Mutiny! (5 page)

Chapter Eight

CAPTAIN
GOLDSTAR

S
am looked at the captain’s hat in his hand then stared up at Goldstar, who was still perched on the edge of the table, smiling smugly.

“Come on then, lad, hand it over,” said Goldstar.

“You don’t deserve to wear this hat!” shouted Sam. “And you lot should be ashamed of yourselves.”

He flung the hat at Goldstar’s feet. Goldstar glared at Sam, his black eyes filled with menace.

“You’ll pay for your insolence, my lad, you mark my words,” he hissed.

The pirate bent over and retrieved the hat from the floor. With a flick of his hand he brushed some dust in Sam’s direction, then placed the hat on his head grandly, as if he were a king being crowned. He wandered over to where a large copper cooking pot hung from the ceiling and admired his reflection in its shining polished surface.

“Right then, me hearties, down to business,” said Goldstar. “You there, relieve your old captain of that map he’s so keen on.”

Romero walked uneasily up to Comet, who handed over the map with a resigned air.

“No!” shouted Sam. “That’s mine! I need it to find my parents!”

“First mate – restrain that impudent pup!” barked Goldstar.

Two firm hands grabbed Sam’s arms.

“Pegg! Legg!” Sam yelled as he struggled.

“Orders are orders,” Pegg replied.

“But we’re really sorry,” added Legg.

Goldstar sauntered over, took the map, then leaned down to stare at Sam. He was so close that Sam could feel his breath on his face.

“You need to quit your yapping, my boy,” Goldstar snarled. “This is my map now and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Goldstar turned to the crew.

“Right, me hearties, turn on the holoscreen,” Goldstar commanded. “I’ve got a surprise for you all!”

Goldstar grinned broadly as he assembled the crew in front of the giant holoscreen.

“I wonder if it’s more news about Bowlopia,” said Zlit.

“I bet it’s a visit to the grum factory!” Barney jumped up and down.

“No, it’ll be the supernova floss mines,” Romero guessed.

Sam was still held firmly in Pegg and Legg’s clutches. Beside him stood Comet, who somehow looked smaller and more pathetic than usual. All of his usual swagger and bravado had gone, as though it had been stripped away when he’d handed over his hat. Even his moustache drooped sadly.

Goldstar stamped his peg leg on the deck to get everyone’s attention. “Well me hearties, many thanks from the bottom of this old sea dog’s shrivelled black heart. I knew you’d all see sense about who to make captain, and you didn’t let me down.”

The crew of the
Apollo
all smiled at each other; all except Sam and Comet.

“Now, I run a tight ship,” Goldstar declared.
“So there are going to be some changes around here. The first thing is that we’re going to join forces with another vessel. The other ship’s captain will be the admiral in charge of our little fleet.”

Goldstar flashed his gold-toothed smile at the bemused crew and switched on the holoscreen. The large screen flickered into life and the crew gasped in unison.

“Say hello to
Admiral
Black-Hole Beard!” Goldstar laughed. Black-Hole Beard’s face filled the screen: dark eyes burning beneath wild black hair; a long scar disappearing into a curly black beard; gold teeth glinting as he threw back his head and laughed.

“Ahoy there, little brother, a good day’s work. Well done!” laughed the fearsome pirate captain. “And who is that I see at the back? Is it
Ex-Captain
Vomit
? Back where you belong, Joseph, being a nobody.”

Baggot, perched as always on Black-Hole Beard’s shoulder, fluffed up its tatty feathers and
began to sing:

On the screen, Yarr threw back his head and gave a barking laugh. “Yarrr, arr, arr.”

“And as for the rest of you sorry planet-lubbers,” snarled Black-Hole Beard, “you’re going to realise what it’s like to be proper pirates instead of the intergalactic imbeciles you are at the moment. My brother here will soon whip you into shape and woe betide anyone who doesn’t come up to scratch!” Black-Hole Beard turned to his brother, who promptly saluted.

“Cap’n Goldstar!” Black-Hole Beard gave a wicked smile. “The
Gravity’s Revenge
is three days’ sail away. I trust you can keep this pathetic excuse for a crew busy until I arrive.”

“Aye, aye, Admiral.” Goldstar grinned.

Abruptly the screen switched off and the
Apollo
was swept by a wave of stunned silence.

“Right then, you scurvy dogs, you heard your Admiral, let’s get this rust bucket of a ship ready to sail!” shouted Goldstar.

“But what about Bowlopia?” cried Barney. “We’ve got free passes!”

“You might want to check the date on those,” said Goldstar, with an evil grin.

Barney put the ticket up to his eyes and read
the small print. “They’ve expired!” he howled. “That’s not fair! I want Captain Comet back!”

“Tough luck, Tentacles, you voted for me and now you’re stuck with me for at least three voyages, it’s the pirate code,” Goldstar snapped. “And as for the passes, there’s no time for funfairs now anyway, there’s piratin’ to do!”

There were outraged grumbles from the crew.

“Silence, you bilge rats!” Goldstar bellowed. “Any complaints and I’ll tie you upside down on the yard arm until your toes goes blue and your tentacles fall out! Now you,” he poked Pegg and Legg in the chest. “Take that insolent young whelp down to the prison cells. Tentacles – you take your beloved ex-captain.”

Nobody moved.

“By Jupiter’s moons, do it NOW!” Goldstar boomed, flecks of spit flying out of his mouth. “Or I’ll keelhaul the lot of you!”

