And we're back with another chapter! I added two chapters to this one, cause the original plan only was like ridiculously short, so this is much better!
Disclaimer! (I keep forgetting to add this to every chapter) I DO NOT OWN TREASURE PLANET!
Enjoy!
~o0O0o~
"Yeah I got you Mr. Mop!" Jim muttered under his breath as he and Neera mopped the deck. Mike was playing with Morph a distance away but close enough to where Neera could keep an eye on him. Jim watched her as she scrubbed the floor.
"So…Neera, huh?" Jim started casually, she didn't stop her work but she glanced up at him showing him that he had her attention, "Where are you and Mike from anyway? You look like you've never seen a ship before," Jim continued mopping as Neera hesitated.
"Mike and I come from a place where there are no ships like this," Jim stopped and looked at her as she continued, "Where we come from, ships sail across great bodies of water, not space." Jim wondered what kind of place was like that. Not sailing in space, it was a laughable idea!
What they didn't know was that Silver was listening in on their conversation from the shadows. He was as confused as Jim was. Not sailing in space?! Only on great bodies of water? What a strange pair of kids he thought before turning back to his work.
"So where are you two from?" Jim pressed. Jim watched as she worried her lip.
"Um…Do I have to answer?" she stammered nervously. Jim shook his head.
"Not if you don't want to," Neera relaxed her shoulders and continued scrubbing, "How old are you?" Jim added without looking up from his work.
"18. You?"
"20. Aren't you a little young to be raising a kid?" Jim asked eying Mike who was attempting to squish Morph with his little hand. It wasn't working. Neera laughed.
"Totally. Seriously, how many girls my age do you see taking care of a kid?" Neera chuckled and Jim smiled a little.
"Not many. That's usually the mom's jobs," Jim thought of his mom back home.
"Yeah. A mom's job…" Neera trailed off. Jim looked at her but didn't say anything.
Mike was laughing at something Morph was doing. Neera watched him. Jim noticed.
"He means a lot to you doesn't he?" she looked up at him this time eyes meeting. Deep, chocolate brown met blue gray. They stayed that way for a while before she nodded. Jim looked around. Mike was still playing with Morph a distance away but he let his eyes wander to the other crew members who were hanging out on deck. A threesome was discussing something in hushed voices before they noticed him.
"What are you looking at weirdo?" one guy said before another followed.
"Yeah! Weirdo!"
"Jim, don't fall for it," Jim heard Neera whispered under her breath, before he heard hissing coming from above. A spider-like bug thing was crawling down the ropes straight for him.
"Cabin boyss should learn to mind their own businesss," spider-guy hissed.
Jim could feel Neera's eyes on him so he decided to try his luck.
"Why? You got something to hide, Bright Eyes?" Jim glanced at Neera who just shook her head sadly.
Spider-guy didn't seem to appreciate Jim's sense of humor, "Maybe you earss don't work sso well," he hissed, grabbing the collar of Jim's shirt pulling him close. Jim nearly gagged.
"Yeah, ugh! Too bad my nose works just fine," this seemed to just pour gas on the fire.
"Why you impudent little RAGH!" Spider-guy slammed Jim up against the mast, giant red claw at his throat, "Any last words, Cabin Boy?"
Plonk!
A small hand scrubber bounced neatly off Spider-guy's head. He and Jim turned to see Neera walk up to them calmly and pick up the scrubber.
"Whoops! Sorry! My hand slipped," Neera looked from Jim to the Spider-guy, "Now put him down! I'd hate to wash spider gunk off the floors. You see, I only just washed them," Neera finished just as Spider-guy struck her with his free claw, sending her to the floor. The crew that had gathered around cheered but Neera got back on her feet. Blood oozed from a cut on her cheek. Wiping it she looked angrily at the blood smeared on her hand, "Oh dear! I wonder how I'm gonna explain to the good captain that I've been injured!" She watched as Silver reached past her and grabbed Spider-guy's free arm.
"Mr. Scroop?" Silver took a big juicy bite out of a perp, "Do you ever see what happens to a fresh perp, when you squeeze. Real. Hard!" Silver twisted Mr. Scroop's claw, forcing him to release Jim who collapsed on the ground. Neera helped him to his feet as Mr. Arrow cleared out the crew and threatened Mr. Scroop.
~o0O0o~
"Sit still you dummy!" Neera sat next to Jim applying antibiotic to the small cuts on the sides of his neck where Mr. Scroop's claw had cut. Mike sat on the opposite side watching them intensely.
"Ow! Well if it didn't hurt so bad, I wouldn't move," Jim said eyeing the bandaged cut on Neera's cheek, "Sorry you got hurt by the way. You weren't supposed to get involved." Neera snorted.
"Ya think? I told you not to fall for it and yet you walked right into it! I don't even know why I helped you, Silver was gonna come save you anyway," Neera dabbed more antibiotic on a cut. Mike smiled at Jim.
"What?"
"My sister knows everything! About Silver, you and Treasu-umph!" Neera stuffed a perp in Mike's mouth. Jim looked at her strangely.
