CHAPTER 4

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

"And her I was thinking it was a moon," I whispered to myself as I got off the transport.

The crescent shaped thing I had thought was a moon had actually been in fact a station, or Crescentia Spaceport.

Never in my entire life had I ever seen so many different people.

"Yeah, it's a pretty special place alright," breathed Jim as he gazed about at the myriad number of aliens. I watched in fascination as what appeared to be some kind of royalty pushed past, two smaller beings on either side of her, holding feather fans.

"Jim, Daniel, wait for me!"

We both gave each other a exasperated look, not bothering to find out where the clump-clump-clump of the boots of a pressurised suit behind us.

"Where did he get that suit?" I asked.

"Some two headed Sales-woman," Jim shrugged, "I'll deal with Doc, you see if you can find the ship."

I gave a small smile and saluted, "Aye captain,"

Jim shot me a sarcastic smile before turning towards Doppler.

I didn't have a lot with me. Basically just the clothes I had had when I left Earth, the map, and a few of Jims spare clothes he insisted I had, even though they barely fitted me. It had been three days since I had crashed onto the Hawkins' doorstep. Since then, Doppler had managed to find a person to replace the cracked lens of my glasses, as well as have a spare pair made for me in case I broke the originals.

I sighed as I walked down the crowded streets, trying to find the ship. Finally I gave up and began to look for a person to ask directions from. Eventually I found a couple of people: a skeletal, tall, long faced robot, and a short, squat red haired Alien, who were apparently painting a windowsill on a nearby house.

"Um, excuse me?"

The Robot looked down on me from the Ladder the Alien was holding. The Alien squinted up at me with beady little eyes.

"What do you want?" They said at the same time.

"Um, could you possibly tell me where I might find the..."

I racked my brains trying to remember the name of the ship Doppler had told me.

"The R.L.S Legacy," I finally said, "Could you tell me where the R.L.S Legacy is docked?"

"Second berth on your right." the robot said in a husky voice, pointing with his paint brush.

"You can't miss it." the Short Alien added in a deep voice.

"Thank you," I smiled at the two of them, before glancing back to see Dr. Doppler and Jim behind me.

"It's the suit, isn't it?" I heard the Doctor say as we continued in the direction the two aliens had shown me, "I should never have listened to that pushy, two-headed saleswoman! This one said it fit, that one said it was my colour, I didn't know what to do! I get so flustered..."

I stopped in front of the berth and found a rather nice surprise waiting for me there.

I heard a sudden clatter and looked away to see that the Doctor had collided with Jim when he had stopped.

After a few moments of commotion, Doppler looked up at the ship and his eyes shone with happiness.
"Oh, Jim! Daniel! This is our ship! The R.L.S. Legacy!"

With a sweeping hand he indicated to the ship.

It was like something out of my wildest dreams.

The ship, like everything else I had seen, looked like it was from the 16th century, yet it also had a futuristic look to it as well.

Her sails were currently pulled up, but they had a distinct look to them, like they were made from a pattern of hexagons.

Around the back of the ship were two, large dorsal fins, each with some kind of engine implemented into them, along with a bank of something that looked like Jet plane engines along the back of the ship.

"Whoa," exclaimed Jim, as we boarded the Legacy, and I can't say I blamed him.

"This is amazing," he murmured as he looked up at the masts when we got up on deck.

"Ah, Jim, watch where your going..." I called, but to late, the poor boy had accidentally walked into and stepped on a large slug like being, with numerous pipe like things along its back, as well as in the place of hands and mouth.

"I'm sorry I'm..." to late though, the slug like being began to emit a series of rather crude noises through it's numerous tubes, kinda reminded me of the old Tuba chorus in the school band.

After it had finished, Doppler gave it a look before pushing me and Jim aside, as well as raising the front of his helmet so he could see better, or so I presumed.

"I'll handle this," he said smartly. He suddenly began to make another series of honks and toots, using his tongue, cheeks, and armpits.

