Hi everyone! Sorry, I don't have time to do review responses this week, I'm going out in about 10 minutes. But here is a really long chapter to make up for it! Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
To any viewer from the planet or space, Montressor spaceport was just a crescent moon. But the spaceport was not located on this moon. It was, in fact, the spaceport itself. And it was from this spaceport that Jim, Skye, and Dr. Doppler were to begin their journey.
Montressor spaceport was bustling with all sorts of businesses, people, aliens, creatures from far off worlds. A soldier battalion was training on one outcropping. The wealthy mingled, the odors of foreign foods wafted over the crowds, musicians and bartering could be heard amid the squawks of space-gulls drifting lazily over the activity below. But Jim and Skye, each carrying a rucksack on their shoulder and admiring the amazing sights around them, heard one sound that was most unwelcome.
"Jim? Skye? Wait for me!"
Dr. Doppler's voice was accompanied by a metallic clucking as he stiffly tottered up to the two teens. He was wearing what was quite possibly one of the most bizarre and ungainly spacesuits ever seen complete with a small glass bubble to cover his face, which was currently up. It was hardly short of embarrassing for Jim and Skye, both of whom were wearing long pants, boots, a T-shirt and jacket. Besides variations in cut and color of the clothes, Skye had also shoved most of her long hair up under a cap. This was due to two reasons-one being that she was more accustomed to tying up her hair to facilitate work at the Inn. The other was her uneasiness of potentially being the only woman aboard the ship, and not knowing how this pant-wearing female would be received. Tucking the hair up gave little relief of a disguise however; as Jim had playfully pointed out that with her figure it was unlikely that hiding her hair would make much of a difference.
"Well, kids," Dr. Doppler said, "this should be a wonderful opportunity for each of us to get to know one another. You know what they say, familiarity breeds, um..." Skye gave Doppler an amused but exasperated look, at which he said "...well, contempt, but in our case-"
"Look, let's just find the ship," Jim sighed, grinning. He went on ahead, and before running to catch up, Skye turned to Dr. Doppler, shook her head, and flipped down the glass bubble, which clanked shut on his face.
"Second berth on your right!"
"You can't miss it."
Two strange characters directed Jim to the docks, and as he thanked them and turned to leave, Dr. Doppler trailed behind Skye, starting to complain.
"It's the suit, isn't it? I never should have listened to that pushy two-headed saleswoman. This one said it fit, that one said it was my color, I didn't know what to do, I get so flustered!"
"Now you see why I don't go shopping," Skye remarked. When she turned, she bumped right into Jim, with her abrupt stop bringing Doppler to a halt behind her. Skye and Doppler looked to see why Jim had stopped. While Skye gazed with the same amazement that Jim had on his face, Doppler smiled and waved towards the massive craft in front of them.
"Ah! Jim, Skye, this is our ship, the RLS Legacy!"
"Whoa. She's...beautiful."
"You got that right."
The trio arrived on board amongst the hustle of orders being shouted and crew members running to and fro in preparation of the launch. Jim, however, in his examination of the deck and surroundings, failed to notice a large, pink, fleshy alien working to the side. When he tried to apologize, he was greeted with a series of angry farting noises.
"Allow me to handle this," Doppler said. He then turned to the alien and emitted similar rude noises, as if he were talking. Jim and Skye watched as the alien paused then appeared to laugh.
"I'm fluent in Flatula, Jim. Took two years of it in high school." He 'saluted' the alien with a raspberry and moved on.
"Flatula?" Jim grinned and pushed his tussled hair out of his face, "Cool."
Following, Skye adjusted her bag and groaned, "That is so gross."
A uniformed man (if he could be called that, for he appeared to be made of stone) busy patrolling the decks, was often stopping to shout orders at the crew. Doppler approached this man, assuming him to be the captain.
"Good morning, Captain. Everything shipshape?"
"Shipshape it is, sir," he replied, "but I'm not the captain. The captain's aloft."
Above their heads, swinging from the rigging was what appeared to be a very tall cat, who landed in front of them with a stunning flip from the ropes. It was indeed a feline alien, and what's more, the captain was a she.
Doppler's glass bubble fell shut once more.
"Mr. Arrow," the Captain addressed the stone man in a harsh tone, "I've checked this miserable ship from stem to stern and as usual..." here her tone softened to one of playfulness, "...it's spot on. Can you get nothing wrong?"
"You flatter me, Captain." Arrow tipped his hat to the woman, who winked, and turned to go, running into Dr. Doppler. Her eyes widened.
"Ah. Dr. Doppler, I presume?"
A muffled noise came from within the closed helmet, the glass bubble blocking Doppler's response.
"Hello?" the Captain smiled, calling as if he were far away, "can you hear me?" She knocked on the top of the helmet, which seemed to anger Doppler.
