Chapter 6: Worlds Apart

The night air was filled with smoke as Mira desperately carried Mokuba towards the way out of the blazing inferno. There was not much time left. Soon both of them would be overcome by the smoke and they would die there. Mira would not allow this to happen. Again, this was the fault of her brother. Even though she had not been in contact with him for some time, she had stayed current on all of his affairs through her own methods. She was aware that Dartz had been brainwashing more innocent people, his latest acquisition being a young teenager who had been trapped on an island alone for three years. The boy had just returned to civilization, and was famous. It was clear that Dartz had aided him in his rescue and therefore had been in contact with him for some time now. It was also clear that he had sent Raphael, as was the boy's name, to kill Mira and bring him Seto. However, it seemed that Raphael was unclear upon who Seto was. He must have thought that Mokuba was Seto. Mira had reached him just as Raphael had tried to take him away and had been barely able to stop him by collapsing several kitchen appliances on him. He had fallen, and Mira did not know if he had gotten out. Right now she could not be concerned with him. He had been sent to kill her, so she had no reason to care about him. Perhaps she would go back in and see if he was alright…

Suddenly she could see the entrance to the building. She pulled Mokuba off of her back and pushed him towards the way out. "Run Mokie! Run!" Mokuba staggered towards the exit with Mira close behind him. The ceiling was collapsing, and Mira was forced to run almost right on top of Mokuba to prevent the ceiling from falling in on him. Just as they reached the exit, a huge explosion rocked the building. Mira looked up to see Seto running towards Mokuba, then the explosion blew her in another direction, and that was the last thing she remembered.

Stephan had come into town to re-supply his ship before he headed out to sea again. Unfortunately he had gotten lost along the way and now it was dark. Since he was in the backcountry, there were no lights nearby. He supposed that he should go back the same way he had come, but he knew that he would never be able to find the small road that led into town. Instead he wandered deeper and deeper into a patch of woods. He hoped that it was small and that he would soon come to a building or town of some sort soon. He looked up at the bit of sky he could see. It was completely clouded and still raining, which was why he was so miserable. It looked like there could be a hurricane. In that case, he needed to get back to his ship quickly. Suddenly, he heard something coming his direction. He thought it could perhaps be a person, so he headed the direction of the noise. It was doubtful that there would be any dangerous creatures this close to the mainland. There came a thrashing in the bushes just ahead of him, and a young girl emerged. She couldn't have been more than eleven years old, although it was difficult to tell, as the girl was covered in ash and soot. She was staggering, and it was obvious that she was badly hurt. Suddenly the winds that had been building up all day exploded in a fury, quickly raising to seventy miles an hour. Stephen looked up.

"The hurricane," he whispered. Then he heard people yelling his name. He turned to see several of his shipmates racing towards him, covering their faces from the fury of the storm. He quickly looked back at the girl who was about to fall. He quickly collected her in his arms before she collapsed and raced to meet his companions.

"Quickly!" one yelled over the howl of the storm. "We must get back to the ship! There is not enough shelter here! Stephan, follow us!" They quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction that Stephan had been going. He followed as quickly as he could, which was slightly slower than normal due to the girl in his arms. He figured that he could find her parents after the storm was over. He just hoped that they were alright. He didn't know why she looked as if she had been through a fire, but he knew that the ship's doctor, Callista, would be able to tell him. They soon made it to the ship, the U.S.S. Doriado. They hurried on board and into the cabins below where they would hopefully be safe from the storm. Most ships never broke from the dock, even during a bad storm like this. They would stay in place throughout the storm. He immediately too the girl to Callista.

"Callista, I found her wandering around in this bad storm in pretty bad shape. It looks as if she was in a fire. I hope that her family is alright. See what you can do for her. I'll be back in a bit to check on her. I have to make sure that we don't get ripped to shreds out here on the water."

"Right Stephen," Callista said. She laid the girl down on the medical bed and immediately noticed the problem she was having with breathing. Smoke inhalation for sure. Nothing else could cause that sort of shortness of breath. Without delay she pulled out her respirator and placed the mask over the girl's mouth and nose. She then began to gently push some more oxygen into the girl's lungs. Once she had done this, she observed the burn wounds that had occurred when the flames had touched her clothing. They were not as serious as they first seemed, and Callista was relieved to see that the girl would most probably have no scarring from them. However, there was another matter. It looked like a beam or piece of sharp wood had fallen onto the girl and had left a stream of blood from her neck to her stomach. Upon further observation of the wound, Callista found that the wound was much deeper than it first appeared. It hadn't cut into any vital organs, but it would most definitely leave a long scar. Callista immediately went to the job of stopping the bleeding and cleaning the splinters from the wound. It was a long task as well as delicate, as Callista had to be sure that she did not puncture any vital organs as she worked. As the storm got worse and worse, the girl's condition improved, until Callista could finally rest. Stephen would be pleased that the girl would recover completely.

Just then, the ship jolted, causing Callista to fly from her seat to the floor. She quickly checked on her patient. She was relieved to see that she was still stable. She ran from the room in search of Stephen, who was supposedly on deck. Through the downpour, she was able to make him out.

"Stephen! What's happening?" she yelled over the din.

"We're breaking away from the dock! The storm is too strong. We're going out to sea, so hold on! We're going to have to ride it out out here! Get back below and stay with the girl!"

