Stolen Treasure

Chapter 6

"You want to what?" I asked in total disbelief. My mouth hung open slightly.

"Rule the Earth," Alex repeated.

I just stared at him. He's got to be joking, I thought. But the look on his face told me otherwise.

"You can't be serious? What makes you think that you could take over our entire world?" I asked.

"Ships that fly, guns that shoot laser beams, highly intelligent humanoid robots; the superior technology of this dimension would leave the people of our world bowing down to whoever wielded it. I plan on being that person," he explained.

He actually has a pretty good point, I admitted to myself.

"And I'm supposed to help you how?" I questioned, still not understanding how I played a part in this.

"Like I said before, you'll see," he repeated.

I didn't have a reply. I stood there and stared at him, contemplating what he could mean by that.

He turned and briskly stepped out of the cell, stopping in the doorway.

"Well, are you coming?" he asked.

"What? Where?" I inquired.

"To your room. You don't want to stay down here, do you?" he asked skeptically.

I shook my head and walked out of the cell. He closed the door behind me and headed towards the upper decks. I followed him as he led me to a room in the same area that the Captain's Quarters are usually located. He opened the door to reveal a very regal looking bedroom. It was a rich red with lots of gold accents, and the furniture looked like mahogany and had intricate carvings. It was very beautiful, but not really my style.

"This is my room?" I asked, gaping in awe.

"Yes. There are clothes in the drawers and closet for you, and there is a bathroom through that door over there," Alex said gesturing to a door to the left of the room. "Now, my room is down the hall and-"

"Why would I want to know where your room is?" I cut him off.

"Why wouldn't you?" he asked, smirking and giving me a suggestive look. I just rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"We will be docking tomorrow on a nearby planet to resupply," he informed me.

"Can I come along?" I asked a little too excitedly. This could be my chance to escape, I thought.

"Ha! No, I don't think so," he replied.

"Why not?" I asked, donning an innocent look.

"You'll try to get away," he replied.

"I won't. I promise!" I lied.

He contemplated me for a moment, looking deep into my eyes until I was sure he could see my very soul. Finally, he seemed convinced and nodded his head.

"Very well, you can come. But you will be under constant watch, so don't try anything," he warned.

"Don't worry! I swear I won't!" I replied giddily.

With that, he left the room. I didn't hear him lock the door, so I guess he really believed that I wasn't going to attempt to escape at all. His mistake. Hopefully he wouldn't get a chance to learn from it.

I surveyed the room, trying to formulate a plan. I couldn't think of one that would definitely work, so I figured I would have to make something up when I saw an opportunity. I looked out the window into space and realized that it must be really late. I searched in the drawers for some pajamas and found silky black pants and a button up shirt. After hanging my dress in the closet and brushing my hair out, I climbed under the covers of the large bed and stared at the ceiling. I was somewhat anxious about tomorrow and found it hard to fall asleep, but I eventually did.

The next morning, I rifled through the drawers again for something to wear. Almost everything was red or black, but in the end I found some white shirts in one of the bottom drawers. They were almost exactly the same as the shirt I wore the first and last day of the Treasure Planet journey, which I found odd, but cool. I found a pair of brown pants and some black boots too. After brushing my hair and adjusting my necklace, I sat on the bed playing with my hair as I waited for the ship to dock.

Once the ship was secure, Alex came into the room to escort me to the port city. We walked in silence onto the deck. I decided to break the silence with some small talk. It could maybe help lower his guard a bit, allowing me the opportunity I needed to escape.

"So how come almost all the clothes in my room are red?" I asked, basically blurting out the first thing that popped into my head.

Alex eyed me strangely for my outburst, but then faced forward again as we continued down the plank.

"Red happens to be my favorite color," he replied.

"Why don't you wear it then?" I asked, quickly glancing at his black clothing.

"Unfortunately, red attracts too much attention. As a wanted pirate captain, I can't afford to draw attention to myself. I'm actually glad you didn't pick something red to wear. We would stick out too much," he explained.

"Well, I prefer blue or white," I said. Dang it, I should have worn red! I scolded myself. Maybe someone would notice me and help me out. Surely people are out looking for me by now.

As we strode into the bustling port town, Alex decided to wrap his arm around mine, like a couple entering a ball or something.

"What are you doing?" I asked warily, pulling my arm out of his. I wasn't comfortable with that, and I made sure he would understand so with the look on my face.

"Making sure you don't run away," he replied, taking my arm back and holding onto it tighter so I couldn't pull away again. I guess he didn't care about my comfort. Big Surprise!

"I won't," I said, though I was constantly searching for an opportunity to do so.

We roamed around for almost half an hour, browsing the various booths and shops, but not actually buying anything. Lots of different aliens would approach Alex and whisper in his ear. Most of the time he would just nod, but sometimes he would whisper stuff back to them. I figured these were the pirates from his crew, though I didn't recognize most of them.

Alex and I stopped at a booth where someone was selling lots of pretty earrings. I was so busy inspecting them that I didn't notice Alex had walked off a few feet to discuss something with another pirate. When I finished examining the earrings, I realized that Alex wasn't watching me anymore, and he was just far enough away so that I had a fighting chance of successfully escaping.

I saw my opportunity and didn't hesitate to take it.

I ran.