"Yes, I can, stop that banging!" He attempted to remove the glass bubble so as to speak but the Captain beat him to it.
"If I may Doctor, this," she grabbed hold of a piece on the front of the suit, "works so much better when it's right way up and plugged in. There you go!" she flipped it over and turned the Doctor around, plugging a cord into the back of his suit. Doppler removed his entire helmet and turned to face the Captain.
"If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!"
She immediately grasped his hand in a shake.
"I'm Captain Amelia, late of a few run-ins with the Procyan Armada. Nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars. You've met my first officer, Mr. Arrow," she turned to motion towards him. "Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave and true."
"Please, Captain," Arrow said, slightly abashed.
"Oh shut up, Arrow, you know I don't mean a word of it," she responded immediately, smiling.
"Excuse me," Doppler interjected, "I hate to interrupt this lovely banter, but may I introduce to you Jim Hawkins. Jim, you see, is the one who found the treasure-"
"Doctor, please!" Captain Amelia exclaimed, holding Doppler's mouth shut with one hand. Looking about, she then turned to him and said, "I'd like a word with you in my stateroom."
Locking the door, Amelia addressed Jim, Skye, and Doppler.
"Doctor, to muse and blabber about a treasure map in front of this particular crew demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic, and I mean that in a very caring way."
Doppler attempted to defend himself, but was interrupted when Amelia asked to see the map.
Jim looked to Doppler, who beckoned to give it to her. He threw it to the Captain, saying simply, "Here."
Amelia caught it one handed. Examining it, her eyes grew wide.
"Fascinating. Mr. Hawkins, you were the one who found it, the Doctor tells me. Are you the one who knows how to open it?"
Skye piped up, "I found it too. You need both of us to open it." Jim turned this over in his head, and found he had to agree. He had no idea how she had rotated the sphere earlier, and imagined she did not know which buttons he had pressed.
"I see," Captain Amelia said. She walked to a safe in the wall, where she locked up the map. "Mr. Hawkins, in the future, you will address me as Captain, or ma'am, is that clear?"
Jim rolled his eyes.
"Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia fixed him with a steely glare.
"Yes, ma'am."
"That'll do. This goes for you as well, Miss..." Captain Amelia turned to Skye questioningly.
"Skye, ma'am. My name is Skye."
"And your last name?"
Skye hesitated.
"Well?"
"I have none, ma'am. I...didn't know my parents."
"Ah. Well, then Miss Skye will have to do. Now, this must be kept under lock and key when not in use," she said, referring to the map, "and Doctor, with the greatest possible respect- zip your howling screamer."
Once again, Doppler attempted to defend himself, but Captain Amelia was clearly not finished.
"Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible- I don't much care for this crew you hired. They're...how did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee."
"A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots, ma'am."
"There you go- poetry."
Skye grinned and said to Jim, "She's got quite a way with words, huh?" Jim turned away to fiddle with the doorknocker.
"Doctor, I'd love to chat- tea, cake, the whole shebang- but I've got a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up. Mr. Arrow, please escort these three neophytes to the galley straight away. Young Hawkins and Skye shall be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."
"What? The cook?" Jim looked up, startled.
"Just like home," Skye said under her breath- sarcastic though it was, there was still amusement in her voice. She was cheered to not be the only female on board, and especially glad that the Captain was a woman. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't expect to be a cabin girl. She'd worked in an Inn nearly her whole life anyway- how bad could it be?
Clunking into the galley, Doppler was complaining again.
"That woman! That...feline!"
"Careful where you go with that comment, Doctor Doppler," Skye smirked, batting her eyelashes mockingly at Jim and Doppler and tipping her cap forward on her head. "She's the one in charge you know." He didn't seem to hear her.
"Who does she think is working for whom?!"
Jim seemed more upset at his station. "It's my map, and she's got me bussing tables?"
Mr. Arrow grabbed the two men by the back of their shirts.
"I'll not tolerate a cross word about our Captain. There's no finer officer in this or any galaxy."
Skye leaned over to Jim and whispered, "Oh, deal with it. Think of it this way- we're working on our own turf now. Better here than the rigging or something we haven't learned yet."
"Speak for yourself."
Skye scoffed at this. She and Jim may be wicked solar-surfers, but she knew that neither of them knew enough about proper sailing yet to be of any use. He was just angry.
Mr. Arrow called to the man standing at the stove in front of them.
"Mr. Silver?"
The man who was obviously the cook, Mr. Silver, turned and addressed the company.
"Why, Mr. Arrow sir. Bringin' in such fine and distinguished gents to grace my humble galley. And it seems you got a young lady with you! Had I known, I'd have tucked in me shirt."
When he turned to examine the group, Skye inhaled sharply, and Jim noticed the same thing she had. The joking mood left both of them. She leaned in again and whispered to him.
"Jim...a cyborg."
