Chapter Twenty-One:
'"Sorry I'm late,"' a voice begins. Amelia stops mid-chatter and I look over the rim of my teacup poised in the air in front of me to watch Jim takes the empty seat at our table. His hair is slightly agitated by travel and his eyes are sparkling in the afterglow of his rush to get here.
"Mr. Hawkins, I thought for sure you might have cancelled on us." Amelia says coolly. Being punctual has always been a necessary component of Amelia's order of operating and so this naturally made tardiness a major pet peeve.
Jim tosses us a lop-sided grin and I melt into a puddle of forgiveness but for Amelia's sake I remain composed and go back to sipping my favourite tea while Jim launches into an unneeded excuse for his late arrival. '"Well you see we had just finished the training shift for the day and I was ready to set out here for our meeting when command called our entire unit in for a quick briefing on the attack drills set for tomorrow."' He exaggerates the sarcasm on the word "quick" with air quotes and Amelia and I chuckle unwillingly. We both know all too well what it's like to be ready to check out for the day only to be suckered into a long siege of meetings by the higher-ups; most of which are totally pointless yet Command still manages to demonstrate their worth in one form or another.
"'I see mom has fixed you up with a pot of violeta tea.'' Jim says as he watches me pour another cupful from the kettle closest to me.
'I see you still have a habit of telling everyone within earshot what my favourite poison is.' I tell him thickly coating my voice with bitterness. My smile betrays me; he grins again and grabs a sandwich off of the platter. 'I must admit your mother is capable of whipping up quite a brew. Every sip is total perfection.'
My favourite tea is violeta tea, aptly named due to its colours and all of the ingredients that compose it are some form of purple in hue. Ancient earth-born flowers like lilacs, lavenders, violets, and forget-me-nots as well as others of more exotic off-world origins, all blended together with a dollop of Montressor purp juice. The high concentrations require a longer brewing time in order to promote better blending but years of science have provided instructions for easy steeping at home of the delicacy. The drink is stimulating and yet tranquil at the same time; it provides energy that is capable of being managed without a crash later. Just another reason why the drink is perfect for someone with my condition.
We carry on with pleasantries until we've all had our fill and B.E.N comes by to clear away our dishes. ""Should I tell Sarah to put another kettle on for you?"" he asks happily.
'Oh no I've had enough, I think we'll all just stick with water from here on out.' Nods from Amelia and Jim confirm what I said and B.E.N. whirs away back to the inn after stealing a hug from Jim who blushes uncomfortably. Once he's out of earshot I make my face as serious as possible. 'You both know why I've asked for us to have their meeting; the events that transpired during the voyage, the mutiny, and my absence as well as the emotional turbulences must be brought to light. I am warning you now,' I say switching between eye contact with both as I rest my elbows upon the table and lean forward. 'That this conversation is going to be long and taxing but necessary. Are you ready?' The both nod. 'Very well, I shall begin.'
I fold my hands into my lap and let the memories do the talking, my eyes taking on a glazed look as I focused on the images in my mind and spoke from recollection. 'I was present in the moments before Arrow's death. We were all in a frenzy as each of us took a hand in escaping the dying star that was pulling the ship in. I remember I went up one of the masts to unfurl the sails, there were ropes flying everywhere; some were in us as lifelines and others were part of the sails. I know that during my ascent I saw Jim tug on all the lifelines securing them in place. I continued to climb, until I reached the top, I took one side and Mr. Arrow took the other. The ship lurches as it's hit by another nova blast and Arrow loses his footing but his lifeline catches him. I'm moving to help him while he tries to haul himself up along his rope. I reach the halfway mark to reaching him when my right leg is hit with paralysis from the knee-down; adrenaline and stress-induced from the situation. Classic cataplexy attack. In my panic I lose my emergency medicine and while I'm hobbling as best as I can across this beam I remember seeing Scroop appear out of nowhere and I remember naively hoping he would help Arrow. I was wrong.
