I want to apologize bc i realized Billy Bones was actually a salamander after reading the script of the movie. I will change that in the chapters before soon.
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You waited until you reached the kitchen to let out your frustration by shouting at Jim and Delbert as they complained about the captain's way of maintaining order.
"That--that feline! Whom does she think is working for whom ?!" Delbert exclaimed.
"It's my map, and she's got me here bussin' tables!" Jim complained.
"Your map? Let's not forget who it really belongs to. I can't argue with her because she's right! She's seemingly right all the time!" You threw your hands up. "And that annoys me! I just want to-"
You felt a sudden push behind you and a tall shadow shroud your bodies. Arrow's voice shook your eardrums as he spoke crossly, "I will not tolerate a cross word about our captain! There's no finer officer in this or any galaxy."
You scowled at the floor before raising your head when you heard a cheery whistling noise coming from the dark end of the kitchen. A large figure stood hunched overon the left side seemingly chopping ingredient.
"Mr. Silver," Arrow declared loudly.
The figure rose and came into view. The first thing you noticed was his giant nose that toothy grin that didn't seem to match his upbeat personality.
"Why, Mr. Arrow, sir!" Mr. Silver paused his chopping and wiped his hands on his apron and smiled cheerfully. He spoke his words with nasal sounds and it made you wonder if it was fake. You feel like you've heard it before. "Bringin' in such fine and distinguished gents and a lady to grace my humble galley." He bowed dramatically. "Had l known, I'd have tucked in me shirt!" He chuckled cheerfully and tucked his apron in his pants, which was an odd thing to do.
You were more perturbed to see his right arm and entire shoulder was made of automail, including a large portion of his leg. His forearm was large and contained many utensils from what you could see. His right eye was replaced with a golden that moved wildly as controlled metal gears and screws whirred and clicked on the side of Silver's head. You heard Jim gasp and mutter "Cyborg".
"May I introduce Dr. Doppler? The financier of our voyage," Arrow declared.
"Love the outfit, doc." Silver smiled and pointed a red laser from his robot eye and examined Delbert who was froze momentarily from shock.
"Well, thank you. Um, love the eye," Delbert replied and doubled over to cover his lower half of the body in embarrassment. He looked at you, Jim and Stygian and pulled Jim in front of him. "This is Jim Hawkins!"
"Ah! Jimbo!" Mr. Silver stepped forward and held out his hand which he switched from his huge forearm and produced weapons on each finger. He feigned shock and switched back to his normal fingers. Jim only glared at his arm and then at Silver. Silver grinned, unphased and rubbed Stygian's little cheek and gave him a fish biscuit.
You nervously pulled your jacket sleeve over your hand and stepped forward, "Hello." You introduced yourself by your real name with a friendly grin and held out your hand. If you hadn't been so close to him, you probably wouldn't have noticed him blink back shock, and his eye narrowed ever so slightly. You lowered your arm slightly and your friendly smile wavered nervously. "Ah, what's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"Maybe, I have," you heard him mutter. Silver kept his eyes unblinkingly on yours and, slowly and hesitantly, took your smaller hand. His eyes flickered down to your hands joined together, then looked up again and smiled, but you saw a whole different emotion hidden in his expression--something like fear and confusion. "Nice to meet you, lass. This your first time on a ship?"
You noted the oddness of his tone when he asked you the question as well as the question itself. You replied calmly, "No. I've been on a ship before."
Silver hummed and leaned back with an inquisitive look. "I see. Say, do you have any family members that might have similar features as your lovely ones?"
You stared back at him, nonplussed. You never expected these bizarre questions and it made you wary for the next time he were to ask you more similarly odd questions. You glanced at Jim for guidance, but he and Stygian only shrugged. You turned back to Silver and tried to answer with downcast eyes. You chuckled haphazardly. "Ah...I don't think so. I'm afraid to say I have none."
Silver's frown deepened sympathetically. "Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, lass." He chuckled softly and facepalmed. "I must be gettin' old that I keep seein' old friends' faces in new ones!" He turned around and went into his kitchen to prepare a meal. He hummed as he sliced galactic shellfish and vegetables using his tool hand. He pretended to chop his other hand and then revealed he had hidden it in his sleeve. He threw all the ingredients into a big pan.
"These gears have been tough getting used to," He explained as he juggled three blue spotted eggs and cracked them into the pot. "But they do come in mighty handy from time to time." He switched his hand to a hot flame and cooked the pan. He threw the ingredients in a huge pot in the middle of the kitchen and served threw bowls after tasting.
