Chapter 6: Meeting Silver
Mr. Arrow guided Jim, Delbert, and Rose down to the galley to meet Silver. Rose was quiet and knew not to speak up the wrong way. In front of her and Mr. Arrow, Delbert and Jim were busy ranting about the Captain.
"That woman! That feline!" Delbert exclaimed angrily. "Who does she think she is working for whom?"
"It's MY map, and she's got me bussin' tables…" Jim complained.
Mr. Arrow caught up to Jim and Delbert, placing his large hands on their shoulders, and said, fiercely scolding them, "I'll not tolerate a cross word about our captain! There's no finer officer in this, or any galaxy."
The four people looked ahead to see a taller alien, known as an Ursid standing on the side of the galley. He wore a white shirt, a gold hoop earring, red and green striped pants, a red head bandana, and a black shoe with a gold buckle. Only the left side of his body was shown. He stood by, whistling a tune as he cooked.
"Mr. Silver," Mr. Arrow called.
The cook noticed the arrival of company, placed down his cooking utensils and wiped his hands on his apron.
"Why Mr. Arrow sir," Silver said, speaking with an Irish accent with a toothy grin. "Bringin' in such fine, looking, distinguished gents to grace me humble galley. Had I known, I'd 'ave tucked in me shirt!"
As soon as he turned and entered the light giving a chuckle, the right side of his body had a mechanical arm and leg. His right eye was also mechanical with a yellow light. Rose jumped at the sight, and hid behind Mr. Arrow with her blue-green eyes peering from behind.
Silver was a cyborg.
She heard Jim making a quiet gasp and whispered to himself, "A cyborg?"
Had Jim seen this cyborg from somewhere before? She thought. The girl was snapped out of her thoughts, when Mr. Arrow spoke up.
"May I introduce Dr. Doppler? The financier of our voyage."
Delbert adjusted his glasses as he stepped forward, with a humble smile and gave a little bow.
"Love the outfit, Doc," Silver complimented as a red laser beamed from his cyborg eye and traveled around the Doctor's spacesuit.
"Well, thank you, um…" Delbert said, as he grew uneasy as the red laser traveled up and down on his spacesuit, that he used his hands to cover his private areas to where the laser went. "Love the eye." He looked back, and grabbed Jim's arm, thrusting him forward in his place. "Uh, this young lad is Jim Hawkins."
"Jimbo!" Silver exclaimed, cheerfully, holding out his robotic hand with sharp tools. Rose, still hiding behind Mr. Arrow, jumped again at the sight. But Jim stood there, sneering at the tools. Silver realized his mistake and switched his tools into his regular hand. The boy stared at the cyborg with a hard glare from his hand to his face. Jim's face was read with suspicion.
The cyborg just smiled and shrugged. Then Silver noticed the timid girl hiding behind Mr. Arrow, with only her large eyes peering from behind the red coat with nervousness in them.
"And who are ye little lass?" he asked, with a cheerful tone.
"Mr. Silver, may I present the Captain's daughter, Rose Morgan. She's the R.L.S. Legacy's nurse and botanist." Mr. Arrow said. He looked down at the girl, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Rose, why don't you step out and let Mr. Silver see you?"
Though Rose was nervous, and wasn't good at making friends, due to her sky nature. She forced herself to obey Mr. Arrow.
"Yes, Papa," she replied, quietly.
The redhead slowly stepped out, and slowly took a few steps until she was a few inches behind Jim. Silver gave her a small nod and returned to his work on his food preparation.
"Aw, now, don't be too put off by this hunk o' hardware," he said. He started by pulling down some space shrimp, fileting them with his cyborg arm, and went into the pan as he hummed a merry tune. Then he switched to another tool and chopped up some vegetables, combining them into the bowl, and pretended to chop off his good hand.
"Whoa!" he yelled out in false shock, staring wide-eyed at his empty sleeve. Suddenly, his left hand popped out from his sleeve and waved his fingers, chuckling.
"T'ese gears 'ave been tough gettin' used to…" Silver admitted, before grabbing three eggs and breaking them to add to his recipe. "But t'ey do come in mighty 'andy from time to time."
The Ursid placed the pan onto his cybernetic arm as it switched into a flamethrower, and heated up the contents of the pan. As flames appeared, Rose jumped, feeling beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and had to resist from screaming. She continued to watch as Silver poured the contents from his pan into a pot on the stove, added some salt and pepper, and took a taste from a ladle. He smiled to the group and filled up three separate bowls.
"Here, now, 'ave a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew!" Silver said, as he handed each bowl to Jim, Rose, and Delbert.
Delbert sniffed the stew, and gave a taste. He smiled up to the cook. "Mmmm! Delightfully tangy, yet robust," he commented.
"Old family recipe…"
Before Delbert could taste more of his stew, an eyeball floated up to the surface. "Ahhhhhh!" he shrieked in fright, jerked his head up, and his eyes widened in disgust as he looked at the cook.
"In fact, that was part of the ol' family!" Silver added, barking out a laugh. "I'm just kiddin', Doc!"
Delbert stared at the cook, gave a sigh, and didn't find any humor in Silver's joke. The Ursid plucked out the gummy eyeball and ate it. Rose gave a grimace at seeing Silver eating an eyeball, and almost lost her appetite.
"Uh, yeah, well," the Doctor stuttered, giving a weak laugh.
"I'm nothin' if I ain't a kidder," Silver said, elbowing Jim and came up to him. The boy flinched at his touch, and Rose could tell that the boy was uncomfortable being around the cyborg.
"Go on Jimbo and Rosie, 'ave a swig," Silver insisted as he moved away.
