom, you won't."
"Yeah, that's why I'm going. Someone's gotta keep an eye on these two," Skye interjected. Jim glared at her good-naturedly, and turned back to his mother.
"I'll make you proud."
Sarah smiled. Delbert took this as acceptance.
"Well, there we are then. We'll begin preparations at once. Jim, Skye, soon we'll be off to the spaceport!"