After he stopped, the alien's eye sticks perked up, before it emitted a series of noise that could only be described as laughter.

"I'm fluent in Flatula, Daniel" he said to my shocked face, "Took two years of it in high school,"

He finished with a salute and a "Pfft" before heading over to a rocky looking fellow dressed in a red uniform.

"Flatula," I muttered to Jim,

"Cool," was his reply as we both followed the Doctor, while Jim flattened his hair, which had been pushed up by the Flatulan.

The man standing in front of us was huge, at least twice my size, and appeared to be made of rock. He was dressed in a uniform of mostly light grey and gold, save for his red jacket and black hat.

Indeed, the way he shouted out orders, combined with the sound of his voice, his overall look was indeed that of a old and hardened sailor, no pun intended.

"Good Morning, Captain," Doppler said brightly to the gentlemen, "Everything shipshape?"

The giant man eyed the Doctor and his suit with his small yellow eyes.

"Shipshape it is sir," he said finally, "But I'm not the Captain. The Captains aloft."

I raised an eyebrow at Jim before looking where the man indicated.

It was then that I first laid eyes on our Captain.

To my surprise it was a very feminine looking figure was up on the yard arm. She jumped from there to the other side of the mast, before catching a rope and somersaulting down to the deck, where she landed perfectly.

I secretly smiled to myself as I heard the squeaking of hinges, followed by a thump as the visor of Dr. Doppler's helmet fell down in front of his face.

My first impression of the Captain was a cat, then a human, then finally a mix between the two. Like the Doctor, she had no fur on her face, save for shoulder length red hair, mostly tucked neatly behind her large ears, two locks left to frame her face.

Her face was for the most part, a kind of beige colour, going lighter still under her eyebrows. The top of her head appeared a dark brown, going round the top of her eyebrows and finishing round her eye-line.

Her lips were the colour of cherries, and her eyes were an emerald green, with two cat-like slits for pupils.

She wore a dark blue coat, that went down to her ankles round the back, and was adorned with gold trimmings along the collar and hem, as well as gold pads on her shoulders and three gold buttons down her front. Under this she wore a tight roll neck shirt, along with elbow length gloves. Her trousers were a light grey, and tucked into a pair of thigh high, black leather boots.

I had to admit she was stunningly beautiful, but, as I was about to find out, she had a wit so sharp you could cut yourself on it.

"Mr. Arrow," she addressed the rocky man, who stood to attention as she came up to him, "I've checked this miserable ship from stem to stern and as usual it's...spot on," her ears perked up and she smiled him, "Can you get nothing wrong?"

Mr. Arrow smiled and took his hat off to the woman.

"You flatter me Captain," he said modestly.

She gave him a wink and a smile, before walking straight into the rather large form of Dr. Delbert Doppler's pressure suit, with the good Doctor in it of course.

She raised an eyebrow at the get up, before smirking and addressing the doctor.

"Ah, Doctor Doppler I presume?"

I managed to hear a muffled response, muffled from the visor being down, as well as quite a few hand movements to boot.

It was clear the Captain was mocking him. She appeared to look puzzled, and cupped a hand round her mouth to amplify her voice slightly.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" before knocking several times on the glass faceplate.

I couldn't help it, I let a small chuckle escape me, because I had to admit, it was funny watching the poor doctor being played for a fool as he tried to take the helmet off.

The Captain look puzzled for a moment, with one hand under her chin.

Suddenly she clicked her fingers.

"If I may doctor this..." she took hold of a boxy thing with a plug on the side on his front before turning it 180 degrees, "...works so much better when it's right way up...and, plugged in!"

She quickly pulled out the plug and cord, before spinning him around and plugging it into the outlet on the back.

"Lovely, there you go,"

She caught the gaze of the stone man, who simply rolled his eyes at her.

