Delbert, Jim, and I followed Mr. Arrow to the galley. When we got to the stairs, Delbert started walking down angrily with the rest of us following him. Arrow took up the rear with Jim and I in the middle. "That woman! That feline!" The doctor said. "Who does she think is working for whom?"
"It's my map." Jim said, just as angry. "And she's got me bussin' tables."
Arrow was quick to grab their shoulders. "I'll not tolerate a cross word about our captain!" He said. "There's no finer officer in this or any galaxy." I flinched when his voice boomed throughout the area. I myself would rather not do any work like I had done at the orphanage but I held my tongue so I don't get thrown off board. Besides, she's the highest authority on the ship and we must follow her orders. The stone alien let them go.
A whistling filled the room and I saw a silhouette of someone at the stove. The steam from whatever was cooking in the pot made it impossible to see him clearly. The silhouette was large, and I could make out the apron he was wearing but that was it. "Mr. Silver?" Arrow said.
Silver stopped whistling and wiped his hands on his apron. "Why, Mr. Arrow, sir." He said, in a deep and gruff voice. He spoke with an accent but I had no idea which one it sounded like. "Bringin' in such fine and distinguished guests to grace my humble galley." He stepped out of the steam to reveal his full form to us. "Had I known, I'da tucked in me shirt." He added while doing the said action. He was older, possibly in his fifties if I'd have to guess and donned a white shirt under the apron, green and red striped pants with a belt on the waist, a loafer on one foot, with a red bandanna covering his dark hair and an earring on one ear. He looked to be a hybrid of a human and bear but what really stuck out was the cybernetic features. One of his arms, legs, ears and eyes were made of metal. The metal eye was yellow with his flesh eye being brown.
Jim silently gasped when he saw the mechanical limbs. "A cyborg." He whispered. I began to feel conflicted. Yes, Bones did warn Jim about a cyborg but later on in the trip, a bond is forged. I know I was also supposed to be on the fence but Silver isn't really a bad guy. What do I do? I was snapped out of my mind by Arrow.
"May I introduce Dr. Doppler the financier of our voyage." He said. Delbert stepped forward in greetings.
"Love the outfit Doc." Silver said. His robotic eye opened and bright red beam of light shot out from it. It scanned over Delbert's outfit.
"Well, thank you." He said. "Um, love the eye." He covered his lower region when the beam got down there. He looked at us and grabbed our arms, pulling us forward. "And this young lad and young lass is Jim Hawkins and Emma." I tried digging my heels into the ground but I was still moved forward. I stayed next to Jim as we walked up to Silver.
"Jimbo. Em." The cyborg said, bringing his hand out for us to shake. It was his cyborg hand he brought out and I flinched seeing all the tools in place of his fingers. I immediately grabbed Jim's sleeve and held on. He realized his mistake and switched the tools to normal fingers. Jim gave him a glare and I scooted a little closer to Jim. "Ah, now don't be too put off by this hunk o' hardware." He said. He used his mechanical hand to cut some sort of sea creature and chopped them up, tossing what he needed into a pan. The hand changed to a large knife and he swiftly chopped up some vegetables. "Whoa!" He said, swiftly bringing his flesh arm into his sleeve to make a joke. It worked on me as I felt my lips curl into a small smile.
He brought the flesh hand out and changed the mechanical one to tools to help crack eggs open. He grabbed a few eggs with blue spots on their shells. "These gears 'ave been to'gh getting used too but they do c'me in mighty handy fr'm time to time." He said as he cracked them open. His limb changed to a flamethrower and he used it to cook his ingredients in the pan. Once he deemed it to be just right he dumped it into the pot in the center of the small kitchen and added some spices. He took out a ladle and scooped up a bit to try. He smiled as he deemed it to be perfect. He picked up three bowls and scooped up more of his dish to pour into them to serve us. "H're, now, 'ave a taste of me famous Bonzabeast stew." He said giving them to us.
Delbert sniffed the stew used his tongue to lap a taste. He hummed in approval. "Delightfully tangy, yet robust." He said.
"Ol' family recipe." Silver said. An eyeball floated from the bottom and Delbert gasped seeing it surface before he could eat more. Silver let out a chuckle. "In fact." He added, wrapping an arm around the dog man's shoulder. "That was part o' the ol' family!" He busted out laughing at his own joke. I giggled a little bit as I thought of Cinder making a joke among those line in the Lunar Chronicles. Cyborgs do love making jokes about their lost limbs. "Oh, I'm just kiddin' Doc." He said as he grabbed the eye and swallowed it whole.
"Yeah, well..." Delbert said.
