Rattle The Stars

Chapter Fourteen: Mutiny

Jim led Alice through the empty galley, noting the crew had left a mess in their wake. He kept his eyes wide open as they crept toward the stairs.

“Alright,” he told Alice at the foot of the stairs. “We run for the captain’s room, and we don’t stop running until we get there. You understand?”

Alice nodded. Though her heart raced like a horse, she felt confident and free. She would do whatever needed to be done to make sure they got out of this alive.

“Alright. Go!”

Alice leapt up the stairs, but a large shadow appeared near the top.
She stopped suddenly as Silver peered down at her with wide eyes.

Jim nearly barreled her over. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, then froze as Silver studied them both.

“Jimbo? Alice?” He glanced furtively to either side, then ducked into the stairwell.

Alice backed into Jim. He pulled her down off the stairs and darted in front of her, backing with her towards one of the galley tables.

“Playing games, are we?” Silver asked, his tone gentle and teasing.

“Yeah.” Jim’s voice was low and menacing. “Yeah. We’re playing games, alright.”

“Oh, I see.” Silver rubbed his chin thoughtfully, but his cyborg arm was tucked behind his back. “Well, I was never much good at games. Always hated to lose.” Something clicked behind his back, and Alice’s eyes widened.

Jim reached back surreptitiously, feeling for something on the table behind them. Alice spotted a knife one of the aliens had left behind and slipped it into his hand.

“Hmm.” Jim beckoned Alice forward with the hand behind his back. “Me, too!”

He leapt forward suddenly and sunk the knife into the bellows of Silver’s cyborg leg.
Alice bounded past the howling cyborg and onto the galley steps, Jim close on her heels. He grabbed her arm, and together they ran for their lives across the deck and into the captain’s stateroom. Jim shut it behind them and turned the lock.

“What on earth is going on?” Captain Amelia demanded.

Dr. Doppler glanced up in alarm over his tablet. “Jim? Alice?”

“Pirates!” Alice blurted once she’d gotten a bit of breath back. “They’re pirates!”

Amelia and Doppler exchanged wide-eyed glances. The feline captain strode quickly to the windows, watching in dismay as the Legacy’s colors were struck, replaced with the black and white emblem of death, confirming Alice’s words.

“Pirates on my ship? I’ll see they all hang!” Amelia sprinted to her cabinet and shoved a cartridge into a gun. “Doctor, are you familiar with these?”

Dr. Doppler studied his weapon casually as it made a high-pitched sound. “Well, yes, I’ve seen them…read about them—“

The weapon went off abruptly, shattering Amelia’s globe.

“Um, no, no. No, I’m not,” the doctor amended.

Amelia rolled her eyes in exasperation as she pulled the map out of its locked box. Alice gasped in surprise as Morph floated up next to the golden sphere, burbling with pleasure as he studied it.

The lock on the stateroom door began to hum and glow with heat, and they all exchanged wary glances.

“Mr. Hawkins. Defend this with your life.” Amelia tossed him the map, but Morph caught it it midair and made to zoom away with it.

“No, Morphy!” Alice caught hold of the map and tugged it away, while Morph gave a little whine of defeat.

Jim took it from her and tucked it into his pocket, and they watched as Amelia blasted a hole in the floor with her own weapon.

“Get down there, everyone! Immediately!” Amelia shoved Alice toward the hole, then Jim, then the doctor, and they all dropped down into the innards of the ship. Amelia leapt deftly in front of Alice and led the way through the mazes of scaffolding, pipework and metal gratings under the ship. Alice glanced back in alarm as they heard heavy footsteps and growls behind them.

The pirates were gaining on them.

“Hurry!” Amelia called at the bottom of a flight of stairs. She held the door open as Jim, Alice and the doctor tumbled through, then slammed it against the advancing aliens and blasted the lock with her plasma gun to seal it.

“To the longboat, quickly!”

Alice realized they were in the hold. Jim tugged her down the scaffolding and helped her up into the longboat. The doctor scrambled up next, followed by Jim and the captain, who’d opened the bay door to let them out. She let out a yowl, then flipped and landed gracefully in the longboat. She cocked her weapon, just as Alice noticed a familiar pink blob descending on the globe sticking out of Jim’s pocket.

“Morphy!” Alice cried.

“Morph!” Jim yelled. “No!” He swiped at the gelatinous little scoundrel, but Morph dodged his hands and sped off with the map.

Jim leapt off the boat and onto the scaffolding.

“Jim! No, come back!” Alice cried after him, but Dr. Doppler yanked her back into the boat.

“No use in both of you losing your heads!” He scolded.

*

Jim heard the door open and heard the tell-tale sounds of plasma guns firing behind him. But his eyes were fixed on Morph and the glint of golden metal in his mouth. He chased the blob down the scaffolding. “Morph! Come here!”

Silver stepped out onto the scaffolding opposite Jim. “Morphy!” He whistled affectionately. “Come here, Morph.”

The blob glanced back and forth between Jim and Silver, his eyes happy and playful. He thought this was all a game, of course.

Jim gritted his teeth, but he put on a smile and opened his arms wide. “Bring it here, Morph! Morph, come here!”

“Come here! Give it here!” Silver growled.

They called for Morph over and over, trying to win the little blob, but eventually Morph, overwhelmed and unable to decide, dove down into a rolled up rope and disappeared.

Jim darted for the map as Silver struggled with his injured cyborg leg. He reached into the ropes and pulled out the metallic orb, then glared down at Silver.