The doctor finally managed to take off his stupid helmet and had managed to un-plug himself.

"If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!" He said angrily as he waved the plug in front of the captain.
"I'm Captain Amelia," the Woman finally said, grabbing the Doctors chubby waving hand and wringing it up and down, "Had a few late run-ins with the Procyon armada; nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars,"
she said this so quickly I barely managed to catch what she said before turning to the Stone man behind her,
"You've met my first officer, Mr. Arrow. Sterling, tough, dependable, brave and true."
"Please, Captain..." If he hadn't been made of rock, I would have swore he would have been blushing.
"Oh, shut up, Arrow, you know I don't mean a word of it," she said jokingly with a wink. It was clear to me that these two had been friends for a long time.
"Ahem, excuse me," The Doctor said quietly, "I hate to interrupt...this lovely banter, but, may I introduce to you Jim Hawkins and Daniel Dearing."

While Jim just nodded in the direction of Amelia, I stepped forward and offered my hand to the Captain, hoping to make a good impression.

"Daniel, you see, is the man who found the Treasure m..."

It had been in a split second that I realised that the good Doctor was about to blab something about me I didn't want the crew to hear. As fast as lightning I quickly diverted my hand and clamped the Canine's muzzle shut before he spilled something.

"Doctor, please," I said warningly.

I glanced at the deck crew around us, who had stopped to stare at us. One look from me however and they continued on their way, packing on things to the ship.

The Doctor glared at me as if I was mad, and even Jim looked at me a little strangely.

The Captain, however, was a different matter. As I turned back to the doctor I caught her eye.

She gave me as sort of sideways smile and a raised eyebrow as I realised the doctor, as if she found the moment amusing.

I smiled back, before wiping my hand on a handkerchief I kept in my pocket before once again offering my hand to her, while Doppler wiggled his nose.

"I apologize Captain," I said with a smile, "My name is Daniel Dearing, like the Doctor said. It is a pleasure to meet you."

She raised an eyebrow at me, as though she hadn't been expecting something like this.

She smiled however, and gently put her hand into mine, and shook it, more gently then when she had when she had shaken Doppler's, all the while not taking her eyes off mine.

"The same to you Mr. Dearing." she said, before turning to the Doctor, her expression more harder.

"Doctor, if I may. I'd like a word with you in my Stateroom."

As soon as we entered the Captain's Room, Mr. Arrow took his place by the table, while myself, Jim and the Doctor stood nearby. When Amelia finally came in, she shut the door with a click, making us all jump.

"Doctor," she said blankly, indicating her head to Doppler as she walked towards us, "To muse, and blabber, about a treasure map, in front of this particular crew. Shows a level of ineptitude: that borders on the imbecilic! And I mean that in a very caring way."

She smirked at her own comment, as, I had to admit, did I.

"Imbecilic, did you say?" The Doctor seemed a bit flustered, "foolishness I've got..."

Captain Amelia obviously didn't care what Doppler had as she rolled her eyes at Arrow before putting one hand behind her back, and the other one held out towards us.

"May I see the map please?" It wasn't a question, it as a statement, as she interrupted the Doctor mid-rant.

Doppler looked indigent, and held up a finger to make a point, only to be silenced my the Captain's stare.

He lowered his hand and looked back at me and Jim.

Jim looked back and shrugged. I on the other hand was still trying to keep a straight face, so I couldn't actually look at the Doctor in the face.

Doppler sighed, he knew it was futile, he had already lost me to the Captain's wit.

With a sigh he made a whirling motion with his hand, directing me to the Captain.

I stared hard at the captain for a moment, she stared back.

Finally I delved into the pocket of my coat and produced the map, before holding it out for her to take.

"Captain?" I said pleasantly. When I could be I could have just as sharp a wit.

She smirked at me, clearly seeing my game, before taking the sphere from my hand and holding it up to the light.

