Alright everyone. I wanna know what you think. Am I on the right track with this story? Way out of it? Do you think I'm crazy? Please tell me!
Wow this chapter turned out longer than I expected. This is just such a dramatic scene!
It had been a few days since Doppler's encounter with Mr. Scroop. Since then, he watched everyone, even Jim, with equal unease. Who knew? Did Scroop tell anyone? When would Amelia confront him about all this? These questions and more flew around inside his head as he sat writing his record of the adventure at his desk in his quarters.
Suddenly, a jolt wracked the ship and nearly threw Doppler against his wall. "What in the world…?" he muttered to himself, holding his head and rising to his feet. From above, he heard Mr. Arrow yell "All hands on deck!" Shaking off his shock, he ran up to the deck.
He was not prepared for what he found. The Etherium, which moments ago had been a light blue, was now murky black and fiery orange. Crewmen ran everywhere around the ship, trying to do anything they could. Mr. Arrow was on the deck with them, directing whoever would listen to do whatever he thought would help. Amelia stood on the same level as Mr. Arrow, surveying the disaster. He ran to the rails overlooking the direction they were being pulled and unfurled his spyglass. He gasped as he realized what they were up against.
"The star Permusa…it's gone supernova!"
He made eye contact with Amelia, who didn't waste a moment. "Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" she yelled, running up to the same level as Doppler.
"Aye Captain!" Turnbuckle yelled from the wheel.
In a moment of clarity, Doppler grabbed his lifeline and tied it around his waist. However, that moment of clarity soon ended as pieces of the star burned through the Legacy's sails. He heard Amelia yell to Mr. Arrow to secure them and she ran past him to give orders to Meltdown to man the laser cannons. The brief moment she was next to him, one thought immediately enveloped his consciousness.
We are all going to die. Me, Jim, the crew, Amelia, the children inside her, MY children, oh my God, I need to do something, I need to protect them!
Much to Doppler's dismay, however, his legs remained frozen in place, as did his mind. All he could think about was the impending doom they faced. Amelia ran past him again, but stopped short and turned to him.
"Doctor, if we get out of this alive, remind me that we need to have a chat about something."
She turned to continue running, but Doppler stopped her. "Amelia! Wait!"
"What?" she turned back.
All Doppler could manage to babble out was "The…the children…I…you…"
"Yes, yes the children, I know, Doctor, please do something useful to get us out of this horrid mess!" Amelia yelled and ran to give more orders.
Out of the corner of his eye, Doppler saw someone (was it Silver?) fall from mast and another person (Jim?) leap to grab the rope and pull him back up. He barely had enough time to register what just happened when a momentous wave of heat blew over him. He looked towards the heat and nearly fainted. Right in front of Amelia was a huge meteorite!
Meltdown fired several cannon blasts at it, hoping to break it into smaller, more manageable chunks, but nothing seemed to affect it. The crew quickly evacuated the portion of the ship the meteorite was falling towards.
Then, without warning, the meteorite changed course. Oddly enough, it didn't change course by veering or turning, no, it appeared to stop short, then completely reverse direction as if…as if… Doppler's eyes widened as he grasped what astrophysical phenomenon was occurring.
It's as if we're being pulled in…
Onus yelled from the crow's nest, "Captain! The star!"
Doppler ran to Amelia's side to confirm his suspicion. This was one of the rare times he wished he was wrong.
"It's…devolving into a…a black hole!"
Mr. Turnbuckle struggled with the wheel. "We're being pulled in!" he yelled.
And indeed they were. The gravitational pull of the collapsing star was so strong that nothing within the vicinity wasn't being pulled towards the former Permusa.
Mr. Turnbuckle lost his struggle with the wheel and was flung to the deck.
"Oh no you don't!" Amelia yelled, running from Doppler's side to the wheel. She grabbed it and wrestled it back into position, struggling with all her might. Doppler sprinted to her side.
"Amelia, no!"
"What do you mean 'no!'?! Doctor, we're being pulled to our deaths!"
"You mustn't, the children!"
"Oh blast it Doctor! If we don't make it out of here alive there will be no children anyway! Now go man the radar and figure us a way out of this madness!" Doppler did as she instructed.
The Legacy hurtled towards Permusa Former at an astonishing and frightening speed. A wave the black hole put off rocked the ship back slightly, causing almost everyone to lose their footing.
Amelia stayed upright at the wheel. "Blast these waves, they're so deucedly erratic!"
Doppler looked at the radar. Wait a moment…no, that's impossible. "No, Captain, they're not erratic at all, there'll be one more in precisely forty-seven-point-two seconds, followed by the biggest magilla of them all!"
An idea lit across Amelia's face. "Of course! Brilliant Doctor! We'll ride that last magilla out of here!"
Doppler looked at her. I didn't suggest…is that even feasible? Are we actually going to try that?
"All sails secured Captain!" Mr. Arrow called from the lower deck.
"Good man!" she replied. "Now, release them immediately!"
Mr. Arrow paused, confused. After a moment he replied, "Aye Captain." Turning to the crew he yelled, "You heard her men! Unfurl those sails!"
The crew sent up wails and complaints, but climbed back up the masts. Mr. Arrow followed to assist them. Doppler heard Amelia command Jim to make sure everyone's lifeline was secured. He glanced at Amelia, checking for a lifeline.
Not finding one, he yelled to her, "Captain! You need a lifeline!"
"Doctor, not now!"
All around him, Doppler saw chaos. Men climbed masts and unfurled the sails, ropes flew everywhere, and Jim tightened all the lifelines, which he announced to be all secure. Another wave came up; this one so strong it ripped Amelia off of the wheel and slammed her into the mast behind. She yowled in pain. Doppler bolted to her.
"Amelia are you alright?"
"Yes, Doctor, I'm fine, tell me, when is the last wave coming?"
"Any moment now, but listen to me, when it does come, you'll need a lifeline. I want all of us, and I mean ALL of us, to survive this."
"Tish tosh Doctor, go back to your post, I'm fine!" Amelia demanded, returning to the wheel.
Doppler sighed and went back to the radar. He looked at the screen for a moment then yelled, "Captain! The last wave! Here it comes!"
"Hold on to your lifelines gents, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" Amelia yelled to the crew.
The last wave was coming. But without a lifeline, Amelia would be thrown from the ship. And Doppler didn't want that, whether or not she was going to have his litter. Desperate for a solution, he grabbed at the spare ropes at his feet to improvise her a lifeline. But before he could reach her, the ship descended into the darkness of the black hole.
A tremor of fear shook through Doppler's body in the darkness. What if I was wrong? What if I just signed our death certificates? The anxiety nearly drowned him. I'm not responsible for only my own life now. Now I need to protect Amelia…and our children. God forgive me if I fail them…
All of a sudden, a blinding orange light exploded into the sky, sending the ship rocketing out of the vicinity of the hole. Once again, the men were thrown across the ship. In a moment of terror, Doppler's lifeline untied from his waist and he was sent flying backward into a second pile of spare ropes. Tangling in them, he couldn't see what was going on around him, only that the blurs of Etherium he saw now were back to the soft, inviting blue.
He glanced through the ropes at Amelia, who was standing smartly at the wheel. He smiled at her.
Now to find out what she wanted to talk about.