Mr. Silver was clearly a cyborg. His right arm, leg, and eye were completely robotic. The eye scanned over Dr. Doppler as he was introduced. Doppler then pushed Jim and Skye forwards.
"Ah, this is Jim Hawkins and Skye."
"Ah! Jimbo!" Silver's robotic hand extended to shake- composed of several pointy and dangerous looking accoutrements. He chuckled, and flipped it around through the barrel of his arm to reveal a normal looking hand- as normal as possible, of course.
"Wrong hand, huh?" Skye muttered, bitterly. Jim just glared at Silver.
"Aw, now don't be too put off by the hunk of hardware," Silver shrugged, and began to prepare a stew using only his robotic arm. Using more gadgets than a Swiss Army knife, he chopped, sliced, and diced several vegetables.
"These gears have been tough getting used to, but they come in mighty handy from time to time."
And useful they appeared indeed. He managed to crack three eggs into the bowl, cook whatever else he had in the pan, and he poured it into the stew on the large central stove. After tasting it, he then swept up a ladle and spooned the finished stew into three bowls, which he offered to Jim, Skye, and Dr. Doppler.
"Have a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew."
Dr. Doppler lapped up a small taste, and commented, "Delightfully tangy, yet robust."
"Old family recipe," Silver said. Doppler moved to eat the rest, but an eyeball floated from the stew in the middle of his bowl, staring up at him. Doppler recoiled in disgust.
"In fact, that was part of the old family! Ha ha ha ha." Silver moved over and removed the eye from the stew, popping it into his mouth. "I'm just kidding, Doc. I'm nothing if I ain't a kidder."
Skye only growled "I guess that doesn't make you much, huh?" Jim pretended not to hear. Examining his bowl at prompting from Silver, he lifted the spoon. Suddenly it grew a mouth and turned very pink. Jim almost dropped it when it turned into a small protoplasmic blob with a quite distinguishable face.
"Morph! You jiggle-headed blob of mischief, so that's where you was hiding!" Silver exclaimed as the blob proceeded to turn into a straw and suck up all the stew in the bowl, and burped.
"What is that thing?" Jim asked, as the pink blob called Morph swirled around him, and formed an exact mini replica of Jim, perched on his finger.
"Why, he's a Morph," said Silver, as though it were obvious. "I rescued the little shape shifter off Proteus 1." Morph flew through the air and rested on Silver's finger, nuzzling his cheek. "Aw, he took a shine to me. We been together ever since."
"Well, congratulations to the happy couple," Skye sneered. A bell from above deck signaled that the launch was to be soon.
"We're about to get underway. Would you like to observe the launch, doctor?" Mr. Arrow asked.
"Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?" Arrow gave him a curious look, and Jim rolled his eyes.
"Um, I'll follow you," Doppler said.
Jim started to follow, but Arrow stopped him.
"Mr. Hawkins and the lass will remain here, in your charge, Mr. Silver." Silver spat out the soup he had tasted.
"Begging your pardon, sir, but-"
"Captain's orders! See that the new cabin boys are kept busy." At this, Arrow turned and left with Doppler.
"So," Silver addressed the two, "the Captain's put you two with me, eh?"
"Whatever," Jim shrugged. Skye remained quiet.
"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain?" Silver went over to the sink and began cutting up potatoes with a blade in his robotic hand.
"Hmm," Jim eyed a barrel of ripe purp fruits, and glanced over at Skye. He picked one up and began walking around the stove. "You know...these purps...they're kind of like the ones back home- on Montressor. You ever been there?" She quickly figured out what he was getting at.
"I can't say as I have, Jimbo."
Skye decided to pick up on the ruse. "Now that I think of it," she added, sitting next to Jim where he was perched on the counter, "just before we left, we met this old guy, who was kind of looking for this cyborg...buddy...of his, right, Jim?" Jim nodded to her, and he took it from there.
"Yeah. What was that old salamander's name? Oh yeah...Bones."
"Billy Bones," Skye finished, both teens looking to see if there was any physical notification of any familiarity with the name.
"Bones? Bones? Mm, t'aint ringing any bells. Must've been a different cyborg. There's a slew of cyborgs, roamin' these ports."
A whistle on deck and Mr. Arrow's booming voice signaled that the ship was ready to cast off. Silver smiled, and pushed Jim and Skye towards the door.
"Off with the two of ya', and watch the launch. There'll be plenty of work a-waitin' for you afterwards."
Jim and Skye, both casting glances at each other and then Silver, headed towards the stairs leading up on deck. Skye, however, only turned her back when they reached the staircase. They both disappeared above deck.
Silver turned and watched them leave. Handing a biscuit to Morph, he spoke aloud.
"We'd best be keeping a sharp eye on these two, eh, Morph? We wouldn't want them strayin' into things they shouldn't."