Jim lifted up his spoon that held up a spoonful of the stew and looked at it hesitantly. Before he could take a bite, the head of the spoon turned into a mouth and ate the stew. The end turned pink and a pair of eyes appeared, blinking at Jim. The boy gasped in surprise, and the girl's large eyes widened.
Then the spoon transformed into a small pink blob as he looked up at Jim and panted like a puppy.
"Morph!" Silver exclaimed. "You jiggle-headed blob o' mischief! So t'at's where yeh was hidin'!"
Morph transformed himself into a red and white stripped straw and began to suck up all of the stew in Jim's bowl. Once finished, he transformed himself back to his original shape as he rested in the bowl and let out a content belch.
Morph flew over to Rose as he sucked up all the stew in her bowl as well. He swiveled in the air, passed by her braided hair, and cuddled on her cheek.
"Cute," she said, giving a small smile, reaching her finger to pet him. He felt like gelatin and he cooed from being petted by her slender finger. "What an adorable creature."
Then the pink blob flew up to Jim and rubbed against his cheek. Jim began to smile in curiosity as if it were his first time of meeting an animal he read about in real life.
" Wha-? Ha! What is that thing?" the boy asked.
"What is that thing?" Morph repeated. Jim touched the pink blob, as he scattered into tiny pieces and transformed into a miniature version of the boy and stood on his finger.
"He's… a morph," Silver explained as Jim leaned towards the pink blob, and Morph copied his movements. "I rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus 1."
Morph returned back to his original form and gave Jim a lick on the cheek, making the boy smile. The pink blob flew back to his master and began to nuzzle against Silver's cheek.
"Aw, he took a shine to me," Silver said affectionately. "We've been together ever since. Right? Yeah, nice boy."
The Ursid continued on with his cuddle session with his pet, until some bells were heard above deck. It was a signal that it was time to start the voyage.
"We're about to get underway. Would you like to observe the launch, Doctor?" Mr. Arrow asked, gesturing for Delbert to follow him.
"Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?" Delbert asked enthusiastically. But he only received blank stares from Mr. Arrow, Jim, Rose, and Silver. Realizing no one understood what he just asked; Delbert's smile disappeared, and replied shortly, "I'll follow you."
Jim started to follow the Doctor to watch the launch, but Mr. Arrow stopped the boy with his enormous hand.
"Mr. Hawkins will stay here, in your charge, Mr. Silver," the First Mate informed the cook.
At the same time, Silver was helping himself to a serving of his stew. When he heard Mr. Arrow's order, he spat out, coughed, and choked in surprise. He began to protest.
"Beggin' yer pardon, sir, but…" the cyborg started.
"Captain's orders!" Mr. Arrow bellowed, giving the two a stern expression. "See to it the new cabin boy's kept busy. And one more thing, Ms. Morgan will also assist with you and Mr. Hawkins, only when she is needed."
Both Jim and Silver attempted to protest against the First Mate, but he ignored them and exited the room. The two men sighed, rubbed their fingers over their eyes, and pinched the bridges of theirs noses. Rose followed after Mr. Arrow, but she halted and decided to listen to Jim and Silver's conversation.
"So, Cap'n's put ye with me, eh?" Silver asked, walking around the boy with his hands behind his back.
"Whatever," the boy said, melancholy as he crossed his arms.
"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue wit' a captain?" Silver began to go back to his cooking and Jim went to a barrel full of fresh purps.
"Yeah…" the boy picked up a purp. "You know… these purps, they're kinda like the ones back home… on Montressor." He walked around the other side of the galley and continued to watch the cyborg with suspicion on his face and asked, "You ever been there?"
"I can't say as I have, Jimbo," Silver replied blandly as he continued to chop more produce with his cyborg arm.
"Come to think of it," the boy said, biting into his purp and sat on the countertop. "Just before I left, I met this old guy, who was kind of looking for a cyborg buddy of his."
"Is t'at so?"
"Yeah," Jim muttered and began to think hard. "What was that old salamander's name?" he mused to himself, and remembered. "Oh yeah, Bones. Billy… Bones?"
Silver was pouring a pot of hot broth into a larger pot and look at the boy with skepticism.
"Bones? Boooones?" he questioned, thought for a moment, and shook his head. He lifted up the pot and carried it to where Jim was sitting. "Mm-mmm. T'at ain't ringin' any bells. Must have been a different cyborg. There's a slew of cyborgs roamin' dis port."
From up above the decks was a whistle, making the two men and young girl (in hiding) look up.
"Prepare to cast off!" Mr. Arrow called.
Rose gave a gasp, and hurried away from the top of the stairs, so she wouldn't get caught. She didn't want Jim and Silver to find out that she was eavesdropping on them. The redhead ran off to join her guardians to watch the launch.
"Eh, off with you, lad, and watch the launch," the cyborg said, gently pushing Jim to the exit. "There'll be plenty work a-waitin' for ye afterwards."
Jim took one last glance at the cook, before he made his way to the stairs. Silver was continuing to add more ingredients to his stew, before he looked back to watch the boy's boots disappear. As soon as Jim left, the Ursid's cheerfulness was gone, replaced with a serious expression. The cyborg held up a biscuit for Morph and the little blob, gratefully took the biscuit and began to nibble on it, while he was perched on Silver's finger.
"We best be keepin' a sharp eye on this one, eh, Morph?" Silver asked as he continued to stare at the stairs. There was something that the cyborg didn't want anyone to find out about his true intentions. "We wouldn't want him strayin' into t'ings he shouldn't. Especially t'e red-haired lass shouldn't be involved in t'is as well."
