Ah, yes. Saturday. Being the Day of the Satur, when I update the fic. Thank you to my faithful reviewers- you rose to my challenge wonderfully and I got a better picture of your opinions. Responses:
Dalmationgirl: I'm normally not one for romance either. I find them quite tedious, repetitive, and altogether uninspiring. Please give me the heads-up if the story line becomes any of those. And thanks for the compliments!
Tallemera: Original fiction, eh? I don't have a user name on Fiction Press, mainly because I'd like to save the stories I do write and publish them properly, like, you know, make money off of them. Plus none of them are that good. Yet. But maybe I'll post one just for you. When's your birthday? ;-)
Lone Wolfdog: I hope your favorite part comes out all right. Did you mean this scene /w the star or the next one w/ the heart-to-heart talk? B/c both of them are pretty good. I'm reading books on astrophysics, and I used a lot of it in this chapter. Enjoy!
Dreaming: *waves back* Well, thank you for lavishing on the praise! I'll tell you this- you like descriptions? I managed to squeeze in a lot of that here, even w/ it being a crazy action sequence, and Treasure Planet is gonna be incredibly copious (SAT word!) with the details.
SB1007: Ah, my analyst. You should start a book club. Or be an announcer: "Will Skye tell Jim how she feels? Find out next week!" Lol, just kidding. Partially. Anyway, I'm so glad you asked these questions. I'm not sure how rhetorical they are, but I'll answer them any way. Skye doesn't reveal how she feels until later but- oops! I won't give it away. Not yet. But it IS worth the wait.
Mermaid Ninja: I'm looking forward to your next review. Maybe next time you could say exactly what the problem with my story is instead of dissing it when you've written none of your own. And be careful- your immaturity is showing. If you don't like it, don't read it. It's that simple.
Abby/Angie: Thank you for your constructive criticism. I'm so sorry more people aren't like you when it comes to critique. Anyway, about those three things- thank you for the age thing. I'll fix that right after I update today. Second, I know that Silver didn't put the hat on Jim's head. I changed it on purpose. I thought it was more poignant, you know? And third, the captions on the movie and the pronunciation said Pelusa. I might be wrong, and for that I apologize, but I'm gonna keep it how it is, since it's in this chapter extensively and I'm too lazy to change it. Plus it was in the captions. Sorry if it bothers you at all.
Kim: Thanks for the reassurance about Skye. And, uh, see the paragraph below.
Since two people asked me about this, I'm going to lay it all out here- I don't really like describing physical characteristics of characters. I think it's unimportant and shouldn't even matter what the character looks like. Good characters are good people, and it's my Aladdin Theory- "not what's outside, but what's inside that counts." Also, I personally like to imagine that each reader can connect to the characters more if their mental picture is free to develop on their own. Example: what if you personally feel that Skye's character makes her a better redhead than a brunette or whatever? If I tell you "this is what she looks like," then it usually would spoil the story a little, at least in my case. Plus, I don't know the races/ethnicities/whatever of my readers, and I don't like to insult, offend, or alienate anybody if they think Skye should be a different race or something. So I'm going to tell you how I envision Skye, but if this contrasts with your view of her, please disregard it entirely.
Skye is, in my mind's eye: Caucasian, brunette, has brown eyes, has not so much a heavy figure but is more curvy than the average girl, and therefore is a little insecure about her body, wears baggy clothing for this reason, is fairly athletic (remember the solar surfers?), is rather intelligent, gets jealous fairly easily, and needs to connect to her friends (i.e. Jim). Please don't let this dominate your view of her. If you picture her blonde, go ahead. You prefer her thin? It's up to you? The only thing I don't want is people berating the characters and suggesting they get blown into open space. That's just rude.
So on a lighter note here's this weeks new chapter! It's a lot of action, a lot of description, and a big set up for later on. Enjoy!
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"What the devil?"
Silver and Jim hurried up onto the deck, looking around in bewilderment for the cause of the ship's turbulence. As Silver looked for the Captain, Skye rushed over and grabbed Jim's arm, speaking with unmistakable anxiety in her voice.
"Jim, we've got trouble."
As if to confirm her fears, Dr. Doppler whipped out his telescope and examined the source of the problem.
"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "The star Pelusa- its gone supernova!"
And indeed it had. An incredible shock of heat, light, and star fragments was already blasting its way towards the Legacy, where Captain Amelia was reactively shouting commands.
"Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!"
The alien at the helm turned the ship away from the deadly fireball, and Arrow ordered for all hands to fasten their lifelines. There was a brief scramble towards the post where ropes were immediately tied and tightened round the waists of all the crew members.
