I did it! I found a copy of the DVD! Thank you for everyone who offered to help me continue the story, it means a lot!
Also, for those who wonder where I got my idea for this story, part of it stemmed from the moment between Doppler and Amelia at 54:09.
Doppler opened his eyes. He couldn't believe it. The crew… they were pirates. They mutinied. And now he, Amelia, and Jim were marooned on Treasure Planet. Flint's Trove. The Loot of a Thousand Worlds. The biggest legend in spacing. He sat up in amazement and nearly missed whacking his head on the bottom of the longboat.
"Doctor? Mister Hawkins?"
"Captain?" Jim answered.
"Get this tub off us. I want to see where we are."
Doppler nodded (although it would have been impossible to see him do so) and, along with Jim, grabbed the longboat's edge and hoisted it up. They pushed it over on its side.
Suddenly, the enormity of the situation hit him. "Oh my goodness…," he muttered aloud. "That was…more fun than I ever want to have again."
He heard Amelia chuckle behind him. "Not one of my gossamer landings…"Doppler hand to snicker to himself. After all that's happened she's apologizing for the landing!
A yowl pulled him from his thoughts. He turned and saw Amelia doubled over in pain. "Captain!" He ran to her and got on his knees. He placed a hand on her back, which was unnaturally stiff. Something was wrong. Something terrible.
He took her left arm and Jim took her right in an effort to help her up. She brushed them away and proceeded to stand on her own. "Oh don't fuss," she commanded them.
Well…she is standing on her own…I suppose that's a good sign…
Not a moment after, she wobbled and fell back. Luckily, Doppler was there to catch her. He caught onto her arm, stabilizing her, and instinctively placed his other hand on her stomach. He felt his four children moving about inside of her very fast, along with possible bleeding. That would have to be checked out as soon as possible.
She brushed him off again. "Slight bruising, that's all. Cup of tea, and I'll be right as rain." She looked over at Doppler. He could see that her eyes were a bit cloudy and unfocused. "Mister Hawkins?"
Doppler was taken aback. Amelia was most definitely not alright. He looked at her left hand, which she placed behind her back. It was balled into a fist.
She quickly realized her mistake and turned to Jim, who was also quite concerned. "The map, if you please."
Jim fished through his pocket and pulled out the map. Suddenly, it began floating in the air, which was quite odd. Within moments, the map transformed before their eyes into the pink gelatinous being that Mr. Silver kept with him. And so help them, it was laughing!
"Morph!" Jim yelled at it. "Morph, where's the map?!"
To which the creature responded by transforming and showing the map being hidden in a coil of rope.
"Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!"
It flitted around Doppler and Jim, oblivious to the trouble it was causing. Blasted thing…it's going to be the death of us yet…
"Stifle that blob, and get low." Doppler turned to see Amelia holding her rifle and moving toward the longboat. "We've got company."
Doppler scanned the sky. She was right. Another longboat sailed over them, this one filled with pirates. Without a second thought, he and Jim dived under the boat with her. They waited for a few tense moments, until they couldn't hear the craft's hydraulics. Then, Amelia checked the surroundings, then turned to them. "We need a more defensible position." She stood, bracing herself on her rifle. She picked up Doppler's pistol from the ground. "Mister Hawkins," she commanded, handing it to him. "Scout ahead."
Jim took the pistol and nodded. "Aye Captain."
Amelia let out another yowl and fell. Doppler jumped towards her. He caught her and lowered her to the ground. "Steady…steady…now, let's have a look at that." He watched Jim was out of eyesight, then turned all his attention to the captain. "Amelia!"
"I told you, don't fuss about me; I'm fine." She tried to get herself back onto her feet, but struggled and gave up.
"You are most certainly not fine! That blast was a lot for anyone to take," he lowered his voice in case Jim was still around, "much less a pregnant woman. You need medical attention at once!"
"Yes, Doppler, please, tell me, where on this deserted place is an infirmary?"
Doppler looked at her. It was obvious that the pain was getting worse. "Where does it hurt?"
"Pardon?"
"I need to examine your wound. I need to know where to look."
Amelia closed her eyes, mentally trying to locate the spot. With her right hand, she motioned to her entire torso, specifically, her left-side ribs. In doing so, she let out a groan of pain.
Doppler went to unbuttoning her uniform jacket. He worked swiftly, time was of the essence. And after all, it's nothing you haven't seen before… He pulled away the jacket. Just as he feared. Her undershirt was covered in blood, all flowing from a wound spanning her left ribcage. "Amelia."
No response. He broke into a cold sweat. Without her conscious, he wouldn't be able to tell if something was wrong with her. Or the babies… "Amelia?!" he asked again, voice rising.
