Chapter Six
I pushed open another door disguised as a boulder and peered out to find B.E.N., Morph, and I were near where the pirates were making camp on the beach. In fact, the lot of them were already asleep and snoring.
"So, what's the plan?" the robot shouted, practically giving me a heart attack.
"Shh. B.E.N., quiet," I whispered clamping his mouth shut, "Okay, here it is. We sneak back to the Legacy, disable the cannons, and bring back the map."
"That's a good plan. l like that plan," said B.E.N. mumbling between my fingers, "The only thing is l'm wondering, how do we get there?"
"On that," I replied pointing to the rowboat.
We quickly and silently snuck over to the boat and climbed aboard. I grabbed the oars, and rowed out towards the ship. After what felt like hours, but must have really been a few minutes, we made it to the Legacy and clambered up over the rail onto the deck. Unfortunately, B.E.N. fell flat on his face with a loud clatter!
"Shh!" I hissed in a panic, quickly looking around to see if anyone was coming. The coast was clear.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."
"Okay, l'll get the map. You wait here," I whispered to the robot.
"Roger, Lynnie. l'll neutralize laser cannons, ma'am!" B.E.N. declared with a salute before walking off.
"B.E.N.! B.E.N.!" I called out to him, but he ignored me and kept on going while singing A Pirate's Life for Me.
"Great," I huffed shaking my head. I turned and headed across the deck towards the coil of rope Morph had hidden the map.
"Disable a few cannons," said B.E.N. strolling past a room with the door wide open, "What is the big deal?" He paused and peeked into the room. His curiosity got the better of him and he stepped inside, looking about the place. Opening up a box on the wall, he found a plethora of different coloured wires and stared fascinated. He wondered what would happen if he just messed with a couple...
I managed to get to the coil of rope and pushed a portion aside to find the map. "Yes," I sighed in relief picking it up.
Suddenly an alarm started blaring, making me jump, my heart hammering in my chest. I turned and ran, looking for B.E.N.
"That stupid robot's gonna get us ...killed," I said and came to a halt when Scroop stood in my path.
"Aralyne," he hissed flashing his claws in my face.
I dashed below decks throwing things behind me to trip him up, but I'm not so sure it worked because I could still hear him scuttling behind me. I glanced back for a moment to see him a foot away, but then Morph turned into a pie and slammed into the scorpion's face. I then heard Morph being tossed aside, and I kept running. Rounding a corner, I stopped and pulled out my gun. Jumping out from my hiding place, I was ready to shoot. Scroop froze and the lights suddenly went out.
Dammit, B.E.N.!
Some red lights turned on instead and Scroop was gone. I panicked, turning around. He could be anywhere!
Morph screamed, and I heard a shout behind me. Swiveling around once more, I found Scroop towering over me, and he smacked me. I fell over on my back with a grunt, losing hold of my gun. Scroop jumped on top of me, and I used my hands to keep his pincers at bay.
Without warning, we started floating in the air. What is this?! Taking advantage of this, I kicked Scroop away, and he soared right through the ceiling and began floating away. Unfortunately, I did, too. Scroop grabbed a rope on the mast and held himself down, while I floated past him. He tried stabbing me with his claw, but missed. As I was going by the pirate flag, I grasped it, and held on for dear life. Below me, Scroop started climbing towards me, an evil sneer on his face. My gun floated by and I tried reaching for it.
"Come on, come on, come on," I muttered, but it slipped away from me, "No!"
"Oh, yes," Scroop snickered coming to a halt. With his claw, he began sawing the rope holding the flag in place, "Do say hello to Tulio."
Who? Pushing that thought aside, I quickly climbed down the flag and grabbed onto the mast. Scroop snarled, saliva dripping from his mouth, and lunged for me. When he was close enough, I managed to jump over him, and kick him so that he lost his hold of the mast and floated away into space. By some miracle I had latched onto the mast again, and held on tight. All of a sudden, I fell into the lookout's nest, glad that I had gravity back.
Scroop tumbled from the sky at an alarming rate, screaming and he finally landed back on the ship with a sickening crunch, almost like when I step on a roach. That was soon followed by several loud splashes.
A little pink blob arrived from a pipe covered in soot and coughing.
"Morph?" I panted.
"Cannons thrown overboard, Captain Lynnie, ma'am!" I gazed down on deck to see B.E.N. had returned and was covered in different wires. I didn't want to know what he had been up to, but I was 100% sure he's the reason everything went wonky while I was battling Scroop. "Gee, that wasn't so tough."
Using a rope, I slid down the mast and landed on the deck beside the robot. Pulling the sphere out of my pocket, I grinned at him and said, "l got the map!"
"Fine work, Lynnie," said Captain Silver stepping out of the shadows and taking the map from me, "Fine work indeed. Thanks for showing us the way, lass."
The rest of the pirate crew came forward sneering at me. I was surrounded and without a weapon. In no time at all, I was held captive by two pirates. Morph was frightened and dove into my pocket.
"What's this sorry stack of metal?!" one pirate jeered grabbing B.E.N. and sticking a knife below his chin.
"Not the face!" the robot yelled.
"You're just like me, Lynnie. Ya hates to lose," Silver smirked and tried opening the map. It remained motionless. "What the devil's the..." Becoming aggravated, he shoved it into my chest. "Open it." The pirates released me, and I held the map, glaring at the cyborg I had once thought of as a friend. When I didn't move, he turned his robotic arm into a gun and pointed it at B.E.N. "l'd get busy."
As much as I found B.E.N. annoying, I didn't want him dead, and I sure as hell didn't want to be held responsible for destroying another being's life. Still giving the pirate the Death stare, I poked at the symbols, twisted the top and sides, until it popped open and billions of green lights created the shape of the island we were visiting - Treasure Island!