Silver glared back at him, and Jim let some of the betrayal and anger he’d felt in the pantry come through in the venom of his gaze. Then he turned and ran for the longboat.

*

“When I give the word, you take out the forward cable,” Amelia commanded Doppler as she handed him a weapon. “I’ll take this one.”

Alice stood in the center of the longboat, watching for Jim. “Jim! Where are you?” She called.

“Now!” Amelia cried. The weapons went off, and the cables holding the longboat in the bay snapped, sending them lurching down.

“Jim!” Alice saw him make a jump for the boat. He fell just a bit too far to the side, but his hand caught the side of the longboat as they cleared the Legacy.

She clasped his arm as he dangled from the side of the boat, and though her stomach churned with the boat’s free fall into space, she held onto him with all her strength.

“Come on!” She pulled on his arm, and Dr. Doppler knelt by her side and helped haul Jim into the boat. He collapsed against Alice, his blue eyes wide with terror.

“Are you alright?” Alice asked as she helped him sit up.

“Parameters met,” Captain Amelia announced as she punched the buttons on the controls. “Hydraulics engaged!” The solar sails fanned out behind her, and the little boat began to power up.

“I’ve never been better,” Jim replied breathlessly. He held up the map with a proud smirk, and Alice breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, thank heaven for little miracles,” Dr. Doppler snarked. His eyes flashed up toward the Legacy, though, and he gasped. “Laser ball at twelve o’clock!”

Alice glanced up to see the sparking, electrified purple ball heading straight for them.

“Oh, no!”

The captain yanked the rudder, trying to maneuver them out of the way, but the ball struck the controls, barely missing the captain herself. The back of the boat erupted into flame as they careened straight toward Treasure Planet, and though she clutched her midsection, Captain Amelia gritted her teeth and manned the rudder.

“Hang on!” Jim wrapped one arm around the side of the boat and held tight to Alice with the other.

The strange trees of the planet rose up to meet them out of the mist. They avoided most of them, though Amelia was unable to avoid sailing straight through one.

As they lost altitude, Alice huddled against Jim.

“We’re going to crash, aren’t we?” She asked.

As if in response, the tip of their boat made contact with the ground, then flipped them over. Alice shut her eyes as they skidded along the ground upside down, a wail of terror escaping her as she clung to the boat—and Jim—for dear life.

Then, blessedly, they stopped. Darkness shrouded them, and Alice felt an unfamiliar weight pressing against her.

“Ow,” groaned a voice close to her ear. Then she heard a grunt, and mottled light greeted her eyes as someone tipped the boat over.

In the light, she saw what had been pressing against her—or more accurately, who.
Jim lifted his head, then pushed up on his arms and blinked down in confusion at Alice.

“Oh! Um. Are you alright?” Alice asked as her face flushed with heat.

“Whoa! Sorry.” Bright red lit up his cheeks as Jim scrambled off of her. He helped her to her feet, then tilted his head from side to side, rubbing the back of his neck. “Geez. I’ll feel this tomorrow. And the next day…and probably next week, too.”

“That was more fun than I ever want to have again,” Dr. Doppler muttered as he got up and stretched his sore muscles.

Captain Amelia, curled up near the rudder, sat up and gave a half-hearted laugh. “That’s not one of my…” she got to her feet. “More gossamer landings.” Her eyes widened, and she grasped at her rib, then toppled to her knees.

“Captain!” Dr. Doppler knelt beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Jim and Alice hurried to her side, and he and Dr. Doppler helped her up.

“Where are you hurt, Captain?” Alice asked.

“Oh…don’t fuss.” Captain Amelia swayed on her feet as she shooed Jim away, then fell back into Dr. Doppler’s arms. “Uh. A slight bruising, that’s all.” She lifted her weary frame back up, though she was slightly cross-eyed. “Cup of tea, and I’ll be right as rain.” She straightened her jacket and brushed her hair back into place as she spoke. “Mr Hawkins.” She peered at Dr. Doppler, then did a double take, squinting. Then she fixed her gaze on Jim and opened her palm. “The map, if you please.”

Jim dug in his pocket for the map, then held it in his hand with a relieved sigh. It began to float up into the air, but Alice gasped as the metallic sheen faded away, and the sphere devolved into a familiar pink blob.

“Morph!” Jim shrieked. “Where’s the map?”

Morph took the form of a pile of ropes.

“Are you serious? It’s back on the ship?!” Jim’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

Alice’s heart sank with dread. “Oh, no.”

Jim snatched at Morph, just as a soft whirring sounded nearby.

“Stifle that blob,” growled Captain Amelia, “and get low. We’ve got company.”

They hurried back to the overturned boat, and Amelia loaded her weapon, then peeked over the damaged hull as the other longboat from the ship sailed overhead.

“We need a more defensible position,” she declared. “Mr. Hawkins. Alice.” She pressed a weapon into Jim’s hands. “Scout ahead.”

“Aye, captain,” they replied in tandem.

Captain Amelia’s eyes widened, and she collapsed with a groan.

“Steady!” Doctor Doppler caught her and lowered her to the ground. “Steady.”

“Would you rather I stay and help?” Alice asked. “I’m afraid I’m not good for much except writing in the log and making tea.”

“No, no. I can handle this. I’m a doctor, after all. You go with Jim and keep him out of trouble.”

Jim scoffed. “Whatever.”

Dr. Doppler glanced back at Captain Amelia, and Alice thought she saw a new tenderness in his eyes as he gazed at her. “Now. Let’s have a look at that.”



AlyCatAuthor