Okay, two instances of swearing in this chapter. If your sensitive ears can't handle it, look elsewhere!
I don't own Captain Planet. I'm not making any money from this story. (Who'd pay for it, any way!)
Alternate Destination
Chapter Four
A lone butterfly was all that was required to rouse Linka's senses into a state of readiness. After a restless night sleeping uncomfortably behind the timber pile, the little insect had managed to achieve the incredible feat of landing on the Russian's left eyelid. It had held on for several moments, fluttering its wings in a most random fashion.
Linka became aware of the contact on her skin almost immediately and opened her red-rimmed, puffy eyes. Rather than fly away, the butterfly flittered around her face before settling on her left hand. She sat up quickly and rubbed her eyes with the other hand, noticing that the sun was rising. Her first instinct was to check her watch; however the hands still sat stubbornly at 2:07, a crack now visible on the glass dial.
Linka sat for a while; feeling pensive and uncertain about where to go from here. She had to find the others, that was first and foremost... She wondered where they were now... on the mainland, waiting for her? Could they be nursing injuries from the storm? Were they planning to return to their homes afterwards? Had they already arrived?
I need to get word to them that I'm okay. They'll be so excited to see me! Linka was smiling for the first time in 24 hours, imagining their reaction.
They must have believed me to be lost, she reflected sadly. This was the only possible explanation that she could come up with in light of recent events.
The butterfly stirred on her hand suddenly, startling the girl from her thoughts. She had forgotten about its presence. With a sudden movement it fluttered into the air and was carried away by a small gust of wind, its blue-green wings disappearing from her sight.
At this precise moment, a sharp crack echoed over the island, followed by a yell of pain. Linka looked up, startled. Her heart hammered in her chest as she listened, frozen with fear. She heard the unmistakable sound of laughter, barely distinguishable from the frantic sounds of frightened birds leaving the origin of the noise in a hurry. Linka jumped to her feet when she realized that the birds were now passing over her... The people were about to exit the forest, and she was in plain view.
Oh crap, she thought as she sprinted, adrenaline fueling her tired, overwhelmed body. Where to hide? She spotted her salvation: the large mound that now housed the crippled yellow geo-cruiser. She chanced a quick look over her shoulder before jumping feet-first into the cabin, knocking her shoulder heavily against an upside-down head-rest and crashing into the front instrument panel.
It took all of her willpower not to cry out in pain. She bit her lip and wept quietly, cursing her bad luck and misfortune. She wanted to wake up from this bad dream so badly, desperate to hear a familiar voice. She crawled underneath the instrument panel and put her head between her knees, her green hair hanging nearly down to what was once the cabin roof.
Linka began to rock back and forth gently, wishing for Gi's soothing voice and smile, Kwame's knowledge and leadership. He would know what to do in a situation like this.
Unusually, she found herself craving Wheeler. She wanted nothing more than to hear his voice, reassuring her. She would have given anything to hear one of his many smart-mouthed comments that would provoke her anger on the outside, but laughter on the inside. She now deeply regretted telling him to adopt a more serious approach to missions the other night. In light of recent events, she would have sold her soul to see him. Regardless of her confused feelings for the American, she always felt safe and protected around him. He would never let anything happen to her.
Until now.
She had never felt more utterly alone.
As is on cue, various voices invaded her thoughts, coming from somewhere outside the vehicle. They increased in volume before becoming softer, as if passing her hiding place. Panic set in as she immediately identified one of the voices with alarm, then another with distinctly more feminine tones.
Zarm...oh God, and Blight? This cannot be happening...
The sound was muffled as they walked away, occasionally punctuated by gleeful, cackling laughter that only Dr Blight could produce. Linka briefly thought about scrambling out and finding a better vantage point, but before she could move she felt the cruiser start shaking violently, as if someone was jumping on the structure. Linka fell back into her hiding spot, expecting a cave-in and darkness.