"Hmm, Fascinating." her eyes shone with intrigue at the map, looking closer at it's complex lines and circles. Eventually she turned towards her cabinet, but not before looking over her shoulder at Jim, who was slouching like a unruly teen.

"Mr. Hawkins," she directed as she opened her cabinet and placed the map in a small box, "in the future you will address me as either Captain, or Ma'am, Is that clear? The same goes for you Mr. Dearing, are we understood?"

I nodded, Jim just sighed and rolled his eyes at me.

"Mr. Hawkins? Mr. Dearing?" clearly they had not been the answers she had wanted.

"Yes Captain," I said calmly.

"Yes Ma'am," Jim muttered.

"That will do," she replied mildly as she locked the Cabinet, "Gentlemen, this must be kept under lock and key when not in use," She suddenly noticed that the Doctor had become more interested in her charts then listening to her, "And Doctor," she called stepping up to him and pushing her face up to his so he had no choice but to look at her, "Again, with the greatest possible respect: Zip your howling screamer!"

"Captain, I assure you. I..." the doctor began, but the Captain cut him off again.
"Let me make this as...monosyllabic as possible," she stated, taking my seat at her desk and beginning to plot an invisible course across the chart sprawled there, "I...don't much care for this crew you hired. They're..."she paused to try and remember something, "How did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee,"
"'A ludicrous parcel of drivelling galoots', ma'am." the First Officer replied, clearly amused.

The Captain smiled to herself at the thought.
"There you go...poetry," she said matter-of-factly, with a slight hint of sarcasm.
"Now, see here!" the doctor had finally lost his rag with the Captain he had hired, for he slammed his hands on her desk, and if there's one thing I know about people with power, they don't like people hitting their desks.

It could now be seen that Captain Amelia had finally had enough of the pompous Doctor Delbert Doppler, for she rose to her feet and gave him such a look it could have frozen water.

"Doctor," she said icily, "I'd love to chat. Tea, cake, the whole shebang, but...I have a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up," and she emphasized her last point by running a finger up the collar of the Doctors suit.

She stood up and addressed her First Officer directly
"Mr. Arrow, please escort these two neophytes..." she paused, realising she had missed one person, "...and Mr. Dearing down to the galley straightaway," she finished,

I swore though her face seemed to go a slightly darker colour, though for what reason I didn't know, "Young Hawkins will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."
"Wh, what? The cook?" he looked like she had just told him to throw himself off the ship.

"What about me...Ma'am?" I asked. Surly I was to work in the Galley also?

She looked me up and down for a few moments, a genuine look of wonder in her eyes.

"For the moment, you will also work for Mr. Silver," she said finally, "But that may change. I believe I may have a job slightly better suited for you."

I saluted smartly, "Aye Captain." I said calmly.

She smiled again at me, the look of interest now evident in her eyes.

"That woman! That...Feline! Who does she think is working for whom?!" I sighed as I lead the small party down to the galley. Ever since we had left the earshot of the Captain, both Dr. Doppler and Jim had been moaning about her.
"It's our map, and she's got me bussing tables...," Jim started, only to be stopped by the stony hand of Mr. Arrow on his and the Doctor's shoulder.

"I'll not tolerate a cross word about our captain!" he growled, "There's no finer officer in this...or any galaxy." I couldn't help but smile as he released them, I they looked like children being told off by a headmaster.

"What about you Daniel? I'm sure you have some kind of quarrel with her?" Doppler asked desperately, hoping to get Arrows attention focused something apart from him.

"Oh no, Dan's go nothing against her," Jim said with a cocky grin, "I think the 'Good Captain' likes him."

I glared at Jim angrily. "What gave you that idea?"

Jim suddenly put on a ridiculous impression of Captain Amelia. "'Mr. Arrow, please take these two neophytes...AND Mr. Dearing down to the galley.' Come on, how many times have you heard a Captain miscount?"

I was about to reply when I suddenly heard a low whistling coming from up ahead.