"Oh, the powers that be. Would you look?" Silver said in excitement. The lights then formed a path, leading back to the island and penetrating deep into the jungle.
"Tie her up and leave her here till we-what?"
Upon hearing his decision, I closed the map, cutting off the path, and he rounded on me.
"You want the map? You're taking me, too," I declared.
He smirked at me and said, "We'll take 'em both."
B.E.N. and I were thrown off the ship into a rowboat with Silver and several members of his crew. When we had arrived back on the island, I opened up the map once more, and the path of green light recreated itself. For hours, we trekked through the jungle following the lights, the pirates pointing guns at my back.
Morph trembled and whimpered in my pocket. "lt's okay, Morph. lt's okay," I said soothingly, patting his head.
"Lyne, l-l don't know about you, but l'm starting to see my life pass in front of my eyes," B.E.N. said dramatically, "At least, l think it's my life. Was l ever dancing with an android named Lupe?!"
"B.E.N., shh," I whispered, trying to calm him down, "This isn't over yet."
"We're gettin' close, lads! l smell treasure a-waitin'!" Silver exclaimed when the green lights got brighter. He grabbed my shirt and dragged me forward, cutting a path through some foliage.
We all came to a halt and stared at... nothing. We were standing at the edge of a cliff and the green lights stopped right there.
The pirates spoke at once.
"Where is it?"
"l see nothing! One great, big stinking hunk of nothing!"
"What's going on, Lynnie?" the Captain snapped when the lights vanished and the map shut on its own.
"l don't know," I said honestly confused pushing the symbols and trying to twist the sphere, "l can't get it open."
"We should've never followed this girl!" a pirate yelled, shoving me forward.
I fell on my hands and knees and found myself staring at an indention in the ground the exact size and shape of the map.
"I'd suggest you get that gizmo going again and fast!" Silver snarled.
"Let's rip her gizzard right out right now!"
"Throw her off the cliff!"
They began advancing towards me, and if I didn't do something fast, they were going to kill me! I jammed the map into the indention, and suddenly the whole island glowed green. Everyone got quiet. Lights sprang from the ground and created a small universe hovering at my chest level. I bright golden-green light then sprang from that and created a portal door.
"Oh, have mercy," Silver said in astonishment.
"The Lagoon Nebula?" I gasped. I was so glad I had decided to do research on the different places in Incantationen.
"But that's halfway across the world," replied Silver.
"A big door opening and closing," I muttered remembering what B.E.N. had told me. Glancing back down at the green universe, I studied it a bit more. "Let's see. Incantationen... Planet Earth." I poked at that one, and the portal door closed, then opened to reveal the Great Wall of China. I gaped at it and poked at Earth again so that the portal opened up to a jungle in South America. "So that's how Flint did it. He used this portal to roam the worlds stealing treasure."
"But where'd he stash it all?" Silver demanded shoving me out of the way and poking at random places on the map, "Where's that blasted treasure?!" The portal door kept opening and closing, showing me views of different worlds.
"Treasure!" repeated B.E.N. grasping his head, trying to think, "Treasure! lt's buried in the-"
"Buried in the centroid of the mechanism," I finished for him, "What if the whole island is the mechanism, and the treasure is buried in the center of this island?"
The pirates exchanged looks and tried diggin, but their shovels, and picks didn't make a single mark on the cliff.
"And how in blue blazes are we supposed to get there?" Silver demanded still poking random places on the map.
"Just open the right door," I said nudging him aside to poke at Treasure Island. The portal closed and opened one last time to reveal stalactites made of metal hanging from the ceiling of some sort of cavern. I cautiously stepped through the portal, but then John Silver shoved me back so he could be first. The pirates and I followed and stared in awe at the sea of treasure before us.
"The loot of a thousand worlds," Silver whispered as he crew went to jump in the treasure.
"We are going to need a bigger boat!" one of the pirates exclaimed.
As amazing as all this was, I didn't see a single thing that could help me defeat Siren. It was literally just treasure! Gold coins, jewels, crowns, scepters, baubles. Great! Now what?! Looking about, I saw an abandoned ship in a far off corner.
"This is all seeming very familiar. I can't remember why," said B.E.N. rubbing the top of his head.
Now that the pirates were no longer paying me any attention, I nudged the robot and said, "B.E.N., come on. We're getting out of here." I led him towards the ship.
"But-but, Lynnie! Lynnie! Do you know what's strange? l can't tell you how frustrating this is, Lynnie, 'cause there's something just, it's nagging at the back of my mind." I climbed onto the ship and helped B.E.N. up as well. He suddenly screamed at something behind me and fell to the ground.
Swiveling around I saw a skeleton in pirate's garb sitting on a throne of treasure. "Captain Flint?"
"ln the flesh!" said the robot climbing to his feet, "Well, s-sort of, except for skin, organs, or anything that-that-that resembles flesh that's not there. And yet it's so odd, you know? I mean, I remember there was something horrible Flint didn't want anyone else to know, but I-I just can't remember what it was. Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!"
Studying the skeleton, I noticed it held something metallic in its grip. Shuddering at the idea of what I was about to do, I broke the bony fingers holding the metal and held it up close.
"B.E.N., l think l just found your mind," I said turning to the robot and grabbing him, "Hold still."
"Aah! Lynnie, your hands are very, very cold." The piece went right into place and B.E.N. froze before turning to me, his eyes going from green to blue. "Whoa! Hello. You know, uh, Lynnie, l was just thinking - l was just think- lt's all flooding back! All my memories! Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuits so l could never tell anybody about his booby trap!"There was suddenly a large explosion above our heads, making us cringe. "Speaking of which..." We looked up to see the mechanical stalactites exploding one by one. "Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure, so he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite!"