Disclaimer: I own Jen, and this particular plot, so if you want to do something similar to this, you don't have to ask me, but I would like to read it!

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Ryou-is-mine: OMG!  I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry!  I must've mixed it up with the last chapter or sumthin!!!  sniff so sorry! 

PS: If you want to be a vampire, you can sign up on my homepage!  (this applies to anyone who wants to be a vampire!)

That's it, one reviewer!  SUPER BIG thanks to Ryou-is-mine!

Chapter 9-lines and tines and sails, OH MY!

            Captain Amelia wouldn't let Jen bunk in the visitors' cabin, and to the Cabin Girl's most disgust, she was stuck sleeping in a hammock in the crew's quarters.  But because of the inconvenience, and lack of trust to the crew, she found a spare pocketknife and hid it in her boot.

            When she woke up, Jen quickly washed her face in a bit of water, and reported to the galley for her duties.

            Silver quickly fixed her into a harness and literally threw her overboard, where she dangled, prying space-barnacles off of the keel.

            "Put some elbow into it!!" Silver yelled.

            Jen rolled her eyes and kept peeling the barnacles off, smiling as each in turn let go with a loud squelching noise.  Time after time she braced herself against the hull and pushed a steel spatula under the barnacle, then used her weight to get it off.

            She was already achy and sore, the barnacles were all off and she was ready to lie down and go to sleep, but that Silver was a slave driver.  He made her peel potatoes, her tired mind wandered through her memories.

I am a question to the world

Not an answer to be heard,

Or a moment that's held in you arms.

 Her mother held her, she was just two, her father, Leland, was away on a business trip.  Together they stared through a thick panel of glass and out at the stars.  Sarah looked sadly down on her little one.

And what do you think you'd ever say?

I won't listen anyway,

You don't know me,

And I'll never be what you want

Me to be.¹

            And yet that still wasn't enough for Silver, he took her to a short yard-arm² and showed her how to tie a knot, but before he knew it, she was already down and off, making her way down the railing of the ship towards her bunk.

            Silver carefully checked the knot, it was just like his, and he had to smile at the retreating figure.

            And what do you think you' understand?

            I'm a boy, no, I'm a man

            You can take me and throw me away.

            The next day, Silver gave her a sponge and a bucket of cleaning water, she scrubbed and scrubbed the deck until it seemed her arms were going to fall off.  Silver came and shadowed her kneeling body in his metallic shadow.  She glared and stood up, trying to match his fierceness.

He threw another bucket of soapy water, with a bit of lemon, into her arms.

She threw the water onto the deck and resumed scrubbing.

And I want a moment to be real

Wanna touch things I can't feel

Wanna hold on, and feel I belong.

Carefully, Jen climbed up on the boom, she kneeled, a firm grasp on the flying jib³, she stared out at the stars, so bright in this unpolluted air, no dust from mining clouded the skies.  It was so bright, she stared out, wondering just which sun her father was near.

And how can the world want me to change?

They're the ones who stay the same,

They don't know me, but I'm still here.

Jen sipped a hot drink Silver had given to her, he had said it would help the ache that seemed to go down into the deepest part of her bones.  The very marrow hurt from the work she had done in the last week. 

She glanced over to where the cook was.

"A story Barbecue!" the crew begged.

Jen watched as the story of a giant space worm unraveled in words.  He used his gears to show the worm's angry jaws and fierce, poisoned forked tongue.

Later that day, as she finished cleaning the after dinner pots, pans and dishes.  As she carefully stacked the last plate, Silver dropped a jumble of grungy dishes in front of her.  Her mouth dropped open and the cook walked off, laughing at his extremely unfunny joke.

Jen grabbed a giant stew pot; they hadn't even had stew that night!  She scrubbed hard with her brush.  She glared at his back and scrubbed even harder.

But you see the things they never see

All you wanted I could be,

Now you know me and I'm not afraid.

Silver came back in an hour, all the lights were out.  In front of him were all of the dishes, each washed and stacked, except for one.  Jen slept with her head rested against one, she snored lightly.

The cook turned to Morph, who gave him a sympathetic look and took off his trench coat to place it on the teen's back.

She sleepily blinked and caught a glance of the retreating cook as he climbed up the stairs, one metallic leg and one regular one.

            And I want to tell you who I am

            Can you help me be a man?

            They can't break me

            As long as I know who I am.

            Jen tugged on the rope, marveling at how strong she was now, she could feel her muscles bulging underneath her jacket.  At Silver's orders, she jumped over a threshold and untied another rope, releasing a skiff into space.

            As it dropped into space, Silver saluted, but it brought back horrible memories, and her expression changed from joy to despair.

            They can't tell me who to be

            Cuz I'm not what they see.

            Jen was seven, she sat up in bed, outside it was foggy, and an all to familiar figure was heading towards the docks.  She jumped out of bed and raced downstairs, her mother was crying at the kitchen table. 

            She ran outside and stared in disbelief as her quick mind put two and two together. 

He was leaving. 

            Jen raced down the cobblestone pathway to the docks, following her father.  He was walking slowly, but already had too much of a head start.  She tumbled and immediately picked herself up, ignoring the bleeding cut on her arm that soaked through her pajamas.

            She ran as fast as she could, was about to reach it when the plank departed with the ship, she fell over the edge. 

            Clinging to the planks of the dock, she managed to pull herself back up.  Panting, bleeding, and crying flat on her back, she told herself that all men were like this, hard, uncaring, cruel.

            Yeah the world is still sleepin' and I keep on dreamin' for me

            And the words are just whispers and lies that I'll never believe.

            As she snapped back from her horrid memories, Silver appeared in the skiff, waving for her to join him.

            He showed her the basic techniques for flying it, Jen listened, then snapped the steering gears in place, and took them off flying. 

            And I want a moment to be real

Wanna touch things I don't feel

Wanna hold on and feel I belong.

She steered the small boat into the trail of a meteor, they were soon covered in stardust.  Jen glanced at Silver before going into a spin and pulling out of the trail.

Silver shook off some of the dust from his hat, and put a caring arm on her shoulder.

And how can they say I never change?

They're the ones who stay the same

I'm the one now, cuz I'm still here.

I'm still here!

I'm still here.

Jen felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest as she steered the skiff back into the hold.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I gotta know if people are reading this!  Maybe it's just something about the website.  If I offended anyone I'm truly sorry, but if no one is going to read this I'll update less.

Cliffnotes:

1: The subtitles on the movie say "Made of pain" although the lyrics are me to be, so I just put in what made more sense.

2: Yardarm-the crosspiece that the sails are usually attached to, can also serve as a gallows in times of need

3: flying jib-first of the jibs, a triangular sail, the foremost of all sails.  Attached to the boon. (A map of a ship and sails can be found in the book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle  by Avi.  Really useful!