Thousands of feet in the air, with the wind blowing through her hair, 18-year-old Claire closed her eyes as she began to fall...free fall. This was freedom...this was bliss. A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she picked up speed, and plummeted towards the ground. Seconds from what was sure to be her demise, she stomped her heel on a little button that started the thrusters on her solar surfer, and barely escaped her own undoing.
"WWOOHOO!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Solar-surfing was her escape from life and all of her problems. Unfortunately, it didn't last forever, and she didn't get to do it as often as she would like. Her mom owned a bed and breakfast and took up most of her time with busy work as an unpaid employee. She suspected it was mostly for the purpose of keeping her out of trouble, but that only made her want to rebel even more.
Claire noticed how much time had passed, and noted that the school assembly would be over by now.
"All good things must come to an end at some point." She muttered.
She was on her way back to school when she heard an all too familiar siren behind her.
*WOOP-WOOP*
"Oh great..." She muttered under her breath.
Back at the Benbow Inn, Claire's mother, Sarah, was running all over the place trying to tend to the customers.
"Oh, Mrs. Hawkins!" An old lady, of an octopus-alien species was impatiently waving her cup at Sarah.
"I know, refill on the perp juice, coming right up ms. Dunwoodie." She assured as she carried trays of food to a table.
"There we go, that's four powdered sphere-oids, two lunar eclipses, and it's a big bowl of Zerelian jellyworms for the big boy. Enjoy!"
She then made her way over to Delbert Doppler, an old family friend. Delbert was an astrophysicist, looking the part with his round glasses and ascot, and was of the "canine" species.
"Sorry Delbert, ugh, it's been a madhouse here all morning." She apologized as she placed his favorite breakfast down in front of him.
"No problem Sarah. Ah my alponian chowder with the extra celara seed...mmmm, yum!"
After a moment, Delbert started a conversation. "So uh, how's Claire doing?"
"Much better...I know she had some rough spots earlier this year, but I really think she's starting to turn a corner."
As soon as she finished saying that, the inn door burst open to reveal Claire with an ashamed look on her face, and a robo-cop on each side of her. In an electronic voice, the robocop spoke as it pushed Claire inside.
"Mrs. Hawkins..."
"CLAIRE!" Sarah shouted in surprise at what unfolded before her.
"Ooh, wrong turn." Delbert whispered as he covered his face in embarrassment for Sarah.
"...We apprehended your daughter operating a solar vehicle around the mines during school hours. An act of truancy and tresspassing."
The other robocop continued. "Moving violation- 6-2-4, section fifteen, paragraph...um.."
Claire sighed as she had heard this a thousand times and knew the answer.
"Three."
"Thank you..." One of them said in an irritated voice.
"As you are aware ma'am, this constitutes a violation of her probation."
"Yes, I-uh, yes."
"We have impounded her vehicle, any more slip-ups will result in a one-way ticket to Juvenile Hall."
"Kiddie hoosegow."
"The slammo."
"Thank you, officers..." Sarah shot a look at Claire. "...it won't happen again."
"We see her type all the time ma'am...wrong choice-ers."
"Dead enders."
"Losers...you take care now."
"Let's motor."
With those...less than encouraging words, the officers left.
Sarah turned to her daughter, clear frustration in her tired eyes.
"Claire! I. have. had it. Do you want to go to Juvenile Hall? Is that it?"
Claire avoided eye contact with her mother and walked away to start taking care of the dishes on the tables.
"Claire....Claire, look at me. It's been hard enough keeping this place afloat by myself without you..."
Claire interrupted her. "Mom, it's no big deal...there was a dumb assembly at school and there was nobody around the mine...those cops just won't get off my..."
She stopped when she saw the look that her mom gave her.
"...forget it." She muttered more to herself than anything.
"Oh, Mrs. Hawkins! My JUUIICE!" Ms. Dunwoodie cut in.
"Yes, I'll be right there Ms. Dunwoodie...Claire, I just don't want to see you throw away your entire future."