Instead, Hoggish Greedly and Rigger fell through the fiberglass structure, landing some two metres from Linka's hidden, crouched figure. Greedly was laughing heartily, obviously in better spirits than Rigger, lying sprawled and winded underneath the portly eco-villain.
Greedly shook his head, wiping laughter-induced tears from his eyes.
"Hey Rigger! Get up, ya' lazy sod. This is a momentous occasion we have right here! It's not every day we end up inside Gaia's crappy-cruiser, or whatever those Planet-Pukes used to call it!"
Rigger opened his mouth, and then closed it like a fish out of water, gasping soundlessly for air: Greedly had nearly flattened him.
Chuckling heartily to himself, Greedly ignored Rigger's plight and looked around the cabin of the cruiser.
"Hey Zarm, that storm really did a number on this place...it's upside down, you know."
No shit, Sherlock. Linka had to strongly resist the urge to drive a jagged piece of glass into his nearby foot. Greedly's loud observation had brought no response from the entity somewhere above their heads.
She was in a very dangerous predicament. If they found her, she stood very little chance against four of her greatest enemy. Besides, there were possibly more of them. She moved as far back into the shadows as possible and waited it out, watching and listening intently, desperate for some sort of explanation for her predicament.
As Dr Blight lowered herself down gracefully, Linka silently hoped that her gurgling stomach wouldn't give her position away. She was so hungry...
"Don't ya' just love the colour scheme, people," Blight commented sarcastically, her hard glare focusing on something lodged in the armrest of the middle seat. Stretching up on her toes, she grabbed the object and peered at it, eyebrows raised. She grinned at the others while holding the white rectangular iPod in the air, an air of triumph evident on her face.
Wheeler's iPod...he was listening to it last night.
"Technology gets outdated so quickly, don't it, boys!" They roared with laughter; even Rigger who was now in a sitting position and grinning stupidly at the others. With a shrug, Dr Blight threw the iPod over her shoulder, landing near Linka's foot. She soundlessly picked it up as Blight clambered out of the shuttle. The blonde scientist was followed closely by Greedly and Rigger (who copped a heavy blow to the head from one of the obese man's shoes.)
The dust had no sooner settled before Linka leapt from her hiding place and scrambled to the other side, hoping to hear the steady stream of conversation coming from outside the Cruiser.
She kept low in the craft, just beneath the window in which the Eco-Villains had just exited.They were currently standing around the cabin, talking in low voices.
"Why can't you get us off the Island? I already feel tainted by too many eco-friendly thoughts..." Blight shuddered as if feeling physically ill.
"I've already told you why. The time-jump has left me weak, I need time to regain my powers." Zarm's booming voice left no reason for Blight to contradict him, so she sulked quietly, obviously uncomfortable and ready to leave.
"When's Plunder coming to get us?" asked Rigger in a small voice, holding his ribs and panting heavily.
Blight smiled cunningly at the question. "I believe he's already hijacked a South Pacific cruise ship. It'll be luxury on the South Pacific for the next week, my friends!"
Greedly responded to this news with a delirious snort of happiness, smacking Blight on the back in commendation and nearly sending her flying back into the cruiser. She steadied herself and gritted her teeth in anger. She hated working together with these drop-kicks, but occasionally cohesion was required for the outcome they all wanted to achieve so desperately: total control of Earth.
Blight sighed and sat down, staring determinedly at the murky bay. The villains were quiet now, with the exception of Rigger whose laboured breathing and quiet moans of pain indicated that he was probably suffering from broken ribs. Not that she cared: let Plunder deal with it when he got here.
Babs Blight wondered what the suave Looten Plunder would look like: she wondered if he had cut his hair in the five years it had taken them to travel into the future. Pony tails were so not attractive: he usually looked like a relic of the hippy age.
"What happened to the brats?"
Zarm smiled cunningly and faced the heavily-scarred scientist. "Plunder has been instructed to keep tabs on them, so we should be able to find them easily enough."
