Treasure Planet-Collection of stories from the voyage to Treasure Planet

An Ace in the Hole

-Takes place three months into the voyage, approximately five weeks before the supernova-

Jim stretched, raising his arms high over his head as he stepped up out of the crew's quarters. He had done a lot of work that day and Silver let him off early, letting him go after dinner. He didn't know what else to do, not having any dishes or other chores ready for him before bed. It was ironic, really. He was grateful for the jobs he had-otherwise he'd have been bored out of his mind all these months. 

He crossed his arms and leaned on the deck rail, watching the nebulas around them stretch their light across the Etherium. He sighed, fingering at a fray on his jacket sleeve. 

A familiar clicking and whirring sound began behind him, and Jim easily recognized the cause to be that all-familiar cyborg. 

"Oy! Jimbo!" Jim tiredly turned to see Silver looking at him, facing the galley stairs, holding Morph in his flesh hand. "Ye should come join us instead o' mopin' around on deck all on yer lonesome!"

The boy threw a glance over his shoulder before begrudgingly shuffling over to the cyborg, hands in his pockets. He looked up at the cook expectantly, wondering what exactly they were going to be doing. Silver clapped a hand on the lad's shoulder and led him to the galley. "Ever played Matchsticks, lad?" He asked as he led Jim to a seat at a table. The boy shook his head as he looked around at the other people seated. He didn't know all their names, but recognized Bird-Brain Mary and Greedy across from him. He was just glad Scroop wasn't joining. The other three aliens there shifted in their chairs as Silver sat down next to Jim, pulling a deck of cards from his coat pocket.

"Right-o. I'll just have ye watch me fer a few rounds, let ye get the hang of it," he said, passing the cards around to everyone else and setting a few off to the side. Jim peered over the cyborg's shoulder as they began. 

After the fourth game, Jim felt ready to play. From what he could gather, everyone would receive five cards from the dealer; four gold cards and one "matchstick" card. The gold ranged in value from 2 to 10. Every round, everyone would blindly trade twice with their gold cards, then wait for any "matches" or "challenges." If someone called "match," it meant that they thought they had the highest gold value, and everyone would show their cards to check. Challenges were asked for first, and no one ever called it. Silver explained that if you were to challenge, you would say whoever you thought had the highest gold count, and if you were right, that would be another form of winning. Not that anyone ever did that though. The other thing was that everyone gambled.

"I think I've got it," Jim said as Silver started dealing out cards for a fifth game. "Alright, lad. Here," he said, passing a stack to the boy along with three coins to wager with. The game began.

Jim already anticipated the group trading with him their lowest cards, and he found that to be true after landing himself with a handful of twos and threes. He had planned for that, however. During the rounds he observed, he noticed that Greedy, ironically, was the most wanting of the bunch and always got a high gold count at the end of every game, winning twice even. Bird-Brain Mary seemed to have trouble getting anywhere, generally ending the matches with menial amounts. Dogbreath-someone Silver introduced him to at the start-seemed to be the stupidest and never got a gold count higher than 16. Another one, Aquanoggin, seemed to be climbing higher in value at the end of each round. Silver and the last guy, Onus, usually ended with similar results to Mary, which is to say, not much. 

Five trades in and Jim had nothing higher than a seven, but he was fine with that. Bets were being placed. Greedy put twelve coins in a neat stack near the center. "I'll bet this that I win this round!" He said roughly. His mates hummed, getting ready to make their own wagers when Jim slid his coins onto the table. "I'll bet that I win." Silver raised an eyebrow, peering down at the lad beside him. Greedy chuckled and the others snickered as he leaned towards the teen. "Alright then. It's a deal, cabin boy." The others made gambles based off of the original wager and only Dogbreath and Silver made a bet in Jim's favor.

The game continued. Whenever Jim or Greedy made a trade, a smirk would be thrown in the teen's direction, to which he would maintain a stoic mien. Silver was internally surprised and impressed at Jim's calmness towards this and observed in curiosity while Morph purred on the cyborg's shoulder. Then, the thirteenth round came. Greedy smiled wickedly.

"Match," he said, leaning back, about to place his cards on the table for everyone to see. "Hold on a minute there," Jim interrupted. "I want to challenge." Greedy paused, eyes narrowing. The players exchanged whispers and glances, some raising eyebrows, waiting for Jim to continue. 

The teen took a breath. "I challenge Aquanoggin." 

Aquanoggin looked around at the other aliens before slowly putting his cards down onto the table. There showed a 10, two 8's, and a 6. Everyone else laid down their cards. Per usual, Silver, Mary, Dogbreath, and Onus had lower ranking cards, as did Jim. Greedy held two 9's, a 7, and a 2. For a minute, everyone mentally calculated the totals of the two's hands before looking at Jim who had his arms folded over his chest. 

"So..." the boy started. "If I'm not mistaken...I believe I've won."

Silence laid over the room as everyone held their mouths open in shock before Jim pulled Greedy's stack of coins toward him, passing back to Silver the coins the cyborg had lent him. The teen pocketed the money and stood up, walking to the stairs and out of the galley, everyone's heads turning to follow his leave. Quiet remained there for another moment before Silver started into peels of laughter, taking his earnings from the wager as did Dogbreath. "Now that's how you play Matchsticks, lads!" He hollered, wheezing.

Jim, now across the deck and near the steps to the crew's quarters stopped and looked back over his shoulder, listening to Silver's cries of amusement. He smiled and continued down to bed. 

Not too bad for an amateur, if he could say so himself. 

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