Treasure Planet: The Real Treasure

Chapter 21

Jim pulled the longboat right up to the side of the ship. He tied it to one of the ropes of the shrouds to keep it from floating away. He climbed over the side of the ship, helping me up after him. B.E.N. fell over the side of boat with a crash, muttering sorry as we told him to be quiet. We knew the pirates probably left someone to watch over the ship, and we definitely didn't want to deal with them.

"Okay, you two stay here, I'll get the map," Jim ordered.

"Roger, Jimmy! I'll neutralize laser cannons, sir!" B.E.N. said, giving us a salute. He dropped to his knees, which were actually wheels, and rolled off to go disconnect the ship's laser cannons.

Jim tried to stop him, but the robot was already gone, singing a song about pirates along the way.

"Let's go get the map," I said. We went down to the launch bay and Jim pulled the map out of the pile of ropes, right where Morph had left it. We smiled at each other in relief. Just as I thought we were home free, the ship's alarm started blaring.

Jim and I both gave each other the same knowing and exasperated look.

"B.E.N.," we grumbled simultaneously. Jim stuffed the map in his pocket and started running back towards the deck. I was following right behind him.

"Stupid robot's gonna get us all-" Jim stopped abruptly at the bottom of the stairs, and I just barely stopped myself from running into him.

I looked over his shoulder at the top of the stairs and saw why he had suddenly stopped.

"Killed," he finished, staring at Scroop in horror.

"Cabin boy," Scroop hissed.

"Run!" Jim yelled.

He didn't have to tell me twice. I started running as fast as I could down the hall. I could hear crashing behind us, so I assumed Jim was trying to shove things in Scroop's way to slow him down, though I wasn't sure if it was working. I didn't dare turn back to look. I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and praying that I wouldn't trip.

After we turned a corner, Jim grabbed my hand and told me to wait. He pulled his gun out and loaded it. When he heard Scroop come closer, he jumped out from around the corner and pointed the gun in Scroop's face. The pirate stopped dead in his tracks, mere inches from the barrel of the gun. Right at that moment, everything went dark.

A few seconds later, red emergency lights came on, but Scroop was no longer in front of Jim.

I cautiously came around the corner and stood as close as I could to Jim. He was frantically searching for Scroop.

I thought I saw some movement in the corner of my eye, but when I looked, there was nothing there. I became increasingly terrified, and every hair on my body was sticking up, sensing danger, but unable to locate where it was.

I heard a screech and a growl, and looked up to see Scroop and Morph, who had just poked the pirate in the eye. Scroop dropped down on top of us, pinning Jim to the floor and sending his gun flying. I just managed to jump out of the way, and grabbed Jim's gun, pointing it at Scroop. He froze, looking petrified for just a moment. But then he noticed how I was trembling.

"You can't do it," he smirked.

He was right. I couldn't shoot anybody, even a murderer like Scroop. I had never shot at anyone before in my entire life, and I'm not so sure if I wanted to start now. Luckily, I didn't have to make that decision as the gravity suddenly turned off; no doubt B.E.N.'s doing.

While Scroop was distracted, Jim kicked him away. The momentum of Scroop's body broke the wood grating above them and sent him floating up towards the deck. We all started floating up, and I let go of the gun while frantically trying to find something to hold on to. I was finally able to grab the mast right at the top. I saw Jim coming up towards me. We reached for each other, but he was too far away. For a second, I feared he was going to drift off into space, but at the last moment he grabbed onto the waving pirate flag.