Chapter Six

The spaceport they were headed towards was now visible to the eye. It was a light yellow color, glowing and in the shape of an oval, a couple of rings surrounding it. Not a single one of the crew members was able to sleep at the moment. The excitement was too much.

"Wait just one moment!" Ebony exclaimed, "We're headed right into a void!!"

The artificial gravity began to disperse, everyone began to float.

"We don't have enough life lines!!" Jim shouted, tying off the last few of the crew members, "If you aren't wearing one, grab onto something or get under something stable!!"

"Mr. Doppler!" Ebony shouted, "I need some assistance!"

Delbert was holding himself down under a door frame, he was one that wasn't able to have a life line, "I'm sorry, Ms. Ebony, but I can't really avail myself at the moment!"

This particular void had a much stronger pull than any of them remembered from past adventures.

"We're going in! I'm sorry Mr. Hawkins!!" Ebony shouted, still trying her hardest to pull up, "I can't bring us up!"

The ship was headed for certain doom, they were all going to die in that black hole, never to be found by anyone. Luna would never get home, Jim would never find the spear of Corin. That is, until a sheer and hazy aura surrounded the ship, everyone stopped floating and sunk back down to the main deck. It was an awe-inspiring sight as they were carried across the large black void safely. Once they were several feet away from it, the aura flickered a couple of times and digressed.

"You did it!" Most everyone shouted for Ebony.

"You're amazin' me sweet." Colter said, "And that's why I love ya."

Ebony ignored the compliment and said as she brought herself out of a state of shock, "I'm not sure of what that was, but it seemed to have gotten us through. Mr. Hawkins, I certainly hope you are ready to land soon."

Jim smiled, of course he was ready to land. However, he was a little disturbed that he hadn't seen Luna lately, not even during the entire black hole scare. Jim was going to go check up on her, but he soon realized that someone had beat him to it. He could hear B.E.N. tap on her door, "Excuse me Luna, but I just want to know if you're alright… Ms. Luna?"

"Please do not request me right now." B.E.N. heard her say faintly.

Luna was definitely in her room, but, she didn't come out and she wasn't up for visitors, obviously. It was only moments after sincerely thinking on the matter that Jim realized what was wrong, he had been ignoring her, and with her past relationships in the family, it had cut her open.



"Oh, great." Sarcasm was obvious in Jim's voice. To his surprise, Luna came out of the lower level of the ship, she looked absolutely worn out with a blanket wrapped around her, only to sit far away from everyone and stare out into space.

"Thar she is!" Silver said, trying to get a smile out of her.

"My lady, Luna… how are you feeling this fine day in space?" B.E.N. asked her, there was no response to follow. B.E.N. looked a little sad looking at the expression on her face.

Jim opened his mouth to say something, winding up not saying a word, feeling he'd just mess things up further between them, she looked up at Jim as he looked away. It was at that exact moment in time that Luna began to cry silently, no matter how a person cries, however, you can always tell. All eyes went between Jim and Luna. Jim looked out at everyone motioning his hands at Luna, Jim had no clue of how to handle this.

"I-I-I, uh," Tiny began, "I need to go make my bed…"

Several "Me too's" followed Tiny's lame excuse to exit.

"I should probably power off for awhile, Jimmy…" B.E.N. had also made an excuse.

Delbert cleared his throat and added to the pile of excuses, with a yawn added, looking at the non-existent watch on his wrist, "I must be going off to look over some details on that map, Jim."

It had dwindled down to Jim, Silver, and a crying Luna. Silver tugged at his shirt collar and at first tried to ignore the small sniffles coming from the dainty girl. But, much like Jim, couldn't avoid what was right in front of him.

"Well, I'd love to be stayin' witcha Jimbo… but, me lady told me I had to go adjust the, eh…" Silver searched for a good reason, "Windowsill…."

Jim tilted his head back, slapping his hand to his face. He had a hard time when his own Mother cried, and he wasn't the touchy-feely type either. Everyone had left him, everyone thought he did something. Even Jim himself was beginning to wonder what it was he did. He started to pace in a short line, slowly, rubbing the back of his head and neck.

"Jim…" Luna said quietly, able to come out of her upset state.

"Um… yeah?" He said back, surprised.

"I am so sorry!" Luna let out.

"What? Why?" Jim was puzzled at her.

"I am jealous of you! Of your relationship with Mr. Silver. I never had the chance to be so close to any of my relatives! Especially not my Father, and to see you have someone who can sort-of be that to you, I –"

"Whoa, wait a second." Jim stopped her, "He isn't my Dad, Luna. He's just a friend I haven't seen for a very long time." Luna hugged him just as he gestured his arms upward, burying her face into his shoulder, causing Jim to freeze up and hold his breath. He looked left and right, and back down at Luna. He let out the trapped breath and relaxed, hugging her back.



"I'm here for you." Jim finally said.

Jim sat on the ground, casually sprawled as he always did, allowing Luna to lean her head back on his stomach, he hardly could tell she was there from the way she so sweetly kept her distance, only allowing the back of her head to ever so slightly touch him. Just before she drifted off, he could faintly hear her say, "Thank you… Jim…"

"Sleep tight, Luna." Jim said, looking up at the light that was just turned on inside one of the rooms.

Delbert and Morph entered back onto the main deck, Jim shot a cocky look over at Doppler, raising one of his eyebrows, a smirk slapped across his face. So there, Delbert, he did get her to sit more than next to him, she was right on him! Morph gave Jim a curious glance. Delbert rolled his eyes and laughed to himself while exiting the area, the plan had worked, it was happening. Luna pulled up her blanket in her sleep.

Some time wore on and Jim had fallen asleep as well. He moved up on top of a short wooden barrel, resting his right cheek on top of her head. It was an adorable scene as the two of them slept. Jim's eyes cracked open, they had almost arrived at the spaceport, he looked down at Luna's head, pulling his head up, blinking a couple of times to awaken. He picked her up, carrying her off to bed. As he tucked her in he brushed her bangs back from her face and lightly ran his fingers across her cheek and lips, smiling at the serene expression on her face. He felt her breathe out.

"So, um-uh… JIMMY, we've arrived." B.E.N. said behind him, Jim jumped.

"Oh, right. She… fell asleep." Jim acted as if he was trying to explain himself, "So, um… let's go back up to the top and… see what's going on… eh heh…" Jim smiled uncomfortably and went up to the main deck.

It had happened, Jim was attached.