'He cuts Arrow's rope mercilessly and I scream. I knew there was animosity between the two but I didn't believe it was enough for Scroop to murder Arrow over. I throw myself off of the beam and catch the shreds of his line. The pain caused by the rope burns is intense but I hang on anyways. Arrow's shaking his head at me but I grab his jacket cuff with my right hand. It's when I try to pull that I realize far too late that the paralysis has spread into my hands and everywhere else; I'm having a full-on attack. He's telling me to let go. Tells me some bullshit about upholding justice and that I won't be blamed. I won't give up so easily. But I can't fight my condition for long, the darkness always wins. Sleep will come. Arrow's last words were...' I pause to take a breath, coming back to reality just long enough to take in Jim's stoic expression, Amelia's broken tear-stained face, and to formulate a lie. I didn't know what Arrow's last words were, I was already under before I could hear his message for the Captain; but she doesn't deserve to spend her whole life wondering and pondering the possibilities so I sink back into a carefully crafted blanket of illusion and close my eyes so that they can't witness the subtle evidence of betrayal in my eyes. 'He says, "Tell the Captain, I don't regret serving under her, not for one moment, and that he's awful sorry to be leaving you ma'am." Then he was ripped away and I was gone; lost in a abyss of my own.' I open my eyes and Jim is leaning back in his chair squeezing the bridge of his nose. Amelia's tears are gone; instead they are replaced by twin balled fists of barely handled rage. She's under control...for now.
'Mr. Arrow's death was not an accident. Instead it was the culmination of combined efforts of Mr. Scroop's murderous intentions and my own weak attempt at saving his life. I was unable to tell you before, Amelia,' I say turning to face her. She won't look at me. 'Because of being comatose and when I was awake I was in no condition to give you enough reason for my theory of murder. You accepted Jim's carelessness as the culprit and left it at that. Afterwards we had the mutiny and my death. I must confess I do not know what became of Mr. Scroop.' Finally back in touch with reality I go to take a well-deserved sip of water but choke down Jim speaks suddenly.
'"I think I can answer that.'" He looks almost guilty for speaking but I wave my hand at his reluctance.
'By all means.' I spit out while I continue coughing. He waits until I stop spluttering to begin.
His voice is weak at first gains strength in the fact that despite all the old pain that I have already dug we are willing receivers of more if it means coming yet one step closer to closure. He tells us of his encounter with Scroop during his quest to retrieve the map that Morph had left on the ship. B.E.N., in his haste to dismantle the laser cannons set off the ship's alarms which alerted the pirate on watch at the time. As fate would have it, it turned out to be Scroop. Like Mr. Arrow, there had always been bad blood between him and Jim. The end of their confrontation would result in the wire in charge of the ship's artificial gravity and Jim kick-started Scroop's launch into the planet's atmosphere. He would die in space; asphyxiated by the void and the total pressure of uncontrollable floating. At the very least—physics aside—he would starve to death.
The combined weight of our two testimonies is enough to shatter Amelia's steadfast belief in Jim's guilt. She cried softly into her napkin albeit more openly than she normally would. It takes a lot of personal strength for someone as prideful as Amelia to breakdown like that; she's showing a lot of vulnerability even if she is amongst friends. I'm sure it was difficult to accept in her mind; our walk down memory lane jolted old emotions she had left buried and now she no choice but to face them. The question now, was whether or not she would apologize to Jim for placing the fault with him.
Her cries subside after a few more minutes and Jim and I wait for her to collect herself. She smoothes her hair down nervously and finally raises her head to look at the two of us. Her large eyes are puffy and bloodshot from crying, her cheeks are flushed, and there's evidence of tears still lingering on parts of her face. After taking a deep breath she begins to speak, her voice quavering at parts with emotion as the tears threaten to steal her strength.
"Thank you for telling me that. It's something...something that needed to be said and I...it was absolutely necessary for me to hear it. Kalena, thank you for relaying his last message, I cannot precisely articulate how much it means to me." She places a hand over one of mine I'd left resting on the table and I look away guiltily. I nod and mumble a generic response with hopes that she will move on and take to speaking again. The guilt corrodes my inside because I'm lying to her; even though it's a lie that is meant to help I still feel bad for betraying her like this. She removes her hand eventually when she begins to talk again.