"Mike, don't talk about things you don't understand…" Neera finished bandaging the cuts, "C'mon Mike it's about time you went to bed. Jim, I'll be right back," and with that she left hand-in-hand with Mike. Jim took up the mop again, watching Neera disappear below deck to the cabin boys/girls cabin. Neera got her own room because according to the captain she was a lady and it would be seen as improper to have a young lady sleep in a room full of men. And Mike, as her brother got to bunk with her.
Changing his mind about the mopping, he snuck towards Neera's quarters. Leaning against the door carefully, Jim listened in on the conversation inside.
"But why can't I talk bout it? Everyone knows what will happen!" Mike's voice was muffled by the door but Jim could still hear the words clearly.
"No they don't Mike. They don't know what gonna happen. This is their world, and if we say something about the future and it comes true they might take you from me. I don't want that happening. Do you?" Mike must have shaken his head because he didn't reply, "Good! I don't want to loose you. But we'll know if something bad's gonna happen and we'll run away from it ok?"
"Ok. Like when Silver takes over the ship?"
Jim froze. What had Mike just said? Silver? Take over the ship? It made his blood run cold.
"Yes exactly like that. But we still have a long time before that happens ok? Now Jim's waiting for me on deck and I gotta finish up the chores alright?"
"Mmkay," came the sleepy answer.
"Ok, I'll be back before you know it. Goodnight Mike," the voice was coming closer to the door. Jim padded down the hall as fast as he could and back up on deck before Neera could discover him.
Back on the deck, Jim gulped in the fresh air and tried slowing down his heartbeat. Seconds after he picked up the mop and set to work, Neera came up the stairs and looked at him. Smiling, she set to work and they finished the rest of the deck in silence. Morph was there making imitations of her and Jim while running around their ankles. Silver came up and dumped waste over the side of the ship and took a few steps towards them.
"Thank heavens for little miracles! Up here for a few hours and the deck's still in one piece," Silver looked them over, "Hey where's the squirt?"
Neera kept mopping, "I put him to bed. I'm doing his share of the chores so don't worry." Silver smiled leaning over the railing in between the two kids.
"The way yeh take care of the little lad, it's almost as if he's yer own," Silver and Jim watched her, observing her reactions. She smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, well someone has to look after him," she trailed off. The two men looked on confused.
"What about your mom and dad? Aren't they around?" Jim asked. Neera gave a short laugh.
"They come around every once in a while but that's like once in a blue moon," noting their baffled expressions she continued, "They're constantly working and hardly ever come home. They haven't even been to one of Mike's birthdays. Or mine now that I think about it," she added as an after-thought looking out into space. It was comforting, the ways the nebulas and the stars gently passed by in the night, mingling with the other colors of galaxies and far-away planets. She felt at peace. Then she yawned. She felt Silver come up on her right, leaning on the railing.
"I'm sorry lass," Silver followed her gaze and watched the stars.
"Ah it's no big deal. We're doing just fine," Neera sighed smiling. Silver scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Is that so?" he looked at Jim and Neera, "Well Neera, there's not a lot I can teach yeh 'bout raisin' a kid but I'll help yeh toughen him up a bit, and you Jimbo, I'm gonna be pounding some skills into that thick head o' yours to keep yeh outta trouble!" Jim looked at him in a mixture of anger and horror; Neera winced at the thought of Silver 'toughening' up her brother.
"From now on, I'm not letting either one of yeh outta meh sight! You two won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch yer bums without my say-so!"
"Don't do me any favors!" Jim cried as Silver laughed. Neera worried about Mike and what sort of exercises Silver would make him do to toughen him up.
"Yeh can be sure o' that my lad! Yeh can be sure o' that!"
Over the next few weeks, Silver had them doing everything he could think of. Jim and Mike were supposed to scrape off space-barnacles off the hull of the ship but Neera objected. She took her brother's place and struggled with Jim, scraping and hacking off the little buggers. Silver had taken Mike to go do something 'safer' than scraping barnacles and Neera didn't think Silver could come up with anything safer than scrubbing the floors so he got to do that. After a few nights, Mike's knees were red and sore but she couldn't take over his floor-scrubbing duties, lest Silver give him something worse to do.
On the day of Mike's birthday, Neera did double duty, taking up all of Mike's chores despite Silver's protests. She got permission from the captain to bake a small cake and both Jim and Silver watched on in amusement as she iced the number '4' in blue and presented it to Mike. As for presents, Mike didn't get much. Neera had managed to whip up a small bag of shiny coins from Dr. Doppler and Silver even gave him a nice pocket knife. Nothing big but he cherished it all the same and hugged an unsuspecting Silver's leg.
While Jim and Neera peeled potatoes, Mike would either feed the scraps to Morph or throw them in the trash. Sometimes though, Neera would allow him to practice so long as he went slow and was careful. She wasn't crazy bout giving a now-4-year old boy a knife but he had to practice of he wanted to be any good, according to Silver. He only cut his fingers a few times and each time he got better and better.