Callista nodded visibly and disappeared below. Stephen hoped fervently that they would make it out of this alive. No one had ever been blown out of the dock before. Being out at sea was the worst possible place to be during a full fledged hurricane, which this most certainly was. Stephan clung to the wheel of his ship, flinging it back and forth to ride the waves that were becoming more and more like small tsunamis every second. It was difficult to breathe, as the wind and lancing rain drove his breath from his body. He shouted commands to his deck officers as they disappeared further and further into the storm. Stephen hoped that if they did make it, they would still have most of their supplies. He had not dumped anything overboard yet, as there was very little to anyway. He gave the wheel a vicious jerk, and it finally turned, sending them into the strong surface current that had appeared. Stephen knew that they would be reasonably safe now, as not even the storm would be able to whip them from the current that it had created. The slipstream carried them quickly through the storm. Stephen stayed at the wheel all night long and into the early morning as the storm began to die out. He finally collapsed, as did the storm during midday. He was exhausted, utterly spent, and weak from the pressure and strength that Hurricane Davries had pushed on him. He barely made it below and collapsed onto a bunk in the living quarters where he fell asleep. Meanwhile, his crew set about to repairs. Stephen had ordered them to sleep before daybreak, so they were all reasonably rested and ready for the process of fixing their ship. They had been instructed to come to rest on the shore of the nearest land mass they found, but thus far, they had found none. It was clear that the slipstream had carried them further than they could have ever imagined. In fact, the realization that they were still in a weak slipstream did not evade them. They knew that Stephen would need to steer them out of it once he woke.

Stephen slept for an entire day. Early the next morning, Callista arrived with food and drink that Stephen's body badly needed.

Callista shook Stephen gently. "Stephen, Stephen, wake up. You need to have something to drink. Come on, it's time to get up." Stephen moved slightly but showed no signs of waking. "Come on Stephen get up." This was a command, not nearly as nice as the invitation had been. In the end, Callista was forced to use the water she had brought for him to wake him by dumping it over his face. Stephen sputtered and sat up quickly, seeing at once what Callista had done.

"I believe that I am going to fire you when we get to shore," he said jokingly.

Callista smiled. "Well, it seems that I'm safe then. I don't think that we'll be at any sort of shore for a while. It seems that the slipstream is still carrying us southeast." She handed him the food and refilled the cup of water. Stephen took it and relieved it of its contents.

"Southeast, huh? Great. If we've traveled as far as I think we have, then we'll be in Africa by the time we stop. There's no sense in turning around. That hurricane lasted three days, and we've been out here another two. If I'm right, then we'll hit the East coastline in a few days. Then we can re supply and be on our way back. I want to get our patient home as soon as possible. Her parents are probably worried sick about her.

"Do you want to talk to her? She's up, and doing well. I believe she really would like to meet you. She's sort of odd, in a way, buy I'll let you see that for yourself. Can you get up, first of all?"

Stephen smiled. "I believe that I can manage that." He struggled to his feet and put his arms around Callista's neck. "Lead on, my beautiful ship's doctor who I am soon going to marry."

Callista grinned at him. "Come now, why do you drag your feet such, my love? I would think that you would be eager to meet other young women of attractive proportions."

"Oh, I believe that you are far more attractive than any other young woman you could conjure. Your eyes are like the…"

He never completed his sentence, as Callista grabbed a pillow off of the nearest bunk and hit him on the head with it. "Please! None of your poetry! I can't handle it!"

Stephen laughed. "I guess I know how much all of my hard work is being appreciated now. Oh, how tragic it is to be a poet!"

"And the listener, to yours. Come on, let's go see our friend."

"As I said, lead on!"

They made it to the bunk room where the girl was staying and knocked on the door. She opened it quickly, and surveyed both of the adults who stood before.

"Mira, this is Stephen. He's the one who found you."

Mira stared at Stephen, and it was then that he noticed that her eyes were two different colors. One was a golden yellow, while the other was an aqua blue. These eyes now silently weighed his integrity. Then she smiled slightly.

"Thank you for saving my life Stephen. Callista had told me all about you."

"It was no problem. Now, I promise that we will have you back home within two weeks. Then we can find your parents and…" He cut his sentence short as Mira's face fell. "What's the matter?"

Mira dropped her gaze. "I have no parents."

"I – I'm sorry. What happened to them, if I may ask?"

"I don't know. I don't remember my parents. I was living at an orphanage when you found me. There was a fire, and I got caught inside. I don't remember how I got out, and found my way to you, but… so there would be no point in returning me. The place was horrible anyway. I really do not want to go back." She was sure that Seto would have found a way out of the place by now. If she went back, she wouldn't find them, and she would be telling her brother where she was so he could send someone else to kill her. No, her best bet was to stay with this man until she could find where Seto and Mokuba had gone. She needed them…

"I am slightly confused," said Stephen. "What then should we do?"

Mira took a deep breath. She knew that she would probably never see Seto and Mokuba again if she did this, but it was the chance that she had to take. "I owe you my life. I plan to pay that back. If I can, I will stay here with you and work as one of your deckhands. If not, then…"

Stephen looked at her in surprise. "You really want to work for me?"

"You saved my life. I owe this to you."

"You don't have to, you know…"

"Yes, I do. I promise I won't be any trouble. I already know a bit about ships and how they work and such, so I won't be as much as a burden. Please, I really don't have anywhere else to go."

Stephen considered the girl that stood before him. He did not know if this would be legal. Technically, she still lived at the orphanage. However, they did think her to be dead due to the fire. Stephen did not think for a moment that she was lying. She was the sort that you would be able to tell immediately if she was. He thought on. This was an extreme circumstance, and if he had learned one thing from his life, it was that in extreme circumstances, you sometimes had to break the rules. They were far out in the sea, almost to Egypt. Perhaps he would allow her to remain here. She could work if she wanted to, and she would have a decent life, at least, until she came of age and decided to leave.

He nodded. "Very well, Mira. You have yourself a new home. Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Doriado."