"And Mr. Hawkins, I...I am so very sorry I ever doubted you that day, as well as for placing the blame on you for Arrow's death. I should have investigated it further when Kalena suggested that he was murdered. For these actions I apologize." She bows her head in shame with her ears drooping sadly.
'"It's alright Captain, I forgive you."' Jim says lightheartedly. With his words it feels as if the cloud of darkness that had permeated the air above us finally dissipated and drifted away. We could all breathe a little less painfully now.
'Now, onto our next topic; the mutiny. Throughout the course of our journey I kept tabs on the crew in my records. Whilst I did suspect them to be pirates I did not believe they would go as far as to rebel against us until after we had the treasure at least. Jim even overheard them saying this. This was not the case as we all now know. Something occurred that set them off; I'm not sure but I would say it was probably our behavior that triggered the mutiny. That, and their own restlessness. Does anyone have any additional remarks on the events that took place during the mutiny?' Both Jim and Amelia shake their heads no but mid-nod Jim changes his mind.
'"Yes I do have a question actually. I'm not sure if you remember or not but when Silver had taken you hostage and then later tried to use you as a bargaining chip he pulled out a small bell that sent you into a seizure when he shot it. What was that about?"' Amelia and I exchange significant glances before I answer him.
'That bell was a tool Amelia and I used during my training days at the Academy to combat my illness. While there I wasn't allowed to be on medication because they didn't want me dealing with any side effects or withdrawal symptoms while in basic. Essentially we conditioned me to respond to the rings of the bell. I could delay the otherwise irresistible sleep attacks from happening and it could help me wake up from attacks sooner. It didn't do much from the cataplexy since we couldn't change how stressful the Academy is but it was held at bay.' I pause and Amelia picks up the story.
"The conditioning only worked for so long though, after some time had passed the bell became less effective until extinction occurred. The bell works now and then as a random fail-safe but we don't use it anymore." Amelia finishes for me.
'Silver must have thought that it was a key factor in handling my condition when he found it on my person. By shooting it he caused an extremely loud pitch to be made. This sound was far over the normal threshold for my previous conditioning and since I was also fully awake my body didn't know what to do thus inducing the seizure.'
A quick look at Jim told me he was satisfied with our answer and I moved on to the next topic of conversation. 'Alright then, I feel that we should talk about my death next. I must say that as to how I survived the planet's destruction I do not know for sure. I was in the midst of one of my attacks; I can only thank my lucky stars that some blast carried me through the portal alongside the rest of you.'
"I don't understand...what were you doing that caused you to go unconscious in the first place?" Amelia questions.
'Well you recall how I went after Jim on my surfer after he left on hastily made one?' she nods. 'I found him spiraling to his death in a chasm; the surfer had shut off due to engine failures and he couldn't get it to start again. I went down after him and convinced him to switch boards with me since mine was still functioning.'
"That would explain why he landed on deck with your surfer and not the other one."
'The stress and emotion from trying to find Jim and then accepting my approaching death by taking his place on the doomed surfer built up to the point it all became overwhelming and I blacked out. Like I said previously, how I survived past that point is a mystery.' I shrug nonchalantly and took a sip of water. Though I may try to make it seem like I didn't care how I live through that on the outside it was a totally different story on the inside. I was furious that I had no recollection of the key actions that saved my life and for the rest of my days I shall never know. I will die and not know.
'I have some theories and guesses as to how I made it out of there but they're nothing that could stand up to scientific inquiry and testing. Now, as to how I lived to see this day; I assume I am correct in saying that Jim has already told you how John Silver managed to escape custody?'
"Indeed he has. To this day I wonder what went through Mr. Hawkins' head to justify allowing the renegade to slip through his fingers." Amelia said with a touch of bitterness and an eyebrow raised quizzically in Jim's direction. She wasn't mad at him per se, but ore so at the fact that she denied the chance to bring the pirate leader to justice.
