He clutched the small amethyst in his hand like a companion.
Hours passed by before the Legacy lifeglider landed gently with a small thrusting of the engine, onto the cold, mossy dock of the second eastward moon of Verdona.
John Silver wrapped the coat around himself tightly like a blanket, overlooking the misty marshes of the moon with a sincere warmth in his face, of a place he used to be so familiar with. He shut down the lifeglider with the appropriate lever and took out the docking rope from the small toolbox provided.
The air seemed heavy as he sniffed that dense, musky feeling of Verdona and all its mysteries, despite how he had left those moons many years ago.
Silver carefully climbed out of the lifeglider and stomped his pegleg firmly onto the rickety dock, its grey-wooden beams showing traces of age with the grassy moss peering from below them. He remembered the feeling of age this place had brought to him even as a young fisherman, testing the closed, foggy air out in the long nights to catch those dangerous and delicate schools of Protonic eels as they swam within the fog into his wired nets.
Catching dozens of eels in one night made for an extraordinary day the next morning, Silver recalled, envisioning those open fish markets at the mainland planet of Verdona, how he used his persuasive skills to sell his catch to the townspeople. The women, especially, enjoyed the natural charm Silver possessed as young man who loved to cook, and the Cyborg vaguely remembered those demonstrations he made, cutting up his eels with precision knives and letting potential customers sample on his unique blends of spices and fish.
Yeh can't 'ave second'ury Cury Eel soup in front've my careful eyes, ah'll tell yer that!
He remembered saying that line a handful of times, probably tossing sesame seeds into the small steaming cauldron on his market booth, while a group of young women giggled under their lovely hats and waited in line for a spoonful of taste.
It's how he had chosen to make a living for himself those days, and Silver kept it that way... despite those long arguments with his old man, who had practically vowed to disinherit him on the terms that he'd join the Interstellar Academy along with his brother, and represent a glorious future for their lower-class family. Thank goodness, the old man had died of old age before any ridiculous document was signed, but it still left John and Ezekiel Silver with a burden to bear.
The legacy. That God-forsaken legacy that was supposedly caused by their ancestor hundreds of years ago, on a man-made planet that was entirely brought by a scientific visionary named Nathaniel Flint. Silver remembered how his father reminded him and his brother of that story time and again, how their ancestor, the first Ezekiel Silver, had been one of Flint's closest companions and had assisted in the creation of that mechanical planet from the very beginning. Nobody ever understood why a man would want to create (or assist in creating) a planet entirely out of scrap metal and function through fuel boilers, but their ancestor was the man who designed the web of industrial workings for the planet.
They were a trio, their father said... Flint, Silver... and a brilliant cartographer and navigator. A young tortoid named William Bones.
The tortoid's extremely long life span made him a creature of intense experience with the art of navigation, and Bones had was in the process of designing a new navigational method, that required delicate experiments and reeling, as well as expensive resources for its fueling.
According to his father's story, Flint and Silver both supported this secret invention of intergalactic portals, that would become the newest, safest method for business travel within vast galaxies in the Etherium. It seemed that the mechanism had worked wonderfully, and the trio found themselves navigating with their team across many planets to find resources for the mechanic planet's functions.
Why that ancient friendship had ended between the trio was still a mystery to John Silver... but nevertheless... the legacy was still there...
Apparently, when he discovered the magnitude of power that came with intergalactic space portals, the scientist named Nathaniel Flint found a stealth way to pay off his debts from building and designing that planet.
Or rather... he found a deadly way to never have to pay off those debts at all... and it wasn't long before Silver, Bones and dozens of others joined him on the pursuit to piracy.
The rest of the details were blurry in his mind, but as the Cyborg walked up to the base of the dock, watching his every step on the rickety beams, he remembered the end of his father's story to him...
The scientist-turned-pirate named Flint was left to die in his own "Loot of the a Thousand Worlds" by a mutiny, and the now ruthless man closed off the planet entirely, with only one spherical map as the key to open it again. Silver and Bones found themselves claiming the Treasure Planet each as their own, from all the magic that was made to it, and in one way or another... it was Bones who flew off into the unknown with the spherical map.
Bones knew that his tortoid life-span would outlive Silver's human life, no matter how far or how long Silver would pursue that map, and the creature knew that it was a matter of time when he could use his navigation skill and someday go back to that planet, to claim what he thought was rightfully his.
But Ezekiel Silver refused to see that happen, and he vowed to continue that chase for Treasure Planet... through the storytelling, and the legacy that he left to his children, his children's children... all the way to the fateful hands of a young fisherman named John Silver.
As the last part of the story left his mind, John Silver climbed out of the dock and onto the moist land before him, extremely slippery and rich with soil. All of a sudden he became weary of the old world he was slipping back into, not entirely ready to take on this role as a regular Cyborg anywhere. With assurance, he looked at the small reflection the amethyst's shimmer made of himself, on the palm of his hand, and Silver knew there was no other way to face the regular world again.
In spite of the memories and the dear symbolism it held for him, Silver sighed, slightly hesitating before he choose not to keep the amethyst for himself.
What good would a delicate jewel be for a large, overweight pirate? It would just be a glimmering trophy, when the real accomplishments were already marked in his memory, and that was more than enough for the Cyborg to keep.
He made a promise to himself, though... that he would not simply give the amethyst away, as he would to a beggar in the streets, or as a means to buy himself a month's supply of food.
No... no, it needed to be very insignificant, yet special... an inspirational moment that deserved such a beautiful gem for the occasion.
John Silver found himself walking up towards a small ill-lighted house on the hill that night, and realizing it was the old tavern, he felt that it was the next step for him to take that night. The Cyborg was on the search for eccentric company, and his hope was that he would run into some very old friends.