"Heh, what future?" She said in a defeated tone as she continued to clear the tables.
Later that night, despite the light rain storm, Claire did what she always did when she wanted to be alone...she sat on the roof. As she sat, she could hear her mom and Delbert talking through the window, and she listened as she bounced rocks off the tiles.
"I really don't know how you manage it Sarah...trying to run a business while raising a mess...mess...miss. A miss like Claire."
"Manage? I'm at the end of my rope. Ever since her father left, well...Claire's just never recovered. And you know how smart she is...she built her first solar-surfer when she was eight! And yet, she is failing at school, she is constantly in trouble, and when I talk to her...she's like a stranger to me. I just-I don't know Delbert, I've tried everything..."
Claire was saddened by her mother's words, but her attention was directed elsewhere when she heard the sound of a ship engine sputtering. She looked up to see a one-man spaceship crash land on the port in front of the inn. Concerned, she slid off the roof and ran over to see if whoever was inside was okay.
"Hey! Are-are you alright in there?!"
Claire jumped back when out of nowhere a reptilian-clawed hand smacked up against the window. She watched in anticipation, and the next thing she knew, the mysterious man's fists were wrapped in the collar of her shirt as he pulled her close to his face.
In a raspy voice, the old reptile spoke to her.
"He's a-comin'! Can ya' hear him?"
He got closer.
"Those gears and gyros clickin' and whirrin'...like the devil himself!"
"Hit your head there pretty hard, didn't you?"
The old reptile backed up and picked up a small chest and held it close.
"He's after me chest...that fiendish cyborg and his band of cutthroats. But they'll have to pry it...from old Billy Bones' cold, dead fingers 'afore I--arg!"
Bones fell into a coughing fit and grasped his throat in an attempt to ease the pain.
Claire's eyes widened at the sight of him struggling so much, and she knew that she had to help him.
"Oh, my--uh...come on, give me your arm."
Claire went beside the old man and placed his arm around her shoulders, using herself as support for the ill reptile as they headed towards the Benbow Inn.
"That's it." She encouraged.
"Good lass." He managed to whisper in between coughs.
"Mom's gonna love this." She muttered to herself as they trudged through the now heavy rain.
Sarah looked out the window at the heavy thunderstorm and switched the holo-curtains to a sunny meadow, as she didn't need the additional drearyness that the storm offered.
"Thanks for listening Delbert..."
She sat down at the table with a huge sigh and rested her hand on her forehead.
"...It helps."
Delbert noticed how distressed Sarah was, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's going to be okay...you'll see."
"I keep dreaming that one day I'll open that door..."
She picked up the locket around her neck and opened it to reveal a holograph slideshow of Claire at different ages, happy and innocent.
"...and there she'll be, just the way she was...a smiling, happy little girl, holding a new pet....and begging me to let her keep it."
Delbert looked at her with sympathetic eyes as he opened the door to the inn to start his trip home. Thunder sounded and lightning struck as the storm raged on. The flash of lightning lit up the shadow in the doorway, and Sarah was shocked at what was revealed. Claire seemed to be dragging something...or someone up to the door.
"CLAIRE SERENITY HAWKINS! What in..."
Claire stepped into the inn, and gently placed bones on the ground.
"Mom! He's hurt...bad."
With fading breaths, Billy pointed to the mysterious chest that he had been so protectively clutching this entire time.
"Me chest, lass."
Claire pushed it into his shakey outstretched hand, and watched as he put in a code to open it.
"He'll be comin' soon...can't let them find this!" He said as he removed something round that was carefully wrapped in cloth.
"Whose coming?" Claire asked.
Billy pulled her down to him and placed the well-kept secret in her hands. Then, with the remaining strength he possessed, he whispered his final words in her ear. "The Cyborg!" He gasped for air. "Beware the cyborg..."
Claire stared at him as his hand went limp and fell to the ground...he was dead.