I gazed through the low lighted galley, The only source of lighting came from the large stove in the centre of the cooking area. Then, something caught my eye, the whistling man, half consumed in the shadows.
"Mr. Silver!" Mr. Arrow called into the gloom. The large man glanced up from whatever he was doing, before wiping his hands on his apron.
"Why, Mr. Arrow, sir," he said in a loud, booming voice, "Bringin' in such fine-looking distinguished gents to grace my humble galley." he suddenly brought his other arm into view in a bow, "Had I known, I'd tucked in me shirt!" as he finished, he indeed began tucking his shirt into his red and green stripped trousers.

Suddenly I realised something about this gent. He appeared to have a lot of body parts missing, each one replaced by a clever metal replacement. His right arm and leg, a good side of his face, as well as his right eye, all rather predominant looking, sticking out from his body.

"The Cyborg....Beware...the Cyborg."

My eyes widened as Billy Bones' last words to me echoed through my head.

"A Cyborg," I breathed.

"My I introduce Dr. Doppler," I heard Mr. Arrow at the back of my head, "The financier of our voyage."

Doppler stepped forward as his name was called, do his best to put on a friendly smile.

"Love the outfit Doc," Silver said with a smile, as a red laser suddenly shone from his eye and cast itself down Doppler's suit.

"Well, thank you," Doppler replied meekly, as he tried to cover up certain places as the laser travelled down the suit, "Love the eye!".

Suddenly he eyed Jim and me, before grabbing us both and pushing us in front of him.

"Um, these young lads are Jim Hawkins and Daniel Dearing."

"Jimbo! Danny-boy!" he through his cybernetic hand towards us, only for it to reveal a series of pointy objects instead of fingers. After a moment, he seemed to realise what had had happened and quickly revolved it around to reveal his hand.

Jim looked down at the hand, then up at Silver.

I just gazed at the hand, before cursing my politeness and taking it, feeling the cold metal of his hand under my fingers as he threatened to shake my arm off.

The large man glanced at Jim, who was still looking mutinously at him.

Eventually he shrugged before turning back to what ever he had been preparing before we came in.

"Ah, now, don't be too put off by this hunk of hardware," he called over his shoulder as he proceeded to cut up vegetables and other such food with utensils on his arm, pausing momentarily to pretend to chop his real hand off with a axe while chopping up a load of meat. It was clear however he was joking with us.
"These gears have been tough gettin' used to," he said as he threw 3 egg-like things over his shoulder, catching them in three spidery looking clamps, before cracking them into the pot, "but they do come mighty...handy, from time to time." He then walked over to the stove with the pot, cooking on a blow torch implement. Quickly he tossed the pan in the air before catching it in his cybernetic hand, before tossing it into the stove, seasoning it slightly, before tasting it.

"Mmm," he gestured to it with his mechanical hand. He quickly grabbed three bowls, before ladling the stuff into them and hand us each a bowl "Here now, have a taste of me famous Bonzabeast stew," he said.

I glanced at the chunky stuff he had given me, before glancing at Jim, who just mirrored my look.

I then glanced over at the Doctor, who seemed to be quite happy with his food.

"Mmm. Delightfully tangy, yet, robust!"
"Old family recipe . . ." the old chief commented as Doppler bent down to eat some more, only to give a shout of surprise as, to my own surprise, an eyeball suddenly floated to the top.
"In fact...that was part of the old family!" and he laughed out loud, leaning on the Doctor for support. He then proceeded to pick up the eye from the soup and popped it in his mouth. "Oh, I'm just kiddn' Doc!"
"I'm nothin' if I ain't a kidder," he chuckled as he elbowed me in the ribs, "Go on Danny-boy have a swig!"

I slowly picked up my spoon and gazed at the stew uncertainty as some of it slipped off my spoon.

Suddenly the spoon seemed to swallow the broth, making me almost drop it as a pair of cute eyes suddenly pooped up on the top.

