Author's Note:

Once again, oodles of "Huzzahs" to my beta: Whisperwings.

And we'll continue with another short chapter to build on the mysterious and probably dangerous planet: Winterchill!

Chapter 8: Blow up the Stoves

Ariah walked the length of the dimly lit sleeping quarters, now much darker because of Winterchill's atmosphere. She dodged the maze of hammocks, finding her own in the furthest corner of the quarters with Morph huddling in the depths of her duffel bag, wrapped tightly around the sleeve of her ivory-coloured coat.

"Morph…" She grumbled irritably, trying to remove the pink transformer from her winter coat's sleeve. "I need this." She tugged the coat from Morph's iron grip.

The pink blob shivered, whimpering loudly from the cold. Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes at Morph's overdramatic display. The young woman gave in to the morph's innocent eyes and pocketed him.

"Behave, Morphy." Ariah chided.

"Aye-aye!" Morph squeaked.

Ariah slipped on the coat and dug through her bag, quickly locating her gloves and pulling them on. Lastly she pulled her bandanna out of her hair, released it from its ponytail and slipped on her pair of fuzzy earmuffs. Then the young sailor zipped her duffel bag closed once more and walked back towards the door.

Before she exited the sleeping quarters, Ariah pressed her ear-muffed ear against the wooden door, listening closely for any whistling. When there was none, the young woman opened the door, kicked aside the small pile of snow that was already forming at the steps into the crew's quarters, and exited the lower decks.

She slammed the door shut and hurried back onto the main deck; most of the crew was still untangling themselves from their lifelines and getting warmed up.

While Mister Arrow was giving orders and assessing the damaged to both the crew and the ship, there was a loud hum. Not like the weather. It was coming from below deck.

Ariah looked at cabin below the helm of the RLS Legacy. The humming grew louder and dark smoke began spewing from the double doors to the galley.

"Get down!" Ariah yelled as loudly as she could. She flattened herself against the deck and covered her head and neck with her arms.

As she predicted the humming buzzed out and the double doors down to the galley blew off their hinges with a loud BANG. The mess hall's doors flew off of the ship and out into the dark abyss.

Ariah cautiously lifted her head, looking around at the strewn crew; they were all getting back onto their feet once more.

Moments later, two coughing figures emerged from the galley, waving the thick smoke from their heads.

"What happened?" Ariah hopped onto her feet, running up to the two men.

"Something blew in the main power generator." Silver stated through coughs. "An' that in turn blew the stoves teh kingdom come…" The cyborg flapped away the remaining smoke from his face with his hat. "We won't be able teh get any warm meals prepared with the stoves out." He looked around. "An' heaven knows we'll need hot food for weather like this."

"Are you out of fuel in your arm?" Ariah asked the larger sailor.

"Just 'bout quarter's ways there…" Silver stated, gripping the wrist of his mechanical arm nervously with his organic hand.

Ariah pondered for a moment, looking the two men over. Jim had only just extinguished the small flame at the shoulder of his coat with a brush of his hand and most of Silver's shirt was caked in soot.

"You sure you're okay?" The female asked in concern.

They both nodded and Ariah stepped away, thinking about solutions.

"Captain!" She called up to the aft.

"Yes?" Captain Amelia appeared at the railing.

"The stoves are out in the galleys but there is a port nearby that could definitely accommodate us." Ariah waited patiently for the captain's response.

Captain Amelia furrowed her brow in thought, turning away from them for a moment to think, and then she turned back to her crew.

"Can you tell how far it is from here?" The blue-eyed captain enquired.

Ariah cleared her throat. "Yes." She pointed out from the starboard side.

Despite Winterchill's shadowy atmosphere, a faint beam of orange light could be seen piercing through the darkness. This was Winterchill's capital city, Gyrogga.

"It should be only a few miles' walk." Ariah stated.

The cat-woman narrowed her eyes in consideration. She walked the width of the aft, her left gloved hand at her chin.

She swiftly turned to Silver. "You say all of our stoves are out, Mister Silver?"

"Aye Captain." Silver nodded. "Every last one of 'em."

Captain Amelia turned to Ariah. "And you say that's it's only a few miles' walk."

"Aye." Ariah stated. "Even in this weather it should only take a few hours."

The captain sighed, murmuring to her self in thought. "We'll pick up provisions at that port, stay for the night until the eclipse has pasted, then we'll be back on our course the moment everything is back in order." She looked up in confidence. "Mister Arrow."

"Aye Captain?" The stony man's booming voice asked.

"Tell the crew that we'll dock in port." She stated, pacing the front of the wheel in thought.

"And the ship, Captain?" He asked.

"The Legacy will be staying in her current position, that is, until we've repaired and rebooted the main generators." The female captain assured them. "Until then, we're waiting out this obscure of solar energy."

"Aye Captain." Mister Arrow left to give his orders to the rest of the crew.

"I hope you're up for a stroll in the snow." Ariah patted Jim on his charred coat's shoulder. "In the dark." She added with a wink as she casually sauntered off.

Jim rolled his light blue eyes scowling after the female sailor. "Exactly, why is she mean to me?" He asked the larger sailor standing beside him.

"Oh, I'd reckon, she's probably taken a shine teh yeh, Jimbo…" Silver chuckled.

"Oh yeah, 'cause I'm so obviously irresistible." Jim rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Then again, Ariah is a woman." Silver added. He shook his head. "Hardly any man knows why they do what they do." Silver walked off to prepare his effects.

Jim groaned miserably and held his head in his hands.

Why did female kind have to be so unnecessarily complex and confusing?

Author's Note:

Thanks for the reviews! I love them all... and thanks to my beta (Whisperwings) for her colourful editing skills!

MG#6