Author's Note:

Thank you my dear editor... you're so helpful.

How 'bout a cheer for Whisperwings?

ONE, TWO, THREE: Yay...

Chapter 7: Bundle Up

Their landing was far more graceful than expected. When Ariah regained conscious she could see why. Of course she wasn't actually able to anything see at all, but the chilling blanket of snow that surrounded her made things pretty clear. Ariah shook the damp cold from her body, pulled herself to her feet and blindly groped forwards through the darkness.

When her hand bumped into the control panel, Ariah released her tied bungee cord and reached around, looking for the emergency lamps. She hit her knees against the metal panel a few times, cursing silently but she eventually found the chord that lit the lamps.

Ariah briskly pulled the chord, revitalizing the ship with oil-powered lamps. Slowly the blackness was pushed away and she was able to see the Legacy's overall damage in an aura of dim flame-lit light.

Well, their soft landing on the snow-covered planet hadn't done any initial damage to the ship; the crew however was a different matter. Most of them, who hadn't been below deck like Jim and Silver, were either hanging on the riggings by their lifelines or they were sprawled across the deck, covered in snow.

Ariah looked behind her; slowly Mister Arrow and Captain Amelia came to, they were still behind the wheel, their lifelines lashed to the sides of the ship.

They were obviously surprised that they could see on the dark planet but they immediately discovered what Ariah had done and reassumed their superiority.

"Right then." Captain Amelia brushed some snow off of her shoulder. "Mister Arrow."

"Aye, Captain?" The rocky first mate turned to his feline superior.

"Assess all of the crew's positions." She commanded briefly.

"Aye, Captain." Mister Arrow turned away from them and marched down the aft's stairwell to do a head count of the sailors.

"Wait…" Ariah realized. "Where's Doctor Doppler?" She asked the captain as she looked around for the aforementioned hybrid. "He was right here before we entered the atmosphere."

"Hmm…" The cat-woman furrowed her brow in thought, her agile ears straining to pick up any familiar sounds.

And then there was a coughing behind them… The two female sailors turned to the stern of the ship and saw a rope crudely lashed to the railing.

"A little help; if I might be so bold to ask…" A helpless whimper asked from the snow-covered stern.

"Doc?" Ariah rushed forward and leaned over the railing of the ship, pulling the dog-man back onto the deck by the forearms. "Are you all right?"

"I should be." He said, untying his lifeline and shaking the snow off of him. "Assuming the snow storms in the next twenty-four hours don't bury us." He brushed the powder snow from the creases of his ivory-coloured shirt's sleeves. "We'll all be all right." He then gave his spectacles a quick wipe.

"Quite right." Captain Amelia nodded curtly.

"I'm going to check below deck to see what's happen there." Ariah said. "I'd advise you to bundle up." She added to the astrophysicist.

The female sailor then walked from the aft down the galley. She literally had to dig her way through the heavy snow clotting the stairwell in order to reach the lower deck.

"Glad to see that things are okay down here." Ariah said bluntly, shaking the snow from her black ponytail.

"Are you kidding?" Jim shouted, obviously distressed. "We were at risk of getting killed in here!" He shouted in an unusually highly pitched voice.

"Fine." Ariah rolled her copper-brown orbs. "I'm kidding."

Silver looked over Ariah cautiously. "That's quite a patch of purp yeh 'ave there, darling." He pointed to Ariah's forehead.

Ariah gently touched the tender spot on her forehead and sighed. "Morph would be useful right now…" She shoved her hands into her trouser pockets. "He's like an ice pack when it comes to bruises…" The female sailor allowed a pause and then blinked with a sudden realization. "Wait a minute… Where is Morph?"

"He wasn't with you?" Jim yelled urgently. The cabin boy quickly rushed out of the galley up onto deck.

"Hey, it was far more dangerous up there than it was down here!" Ariah quickly retorted as she ran up the slippery wooden steps after Jim.

"Morph!" Jim yelled at the top of his lungs into the chilling air. He ran to another end of the deck and kept yelling for the little blob to come to him.

"Jim, wait!" Ariah called up to him, sensing something in the air.

A sudden burst of wind felled the brunette teenager; Ariah and most of the experienced sailors were however still relatively on their feet.

Ariah cautiously walked up to the fallen cabin boy. "You can't just go running around, Jim." She reprimanded gently as the aforementioned teenager quickly hopped back onto his feet. "The weather here is dangerous, especially the wind." Ariah stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "If you hear the wind whistle, then you need to brace yourself for the worst…"

"Now you tell me." Jim grumbled irritably. He shuffled along the side of ship and kept his hold on its railing.

Ariah sighed, 'men…' She thought blandly. Then she continued to search for the wayward morph.

Eventually Ariah spotted a bubble-gum pink blob embedded in a corner of the bow.

"Morph?" She whispered softly to the transformer.

There was a frightened whimper from the blob's innards.

"You did good Morphy…" Ariah smiled warmly. She knelt down to Morph's eye level and offered her cupped hands to the tiny, frightened glob.

Morph chirped out of fear, slowly emerged from the dark corner and cuddled Ariah's numb fingers.

"Did you find him?" Jim asked, walking up to the sailor.

Ariah silently nodded, turning to face Jim. "He's really scared." She showed the cabin boy the baffled blob in her palms.

Jim's pale blue eyes widened in concern as he gently stroked Morph's rubbery back.

"I don't blame him…" The cabin boy shrugged.

Slowly, Morph slithered from Ariah's palms to wrap around Jim's fingers in a hug. The two humans couldn't help but smile at the little blob.

Morph then immediately chirped happily and zoomed off to see if Silver was all right too.

"We should get our winter wear out." Ariah stated to Jim.

The chilling wind began to whistle slightly. A flurry of snowflakes caught Jim by the back and Ariah quickly steadied him by the shoulders before he could fall forwards.

Ariah looked over Jim. "You did remember to bring winter wear… right?" Ariah raised an eyebrow at the cabin boy.

"Sure." Jim thought. "That is, if Morph hasn't stolen it yet…" He smirked slightly.

Ariah weakly smiled. Then the two teenagers noticed how close they were standing together and Ariah released her grip on Jim's shoulders.

They stepped slightly away from each other and began shuffling towards the lower deck with the intention to retrieve their winter attire before the wind started to whistle again.

Author's Note:

Thank you to the reviewers and my beta, you are all awesome!

MG#6