Interstellar Academy
16: BREAK 2
They woke up right as the sun hit them, their solar sails glistening under the sunrise. Jim woke up last, trying to catch the last remnants of sleep before they were lost to him for however long. Even though his mind was whirling the previous day, he felt refreshed and focused this morning. Silver was making his usual stew, which Jim missed over the year or so they'd been separated, and devoured it before he'd fully woken up.
So quickly, he'd forgotten he'd eaten anything at all.
"Now, lad, you want that to last. We have to ration, y'know?" Silver winked at him, though, showing he was only playing around.
"How long do you estimate this will last?" asked Rayn, slightly distracted with some knot tying he was assigned to do. Jim went over and helped him out, doing it slowly so he could watch how it was done.
"Probably another month and a half," guessed Silver, wiping his forehead. "Did it get hot all o' a sudden?"
Jim worked to pull as much of his hair into a ponytail as possible, though it didn't help with the strange heat rise. He looked around, trying to find the culprit. "There it is." He pointed to the sun not too far from them- as far as suns go, anyway. "We might want to kick it into high gear and far away before gravity starts working its magic."
Unfortunately, they were a bit late.
The sun was much larger than the one back home or at the Academy. Jim began to panic, his mind racing for a solution. As gravity pulled them closer, Jim had a strange, daring, yet genius idea.
"Let's take the sails down," Jim instructed, starting before anyone else had time to react.
"Are you crazy?" Rayn said, though he followed suit.
Silver knew better than to argue with Jim's logic; the boy never failed him before, why now?
"What are you planning Jim?"
"Since the sails aren't as heavy as the ones we've dealt with before, and if I'm right, this is gonna work. We're gonna create a little of our own air pressure." Jim watched as they got closer to the sun, then when he felt it was right, he released the sails again, causing them to push away.
"Nice goin', Jimbo!"
They repeated this action a few more times, then whenever they were far enough away, Silver started up the thrusters and they flew away and around the hot orb, escaping death once again.
"Are you always that handy?" Rayn asked, truly curious.
"Yeah, I guess." Jim loved it when people admired his quick-thinking, though he didn't like to admit it. "I think it's just something I picked up as a kid, being self- taught and all the stuff." Now the conversation was hitting a sensitive point, and he looked away, embarrassed, not wanting to continue further.
Silver and Rayn understood, also gazing onward.
The journey was primarily boring; they spoke little, ate feebly, and did mild chores to keep themselves busy- and to keep from going out of their minds. After a month and a week had past, Jim opened up the map again to navigate just how close they were. He'd avoided the task for the longest time, just so his hopes wouldn't rise, only to fall.
"Another couple days and we're there!" Jim said excitedly. Then he turned to Rayn. "Why would your grandmother keep a treasure hidden away, anyway? Are you guys not from the Island or…?"
"We are, as far as I know. My grandparents, from what I understand, had a pretty unhappy marriage. My grandma had loved someone else, but was arranged to my granddad. So she stayed faithful. But when she discovered that he, over and over throughout their time together, had been cheating on her, she started stowing away his treasure, sending it with men to this weird planet. Does that map say what it's called?"
"It really doesn't," Jim said, frustrated he couldn't read the strange writing on the map. "It's not an old map, though; that much I can tell."
"No, I'd say she started doing this about fifty years ago, until her death a year back." Rayn grimaced, her absence obviously hurting him. He cleared his throat and said, "But grandma talked about it in casual conversation when I was really little, no more than five. She talked about how it was a shining planet, like crystal. It really fascinated her. She wasn't really old when she was talking about it, but she referred to herself like she was. She'd been sick for quite a long time, which probably made her really exhausted. She said how she'd visited it but once, though she couldn't remember why. She assumed granddad had brought her there. But she fell in love with the planet, and she said for a little while, her and granddad got along. It was the happiest time of her life."
"So she placed all the trinkets and treasures that brought her happiness onto this one planet." Jim turned to Silver, puzzled. "What if… what if there really isn't an actual treasure? What if it's just… old lady stuff. No offense."
Rayn raised his hands. "None taken."
"I doubt that." Silver gave Rayn a glance, who simply shrugged.
"My grandparents weren't poor, by any means. So anything with value that she could keep from granddad, I imagine she'd put on that planet. Things always turned up missing, so often that my granddad stopped hiring people to clean his home and help with upkeep. My grandma, sincerely, reveled in his confusion. When she was about to pass away, my grandma finally admitted to hiding all of his belongings, and admitted to the map that led to them. But she never told him where either were located, and to this day, granddad still searches for it." Rayn briefly glanced at the map sitting by Silver before saying, "I don't think he needs to."
"Do you not like your grandfather, Rayn?" Jim asked.
"I don't like a lot of my family. For reasons you can understand. They're all psychopaths."
Jim nodded in agreement, his experiences with Rayn's family popping into his head in flashes.
It was silent for awhile, before the boat was turned ninety degrees, sending them knocking along the floor.
"What was that?" Silver leaned around the ship and searched. "Are you bloating kidding me?"
Pirates.
A large, fancy ship full of nicely dressed pirates.
Pulling out a large flintlock, Rayn said, "They had to do a TON of pilfering to look like that."