"Here, have some of me famous bonzabeast stew," shoved a bowl into each of your hands.
You looked down at the lumpy brown substance before you. You've never heard of bonzabeast stew before, and you were starting to wonder if it was just random ingredients thrown into a pot. You were about to try a spoonful when you heard a startled yell come from Delbert. He had found an eye in his stew and his face was mortified.
"In fact, that was part of the old family!" You heard a cackle as Silver went over to him and plucked the eyeball from his stew and popped it in his mouth. He went over to Jim and encouraged him to take a bite, but you saw the disgust on Jim's face.
You widened your eyes and looked down at your stew and looked at the floor where Stygian looked up at you panting happily. With no one looking, you quickly placed the bowl underneath the table and watched Stygian devour the whole thing.
You looked up in time to see Jim's spoon turn into a slimy pink creature that panted happily like a dog. It chirped happily and wagged its end.
"Morph!" Silver said endearingly. "You jiggle-headed blob of mischief. So that's where you was hiding!"
The little creature, apparently called Morph, morphed into a straw and slurped up the contents of Jim's bowl. It raised its head soporifically and belched before flying up to rub Jim's cheek affectionately and chirped.
"Augh. Wha-what is that thing.?" Jim asked and held a hand up to prevent Morph from touching him. Morph mimicked Jim in a high pitched voice. Jim went to poke it, but upon the first touch, Morph scattered his body and morphed into a miniature Jim and landed on his finger.
You went over to Jim and furrowed you brow as you examined his little body. Stygian jumped on the table, curious of the new little creature, and bleated at it. Morph floated down to meet Stygian and chirped.
" He's a...a morph!" Silver explained, "rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus."
Morph shifted back to his original body chirped at you with and rubbed your cheek affectionately. You giggled at the ticklish feeling of his body on your skin and raised your fingers to touch him. His body made an indent wherever your finger was and the rest of him seemed to melt or float on the sides. It feels like you were touching air.
"Really?" You said to Silver. "I rescued my Stygian as well. Though I don't remember where exactly."
Morph chirped and zoomed over to Silver and the two rubbed each other's faces affectionately. Silver said, "Aw, he took a shine to me. We been together ever since."
You were taken aback at the duo who seemed to have similar bubbly personalities except something seemed off about Silver. You heard the bell toll above you and you raised your head.
Arrow cleared his throat and said, "We're about to get underway. Would you like to observe the launch, doctor?"
"Would I?" Delbert said enthusiastically. "Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?"
Arrow stared at him. Delbert looked embarrassed. "I'll follow you."
You looked around for Stygian and told him to come along when Arrow said, "Mr. Hawkins and Ms. Read will stay in your charge, Mr. Silver."
You widened your eyes and looked at Silver as he began to take a sip of his stew. Upon hearing Arrow, he spit it out and coughed. "Beggin' your pardon, sir, but--"
"Captain's orders! See to it the new cabin boys are kept busy." He ended the last word full of hatred and turned away.
You didn't really have a problem cooking or cleaning much, only that being ordered around so roughly made you almost quake in anger. Silver and Jim began to stutter and complain, but finally gave up once Arrow disappeared from view. You heard them sigh in unison.
"So," you heard Silver say and you turned around to face him. He began to circle you both and turned his head to peek a glance at you both. "Captain's put you all with me, eh?"
"Stygian doesn't take orders from you," you said coldly. Stygian bleated at Silver from underneath the tables.
Silver shrugged and walked forward and raised his sleeves to chop some vegetables. "Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain?"
You scowled at his direction and turned to face Jim. " He's a cyborg," you whispered and folded your arms. "What if he's the one the old salamander was talking about?"
He looked over at the barrel of purps. "We have him cornered and I have an idea." He plucked a purp from the barrel and eyed Silver as he balanced the purple fruit in his hands. You frowned. What was he going to do with the purp? Throw it at him?
Jim said, "You know, these purps--they're kind of like the ones back home..on Montressor. You ever been there?"
You stood by and picked up a purp yourself and watched for Silver's reaction. He continued to chop potatoes nonchalantly. He said as if he were only half-listening to what Jim was saying. "I...can't say I have, Jimbo."
You watched as Jim slid onto the counter and took a bite of his purp. "Come to think of it, just before l left, l met this old guy who was, um, he was kind of looking for a cyborg buddy of his."
"Is that so?"