The Legacy raced the enormous explosion through red-orange dust, hindered by holes being blown in the solar sails. Amelia saw this and shouted towards Mr. Arrow, whose loud booming voice carried over the roar of sizzling elements.
"Secure all sails! Reef them down, men!"
Half a dozen crew members scrambled up the ropes and fastened the main sails while a portly alien fired an energy cannon at the largest of the hurtling shards. Jim, Skye, and Silver made their way along the bow, heading out to release the sail rigging on the end. As Silver attempted to free a snagged pulley, one of the meteors crashed into it. While this freed the sail, it made Silver lose his balance, and he began to fall over the side.
"Silver!" Jim yelled, and grabbed the lifeline before it could slip away. Skye dashed over and also grabbed the end, and together they hauled Silver back onto the bow.
"Thanks, lad," Silver smiled at Jim as he helped him back to his feet. The relief was short lived, however. An enormous piece of the star was tearing through space on a direct collision course with the Legacy. The energy cannon did little more than inflict dents in it, and soon the post was abandoned. Jim, Skye, and Silver could only stare in horror as the heat increased and the fragment advanced. The air crackled with the enormity of the looming impact...
But it never came.
Looking at the swirling vortex that had sucked back the cataclysmic fireball, the crew watched in terror and amazement as Doppler spoke what no one wanted to hear.
"It's devolving into a black hole!"
This was even worse than an explosion. The gravity so dense that not even light escaped was pulling them in. Captain Amelia took the helm herself, but to no avail- the pull was relentless. The crushing blackness erupted with a wave of heat and copper red dust, knocking most of the crew over, only adding to the horror of such a fate.
"Blast these waves!" Amelia shouted in anger, "They're so deucedly erratic!"
"No, Captain. They're not erratic at all. There'll be one more in precisely 47.2 seconds, followed by the biggest magilla of them all!" Doppler corrected her with panic, but a seed of an idea had formed in his mind. Fortunately, Amelia had the same idea.
"Of course! Brilliant, Doctor! We'll ride that last magilla out of here!" The spark of determination returned to Amelia's eyes, but of course this meant more work on the terrified crew's part.
"All sails secured, Captain!" Arrow called up to Amelia.
"Good man! Now, release them immediately!"
Arrow faltered a moment. Was she mad? However, he dutifully confirmed her order and spoke with conviction.
"Aye, Captain. You heard her, men! Unfurl those sails!"
The crew that had just climbed down from the rigging grumbled in annoyance.
"What?!"
"We just finished tying them down!"
"Make up your bloomin' minds!"
They took to the rigging again, and Arrow joined them to speed the task. If Amelia demanded such an unusual and risky charge, Arrow thought, she must have an idea. Despite his size and appearance, he climbed nimbly with the rest of them.
"Mr. Hawkins!" Amelia called to Jim, "Make sure that all life-lines are secured good and tight!"
"Aye-aye Captain!" Jim rushed to his task, and Skye set to tying down the sails at the starboard side of the ship.
Jim pulled the last rope taut, and yelled up to Amelia, "Lifelines secured, Captain!"
"Very good!"
An unexpected gust of fire exploded from the developing black hole, so strong it knocked Amelia over. So strong, in fact, it sent Mr. Arrow hurling through space- until his lifeline stretched tight, stopping his fall. He had begun to pull himself back up, but when he looked up, what he saw filled him with fright.
Arrow's hat plummeted back to the deck, where it dropped in front of the last sail Skye fastened. She recognized it and looked up, where she saw Mr. Arrow hanging from his lifeline. She gasped in shock at the same thing that had scared Arrow.
Scroop's spidery form was illuminated by a shock of lightning from the swirling clouds of electrons and protons ripped from Pelusa. His face twisted into a smile of pure evil, and revenge seeped through his yellow, bug-like eyes. A clawed hand opened, and Arrow and Skye knew what was coming even before Scroop made his move. Both pairs of eyes widened as Scroop thrust his claw at Arrow's lifeline.
Although Arrow's scream went unheard by most of the crew, Skye's memory would hear it echoing in her head forever as she watched him spiral downwards into the iniquitous crushing vortex of the black hole.
Skye was jerked back to reality with Doppler's frantic voice.
"Captain! The last wave! Here it comes!"
