Chapter 2:

"Come on in, sir. The Admiral's waiting."

The Pirates who said this grinned as they opened the door. Normally the First Mate would have punished them for their impudence, but his fear of Razorbeard turned him into a spineless wimp. It was easy for him to bully his subordinates; after all, he outranked them. The Admiral, on the other hand, terrified him. Even worse, Razorbeard knew it and took joy in tormenting his First Mate.

"Well, come in, will you?" Razorbeard's voice boomed from his cabin. "I don't have all day, you know."

The First Mate shivered as he walked into the cabin. Razorbeard's cabin was large and spacious; it was also not a very ornate room, as the only objects in it were the Admiral's chair and desk, a window in the back of the room, a few navigational charts on his desk and a variety of weapons from several worlds framed on the walls. He also noticed a singed Pirate uniform lying on the ground, adding to his discomfort.

"Let's not dilly dally, First Mate." Razorbeard said as soon as the Pirate entered the room. "I have a question for you; where is he?"

"Um… what do you mean, sir?" He asked.

"Don't be a fool, lackey." The Admiral hissed. "You are in contact with my commandos. Where is Rayman?"

"We think he's somewhere in the Fairy Glade at the moment, sir." The lackey replied.

"Hrmph. Trying to free Ly, I suppose." Razorbeard said. He slowly swiveled towards the window in his room as he addressed his First Mate again. "Tell me, have you heard of the Masks of Polokus?"

"Masks of Polokus?" The Pirate asked, scratching his metallic head. "No sir, I can't say I have."

"They're a fascinating study, really. A few of the prisoners told me about them after a little… interrogation. I still don't know much about them myself, but all I know is that they are objects of immense power, especially if all four are united. Rayman will most certainly be looking for them, and if he finds them everything we've worked so hard to achieve will be undone."

"I think I understand, sir." The First Mate said. "You want me to find these Masks before Rayman does, right?"

"Very astute." Razorbeard said, turning towards the Pirate once more. "As my First Mate, it is your job to find the Masks and bring them to me. You are dismissed."

The First Mate saluted and turned to walk away, but didn't get too much farther before Razorbeard interrupted his departure.

"Oh, and one more thing. If Rayman gets the masks before I do… well, you know the price of incompetence around here." Razorbeard smiled. The First Mate knew he wasn't joking.

As the First Mate walked out of the Admiral's cabin, the Pirates snickered as they closed the doors for him.

"How was the Admiral today, sir?" One of the asked mockingly.

"Mocking a superior officer, eh?" The First Mate blustered, his stamina returned to him. "I bet you'll love this, then! You two have furnace cleaning duties for a week!"

The First Mate gave a smug grin as he heard the Pirates groan behind him. Few things made him feel better than exerting his authority over the Pirates. Feeling better, he hurried quickly to one of the ship's garrisons to brief his men and get them ready to start hunting the Masks. He hoped for his sake that they would be successful.

The initial excitement following Rayman's escape faded as the days went by. Things were the same as they always had been on the Buccaneer: the imprisonment in cramped cells, the harsh labor and the lack of vittles ground whatever hopes most prisoners held into bitter acceptance of their situations.

Sam had begun to feel that way too, much to his displeasure. He had known it would take Rayman a while to free him, but the days seemed to be longer and longer and the feeling that he was being a fool had slowly grown over time. As much as he was trying to keep himself happy, despair was slowly beginning to overtake him too.

Still, Sam knew he had to strive harder for the sake of his cellmates. The young Teensie in particular worried him; Sam had no idea what his name was, much less any idea about the boy himself. From what he could tell, this boy was one of a large group of kids taken from their homes by the Pirate invasion; he was frightened of his unfamiliar surroundings and just as afraid to confide in and seek support from his cellmates.

Except for one. Gublub was eager to make friends with a kid around his age, and the two had gotten alone well. Since then, they could be seen playing in the cell at all hours; while it was a bit distracting, Sam was glad to see the young Teensie find a friend. Even Marco seemed glad that the kids were doing well.

The kids were currently sitting on the floor, listening to Marco tell stories about his homeworld. Gublub liked listening to his elders tell stories, and Marco had taken a liking to the cheeky babe. As for the young Teensie, he seemed to be enthralled by the man's stories as well; what he thought of them, Sam could only guess.

"You wouldn't know much about deserts where you were from, most likely." Marco told the boys. "I, on the other hand, have known them from the

days of my youth. You see, my planet is full of deserts and sand, stretching as far as the eye can see, although mighty rivers cut through the land. Where I used to live, there were palms everywhere and fruits bigger than you are."

"Wow!" Gublub said excitedly. His friend could only stare in amazement.

"Oh yes." Marco grinned. "And that's not all. In the summers everything gets very hot except for the rivers. Every day we would gather enough food and water for us to live on for a while longer, and every night, when the sun went down, we would dive into the water and let our cares be washed away."

"I wouldn't mind swimming in one of those rivers myself." Sam said wearily. "These old bones have taken in a lot of worries that need to be washed away."

"I hear you." Marco said, smiling thinly. "If I ever ret… no, nevermind. I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Aww man!" Gublub pouted. "I want more stories!"

"I know, but I'm a little tired right now." Marco said, quickly changing the subject. "You kids should go to bed too."

"Okay." Gublub said sadly. "Night Mister Marco! Night Grandpa!"

Sam smiled. Gublub had started to call him Grandpa a few days ago and he quite enjoyed it. "Good night, kids."

At that, the baby Globox and his friend plopped down on the ground and huddled up to each other. The old man decided to follow their example and lay down himself.

"Mmm… what a life." He mumbled. "If I ever return to my home, I hope I can spend more time with my own family. That would be nice…" At that, he drifted off into sleep.