Maybe it because you're so suspicious of him, but it seems as if Silver is trying too hard to sound normal and calm. You felt helpless, so you decided to chime in.
You walked over to Jim and gave him a knowing look and said, "I believe his name was Billy. Right, Jim?" Jim nodded.
He gave you a strange look, as if you said something ridiculous. It was onlu after he spoke that you remembered never actually hearing the old salamander's name. "Yeah," Jimsaid, "Bones. Billy Bones."
"Bones?" Silver echoed as he dumped hot dirty dishwater into a pot. "Bones?" He enunciated the O in the name. "Hmm. T'ain't ringin' any bells. Must have been a different cyborg." He carried the dirty pot over to Jim and flicked his finger to dry off the water from his hands. "There's a slew of cyborgs roamin' this port."
At that moment, a whistle blew and Arrow's thundering voice shouted an order.
Silver chuckled and pushed you and Jim away from the counters. "Eh, off with you, younguns and watch the launch. There'll be plenty of work a-waitin' for you afterwards."
You took one last look at Silver as he began to prepare another meal. You whistled to Stygian and he began to scamper up the stairs ahead of you. You walked alongside Jim and elbowed him gently once you were outside. "Nice. We totally had him. He definitely sounded suspicious, don't you think?"
Jim put his hands in his pockets and glanced at the kitchen entrance. "Yeah, he did. Hey, and what was that about when he asked you those questions?"
You shrugged. "I don't know. But I have a sneaking suspicion he's not who he says he is. There's something weird going on, Jim."
"SET LOOSE SAILS!" Arrow ordered.
You and Jim looked up to see all the sails being opened at once. You and he were elbowed roughing by a crewmate pulling a rope and he growled before returning to work. You looked at the sky and noticed the tops of the buildings were moving away and ran over to the rails and looked down. Sure enough, the ship had begun to rise and suck in energy from the sun.
Stygian suddenly flew up and you watched as he did circles in the air. You smiled at his happiness.
"Hey!"
You whipped around to see Jim pointing above at the yardarms "How about a better view from up here?"
"Couldn't have figured it out myself," you said with a smile and ran over to him. You suddenly felt yourself feeling light and you looked down at your feet and saw you were beginning to float. Jim was also floating and his hair was flying up. "Woah! Jim, look!" you said, laughing.
The artificial anti-gravity must have been set because seconds later, you found yourself on your feet again and running towards Jim. "Race you to the top?"
"I won't lose this time!"
You both ran to the nearest ratline and began to climb the yardarms just as full speed was ordered. You both clung to the yardarms and ratlines and laughed and climbed higher. You rested your feet on the yardarms and turned around so you faced endless space. The wind blew hard in your faces and you closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling. It was comforting and it reminded you of why you loved sailing.
You heard Jim calling you to open your eyes. When you did, you saw before you a herd of some sort of galactic whales. You gasped as one neared the ship by several feet. You reached your hand out and pretended to be touching it when it suddenly swam away from the ship.
"First time on a ship?" You asked Jim.
"Yeah!" Jim shouted enthusiastically. "This is thrilling. No wonder you sailed a lot."
You chuckled at his comment but then faltered momentarily as your thoughts brought you back to your ship before crashing. It feels like you forgot one little detail, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. You were suddenly distracted by a baby whale as it neared curiously to the ship. You smiled and outstretched your arm as if to touch it, but then it swam away as its mother called it.
You saw a black blue zoom past your vision and Stygian came to view as he flew with the herd. You gasped and cupped your hand over your mouth and called out to him. "Don't fly too far, Stygian! You'll get lost!"
You spent several more minutes watching the herd until they all disappeared far ahead.Then, you just spent time watching the sky and you named some figures you saw by connecting the stars. After a while, you looked over at Jim with an uncontrollable smile. "We should head back down. Remember what Silver said about the heavy workload."
Jim rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine."
He began his descent first before you climbed down after him. You had both landed on the rails, still mesmerized by the sky when you heard Silver's voice call you in a cheery voice. You both turned to see Silver with his hands behind his back.
"I've got someone I'd like ye to meet!" He exclaimed.
You looked around the deck but saw it was mostly empty and no one was near Silver's side.
You jumped down. "There's no one-" you began but you were suddenly thrown a mop and bucket. Your back hit the rail as you stepped back and caught the objects.
"Meet Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket!" Silver chuckled to himself.
You opened your mouth in shock and looked to see Jim still on the railings with the objects hanging from his hands.
"Yippee," he said discouragingly.
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