'Well be glad he did.' They both look at me with shock on their faces. 'Apparently while in the longboat Silver saw me drifting away from the wreckage of the portal totally unconscious. I was bleeding at various points on my body and parts of my skin were burned as well. A piece of shrapnel clipped my face; sliced it cleanly though. The wound was purely superficial and looks worse than it actually is.' I pause to lift up a section of my still uncut bangs to shot them the red scar that stretched from the middle of my forehead to the end of the hollow under my eye directly. I was extremely grateful that it hadn't damaged my actual eyeball in the process. I let my hair fall and cover the scar again before continuing.
'I don't know how long I was comatose but during that time Silver took care of me and treated my injuries. When I finally came to I was awfully confused and bewildered especially when discerning my whereabouts; I was also in a great deal of pain. My body was still healing and recovering from the fighting and being held hostage. I couldn't move a whole lot and it bothered me deeply to be in a strange place without a weapon. I had lost my sword after losing to the pirates in the second battle where I was posing as a distraction. Upon investigating the room I found a screwdriver that if push came to shove I could stab someone with and then run but all in all I was truly in a very bad way. Silver came in some hours later and was surprised to find me awake; were it not for my injured state I he and I would have fought then and there. Eventually we managed to settle up a degree of civility with one another. He promised to keep me safe until I could be brought back to Montressor and I was free to heal so long as I didn't interfere with any of his "business" dealings or leave that room without his accompaniment. With this agreement in place I was able to return to you both in relatively one piece. And before you ask Amelia, no I did not see anything that could further incriminate him nor do I any information as to where he's headed or any means to contact him.' She grins at me knowing I'd beaten her to the punch and I smiled briefly back at her.
I felt bad because I was lying again. What I'd left out was that I'd been forced to agree that I officially owed Silver a favour and was in debt to him for saving my life plus the time spent in his care. I knew one day he would come to collect that favour and I would have no choice but to obey. For now I could only pray that Silver forgets about me and the deal we made. But why worry Jim and Amelia with that knowledge? Better to just keep it to myself.
"Wow. Who'd have thought Silver would do that after all that's transpired. So what happens now?' Jim asks with a note of tiredness in his voice. It's been a long day.
'Well, Amelia and I are grounded until further noticed for multiple procedure infractions. It's mostly for not preventing the mutiny; the whole venture was out of their jurisdiction anyways. I believe she and her family are going on vacation and I spend most of my time at the hospital or resting at home. Since neither of us are allowed any new orders for awhile we're both taking it easy.'
'"Wish I could say the same. Then again I can't really complain. I enjoy my work too much."' He says with a laugh.
"Amusing how that happens." Amelia joins in. Everyone is happy again, with the truth made know Amelia and Jim can rest easy tonight.
xXx
Upon finishing the final sentence I sign my name with a flourish and shut the journal for a final time. Kalena Aderyn's chronicles of the voyage to Treasure Planet are finally complete. Tomorrow I will submit a copy to the Royal Navy Archives office where they will be compiled with the Captain's and what could be salvaged of Arrow's records. My job for that journey is finally done. Also tomorrow Amelia and I have more paperwork to handle getting all of my licenses reinstated and my weapons reissued.
Command had problems believing I wasn't dead but was mainly annoyed that the custom tombstone they had placed in my honour—complete with twin crossed swords and a spot next to Arrow's grave even though his body was never recovered—in the Officer's graveyard had to be removed. Besides all of that I was waiting to be taken off the list for remaining stateside. The sooner my new orders come in and I can ship out again the better. Life was too quiet without Amelia here. I was getting restless without any action. On the brightside I was able to spend some of my downtime with Jim whenever he wasn't working. We are officially courting now—that's what it's called right?
Everything was settling down after the wake of the journey that changed so much. We experienced pain and suffering, grief and loss, betrayal and anger like so many other voyages have before this one. We made enemies but gained allies as well. We were each impacted by the quest for the Treasure Planet and although life may not be the same afterwards somehow it manages to carry on.