Treasure Planet: The Real Treasure

Chapter 17

"Pirates on my ship? I'll see they all hang," Captain Amelia exclaimed, pulling a gun out of her cabinet and loading it.

"Doctor, familiar with these?" she asked as she tossed one of the guns to Delbert.

"Oh, I've seen... well, I've read," he started, but accidently fired the gun, destroying a lamp on the wall right next to Amelia. "Um, no. No. No, I'm not."

"Mr. Hawkins, defend this with your life," Amelia ordered, tossing the map to Jim.

He put it in his pocket for safe keeping. Morph, attracted by the shiny object, buzzed around Jim's pocket trying to get another look at it. As the pirates began attempting to open the door, Amelia shot a hole in the floor, giving us an exit. We ran through the innards of the ship heading towards the launch bay, the pirates right behind us. Dr. Doppler, being the clumsy man he is, tripped down the last set of stairs and lay sprawled half in and half out of the doorway. Amelia pulled him the rest of the way inside and slammed the door right in the pirates' faces.

"To the longboats, quickly!" the Captain shouted. She used her laser rifle to melt the lock on the door, sealing it shut while Jim, Delbert and I climbed into a longboat. The Captain opened the hatch and jumped into the boat. Just then, Morph took the map from Jim's pocket.

"Morph! No!" Jim yelled, leaping out of the boat to get the map back.

The pirates busted through the door and Amelia started shooting at them as I ducked down to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Why wasn't I given a gun? I screamed in my mind.

"Chew on this, you puss-filled boils!" the Captain shouted at the pirates.

They kept ducking out of the way of Amelia's shots. Delbert bravely stood up and, barely looking, took a shot at the ceiling, sending a large piece of metal crashing to the floor. Part of the wood floor broke off, sending three pirates crashing down to the planet below.

"Did you actually aim for that?" Amelia asked, clearly impressed.

"You know, actually, I did," Delbert answered, amazed with himself.

Silver walked in and flipped the switch back up, causing the hatch to start closing.

"Doctor, when I say 'now', shoot out the forward cable. I'll take this one," the Captain ordered.

I watched as Jim continued to struggle to get the map back from Morph. Morph was torn between Jim and Silver, each trying to beckon him to bring the map to them. He couldn't choose, so he dove into a pile of ropes with the map. Silver tried to reach for the map, but his damaged leg slowed him down, so Jim got to it first. He started sprinting back to the longboat. I saw Silver aim his gun at Jim and gripped the side of the boat in fear.

Don't do it, Silver! I prayed.

A moment later, I saw him lower the gun and relaxed my grip.

Right as Jim jumped for the boat, Captain Amelia gave the order to shoot the cable. Both of their guns went off and the laser shots ripped through the cables. The boat immediately dropped, one side hitting the half closed hatch before sliding the rest of the way out. Jim barely caught onto the side of the boat and Delbert pulled him in as we started to freefall. Amelia started up the longboat and flew it away from the ship as fast as it would go.

"Captain! Laser ball at 12 o'clock!" Delbert shouted, pointing towards a giant laser ball headed straight towards us.

Captain Amelia tried to maneuver the boat out of the way of the approaching shot, but to no avail. It hit us and destroyed the propeller and sail. The boat flipped over as it plummeted. I hit my head as we bounced on the ground. We crash-landed belly-up. Once it finally stopped moving, Jim pushed the boat onto its side and sat up, groaning.

"Are you alright?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, I just hit my head," I replied, rubbing the back of my head.

I tried to stand up, but I got dizzy and my legs gave out under me. I huffed out a frustrated breath as I sat there on my knees.

Jim smiled at me and got down on his knees with me. He grabbed one of my arms and draped it over his shoulders, then used his other arm to hold me around the waist. He slowly stood up, supporting my weight.

"Jim, I'm fine, this really isn't necessary," I argued.

"Really? You aren't feeling dizzy or weak at all right now?" he asked skeptically.

Unfortunately, he was right. My legs didn't feel stable and I was extremely lightheaded.

"Well..." I admitted.

"See. You have a concussion. It's probably just a mild one. Hopefully you should feel better in a few minutes. Until then, I'll help you stand," he said.

I nodded my consent.

"Oh, my goodness," Delbert said as he and Amelia got to their feet. "That was more fun than I ever want to have again."

"Not one of my more gossamer landings-ah!" Amelia said before collapsing, clutching her side.

"Captain!" Dr. Doppler gasped.

Delbert helped her stand. She pushed him away and brushed herself off, trying not to appear weak.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, don't fuss. Slight bruising, that's all. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain. Mr. Hawkins," she said, turning to Delbert. After squinting and realizing that it wasn't Jim, she looked at us, "The map, if you please."

Jim let go of my waist for a second to pull the map out of his pocket. He presented it in his palm to the Captain, a smile on his face. Then the gold sphere floated in Jim's hand and turned into a laughing pink blob.

"Morph!" Jim yelled. "Morph, where's the map?"

The blob depicted the map inside a pile of rope.

"Are you serious? It's back on the ship!" Jim demanded. Frustrated, Jim tried to get a hold of Morph, who darted around him playfully, thinking this was all a fun game.

"Stifle that blob and get low," Amelia ordered. "We've got company."

Another longboat flew overhead and we hid behind our own until it passed.

"We need a more defensible position. Mr. Hawkins, Miss Raphaelle, scout ahead," Amelia ordered, handing Jim a handgun.

"Aye Captain," he replied.

Unable to ignore her pain any longer, Amelia once again let out a cry and fell to the ground. She attempted to use her rifle to hold herself up, but it didn't work very well. Delbert helped lower her to the ground and began to examine her wounds. Jim still supporting me, we walked away from them and into the mysterious forest of the planet.