Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet

Stowaways

For awesmninja

Cassandra groaned when the light shone through the window knowing that it was time for her to wake up and get out of bed. She was never a morning person. She couldn't see how her father could get up so early. He would always tell her that if she got up early she would be able to get more out of a day. Or so he claimed. She supposed she could make an except for the time being. She was surprised her father wasn't banging on their bedroom door demanding for them to get out of bed. He always said that when the sun beckoned her from her slumber it was time to start the day. Besides, she better start getting used to it considering that the Academy would be less merciful when it came to daily schedules. She groaned at the thought and knew that there was no turning back. Her father wouldn't really consider 'not being a morning person' as a good excuse. Also it was either that or be a socialite. If it was between that and early mornings...She was tempted in throwing her pillow over her head and praying for a few minutes in her warm bed. She just didn't want to be thinking about things like that right now. The idea of it was exciting as it was daunting. Then again she knew that this wasn't a productive way of beginning the day. She needed to get out of bed and stretch her legs since she was becoming too restless. So she swung her legs out of her bed and drowsily got to her feet she she skidded her feet across the floor towards her chest of draws.

She glanced at Helen who still had her head buried under the covers obviously determined to get a few more minutes sleep. She smirked, knowing with the occupational route she wanted to go down didn't include sleeping in on a morning. In fact, Helen was going to be in for a huge shock when she would stay working professionally. Cass knew she would have the same fate as well. Well she did she just didn't want to admit to it. Cass was considering getting a bucket of cold water and throwing it on top of her head, just to see if it would work. She had heard that it was a good method of waking someone up. Gina had threatened to do so on some occasions when Helen or Cassandra refused to get out of bed. Or perhaps getting something like a siren and screeching it in her ears. Smirking at the idea she took out the trousers she wore the day before and a fresh, crisp shirt which she tucked into her trousers. She reached out for her boots which she slid onto her feet. When she was about to reach out for the other one it suddenly seemed to come to life and trotted away. She frowned and sat back for a moment before getting up and following it. She had never seen a boot do that before and she knew that it certainly wasn't in their nature to just get up and walk away.

She walked out the room and glanced around corners looking around cautiously. She checked all the rooms where everyone else seemed to be sleeping which to be frank actually surprised her. She would have thought that most crew members would have even earlier starts than this. She didn't know whether her father was being extremely fair and being totally harsh on his own daughter or whether she was being a little bit of a hypocrite. There were some people who were still on duty since someone always needed to be on duty. There were some people who stayed away all night to stay on watch and slept by the day. But still it would be nice if someone relieved them of that duty. After giving up on searching through the living quarters she went to the maintenance areas and searched there. After wandering around what seemed to be a maze for almost an hour she finally found it lying in the middle of a corridor. She tiptoed towards it before it would run off again and just before being moments away from getting it within her grasp it flew up into the air and swirled into what she could only call or comprehend as a pink, blobby creature which seemed to have a similar texture to jelly.

"Hello." She greeted uncertainly. "What on earth are you?"

"He's not from earth." Said a voice behind her. She spun round to find Mr Hawkins walking up to her with a smirk on his face.

"His name's Morph." He explained.

"What is he?" She asked wrinkling her nose.

He tilted his head to the side and gave her a blank look. "A morph."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's not a very creative name to give to a...morph."

"Yes. Quite, but er...I wasn't the one who named him."

A reflective expression was cast across his face for a moment at the mention of this. Perhaps this person was a close friend of his?

"Who was it? Who named him I mean."

"An old friend. Someone who was more or less my boss on my first voyage."

"Oh." She turned back to the morph and slowly reach out her hand to touch him.

Morph considered this gesture as an instant sign of friendship and swooped over to her face and rubbed himself against her cheek making her laugh.

"Well aren't you the most adorable thing I've ever met. Although there's still the matter of the boot that you took from me."

Morph gave her an innocent look during this interrogation. She tilted her head knowing that he knew this would be enough to let him off the hook. She wasn't one to be won over by teddy bears or endearing gifts most girls her age would scream over but for some reason, Morph had that extra cute factor which even she couldn't resist. Jim sighed shaking his head, he really had to try to aggravate who would probably would turn out to be one of the most volatile women he would ever meet on his first encounter with him. Then again it wasn't Morph's fault. He didn't know a volatile individual from a pacifist. Thank goodness it was pink and squidgy otherwise she probably wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he was any less cuter. Cassandra was now cupping Morph tightly in her hands and looking down intently at him. Jim thought this would be the best moment to intervene not just for Morph but for the sake of her integrity. He stepped forward and held out a boot which he found in the kitchens and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you mean this one? Morph was just about to add it to this mornings breakfast fortunately I was down at the time when I was inspecting the kitchens."

He handed it to a very grateful Cassandra who instantly put in on her shoeless foot with graceful swiftness.