“Sorry, Goldst— I mean,
Captain
Goldstar, sir,” said Barney nervously, “but we don’t actually have any prison cells on the ship.”

“A pirate ship without cells? What kind of vessel is this?” snapped Goldstar. “Well, lock them on the bowling deck and we’ll deal with them when we meet up with
Gravity’s Revenge
.”

“Sorry,” Pegg and Legg muttered as they grabbed hold of Sam. Barney went as pale as a Quarlodian cuttlefish as he came over to Comet.

“Take ’em away!” Goldstar boomed.

“Sorry,” Legg said sadly as he and Pegg hauled Sam and Comet downstairs and pushed them into the bowling alley. The door slammed shut and Sam and Comet found themselves alone, prisoners on their own ship.

Chapter Nine

PRISONERS

S
am raced over to the door. It had been broken when Comet had cheated spectacularly in a bowling match and Romero had wrenched the handle off in frustration. Ever since then, the door had been wedged open by a hoverpin. With that gone and the door slammed shut, there was no way to open it from the inside.
It makes the
perfect prison
, Sam thought miserably.

For a while neither of them spoke. Sam sighed as he thought about the way the last few days had gone. They had been getting so close to rescuing his parents, but now they seemed as far away as ever. For a moment he pictured himself at home with his mum and dad and felt a small tear pricking the corner of his eye. He sniffed and shook his head. He
had
to find a way out of this mess and crying about it wasn’t going to help.

“Captain, we need an escape plan,” said Sam. “The vote wasn’t even fair!”

“I’m not captain any more,” said Comet sulkily. “See, no hat.”

“But your crew need you!” said Sam.

“Those back-stabbing, scurvy dogs!” Comet furiously threw a bowling ball down the track and they both ducked as hoverpins flew everywhere. “They deserve everything they get! I was their captain for two thousand three hundred and
fifty-seven
voyages! It’s like they forgot all those good times we had – like when we…”

Comet paused and frowned.

“…I’m sure there were some good times. And we got all that treasure from, from, erm … I’m
sure
we got some once … anyway, it doesn’t matter. What they did was despicable!”

Sam sighed; if he was going to get Comet to help he was going to need a better tactic.

“As we’re down here, do you fancy a game?” Sam asked, picking up a bowling ball.

“Might as well,” Comet huffed.

They bowled in silence. Sam was trying hard to think up a plan and Comet was still sulking. He didn’t even perk up when Sam let him win. In fact he didn’t even seem to notice. Suddenly the door to the bowling deck burst open, and Barney
pushed Pegg and Legg inside.

“Ow, that hurt,” whined Legg.

“Get your tentacles off me, you great galumphing galoot!” shouted Pegg.

The door slammed shut.

“What are you doing here?” asked Sam.

“We resigned,” replied Pegg.

“Resigned?” said Sam.

“Well, we were fired,” Legg added honestly. “Goldstar’s as bad as his brother, so we refused to work for him.”

“And now we’ve been locked up with you,” said Pegg.

“We need to do something about that Goldstar,” Pegg and Legg said in unison.

Pegg and Legg rarely agreed about anything, so Sam knew that this was a good sign. Having the first mate back on their side was a start.

The door opened suddenly and Vulpus, the fox-like crew member, was thrown into the makeshift jail.

“What happened to you?” asked Sam, surprised
to see their prison filling up so quickly.

“Apparently I wasn’t hauling the sails properly,” Vulpus replied.

“He threw you in here for that?” asked Legg. “If he starts locking people up for things like that, there’ll be no one left!”

Legg was right. Over the next few hours more and more pirates were thrown into the bowling alley. Every few minutes the door would be opened and another pirate would be pushed inside. Eventually most of the
Apollo
’s crew were imprisoned down below. Sam began to get an idea of what to do.

“Listen everybody, most of the crew are here now,” he said.

“You’re telling me,” said Jonjarama, the latest pirate to have been jailed. “There’s only Barney left up there with Goldstar.”

“If Barney opens the door we have to convince him to let us out,” said Sam.

“Can’t we just hit him?” said Pegg.

“No we can’t, we’ve had enough of this crew turning against each other – we need to work as a team!” said Sam.

“If we can get out of here, we can try and get control of the ship back.”

A clanking sound came from the door as it squeaked open.

“I’ve been sent to jail, too,” said Barney standing in the doorway. “But because there’s no one else left – I’ve got to throw myself in! Can you believe it? Get in, you scurvy dog!” he shouted, pushing himself in the back with two of his tentacles.

“Barney! Don’t shut the door!” shouted Sam.

“Why?” said the Kraken, as the door slammed behind him. “It wouldn’t be much of a prison with an open door, would it?”

“Barney!” groaned the crew.

“What?” Barney said, his tentacles drooping dejectedly as the other pirates glared at him.

“We could have escaped and tried to get rid of Goldstar,” explained Sam.

“Oh,” said Barney. “Sorry. Getting rid of him would have been good. He was really mean about my food, and he said my tentacles were
leaving sucker marks on everything!”

“Don’t worry, Barney,” Sam said, his mind whirring. “We’ll find another way to get out.”

“Yes, but if we’re all down here, who’s flying the ship?” said Legg.

“If that Goldstar reckons he can do it by himself he’s in for a surprise,” snarled Pegg. “The kind of surprise that ends with a big crash!”