"Yeah, but they still have their rings, surely they still have the ability to call you-know-who?"
"Not since I took one of them out of the equation..." Zarm enjoyed their reaction: even Rigger, who, preoccupied with his wounds, looked up in surprise."
"Who? Who was it? C'mon, you can't leave us in the dark like this...was it the fire-bug?" Greedly's eyes were protruding from his face like a bulbous fly, mouth open and waiting impatiently for a response. "Is he dead?"
"All you need to know is that she no longer poses a threat to our plans."
"It was blondie, wasn't it." Dr Blight's intuition had kicked in at this point. She knew that the Russian Planeteer was the glue that held the group together. "Geez, the fire-bug wouldn't have been too happy about that."
Greedly chuckled heartily at Blight's dry observation, asking how she had "kicked the bucket."
"That's not important. We have bigger fish to fry. The first half of my plan has come to fruition. We have successfully traveled five years into the future. Five years since those punks buried the girl and ran home to their mommies with their proverbial tail between their legs. We now have bigger fish..."
Greedly had jumped up with glee at this point, snorting with happiness at the thought of a little mischief-making. "Blondie's buried here?" He asked, scanning the horizon before spotting the small pile of stones several hundred yards away.
"Ha!" he cried, "Who feels like a little old-fashioned ditch digging?"
Greedly plodded merrily towards the shore but only made it so far before he was lifted bodily into the air and thrown to the ground.
Zarm stood above him, glowing bright yellow; his face a contortion of rage. His voice boomed painfully, causing Blight and Rigger to cower in fear.
Hidden inside the Geo-cruiser, Linka barely registered Zarm's frightening transformation. She simply held her head in her hands again, resuming the rocking motion she had begun earlier, too shocked to react. Fresh tears escaped her, trailing their way down her cheeks and leaving marks on her skin as Zarm unleashed his fury.
"HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE DEAD, YOU IGNORANT MORTAL! FILTHY PIG! SHE IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE, WHY DESECRATE HER MEMORY? LET HER REST IN RELATIVE PEACE, CONTENT IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SHE'LL BE SEEING HER BELOVED FRIENDS SOON."
Greedly nodded vigorously and scampered out of sight, heading into the forest with all the speed his obese body could muster.
Dr Blight just rolled her eyes in frustration and walked out to the bay, meaning to check out Greedly's favourite landmark. The scientist crouched over Linka's grave for a while, handling the tattered and weathered objects with curiosity. She was a little shocked that Zarm had managed to successfully pull off this incredible feat.
Zarm floated off, exhausted and desperately in need of rest: he was weakening rapidly again.
Only Rigger remained where he was, his ribs screaming with every laboured breath he took. He hated this...he had been woefully treated from the beginning of his association with the group...this was obviously never to change. The weak man closed his eyes, hoping and praying that his boss would arrive soonLinka lay against the smooth curvature of the cruiser panels, repeating the words over and over in her head.
Five years since those punks buried her...
HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE DEAD...
She sat quietly, her pale face showing through the streaks of dirt and grime. She was utterly defeated. Her best friends had not abandoned her. She had never been in a position to be abandoned...she had simply ceased to exist during the course of that night.
A million new questions began clamoring for attention, each as confusing and thought-provoking as the next.
How did I die?
Why am I here now, five years later?
Who sent ME here?
How can I leave?
How can I be here if I'm supposed to be...
Linka pushed her hair out of her eyes and briefly contemplated several options. "Am I a spirit?" she asked herself with all seriousness, considering this in relation to all that had befallen her. That opinion was immediately put to the back of her mind...her aching shoulder and leg proved that she was flesh and bone.
And she was weak with hunger...she'd never seen Gaia eat.
Gaia!
Could Gaia have been responsible for this? Zarm obviously had no idea of her presence, perhaps Gaia had orchestrated this?
But where is she?