One day, Silver pulled the two of them aside and taught them how to tie a proper lifeline knot. Jim had already gotten the hang of it while Neera was still struggling. Knots, she could do, easily. Whenever she tried the lifeline knot, it would end up a jumbled mess with no end in sight. It would take her longer to untie whatever mess she'd created than it would be to make it. Jim and Mike would always sit by and laugh, watching her struggle. One time, Jim had said one word too many and she chased him around the deck yelling and screaming profanity; Silver had covering Mike's ears. Afterwards Silver had joked that he'd never once heard a sailor use so many swears and curses in a row, not to mention in such a colorful variety.
Whenever Silver was feeling nice, they'd all have scrubbing duty. Mike had turned it into a game, zooming back and forth across the floor with the scrubber as fast as he could. Jim and Neera would talk about the better childhood memories, laughing about the embarrassing or cringing at the painful. Then Jim had mentioned how impressed he was. She had looked at him in confusion so he elaborated. Firstly, the way she had taken the fall for Mike back on the first day; her standing up against Silver when he wanted Mike to do barnacle duty; how happy she was despite being dirty and exhausted from a day of double duty when she saw how happy Mike was when he saw the cake; and the care she took to bandaging him when he cut his fingers peeling potatoes. Jim laughed as Neera's cheeks burned a beautiful pink.
The next day, they had gotten a rare day off. The crew was celebrating with singing and dancing and drinking. Jim sat on an upturned bucket and watched Neera and Mike dance across the floor. Well Neera was doing the dancing. Mike would take turns being held by her and sashaying back and forth to standing awkwardly on her feet as they bounced around, Mike singing and laughing along as best he could. After a few hours most of the crew had retired drunk for the night leaving Jim, Silver, Neera and Mike on deck. Mike had pressed his sister to sing 'that one song from the movie.' Jim and Silver didn't have a clue what the boy was talking about but Neera did. And she started singing 'I'm Still Here' softly. After a few rounds, Silver and Jim picked up on it and sang with her. They weren't very good and slurred most of the words because of the drinks they had downed. Neera and Mike had laughed and had to help both drunkards to their bunks. Needless to say, they woke up with raging hangovers the next morning as did most of the crew.
At night before bed, Mike had taken to sitting in the galley where Silver would tell stories of cut-throats and other pirates, or great and bloody battles; his mechanical numbers aiding in his story telling. The next day, Mike would retell them to Neera to the best of his abilities, adding some of his own things every now and then. Things people didn't recognize, such as rocket ships and the like. That night Neera had warned Mike that talking about things from their world was a bad idea and he stopped. He added dragons instead.
One night when the tree of them were doing dishes, Silver came in with a ton more. They complained but set to work anyway. It was only after Mike had yawned that Silver volunteered to tuck him into bed so that Neera and Jim could finish up. After telling Mike a goodnight story and struggling to get the little ball of fire to settle down to sleep, he returned to the kitchen to find all the dishes clean and stacked on the tables and counters. Neera and Jim were passed out, slumped against each other in the corner. Draping his large jacket over the both of them, Jim stirred. Cracking one eye open, he saw Silver's mechanical leg disappear above deck. Feeling a weight on his shoulder, he glanced down and saw Neera leaning against his shoulder, sleeping peacefully. He took a moment to observe her sleeping face. She looked so peaceful sleeping there and the moonlight made her skin look pale and her hair redder. Before he could stop himself, he leaned over and kissed her forehead and promptly fell back asleep. The next day, Silver had pulled Neera aside and asked her how in the world she dealt with bedtime every single day. She had just laughed and shrugged.
That day, Silver had to take out a long boat. Neera and Jim helped him depart, untying all the ropes and guiding it carefully out the hatch. After Silver had gone Jim looked dejectedly over the side, eyes glazed over in memory. Just as she was going to ask him what was wrong, Silver popped up inviting them out for a ride. Neera was about to refuse when Jim pushed her into the boat floating several meters below her. She landed in the long boat far from graceful, Jim right behind her. Without giving her a chance to chew out Jim for pushing her, Silver took off in any direction. Stopping to let Jim sail was a mistake in Neera's eyes. As soon as he had gotten a hold of the controls, he'd taken off in the direction of a comet, diving straight into its tail. Jim was having the time of his life, surfing around the tail, showing off his long boating skills to a flustered Neera. When he maneuvered the boat out of the tail, the silver dust had coated her gave her an ethereal look about her. And as she shook the dust out of her hair it looked blood red in contrast with the white of the dust. Jim had to admit it at least to himself that Neera looked beautiful at that moment.
When they came back from their trip she helped them tie up the boat. They joked about a few things, and poked fun a Jim for tripping over himself to help Neera with the rope. Silver gave a very vague explanation on how he lost his limbs. Neera was having such a good time that she complete forgot about the story line. A wave of heat knocked Silver and Jim onto her side of the boat before she remembered. The black hole!