Chapter 2

Amelia gets a surprise

The next day, Arrow awoke early in the morning. He put on his clothes, donned his hat, and went down to breakfast. There he meet Jim again, who said to him, "Good morning, sir."

"Good morning, Jim," he said. He looked about mysteriously, then leaned close to Jim and said, "I say, lad, can you keep a secret?"

"Sure!" Jim said and looked back at Arrow. Arrow lifted his hat, so Jim could see his face clearly.

"I survived, Mr. Hawkins," he said and pulled his hat back down to shield his face from view.

Jim looked back at him, clearly surprised. "Arrow?" he whispered quietly, stunned.

Arrow nodded briefly and said, "I'm hard as stone, you see, so don't think that something like a black hole can stop me."

Jim just shook his head, and grinned broadly.

Just about then, Amelia came through the door and said to Jim, "Good morning, Jim."

Jim looked over at Arrow, who shook his head indicating he shouldn't let her in on their little secret. Jim nodded minutely, acknowledging Arrow's request.

Amelia noticed Arrow, saying, "Oh. Good morning, Sylvester."

"Good morning, Captain Amelia," he said and looked over at Jim.

"A cup of Earl Grey tea, please," they said at the same time.

Jim laughed, shaking his head. "Two cups of Earl Grey, coming right up," he said, heading for the kitchen.

"So, Captain…how was your dance with Mr. Hawkins?" Arrow said.

"He's actually quite a good dancer. Though, you didn't hear that from me," she said, with a grin.

"Thanks, Captain," they heard Jim say as he came out with two cups of tea.

Arrow decided that it might be fun to have a bit of fun with his old Captain and asked her, "Why don't you tell me about this Arrow fellow you talked about yesterday?"

Jim lifted his head, grinning when he realized what Arrow was up to. He began to wipe down the tables, dusting off the windows, and sweeping the floors, while the Captain told them both about Arrow in rather glowing terms. After nearly an hour, Jim began to chuckle, followed quickly by Arrow.

"All right. Just what are the two of you laughing about?" Amelia said a bit testily.

"C'mon already, tell her, or I'm going to," Jim said with a grin from ear to ear.

"Oh, very well. Why not?" he said and removed his cloak with a theatric twirl. The big Cragorian man looked down at Amelia and said, "Captain Amelia, I am made of stone…did you really think that I would be gone forever?"

Amelia's jaw dropped, and she just looked at him as if she were in trance.

She just stood therer, looking as if she had just seen a ghost, "You…you survived, Arrow?" she asked in a tremulous voice.

"Why yes, I do believe I did," he said.

Amelia finally came to her senses, and threw herself at Arrow, giving him a fierce hug. She then began to cry and talk at the same time, "ARROW! Oh, how I've missed you, my friend!"

"I'm sure you have, Captain," he said in his rough deep voice. "For I know I have certainly missed you, Amelia."

"Oh, just wait until Delbert hears about this!" she exclaimed with a glad cry and made no attempt to release the poor man from her tight embrace. She then began to softly cry again and finally relented, and go of Arrow.

"So, how have you been, Captain?" he inquired with a smile as he handed her a handkerchief to dry her eyes with.

"Never been better, Arrow, old man!" she admitted to him happily.

After a while, all of Amelia's friends and family now knew that Arrow had survived. That night, Arrow promised them all that he would tell them about his life after the accident, just so long as they told him about what had happened after he fallen overboard on the way to Treasure Planet.

Jim, Delbert, Amelia, Sarah, Morph and the four Doppler children (Ben was on a trip to a android party) sat around a large table. Those who had been on the trip to Treasure Planet helped one other to tell their tale about Treasure Planet to Arrow.

"And that's basically all there is to tell about that adventure," Jim said, finishing the tale in full.

Amelia looked over at her old friend and said to him, "Now, Arrow, we have told our story. All right now, it's time for you to tell yours, old friend."

Arrow looked on them and said, "Very well, Captain", and began to relate his story to them, when there came a knock on the door.

Jim got up and answered the door. A rather large shadow entered the inn, and asked for a room for the night, and some supper.

The heavily cloaked man got his meal and a room key and then he sat down to eat.

For some reason, this fellow gave Amelia got a bad feeling. But she put off, reasoning she might be overreacting just a bit, since she was so excited that Arrow had came back to her. Arrow took a drink of water, and then began to tell his tale.