Treasure Planet: The Real Treasure

Chapter 7

***

Dr. Doppler took us to his home, which was absolutely ginormous, and we were finally able to settle down a bit.

"I just spoke with the constabulary," Delbert said after emerging from his room, now dressed in a dark red velvet robe. "Those blaggard pirates have fled without a trace. I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm afraid the old BenBow Inn was burned to the ground."

Jim wrapped a blanket around his mother's shoulders, attempting to comfort her. I watched from the comfy armchair that I was curled up on. Jim opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. I could tell he didn't really know what he should say. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and walked across the room to the table the gold sphere was resting on.

"Ahem. Well, certainly a lot of trouble over that odd little sphere," Delbert said.

Jim picked it up and stared down at it.

I watched him, waiting to see what he would do with it.

"Those markings baffle me. Unlike anything I've ever encountered," Delbert continued.

Jim started messing with the orb, pressing the circles on the outside of it.

"Even with my vast experience and superior intellect, it would take me years to unlock its- hey!" Delbert exclaimed when he saw a green light flutter from the orb as Jim unlocked it.

I smiled at the irony.

I watched in awe as the green light poured across the room, forming some kind of grid.

"Why, it's a map!" Delbert declared.

"Whoa!" I gaped. I stood up from my chair and turned in a circle, gazing at the map, trying to see everything.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! This is us, the planet Montressor," Dr. Doppler stated.

Delbert tapped the holographic planet and the map shifted, outlining a path from Montressor to some unknown destination. He listed off all the major galaxies and star systems that passed by. We all stared in awe at the map. The Coral Galaxy passed straight through Jim, breaking apart only to reform itself behind him.

"Wait. What's this? What's this? Why, it's-it's..." Delbert started.

He couldn't identify the planet before him.

"Treasure Planet," Jim stated, recognizing it immediately.

"No!" Delbert gasped in disbelief.

"That's Treasure Planet!" Jim repeated, getting excited.

"Flint's trove! The loot of a thousand worlds! You know what this means?" Delbert probed enthusiastically.

"It means all that treasure is only a boat ride away," Jim answered with a smile.

"Whoever brings it back would hold an eternal place atop the pantheon of explorers! He'd be able to experience-"

Delbert was startled when the map disappeared back to the orb in Jim's hand and the lights came back on.

"Whoo! What just happened?" Dr. Doppler asked.

"Mom, this is it. This is the answer to all our problems!" Jim said, pocketing the sphere.

"Jim, there is absolutely no way-" Mrs. Hawkins started.

"Don't you remember? All those stories?" he interrupted.

"That's all they were! Stories!" she replied, trying to talk sense into her son.

"Mom, with that treasure, we could rebuild the BenBow a hundred times over," Jim argued, clearly flustered that she wasn't seeing the logic he found so obvious.