Chapter 11

            That night, things were looking grim, to say the least.

 

“Gentlemen,” Amelia started, obviously wanting nothing to do with me. “We must stay together and… and… ohh,” she stopped, cut off by pain.

 

“And what,” Doppler asked frantically. “What?! We must stay together and what?!”

 

“Doctor, you have wonderful eyes.”

 

“She’s lost her mind!”

 

“Well, you gotta help her,” Jim answered, almost in a pleading tone.

 

“Dang it, Jim. I’m an astronomer, not a doctor. I mean, I am a doctor, but I’m not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate. It’s not the same thing. You can’t help people with a doctorate. You just sit there and you’re useless.”

I could tell Doppler liked the captain, a lot. I felt sorry for him and wished I could have helped.

 

“It’s okay, Doc. Ember, can you help,” Jim asked.

 

“As a fifteen-year-old first mate, the best I can do is evaluate the problem. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she has two or three cracked ribs, no offence, Doctor,” I answered, sitting with my back against the wall and my knees tucked in.

 

Doppler waved off my comment with a movement of his hand.

 

“Don’t worry,” the robot known as BEN said. “Jimmy knows exactly how to get out of this. It’s just Jimmy has this knowledge of things.”

 

As it spoke, Jim walked to the opening of the shelter. I stood up and walked across the room to stand beside him.

 

“Jim, any thoughts at all,” BEN asked.

 

“Without the map, we’re dead. If we try to leave, we’re dead. If we stay here,” Jim trailed off.

 

“We’re dead! We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re dead,” Morph finished and then shied away.

 

I took him in my hands as Jim sighed again.

 

“Jim, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to help,” I whispered. “My dad’s loaded the crew up with all the weapons and he’s probably told them about my betrayal. I just… feel so useless to you.”

 

Morph whimpered in my hand and I pet him with my thumb.

 

“Well, I think that Jimmy and Emmie could use a little quiet time,” BEN said, “So I’ll just slip out the back door.”

 

Jim and I whipped around.

 

“Back door,” we repeated in unison.

 

“Oh, yeah. I get this delightful breeze through here, which I think is important because ventilation among friends-”

 

Jim and I leaned over the opening to see so much machinery that it took my breath away.

 

“Whoa. What is this stuff,” Jim asked.

”You mean the miles and miles of machinery that run through the entire course of the inside of this planet? Not a clue!”

 

“Hey, Doc! Doc! I think I found a way out of here,” Jim called.

 

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

 

“No.”

 

“If you don’t trust me, then it’d be better for you to keep me in your sight,” I argued.

 

“Fine, hurry up!”

 

“No, no, Jim, wait. The captain ordered us to stay,” Doppler started.

 

“I’ll be back,” Jim interrupted and jumped down, me and BEN right behind him.

 

We found out way to the area where the crew was camping. Everyone was in a dead sleep. We stole the longboat they had and silently made our way back onto the ship.

 

“I’ll get the map. Ember, come with me. BEN, you stay here,” Jim whispered as we went towards the bottom of the ship.

 

“I’ll go disable the laser. Aye-aye, Captain Jimmy,” the robot answered and started towards the control center.

 

“BEN, no,” Jim started to call, but stopped.

 

“I could always go with him, make sure he doesn’t screw it up,” I offered.

 

“No. You’re coming with me so I can keep an eye on you.”

 

With that, I followed Jim in the opposite direction BEN had gone. We soon ended up in the area the longboats were kept.

 

“Don’t touch anything,” Jim warned me.

 

“Aye, Captain,” I answered with a nod.

I felt an ache in my chest from his distrust in me. I knew he had good reason for it, but that didn’t make it any easier on me. Jim kept his eyes on me as we walked between the empty spaces where two longboats were once kept. He reached into a pile of rope and pulled out the map before pocketing it. We were on our way back to find BEN when an alarm sounded.

 

“No,” I whispered.

 

Jim and I ran back towards the staircase we’d come from. The alarm had stopped just seconds after it had started, but that was all that was needed to alert anyone who may be onboard of or presence.

 

“That stupid robot’s gonna get us all,” Jim started, but was cut off upon seeing Mr. Scroop at the top of the stairs.

 

“Cabin boy,” the spider said darkly.

 

Jim ran in the other direction and Scroop knocked me to the side, throwing me across the room. I shook myself off and ran after Scroop and Jim. There were barrels knocked over in the path and I knew Jim had thrown them there to slow Mr. Scroop down. I quickly made my way past them and saw Jim jump out from around the corner, aiming his loaded gun at Scroop. Suddenly, the lights went out and everything was pitch black. I held my breath and listened closely. I couldn’t hear anything but Jim’s breathing. The lights flicked on again and Mr. Scroop had disappeared. The gun was now aimed at me.

 

“Don’t shoot,” I yelled and ran over to where Jim was.

 

He turned around, aiming the gun in the other direction. While he had his back turned, Mr. Scroop started lowering from the ceiling

 

“Jim, look out,” I yelled.

 

He turned to see Scroop, but was then knocked backwards. The gun was knocked out of his hand as he landed flat on his back. I picked it up just as the artificial gravity was disabled. I turned in mid-air to see Jim kick Scroop through the wooden grate above them. They both started floating upwards and I followed after. Scroop hooked onto the main mast while Jim continued floating. I grabbed onto the ropes leading to the crow’s-nest. I was below Scroop, but couldn’t get a clear shot from where he was positioned. Jim just barely held onto the flag that was attached to the crow’s-nest. He was barely hanging onto his life. Scroop ascended the mast with ease, using his claws to hold on, and quickly made it to the crow’s-nest. I scrambled up the ropes, making sure I wasn’t going to slip off. Scroop started to saw through the rope holding the flag, Jim’s lifeline.

 

“Do say hello to Mr. Arrow,” the spider said.

 

“Tell him yourself,” I yelled and fired the gun, hitting my target.

 

Mr. Scroop started drifting upwards and Jim kicked him into the flag before grabbing onto the mast. Scroop drifted off in that flag. I let go of the gun and started up to the crow’s-nest. Just as I got up there, the artificial gravity came back on and Jim fell to the bottom of the platform. I ran over to him and helped him sit up.

 

“Are you okay,” I asked.

 

Before he could answer, Morph came out of a pipe by our heads, covered in soot, and started coughing.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jim answered and I threw my arms around him.

 

“I was afraid I was gonna lose you.”

 

Jim rubbed my back gently before standing.

 

“Laser cannons disable, Captain Jimmy, sir. See? That wasn’t so bad,” BEN called.

 

He was covered in wires. Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out the map. I breathed a sigh of relief and we began on our way back to Captain Amelia and Dr. Doppler.