"You…you seem to have suffered a great industry to your ribcage…I can temporarily patch it, but nothing permanent…" Frantically, he searched his mind, looking for something to keep her awake. "How…how are the children? Can you still feel them?"
"Still moving…two of them keep fighting with one another…the others are moving, but on their own, just floating by themselves…"
"Of course…I want you to tell me if anything changes."
"Believe me, you will be the first to know."
They sat for the next hour in near silence. Periodically Amelia would groan and try to shift to a more comfortable position. When that happened, Doppler was there, helping her move and whispering words of comfort to her. "It's okay…I'm here, I'm going to do whatever I can to keep you safe…here, let me…" and the like. But when he wasn't helping her, he was on high alert. There was no way he could defend them from attacking pirates, but he may as well not give them the luxury of a surprise attack.
Another hour passed. Doppler engaged Amelia in small talk to try and keep her awake. He found out she was the oldest girl from a family of six, had a penchant for mystery novels, and had attained the highest rank in Canthian Martial Arts when she was a sophomore at the Academy. She allowed him to ramble on about his younger sister's recent marriage and astrophysics. As they went on, he could tell that she was exhausted from all the ordeals she had endured on this voyage.
At the end of that hour, she was asleep. Just as well, she would need her strength. Doppler took her rifle and kept careful watch over her. He placed his hand on her stomach while he was making up her temporary patch and sling out of an old cravat of his, and she, in her deep sleep, did not stir. He counted the movements he felt. Four. All accounted for.
He looked at Amelia's wound. The laser had made a huge, deep gash in her side, and he could see her bottom rib, which was broken nearly in half. He looked closer, and reeled back, nearly making himself sick. Maybe he was just imagining it…but he could have sworn he saw one of the babies through Amelia's uterus. It was a boy, a Canid, almost the spitting image of Doppler himself. And he was dangerously close to the broken rib. Taking a deep breath, Doppler reached into Amelia's side and manually reset the rib. Once he was satisfied that the rib would not fall back, he wrapped the gash in half of his old cravat, and used the other half to wrap up her arm. But, all his mind could focus on was what he had seen. How amazing it was. A miracle, he daresay, although his line of work did not facilitate the beliefs in such things. His son was so small. So much potential, just floating inside the body of the woman he loved. Waiting for the day he would enter the world.
Doppler swallowed a lump in his throat. He couldn't help worrying about the rib. Had it caused any damage? To any of them? If it had…how much? Could it be remedied? In fact, had anything that transpired on the voyage affected the children? He felt tears brimming in his eyes. It's not going to do anyone any good if you keep thinking that way.
Suddenly, he heard a noise. Readying the gun, he peered over the hill…and came face-to-muzzle with Jim. "Jim!"
"Doc! I found a place for us to hide."
"You did? Where? How?"
"BEN," he replied, gesturing to a mossy robot behind him. "He lives in some kind of pod…thing. It's about an hour away from here. Get the captain, we've got to go now, it's getting dark."
Doppler went over to Amelia. The last thing he wanted to do was wake her. She was so peaceful and pain free, he didn't want to bring her back to the pain. Gently, he picked her up and followed Jim and BEN.
The hike to BEN's was filled with the robot's incessant chatter, but Doppler paid no attention. Instead, he focused more intently on Amelia, who had begun stirring in his arms.
"Doctor?" she asked, waking about halfway into the hike. "Are you carrying me? Where are we going?"
"Yes, I am. We're going to shelter. Don't worry, I've got you. Rest."
She burrowed into his chest and was silent. Doppler looked around at his surroundings. Incredible. The ecosystem of this planet seemed to consist primarily of tall, fungus-like trees. Not an animal or sentient life form in sight. Only green for miles. Occasionally they came across a skeleton, presumably of Flint's old crew. But those were few and far between.
Amelia moved against his chest, and he felt the children stir inside her. He could have sworn that they were also trying to be closer to him. He shifted her to his other arm, trying not to bump her bandaging.
By the time they arrived at the robot's home it was nearly dusk. Doppler's muscles were sore, but he didn't dare think about putting Amelia down.
"Ah, pardon the mess, people, you'd think in a hundred years I would have dusted a little more…,"BEN rambled as they entered his house. "But you know, when you're a bachelor, you tend to let things go…Aw...isn't that sweet?"
Doppler entered the house still carrying Amelia. He took her to a bizarre mound in the floor. She looked up at him, signaling that everything was still fine. Meanwhile, the robot babbled on. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" He whisked around to them, holding a tray of some kind of bubbling liquid. "How about drinks for the happy couple?"