The cyborg then nudged Jim and I with his flesh elbow while giving us a wink. Jim gave him a weary glance while I just stared at him from the corner of my eye. "Go on, Jimbo, Em, 'ave a swig." He added, putting his hands on our shoulders for a moment to coax us into eating. I just froze from the contact. It felt warm and reassuring that the stew won't poison us. I glanced at Jim and he shrugged, scooping some into his spoon. He didn't look comfortable putting it into his mouth.
I follow suit and quickly put it into my mouth before hesitating for a moment longer. Delbert was right about the taste of the stew. I smiled as I chewed. I took another spoonful and ate more. I won't lie, I could stand to gain a few pounds. I turned to Jim just in time to see his spoon eat his stew. The top part turned pink and grew eyes as well. Jim gasped seeing the small squishy face staring at him. The spoon turned into a small, pink and squishy creature. He looked blob shaped and very adorable.
"Morph!" Silver said as he saw him. "You jiggled headed blob of mischief! So that's where you was hidin!" Morph turned himself into a red and white striped straw and slurped up the rest of Jim's stew. He turned back into himself and burped. He sniffed the air and turned his attention to my bowl. I nodded and he flew over to me and once again ate the stew, letting out another burp when he was done. When he was done he snuggled up against my cheek for a moment, staring at my glasses with pure fascination. I smiled feeling the cool, jiggly feeling on my face. He flew up to Jim and snuggled against his cheek too.
"What is that thing?" Jim asked, gingerly moving his hand close enough to touch him.
"What is that thing?" Morph repeated in a high pitched voice. He burst into tiny pieces and turned himself into a miniature copy of the boy. He stood on Jim's finger mimicking him.
"He's a morph." Silver said. "I rescued the little shape shifter on Proteus One." Morph turned back to himself, giving Jim and I an affectionate embrace on our cheeks. He nudged my glasses before snuggling up to Silver. "Aw, he took a shine to me. We been together ev'r since. Right? Yeah. Nice boy."
A bell rang and we all heard it. "We're about to get underway." Arrow stated. "Would you like to observe the launch Doctor?"
"Would I?" Delbert said, looking as excited as a little kid in a candy store. "Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?" The first mate gave him a look and the doctor's smile dropped. "I'll follow you." He added, pointing ahead. Jim went to follow him but Arrow stuck his hand out and stopped him.
"Mr. Hawkins and Miss Emma will stay here, in your charge Mr. Silver." The stone alien said, dropping the bombshell on the cook. Silver was tasting the stew for himself but choked on his food and dropped the spoon in shock. He coughed as he tried to get air into his lungs. I don't blame him for having that reaction, anyone would if they found out if they had to watch a couple of kids.
"Beggin' your pardon, sir, but..." Silver started only to get interrupted by Arrow.
"Captain's orders!" The first mate said. "See to it the new cabin kids' kept busy." He walked out of the galley leaving Jim and Silver to protest but only to sigh and pinch the bridge of their noses to find it useless. I softly huffed and looked at the cyborg.
"So." He said. "Captain's put you two wit' me, eh?"
"Whatever." Jim said while I shrugged.
"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue wit' a captain?" He started working on something, another dish if I'd have to guess.
"Yeah." Jim mumbled. He picked up a purp and tossed it to me before grabbing one for himself. I caught it and took a bite. I gave the stew to Morph so I really didn't have anything to eat. It tasted of some sort of sweet and sour mix. "You know, these purps, they're kind of like the ones back home on Montressor." He tossed the fruit between his hands as he walked to the counter.
I could see where this is going and decided to play along. "Have you ever been there?" I asked, following him. I propped myself onto the counter, my legs now dangling in the air.
"I can't say I have kids." Silver said, chopping up a potato. Jim took a seat next to me, acting as a barrier between me and the cyborg. He took a bite out of his purp.
"Come to think of it, just before we left, we met this old guy who was um, he was kind of looking for a cyborg buddy of his."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. What was that old salamander's name?"
"It was Bones." I mumbled. "Billy Bones."
Silver was now pouring liquid from one pot to another. "Bones?" Silver said. "Bones?" He pretended to act like he was searching his memory for the name but I knew he knew the owner of that name. "T'ain't rinin' any bells." He carried the pot and set it down next to me. "Must have been a different cyborg. There's a slew of cyborgs roamin' this port." We all looked up hearing a whistle.
"Prepare to cast off!" Arrow yelled.
Silver smirked and nudged me off the counter. Jim followed suit. "Off with you, lad and lass, and watch the launch. There'll be plenty of work a-waitin' for you afterwards." The older man said. We started walking away but I stopped for a moment after taking a couple of steps and glanced back at Silver.
"Emma, come on." Jim said, looking down at me. I turned away from the cyborg and walked up. The launch is always the most exciting part of any voyage.