Winds of the Etherium

B.E.N.

Jim POV

"HOLD YOUR FIRE WE'LL LOSE THE MAP!" I hear Silver shout just before a laser hits the end of the ship and we free fall to the planet below. 

After i can pretty much feel my legs -and the pieces of broken rib- I stand up to push the boat off of the four of us.

I look around expecting to see three other people around me but i only see Doc and The Captain. "Gail?" I whisper as doc and the captain get their bearings.

Doc slowly gets up to his feet. "oh my goodness that was more fun than I ever want to have again!"

The Captain chuckles and starts to do the same "not one of my most gossamer landings.." She says before collapsing to the ground.

"Captain!" Doc says and rushes over 

"oh, don't fuss. slight bruising. Thats all. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain." The captain reassures Doc with a wave of her hand, "Mr. Hawkins, the map if you please."

I look over at the woman from where I was glancing hoping to spot Gail in the wreckage of our get away ship. "yeah sure thing" I say pulling the map out of my pocket, it rose up out of my hand, seeming like it was going to open, but then transforming into the one thing i didn't want to see in its place. Morph.

"hahdhhahahaha!" Morph laughs

"morph? MORPH! Where is the map!" I yell, Morph turned into the pile of rope indicating that it was back on the ship. "SERIOUS! ITS BACK ON THE SHIP!?" Morph began to swarm around my head and I try and grab him.

"Stifle that blob and get low." the captain says looking up, I look up too, seeing another escape ship flying down to the planet. "we've got company." 

we duck behind the ship that is now turned on its side. 

"We need a more defensible position. Mr. Hawkins, scout ahead." The Captain said handing me a blaster

I take the blaster nervously and look up at her.

"Aye Captain." I turn away from Doc who was dressing The Captain wounds slowly, 

"I need to get back to that ship, I need to find Gail."

me and Morph wondered around for a little, trying to find a place to rest. We walked into the covered forest with mushrooms for trees, it wasn't too far from The Captain and Doc. We hiked around, morph keeping an eye out for a good resting spot. Just as we were about to move on I hear a wrestling in the bush next to us. I shush morph in hopes to get the upper hand on whatever was in this shrub,

"AHHHH!" someone yells as they jump out in front of me

"AHHHH!" I yell back as they tackle me

"Oh This Is Fantastic!" a, what looks like, a metal man yells as he sits on top of me. "a Carbon-based life form come to rescue me at last!" he pinches my nose and pulls my chin down. they throw up their arms and I try and escape. "I just wanna hug ya and squeeze ya!" they continue picking my up into a hug and carrying me into the air. "and hold you close to me!"

"alright ok. Would you let go of me!?" I say standing up but the man wraps his arms and legs around me,

"oh, sorry! sorry! It's just," The bot says placing his arm around my shoulder. "I've been marooned for so long. I mean, solitudes fun. Don't get me wrong. For heavens sakes, after 100 years, YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!" the metal man continues as his head seems to pop. "I'm sorry. Am I... I am um... my name is, uh..." the bot seems to be wracking his brain for his name. 

I look over at morph and he transformed into a littler version of the bot with a bird flying out of his head. "CoOCoO! CoOCoO!" I tap Morph on the head to get him to stop.

"BEN! Of course Im B.E.N.! BioElectronic Navigator!" ben hits the compass on his chest and it begins to fall out. "oops! and you are?" the bot- ben says sticking out his hand.

"Jim." I say "listen I'm looking for a girl, about yay high, brown curly hair."

"Oh, what a pleasure to meet you Jimmy!" Ben responds grabbing my hand and shaking it even though i didn't offer it.

"Its Jim." I respond peeling his hand from mine

"anyway, no I haven't seen anyone but you around here Jimmy!"

"Look I'm kinda in a hurry, ok? Im looking for my friend, I gotta find a place to hide, and there are pirates chasing after me." I say trying to walk away from the overly enthusiastic ben.

"OH! PIRATES! Don't get me started on pirates!" Ben says very dramatically. "I don't like em! I remember captain Flint! This guy has such a temper!" 

I turn at the name flint, "wait! wait! you knew captain flint?!" I say practically tripping over to the bot. 

"I think he suffered from mood swings personally. Im not a therapist in anyway, but I... You let me know when I'm rambling!" Ben continues to talk

"but that means... But then wait! That means you gotta know, about the treasure!"

"the treasure..?"

"Yeah, Flints trove? You know? loot of a thousand worlds?"

"its well- Its-It-it-its-its all a l-l-l-l-little - fuzzy... Wait!... I-I-I re-re-member... I do- I- TREASURE! LOTS OF TREASURE-reasure.. BUrried in the c-c-c-centroid-CENTROID-centroid! of the mechanism! and there was this BIG door! opening! and closing! and opening! and closing! and captain flint wanted to make sure no one could ever get to his treasure so I helped him! i-jda-kda-jfaie-i-i-ja-ahh! DATA INACESSABLE! REBOOT-REEBOOT-REEBOOT!"

"ben? Ben! BEN!" I yell slapping the bot to wake him from his melt down. literally. i looked up to see the center of the top of his head melting from over heating

"reboot- oh! and you are?" Ben asks

"wait! wait! wait! what about the treasurer?" I yell at the crazy hunk of metal 

"I want to say Larry..."

"the-the-the centroid of the mechanism... or..."

"I'm sorry... my memory, is not what it used to be... i- i- i- iv'e lost my mind. ha! Ive lost my mind! you haven't found it have you?!" Ben says and pulls me around to pat me down. "my missing piece? my primary memory circuit?" He continues turning around and showing me the hole in his head with wires sticking out.

"Look Ben. I really need a place to hide, ok? so I'm just gonna be... you know... moving on..." I cut him off, I need to find Gail, I dont have time to swap stories with some robot with memory loss.

"oh... umm.. so.. well.. then... I guess this is good-bye..." Ben says shrugging and turning around "I- I- I'm sorry Im so dysfunctional." He continues which causes me to stop in my tracks, as he collapses. "so... uh... go ahead and... I do understand. I do. bye-bye." You might think that what I do next is for of dumb but in my defense he was very pathetic.

"look, if you're gonna come along, you're gonna have to stop talking." I say with a sigh.

"HAZAH! HAHAHAHA! OH THIS IS FANTASTIC! ME AND MY BEST BUDDY OUT LOOKIN' FOR A... A..." Ben looks up at me, at some point he had jumped into my arms bride style, as I glare at him. "being quite..." He says 'zipping his lips'

"and you HAVE to stop touching me!" I say.

"talking and touching, thats my two big no-no's" Ben says jumping out of my arms.

"okay, so i think that we should head..." I start

"say, listen, before we head out on our big search, um, would you mind if we made a quick stop at my place? Kind of urgent." Ben says seeming like he needs to use the bathroom but i didn't think he actually you know, ate.

"Ben... I think you just solved my problem."

(Edited 11.28.22)