Linka vaguely remembered the echo of a voice after she landed in the forest. She knew now that she hadn't been sleepwalking. Linka was able to come to her own conclusion as to what had happened...
Had someone returned to the storm and forced the time-jump on her just before she died, as Zarm had done with three of the eco-villains? Her mind was racing now, her pain and shock pushed to the back of her mind.
Her confused thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horn blast. Spurred into action, Linka cautiously peeked over the rim of the windowless panel. Her mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe what she was seeing...
The mighty P & O Pacific Sky loomed massively on the horizon, some distance from the shore. The ship's lifeboat tenders had been lowered, making a most leisurely trip towards the bay. The huge smoke-stack gave another resounding blast as Linka watched Hoggish Greedly leap around the bay like a man possessed, pumping his arm in the air and yelling Plunder's name.
Linka took in this incredibly strange sight, watching as the first of two lifeboats moored itself on the wooden dock. Kwame's dock. Linka sighed, sadness and regret passing over her lovely features. She remembered the countless times that Kwame had fished on that dock. He rarely caught anything, but that never seemed to matter to the African man. She smiled at the memory, pursing her lips as other images assaulted her like scenes from a movie:
Gi, her foot stuck between two large pieces of coral, yelling abuse at Kwame who watches from the dock, roaring with laughter.
Sutchi, scampering away in fright as two rare, great white whales make their presence felt. Ma-Ti is now chasing after him, concerned, as always, about the monkey's welfare.
Catching Linka by surprise, Wheeler is grabbing her around the waist and throwing her into the warm water: fully clothed. The American turns around and walks away as if nothing has happened, waving to the irate, saturated blonde trying to pull herself up onto the shore.
Linka smiled again, grateful for the distraction.Her fear was replaced by a desperate urge to find her friends and warn them about the impending danger.
She peeked over the rim again and saw that Looten Plunder had disembarked, leading a man in a white officer's uniform behind him. Plunder was obviously keeping the captain close to him. She watched as Greedly waddled over and slapped Plunder on the back, before stepping onto the first lifeboat. He was hungry, after all. Rigger stumbled over and soon disappeared from Linka's view too as the tender boat turned and made its way back to the cruiser.
She observed the other three figures wander into the forest. Plunder cast a curious glance towards the pile of stones they had passed and whispered something in Blight's ear. Before they vanished from her sight, Linka could hear Plunder's surprised exclamation of "NO SHIT!".
Linka shook her head in fury, understanding that this was his reaction to her death: an unsettling thought. She watched the bay and surrounds, now deserted and quiet. A unidentified man exited the second lifeboat and followed the path that the other three had taken moments before. He was soon swallowed up by the dense foliage of trees and plants.
It was a split second decision. Before she understood what was happening, Linka was out of the wreckage and sprinting towards the second lifeboat, floating so beckoningly on the water. She vaulted the dock pillars and leapt onto the slippery thresh-hold, maintaining her position with ease.
Linka frantically searched for a hiding place, worried that they would return soon. This search proved frustratingly unsuccessful, so she tried her luck at the back of the tender, outside the cabin. A life-jacket container was visible on the port side of the boat. Exhaling with relief, she swung the lid open and climbed into the box, only filled to half capacity. Settling in as best she could, the resourceful Russian arranged the lifejackets around her and propped the lid open slightly using a safety whistle.
Some time later, the engines started. Linka closed her eyes in relief: she was halfway there. She had found her way off the island. Now she just had to find her friends before Zarm did.
Next Chapter
Fun and games on board the mighty Pacific Sky!
Shuffleboard, dancing, trivia contests and a desperate bid for survival...
Will Linka be discovered?
Will Rigger recover from his injuries? Will he get lucky with one of the passengers…ahem….hostages?
Will Greedly be able to cope with a free, fully-stocked bar service? Oh, the temptation...
Oh, Diana: yeah, you might like to call my comment on the last chapter a "Red Herring!"
I'm having so much fun with this fic... :-)