"Morph!" I heard Silver exclaimed as my spoon suddenly gulped down my stew as it slipped out my hand and turned into a little blob of pink, reminding me of strawberry jelly, "you jiggle-headed blob of mischief, so that's where you were hiding.

The little...blob let it's tiny pink tongue hang out, before turning into a straw and sucking up the rest of my stew, emitting a large burp after it had finished.

After that it flew in the air again, before nuzzling the side of my face.

"Wh...what is that thing?" I asked curiously as I moved to poke it.

"what is that thing?" the blob mimicked on a squeaky voice, before popping into about a dozen little pink blobs and a couple of eyes as I poked him.
"He's a morph," Silver said as Morph turned into a miniature me and mimicked me on my finger, before giving me another nuzzle and going on to Silver, "I rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus one! Ah, he took a shine to me," he mumbled as the little blob made a affectionate sound, "We've been together ever since. Right? Have we not?," he cooed the little thing before turning back to his kitchen.
"We're about to get underway," Mr. Arrow interrupted as a whistle could be heard above, "Would you like to observe the launch, Doctor?"
"Would I?! Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?!" The Doctor proclaimed, clearly hoping to amuse everyone.

"Is that a pin dropping?" I whispered to Jim, who tried to stifle a small laugh.

Doppler gazed at the First officer, hoping to see a small smile. When he didn't, he indicated to the stair case, "I'll follow you,"

As the Doctor headed towards the staircase, Jim followed, only to be pushed back bay the First officers large, rocky fist.

"Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Dearing will remain here...in your charge, Mr. Silver."

I heard a splutter and a choke from behind me as Silver spluttered on the stew his had been tasting again.

"Begging your pardon sir, but er..." he began.

"CAPTAIN'S ORDERS!" Arrow barked, "See that the new Cabin Boy's are kept busy.

I raised an eyebrow as Jim and Silver both began to try and make futile excuses to Arrow's back.

Eventually they both gave up, rubbing their eyes at the same time.

I glanced at Morph, who had been orbiting my head. The little Pink blob looked at me back, a questioning look in it's eyes.

Finally Silver sighed and put his hands behind his back, circling round us like a hungry shark.

"So...Captains left you two with me eh?"

"Whatever," Jim grunted as he headed off towards a barrel.

"I guess so," I shrugged.

Silver gazed at me for a moment before finally sighing to himself.

"Eh...who be a humble Cyborg, to argue with a Cap'n."

It seemed a slightly weird thing for the guy to say. I watched him curiously as he went back to cooking his stew.

I glanced over at Jim, who had picked up a purple fruit thing and proceeded to eat it.

"You know," he said in a would be calm voice, as he sat down on the nearby counter, "These purps are kinda like the ones we've got back home...on Montressor. You ever been there?"

"Uh, can't say that I have Jimbo," the old cook replied.

Jim looked at me, as if trying to make me catch on to something. It was clear to me however, what he was thinking; Could this be the Cyborg Billy Bones had warned me about?

Knowing what to do, I opened a new line of conversation.

"You know, just before I left home, I ran into this old man," I said in the same tone Jim had used a moment ago, "I think he was... looking for an old Cyborg friend of his,"

"Is that so?" Silver replied casually.

"Ah-huh. What was that old Salamander's name?" I paused as if thinking it over, "Oh yeah: Bones. Billy Bones?"

Silver paused.

"Bones?" He repeated, "Boooonnnneees?" he shook his head as he set down his pot next to me, "Ah, T'ain't ringing any bells. Must be a different Cyborg. There's a slew of Cyborgs, roaming this part!" he winked at me before hearing Mr. Arrows voice above us.

"Ahhh, Off with you lads, and watch the Launch. They'll be plenty for you to do when we get back."

We both shrugged before heading up the stairs.

"Think he's the one?" Jim asked.

"Gotta be," I muttered back.