Before anyone could grasp what just happened, they were interrupted by the sound of an engine, and a bright spotlight shining through the window. Claire hopped up and slightly opened the shutters to the window to see who was out there. As she peeked out, all she could see were menacing figures covered by the darkness of night, and they were moving in on the Benbow.
"QUICK! We gotta go!" She shouted as she grabbed her mom by the arm and pulled her upstairs.
Delbert, who currently still stood by the door, finally saw the urgency of the situation when he was almost hit by a laser that shot clean through the wood.
"I believe I'm with Claire on this one!" He announced as he sprinted up the stairs behind them. He ran straight to the window and pushed it open to see if his pet was still there.
"Delilah! Deeelilah!"
Delilah was the sweet, little, bipedal speed demon that pulled Delbert's coach.
"Stay! Don't move!" He instructed.
"WHERE IS IT?!!"
Claire flinched as she heard the intense and wrathful voice of a man from downstairs echo through the building. Her breathing quickened and she was almost stuck in a trance-like state as she watched a sudden burst of flames start to engulf the walls.
"FIND IT!" The same man from before snarled.
The obsession and authority in the man's voice brought her back to the moment at hand as she saw the shadows of their intruders make their way up the stairs. Crud, they had to get out of there...now.
She saw how Delbert and Sarah were a bit skittish at the idea of jumping out the second-floor window, and she rushed over to assist.
"Don't worry Sarah..." He said climbing onto the windowsill. "...I'm an expert in the laws of physical science. On the count of three...One-"
"Three!" Claire shouted as she jumped out the window and dragged Delbert and Sarah with her.
They landed in Delbert's coach perfectly.
"GO DELILAH, GO!"
And like that, they were off and headed towards Delbert's mansion.
Claire watched her mom as she stared back in horror as everything they'd ever known became entirely enveloped in the flames. She, of course, blamed herself for everything that just happened. Claire was filled with shame and couldn't bear to make herself look at her devastated mother, so she looked down at her lap instead.
In her hands sat the mysterious item that started this whole thing, and if she was being honest, she had kind of forgotten about it during that whole mess. She found herself growing increasingly curious as to what could possibly be worth protecting until death, and now was as good a time as any to see what was worth all that trouble. She carefully took hold of the fabric and pulled the cloth off of the item. Her eyebrows furrowed and she was intrigued at what she was holding...all of this chaos and violence over a little bronze ball with strange markings on it.
The group now sat in the cozy study in Delbert's mansion, each of them slightly separated as they came down from the emotional event they had just survived. Delbert had just ended a phone call and approached Sarah to discuss it.
"I just spoke with the constabulary, those blaggard pirates have fled without a trace. I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm afraid the old Benbow Inn has burned to the ground."
Claire wanted to comfort her devastated mom, but she couldn't even begin to figure out what to say, and she couldn't get rid of the feeling that her mother would blame her for all of this anyway. Why wouldn't she? It was all her fault after all....
Delbert looked over at the ball and observed it for a moment.
"Ahem. Well, certainly a lot of trouble over that odd little sphere. Those markings baffle me..."
Claire went over to the sphere and started to mess with it. As her fingers explored, she noticed that it almost seemed like a puzzle of some sort, with various buttons and sections that turned and twisted. The more she fiddled with it, the easier it became to figure out, and she smiled at the progress she was making.
"...unlike anything I've ever encountered.." The astrophysicist went on.
The sphere started to beep and whir.
"...even with my vast experience and superior intellect, it would take me years to unlock its--hey!"
Delbert was interrupted when the sphere opened up and released millions of small green lights that flew around them. The mesmerizing whisps of light danced around the room until they formed a huge holographic map of the entire etherium.
Delbert's mouth hung open as he realized what exactly this guarded treasure they found really was.
"Why, it's a map!" he shouted as he practically skipped into the middle of it.
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait! This is us," He stated as he pointed to a small planet that floated only a few feet away from them.