"Hold on to your lifelines, gents, it's going to be a bumpy ride," Captain Amelia called out as she turned the Legacy. As the ship was sucked downwards, Jim dragged Skye away from the railing of the ship, and in the process, she dropped Arrow's hat. Had she not been so dazed, so unfocused, she might have struggled to grab it back, but she could not think straight. All she could think was that they were falling, falling into the same black depths that Arrow had just disappeared into.
Though she hardly felt the hand on her arm, Jim pulled her a safe distance away from the side of the ship. He pressed her up against the main mast and shielded her body with his. The two were secured by Silver's larger body and mechanical arm holding them tightly against the post. Morph formed the shape of a rope and tied himself to Jim's lifeline, and the ship sank out of sight, down into the inky, total blackness.
An explosion rocked deep within the black hole. The shattered core of the ex-star twisted and warped its oxygen, carbon, and iron around the fabric of space-time as the astounding anomaly took form. But the cosmic catastrophe would take no more prisoners from this ship.
All sorts of dusts and elements, quarks and leptons, light rays and neutrinos, particles of protons and electrons and nucleons from the death of the star Pelusa filled the Legacy's sails, and the ship soared out into calm blue space, cruising on this destructive yet beautiful blast wave of energy.
An enormous cheer went up from the crew of the Legacy and Morph melted into a puddle of relief on the deck. Silver and Jim looked around tentatively, but soon became swept up in the excitement. Yes, they had done it. They had survived. They had looked destruction in the eye and lived.
Jim smiled widely. That was excitement, adventure. He turned to Skye, expecting her to share his elation, but she had disappeared.
Dr. Doppler stood up and disentangled himself from the pile of cord he had fallen into during the amazing escape. He spoke, rather flustered, to Amelia as she walked past.
"Captain, that- oh, my goodness. That was- that was absolutely- that was the most-"
"Oh, tish-tosh," she cut him off, never one for being extolled. She preferred giving credit where credit was due, and so continued as she examined a piece of equipment for damage, "Actually, Doctor, your astronomical advice was most helpful."
Doppler was a bit surprised at this at first, but then said, "Well, uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I have a lot of help to offer anatomically- amanamonically- as-astronomically." He groaned and hit himself on the forehead for his foolish slipup. Luckily, Amelia didn't notice.
Also giving due credit, Amelia stepped down the stairs towards the deck, and said, 'Well, I must congratulate you, Mr. Silver. It seems your cabin boy did a bang-up job with those lifelines." Jim nudged Silver, who pushed him back, both chuckling.
"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?"
Silence.
"Mr. Arrow?"
Everyone looked around, but soon saw the red spider-like alien approach Captain Amelia, holding a hat. Arrow's hat.
"I'm afraid Mr. Arrow has been lost," Scroop said, solemnly. He handed the hat to a speechless Amelia. Then, with feigned responsibility, he added, "His lifeline was not secured." He shot an accusing glance at Jim, which Amelia doubled.
"No, I checked them all!" Jim pushed past two aliens to prove it, but stopped abruptly. True enough, there was one rope missing from the pegs that held the lifelines. In disbelief, Jim said more to himself than anyone else, "I-I did. I checked them all. They were secure." Then turning to the Captain, he said, "I swear."
Amelia's glare did not soften. Jim realized with despair that she did not believe him. Nobody did.
Actually, there was one other person who knew the truth. But when the still unsettled Skye made the slightest movement in Jim's defense, Scroop had given her such a fierce, terrifying look that she stopped in her tracks. He knew that she knew. Witnessing the event did her no good- she realized that saying even one word would make her next, and all her strength was gone with grief and fear.
Silver looked with pity towards Jim, until he saw Scroop's twisted smile. He scowled at the alien's sadistic pleasure of Arrow's demise and Jim's guilt. If that Scroop wasn't a key member of the plan, he'd have demanded to know how Scroop was the only one who knew anything. It was quite suspicious indeed.
Amelia looked at the hat in her hand, and began to speak softly.
"Mr. Arrow was a...ahem...a fine spacer. Finer than most of us could ever hope to be-" She paused to collect herself; too much emotion was sticking her mouth shut and flooding her eyes.
"But he knew the risks. As do we all. Resume your posts- we carry on." Jim left the deck quickly, and Silver could only watch with empathy.
Amelia walked up the stairs to her quarters. Doppler stood by the door, offering comfort if she needed it.
"I'm so sorry," he said, but Amelia could not speak to him. She entered her stateroom and closed the door. Looking around quietly, she moved towards the mantle and placed the hat above the fireplace- the highest place of honor on a Confederation ship. As she gazed at it, dappled in the blue light of the fresh nebula forming behind them, a single tear rolled down her cheek- her first in a very, very long time.