Dan and I were unable to go any further and stayed hidden behind the library. We heard everything that was going on but the only thought in my mind was where my father was and how safe was he. I was not ready to face another loss.
Dan could not talk, his mother was a pink alien that communicated telepathically. He was unable to obtain his mother's ability and could only make grunting and growling noises. Even though he could not say anything everybody around him always felt like they knew what he was saying and the same went for me. I could tell that was extremely worried but was not afraid.
We stayed there for over a few hours until the pirates got bored of valuing the trash that the civilians were giving them.
"This isn't going anywhere, you have brought me all sorts of junk and none of it was valuable," Cobblefoot said as he ran his hand across his face. He was sitting on a chair going through deep thoughts at this moment.
His face suddenly lit up and he grinned exposing his sharp sharklike teeth. "Why didn't think of this before?" He stood up and faced the former marines. "Would one of you like to explain why there are so many trees on the moon?"
A cold breeze waved through the crowds and they all started to dodge the pirate's gaze.
"I also thought as much, you guys have a very talented science person living among you." He turned away from the force. "BOYS, pack up we moving forward to fame and fortune."
The pirates just laughed and waited while nobody said anything. Cobblefoot couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing again, "SO DO YOU THINK THAT I AM GOING CHANGE MY MIND JUST BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SAYING ANYTHING?" Nobody responded.
Cobblefoot then jumped forward and started walking in the direction of the orchard. His men followed behind in the dead silence of the crowd.
The old marine men were grinding their teeth while thinking of Ticky and what he had just said earlier. They wondered whether they should just be quiet and hope that he won't be found or just try and fight these guys a little longer.
"AHHHHHHH!" Dean screamed at the top of his lungs. He stopped to take a deep breath and he and Cobblefoot met eye to eye. "AHHHHHH!" He continued as the other former officials watched with confusion.
A kid stood up from the crowd and started screaming too, one more joined, and the rest followed. Even the confused marines screamed along with them, seeing the desperation in one another's eyes made them realize why they had to do this.
Cobblefoot and his pirates got annoyed and started slapping anybody near them who was screaming. The people both young and old fought back against them, biting and scratching them with their nails all while maintaining their voices.
Dan upon hearing the screams grabbed my hand and started running towards the orchard. He took a different path, one that would keep us hidden in the dunes until arrival. I did not want to go and leave everyone behind to get thrown around and injured, but Dan assured me that no one was going to die.
Cobblefoot screamed and started running away from the crowd, his crew followed. Behind them, the former marines were able to break out of their ropes with the help of some civilians. They rearmed themselves with their guns sabres and pitchforks.
They charged forward and attacked the pirates on their way, they did not kill anyone as they were honouring Cobblefoot for also not killing.
Cobblefoot and the men highest in his ranks were however too fast for the common mob to catch up to. Every leap he took energized him and his smile grew wider and wider by the second.
He finally arrived at our house, "I didn't realize that there was a house here." He said as he bulldozed his way through it bringing the whole thing down.
Luckily for us, the labs were underground so he ran over them, unfortunately, he was already near the orchard and was going to discover Ticky's secrets. Everyone finally started screaming out his name, "DR. TICKY! DR. TICKY! DOCTOR!"
"WE'VE STRUCK GOLD, MY BOYS!" Cobblefoot roared out in excitement as soon as he saw the live trees.
"NOOO! DOCTOR!"
BOOM!
A blazing hot red fire erupted from within the trees, the explosion settled and left the fire burning violently away at all that surrounds it.
Dan and I finally arrived at the scene, I tried to sprint into the fire and Dan tightened his grip on me.
After a short while, a tall slim figure dashed out of the flame. "Happy birthday my dear. Happy birthday." He wobbled towards me and hugged me. "I want you to take this and get as far away as possible." He placed a fruit in my hands. "Tell me, what do you want to become when you grow up?"
"I..."
"GO! DAN, TAKE HER. LEAVE"
Dan grabbed my arm and dove back behind the dunes. We did not head for the city but we instead head for wherever had the best cover.
Moments later Cobblefoot and his elite came out of the fire unharmed. The stars on their bodies were shining and fire in the people's souls was turned off.
"Where's the doctor?" He searched the crowd and found my father. "Where's the fruit?" My father looked him dead in the eyes and said nothing.
"Listen to me you old quack, you have two options. Either you come with us and give us the fruit or give us the fruit and come with us. Failure to choose every 5 second will lead to someone dying. Failure to say anything valuable every second will lead to someone being shot. 1."
BANG!
One of the former marines was shot on the shoulders.
"TAKE ME! Take me with I grew the fruit so I can do it again for you." My father got on his knees and begged.
"2"
BANG!
The former official was shot on his other shoulder.
"Doctor you can't we need you."
"3"
BANG!
The former official was shot on his leg.
"Just go with them and give them the fruit." The crowd started trying to convince my father to let go of his ambitions.
"4"
BANG!
The former official was shot on his other leg.
"STOP IT! TAKE IT, TAKE THE FRUIT. PLEASE DON'T HURT ANYBODY ELSE." I yelled with tears on my face. I threw the fruit at them.
"NO! This is your future my baby, you only have one future and I will gladly die for it." My father said as he caught the fruit and stood in front of me. His back started to glow and a big star was formed.
"5"
BANG!
My father was shot dead in front of me, his regent was only useful for healing people and could not do anything to protect himself. The fruit fell from his hand-rolled over to me.
"Pick that up. You're coming with us." Cobblefoot said, with his finger pointed at me. "Don't try anything rash like that old man down there."
I collapsed to knees and cried out into the atmosphere as loudly as I could. It did not help at all, I even tried holding on to my father and asking him to come back but my efforts were to no avail.
That day I was forced to read all of my father's notes and to start growing the cosmos fruits. They would always come back every month and make me treat their wounded and everyone else was to work for them. They turned our paradise into hell with their presence. They killed off all of the former marines and just about any pure human being they came across.
Since there was no experienced doctor here, most people ended up succumbing to diseases that were too strange for me. One of those people was Dan and I owed him a lot. Ever since his passing I made healing people my entire life, I got so good stories of me were spread across space through the Silverfoot pirates.
That led to other pirates coming here and trying to kidnap me, turning my home into a battleground. One of the crews that were interested in getting me into their ranks was the Stowaways and because of them my people and I were freed from the Silvefoot a few months ago.