"The planet Montressor." He slowly reached toward the holograph, and as soon as he touched it, the entire map began to shift through the etherium.
Delbert face beamed at what he was seeing, he was like a kid in a candy shop as he pointed out the various things he saw. "That's the Magenellic Cloud! Whoo! The Coral Galaxy! That's the Cygnus Cross! And that's the Kerian Abyss!"
The map slowed to a stop when it came to a large planet with two crossing rings around it.
"Wait, what's this? What's this? Why, it's-it's-"
Claire stared up at the planet in astonishment, she knew exactly what that was.
"Treasure planet..."
Delbert was just as shocked as Claire. "No..."
Claire nodded her head in confirmation...she knew this planet well as she had read the book on it thousands of times. "That's treasure planet!"
"Flint's trove? The loot of a thousand worlds?!" Delbert said. "Do you know what this means?"
Claire looked at the sphere in her hands and grinned. "It means that all that treasure is only a boat ride away."
Delbert was ecstatic at the potential that this held. If he could be the one to discover it, he would become the most famous Astrophysicist to ever exist. "Whoever brings it back would hold an eternal place atop the pantheon of explorers. He'd be able to experience-"
Claire shut the orb and caused the entire holo-map to suddenly disappear from before them.
"Whoo! What just happened?" Delbert yelped, somewhat startled by the sudden change in atmosphere.
Claire rushed over to her mother.
"Mom! This is it...this is the answer to all our problems!"
"Claire, there is absolutely no way-"
"Don't you remember, all those stories?" Claire tried to remind her mom of the potential that this held for them.
"That's all they were, stories!"
"With all that treasure, we could rebuild the Benbow a hundred times over!"
"Well, this is--it's just--oh my. Delbert, would you please explain how ridiculous this is?" Sarah was desperate to discourage her daughter from chasing this pipe dream.
"It's totally preposterous...you're a young lady, traversing the entire galaxy alone...it's dangerous."
"Now, at last, we hear some sense!"
Claire rolled her eyes, of course he would take her side.
"That's why I'm going with you!" He said as he grabbed a bag to pack his things.
Sarah was flabbergasted at what she was witnessing. Was she really the only person here with a lick of sense in her mind?
"DELBERT!"
"I'll use my savings to finance the expedition. I'll commission a ship, hire a captain and crew."
"You're not serious?" She asked as she watched him run around and stuff things into his bag.
"All my life I've been waiting for an opportunity like this...and here it is screaming..." He put his bag on the ground and started doing a corny dance. "...GO, DELBERT! GO, DELBERT!"
"Okay, OKAY! You're both grounded!" Sarah sighed as she couldn't allow this to go on.
Claire saw the look on her mom's face and the worry that it held. She needed to do this...she had to make things up to her.
"Mom...look. I know that I keep messing everything up, and I know.....that I let you down...all the time."
Claire looked at the ground and closed her eyes for a moment as she thought about everything that she put her mom through. "...But, this is my chance to make it up to you...I'm gonna set things right."
Sarah looked at her daughter and pondered what she said, but was still hesitant to even consider this.
"Ahem...um..Sarah. If I may?" Delbert said, as he gestured for her to come over to him, so they could talk in private.
"You said yourself, you've tried everything. There are much worse remedies, than a few character-building months in space." He encouraged.
"Are you saying this because it's the right thing..." She gave him a teasing grin. "...or because YOU really want to go?"
"I really, really, really, REALLY want to go....and it's the right thing."
Sarah pressed her lips together as she realized that he was right, and then she walked over to her daughter and looked into her eyes.
"Claire....I don't wanna lose you." She confessed as she caressed her daughter's face.
"Mom, you won't...I'm gonna make you proud." She grinned.
The two of them embraced, and Sarah held her daughter with ferocity. "Just...be careful." She whispered.
Delbert approached the young woman. "We'll begin preparations immediately. Claire, before you know it...we'll be off to the spaceport." He said with a smile as he pointed to the crescent moon in the sky.