Treasure Planet: The Real Treasure

Chapter 24

After jumping back through the portal, we all stopped for a second to catch our breath.

"Silver, you gave up the-" I started.

"Just a lifelong obsession, lass. I'll get over it," he answered. I raised my brow at him a little skeptically. He was trying to brush off what he'd just done as not being a huge deal, but I knew otherwise.

"Aloha, Jimmy and Ralphie," B.E.N. called as the R.L.S. Legacy pulled up beside us. "Hurry people. We got exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds till planet's destruction!"

Delbert was driving the ship, since Captain Amelia's injuries didn't permit her to move her arms very much. She sat behind him, giving him directions. I guess they had somehow managed to escape their pirate guard during all the chaos.

As Delbert directed the ship closer to us, he accidently banged it against the ground. I heard one of the pirates from inside the brig scream, "We were better off on exploding planet!"

Jim climbed onto the ship first and then reached over the side to hoist me up. We worked together to pull Silver up. As soon as Silver was on the ship, Delbert began to fly us away from the hazardous planet.

"Cap'n!" cried Silver. "Yeh dropped from teh heaven's in teh nick o' –"

"Save your claptrap for the judge, Silver!" the Captain interrupted him. Silver chuckled nervously, knowing he was in big trouble once we got out of there.

We were making good pace away from the planet when a flying chunk of metal crashed into the mast above. It broke and fell down on deck, bringing part of the solar sail with it and breaking a lot of metal and machinery. The ship started to slow down and lose altitude.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Mizzen sail demobilized, Captain!" B.E.N. informed us, looking at a database of the ship's current condition. "Thrusters at only thirty percent of capacity!"

"Thirty percent!" Delbert gasped, turning to face Amelia who looked at him worriedly. "That means...we'll never clear the planet's explosion in time."

I sucked in my breath as the state of our situation sunk in. I turned to look at Jim, but found he had run to the observation deck and was looking back towards the portal. He turned back to look at one of the thrusters now lying uselessly on deck. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he came up with a plan.

"We've got to turn around!" he said, leaping down the stairs.

"What?" Amelia asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"There's a portal back there!" Jim called, rushing toward the broken machinery on deck. "It can get us out of here!"

"Pardon me, Jim, but didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?" Delbert shouted hysterically.

"Yes," Jim grunted, ripping a piece of damaged metal from the side of the ship. "But I'm going to change that. I'm going to open a different door."

"Captain, really, I-I just don't see how this is –"

"Listen to the boy!" Silver interrupted the Doctor.

"One minute twenty nine seconds 'til planet's destruction!" B.E.N. hollered. I looked over the side of the ship and back at the portal. Everything was falling apart and fire was shooting out of the ground haphazardly. I looked back towards Jim who was trying to connect the thruster to the piece of metal with a rope.

"What do yeh need, Jim?" Silver asked him.

"Just some way to attach this," he answered.

"All right. Stand back. Stand back now!" Silver turned his hand into a blowtorch and welded the make-shift board and thruster together. He and Jim carefully lifted it so that it was balancing on the ship's railing. Jim appraised it for a second before turning to me.

He came over so that he was standing right in front of me. I looked down at my feet. I'm not sure why, but I guess I just didn't know what to say to him. He took my chin in his hand and gently lifted my face. We just stared at each other, understanding flowing between our eyes.

"Come back," I whispered.

"I will," he said. He spun around and jumped up onto the makeshift solar surfer.

"Okay, now no matter what happens, keep the ship headed straight for that portal!" he insisted, staring Silver straight in the eye. He looked at me again, and I wasn't exactly sure, but I thought I saw fear in his eyes, though I don't think he was scared for himself.

"Fifty eight seconds!" B.E.N. shouted. The look in his eyes changed into one of determination. Then he looked away and pressed the ignition on his board. He shot off the ship towards the portal as I stood staring after him.

"Well yeh heard him!" Silver roared, turning around toward the Captain and Doctor. "Get this blasted heap turned 'round!" He made a dramatic motion with his arm. Captain Amelia gave him a slightly surprised look at his tone, but then ordered Delbert to go back to the portal.

"Aye Captain," Delbert said as he spun the wheel, turning the ship back towards the flaming inferno. I leaned over the rail, staring at Jim, not daring to take my eyes off of him. Pieces of metal would shoot out from every direction right in front of him, and I was so scared he would crash into one. But his quick reflexes and the adrenaline no doubt pumping through his blood allowed him to dodge every one of them and continue heading straight for the portal. My heart was beating so fast, I'm sure it would burst out of my chest.

Silver came to stand beside me as I watched Jim.

"He'll be alright lass," he told me reassuringly.

I didn't answer, but I smiled at him for still being there when I needed him.

"He'll be alright," Morph mimicked before nuzzling my cheek and floating above my shoulder. Morph could always make me smile, but it was a strained one this time, mixed with worry.

"Down to the right! The right!" Amelia snapped at Delbert as he hurried to keep up with her demands.

"I know! I know! Will you just let me drive?" he shouted, effectively silencing her.

Under different circumstances I would have laughed, but I was too focused on Jim.

Suddenly, Jim started falling. His engine wasn't working anymore. He disappeared into a chasm.

"Jim," I whispered, my mind not fully grasping his predicament.

As we drew closer to the portal and Jim still hadn't surfaced, I couldn't keep my anguish in any longer.

"JIM!" I screamed, tears threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Come on, lad!" Silver hissed through clenched teeth. Morph covered his eyes, too afraid to keep watching.

"Seventeen seconds!" B.E.N. yelled from the helm.

When we soared over the chasm, I finally saw Jim shoot out of it and towards the portal. I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then B.E.N. started counting down the seconds we had left.

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Three!"

"Two!"

Jim!