"Ah, much better." She turned to Jim and tilted her head. "It's nice to have shoes on both your feet." She explained making him laugh.

"I can understand your pain. He pulled the exact same trick on me on my first voyage. Are you feeling awake yet?"

"I was already awake." She replied evenly. "I'm just feeling somewhat dizzy."

He laughed again and motioned her to walk up to the top deck. "Come on. Let's get you some air."

"There's air down here. It's not something you go down to the shop to buy you know." She replied dryly.

"I was meaning fresh air." He replied in a carefree voice. "And I appreciate the dry humour by the way but not many people would. I'm just saying for future reference."

"Huh. A man giving an adolescent girl who is expected to attend finishing school advice on social etiquette." She mused. "Is there any more pearls of wisdom you would like to impart, Mr Hawkins?"

He shook his head. "Nah, you're okay. Oh by the way now that I think about it. There is someone else who decided to stow away on board who happens to be an old friend of mine from my first experience out in space. If you happen to come across him I would really appreciate it that you told me and you are totally obligated to rip him into spare parts."

She raised a quizzical eyebrow. "And what would that mean exactly? Spare parts?"

Jim scratched the back of his head and looked up at the sky. "Well, he's kind of a robot but a very...friendly one."

She backed away slightly and nodded. She wasn't entire sure what was meant by this but she was sure that approaching this robot with caution would definitely be advised.

"Alright. So who is this other 'friend' of yours?"

"His name is B.E.N. It stands for Bio Electronic Navigator but you don't have to call him that."

"Yes. Thank you." She laughed.

She looked onto on the sky again which was now a deep blue it almost seemed to be fading into a light purple which reminded her of those summer evening from her childhood, where she would go out for a walk in the country and would spend the entire day amongst the tall trees in the wood and the wildflowers in the field, completely loosing track of time. It was going to clear skies today meaning that there were going to be more miles to be covered. Her father would certainly be happy and she would be able to oversee the ships activities without there being any problems. Despite that meant that this would be a shorter journey clear skies it was always a good omen and never to be a piece of luck to be rejected in order to have a bit excitement. Even she knew this. Then again her father did know what she wanted to be before she even did, which meant all these lessons were to be hammered into her head before she would step onto a ship...

"JIMMY!" A voice screeched from behind them.

Cassandra gripped onto the side of the ship and stared wide eyed at the owner of the voice who had just interrupted her peaceful thoughts. At first she was more confused rather than frightened. It took a lot more than an eccentric, rusty looking robot to startle her. The robot seemed to be gripping onto Mr Hawkins or evidently known to him as 'Jimmy' a nickname in a rather familiar or albeit, disconcerting fashion. She couldn't really imagine anyone gripping onto him in this manner but then again as it seemed this voyage was going to be filled with many surprises. She couldn't imagine pinning this acquaintance onto him but anyhow...He had large, binocular eyes. The structure of his body was thin and almost looked like you could snap it like a twig. His behaviour was erratic and as Mr Hawkins mentioned very friendly. She was now glad she didn't encounter him without Mr Hawkins being present.

"Er..."

"BEN!" Mr Hawkins roared. "How many times did I tell you and Morph not to come with me on the voyage? I'm sure you have enough intellect to know that no means NO."

"Mr Hawkins..."

"But Jimmy we haven't been on an adventure with you since Treasure Planet and we hardly spent any time with you..."

"Ben that doesn't matter! I have a job now this is totally unprofessional-"

"MR HAWKINS!" Cassandra cried loud enough to make them stop and stare at her. "I'm sure my father won't mind after all. In fact I think they would be very interested in meeting them. So please...refrain yourself from..."

"What?"

"I don't know you looked like you were going to throw him over the side of the ship or something!" She cried out in desperation.

After a few moments Jim finally burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he even gripped his stomach and laughed till he cried.

"Oh...Miss Richardson. I'm very tempted to do that but don't worry. Ben's too good a use to throw over the ship. I was going to bring him along once I got my own ship but anyhow. Don't worry."

Ben stepped forward. "And my I say thank you for such a gracious lady to care about my welfare so much despite the unnecessary measures."

He grabbed her hand and kissed her hand and then up her arm and eventually snatched her arm back and gave him a look.

"Ben." Jim warned him. "Don't push it."

"Why? Is she a feminist?" He whispered.

Jim chuckled. "You could say that."

Cassandra raised her eyebrow. "Well if you excuse me Mr Hawkins I have to find a bucket to fill some very cold water with if my friend is still in bed."

And on that note spun round to find Morph holding a bucket for her. She reached out and tickled him.

"You're a useful little thing aren't you even if your are a bit mischievous. You are." She cooed.

Morph giggled in delight making back-flips in the air.

Ben leaned over to whisper in Jim's ear. "Why doesn't she tickle me?" He moaned.

"Because you're not squidgy and cute."

"Oh."