"Oh, uh…"Doppler got a good look at the drinks, which looked to be some mixture of oils. Definitely not fit for human consumption. "Thank you…we don't drink. And we're not a couple," he finished, removing his jacket and glancing at Amelia. She looked back at him with an expression that was a blend of amusement and calling him a liar.
Wait. Did I just imagine that? Is Amelia…looking at me fondly? He cleared his throat, and glanced up at the ceiling, getting his first good look at it. "Look at these markings. They're identical to the ones on the map. I suspect that these are the hieroglyphics remnants of an ancient culture." He bent down and rolled his coat into a pillow for Amelia to sleep against.
"Mister Hawkins, stop anyone who tried to approach," Amelia ordered and slumped forward in pain.
"Yes, yes, now you listen to me," Doppler cut in, placing his coat behind her head. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds, and lie still." Gentler still, he laid her back on the mound and took her hands, trying to get her to relax. Surely working herself up like that was not good for the children, who were probably already in a state of distress.
"Very forceful Doctor. Go on, say something else." They smiled at each other. Any outsider would have seen a couple very much in love.
"Hey look!" BEN yelled by the doorway. "There's some warrior buddies! Hey fellas! We're over here fellas!" The moment he opened his mouth, lasers filled the air, all firing at them. Doppler pulled Amelia up into a hug, shielding her with his arms. Jim yanked the robot back into the pod, then reemerged to fire back at the pirates.
Doppler looked out at the scene. The pirates were everywhere. There was no escape. They were going to die here, in a loud, unfair firefight. Then, a voice cut through the chaos. "Stop wasting your fire!" Doppler knew that voice. Silver. Of course, why hadn't he seen it before?
"Hello up there!" the Cyborg called. "Jimbo? If it's alright with the Captain, I'd like a short word witcha. No tricks! Just a little…"
"Come to bargain for the map, doubtless. Pestilential…" Amelia squirmed and winced in pain.
"Captain…"Doppler cut in again, quieting her. He hated addressing her like that. It felt so condescending.
"That means," Jim pondered. "That he thinks we still have it."
After a quick bargain to settle meeting terms (no weapons and no other people, which Doppler thought was absurd. As if a pirate would hold up the terms.)Jim was out speaking with Silver. Doppler couldn't make out specific words, but after several minutes, the discussion turned into an argument. Jim returned to the group in a huff, along with Morph.
"He said to give up the map, or he'll blow us all up."
Amelia's eyes widened. "But…we don't have it."
"The pirates don't know that though."
Night fell. Amelia's breathing became more ragged. Doppler never left her side. He couldn't. Not for the entire treasure that was supposedly somewhere on this planet. Not even for one doubloon of it.
"Gentleman…we must stay together…and…and…" she struggled to speak, eyes rolling out of focus the same way they had been for the past half-hour. She let out a sigh and her eyes closed.
"And what?! What?! We must stay together and what!?"Doppler yelled, trying desperately to keep her awake. Please…Amelia, don't leave me, stay with us, please…
She opened her eyes and focused on his face. "Doctor…you have…wonderful eyes." And just like that she was gone again.
Doppler turned to Jim, horrified. "She's lost her mind!"
"Well, you gotta help her!"
"Damn it Jim! I'm an astronomer, not a doctor! Well I am a doctor but I'm not that kind of doctor, I have a doctorate, it's not the same thing, you can't help people with a doctorate." He looked down at Amelia. "You just sit there and you're useless!" He pressed his hands to the side of his head, trying to keep control. He was failing. Totally, utterly, and miserably failing.
He felt Jim's hands on his shoulders. "It's okay, Doc…it's okay."
Doppler shook his head. It was most certainly not okay. It was less okay than Jim could even understand. The robot said something, but Doppler wasn't paying attention. Instead he went back to doting on Amelia. He moved her hair, dripping with sweat, from her forehead. He would need to watch that…it could turn into a fever from infection. How could I ever let this happen to you, Amelia? I am so sorry.
Jim pulled him from his thoughts. "Hey Doc! Doc! I think I found a way out of here!" He looked up to see Jim standing over what appeared to be a hole in the ground.
"No, no, Jim, wait, the Captain ordered us to stay here…"
But it was too late. Jim, Morph, and BEN jumped down the chute, leaving him alone with Amelia. Frustrated, he uttered the worst expletive in the Canid dialect.
"Woof."
Just a fair warning, the next two chapters are going to be fairly intense. Emotionally. And a trigger warning for the chapter two chapters after this one: the pirates (primarily Silver, since I don't know who exactly is still alive) are going to verbally and physically harass Amelia and Doppler, primarily Amelia.