Chapter 8: Mindscapes
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She had been in the classroom before and she was not thinking about when she was a student, long before the experiments that removed a piece of her, long before she was changed.
River remembered how she liked the fact the classroom was technically outside. The view of the nearby lush trees, immaculate lawns, and motley gardens of flowers painted a beautiful scene. The vision along with the scent of the flowers, the sounds of birds singing and leaves rustling and the feeling of the cool breezes had made River and the children feel relaxed and comfortable. The freedom of nature was only marred by the opulent structure of the classroom building itself. It may have lacked what many considered to be walls, but it did have a roof and a floor and the children were seated in desks with visual screens, displaying pictures and words in both English and Chinese.
“The first settlers of Roanoke, James Norrington, Amelia Earhart, D.B. Cooper, Marco P. Sanchez, Alexis Vunderam, and Lu Han Fwei,” the teacher stepped out from behind the board and spoke to the class. “What do all these people have in common?”
“They disappeared,” one young boy raised his hand. “And they have never been found.”
“That is correct,” the teacher smiled as she nodded at him.
“How come nobody has ever found out what happened to them?” A girl in the front row asked. “Did anyone try?”
“They tried,” the first boy said. “They didn’t have the right technology.”
“That’s not true,” another boy said. “All these people disappeared on Earth that Was, but some were found. There were huge mysteries but they found the bodies. Like the man who was connected to a union.”
“That would be Jimmy Hoffa,” the teacher nodded towards him. “He was found a hundred years after he had disappeared.”
“They did have the technology back then,” the first girl turned towards the first boy. “Even if they didn’t have our technology they were able to find some of them.”
“How come they didn’t find everyone?” Another student asked. “There haven’t been many mysterious disappearances since we found a new system.”
“That is a good question,” the teacher paced in front of the students. “Perhaps you can all try to think of how and why. That is your next assignment. Pick one of the people from the list on your screen and write about what you think happened. You can turn it into an essay, or a short story or even a poem. After you have chosen a person let me know. I want make sure everyone hasn’t chosen the same person.”
“He didn’t disappear,” River whispered. She did not want anyone to notice her. Although she doubted anyone would have been able to. “I didn’t disappear.”
The sound of bells brought her attention to the back of the classroom. The trees had vanished and were replaced by docks and piers, and beyond that, the sea.
River left the sanctuary of the classroom and headed straight for the docks. She did not pause to look down to see if the grass was still there of if it had long faded to cobble stone paths and the wood of the docks and piers. She kept staring at the sea, and the ships and the large flags, some bore an emblem she did not recognize. The others were the red and white crossbars over a blue field of a flag from the past. The flag that belong to England of Earth that Was.
A scream came from the right and she jumped and turned to rows of chairs, doctors’ chairs. Each one held a screaming patient tied down while monitors and screens were aglow with many images and words and buttons of flashing colors.
One doctor held a slender instrument in his hand and stared at her. He could see her. “We did not give you this memory.” He said before he struck the instrument into the forehead of the patient.
River jumped back and stumbled off the edge of the docks and landed on sand. She picked herself up from the ground and turned back to where she had seen the medical chairs. They were gone, as were the docks, and as was the classroom. There was sand all around, save for the horizon that was the ocean. She was on a beach.
“Run,” a voice shouted from the distance. “They are gaining on us.” The voice belonged to a pirate, not a real one like the people she had seen on Tortuga. These were similar to people from her time, dressed in pirate costumes. Many had big-feathered hats, several had bandanas and a few wore fake eye patches. Their swords looked like they were made from plastic. They were all too clean.
“We can’t keep running,” another pirate said “We have to lie down. They never lie down.” He and several others lied down onto the sand, and placed their hands behind their heads.
“No, we have to keep running,” the first man said as he and the other half of the group kept on running.
River opened her mouth when she saw what was chasing them. She could not mistake the ragged clothing or the weapons, or the bleeding cut faces of the Reavers. The cannibals ran past those who were lying down and continued to chase after the other pirates. She did not see what they would do to them.
“Just lie down,” the pirates on the ground said. They kept repeating it over and over, not paying attention to a second group of Reavers as they closed in on them.
The Reavers paused, not a single one attacked. They didn’t remove their gaze, not even when they started to change in form. Their clothing grew grayish bumps that evolved into barnacles, scallops, coral, sponges and seaweed. Even more of the same sea life grew on their bodies. Two men merged together into conjoined twins with three legs and three arms. The head of another one grew wider; one eye being stretched till it was at the end of the shark like face. Another man had spines on the side of his face.
River tried to scream once again. She wanted to warn them, but no sound came out. She couldn’t hear anything, not even the one legged man who appeared in front of her, A man with a beard of tentacles.
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James Norrington did not remember drifting off to sleep. He only noticed he had when he heard the scream of a young woman. He bolted up on his chair, glancing briefly at the papers on his desk. The question of why didn’t he go to his bed was unimportant to him. What was important was the fact that River Tam was sitting up on his couch with a terrified look on her face.
“River,” he ran over to her, noticing how River kept staring around the cabin and not focusing on him. “Miss Tam, it’s over. The nightmare is over.” He grabbed onto her hands. “I’m sorry you had another one, but please try to calm herself.”
River breathed slowly. “They were not Reavers. They go for those who lie down. They want those who are about to sleep,” Her bottom lip trembled. “This memory isn’t mine either, some of it, not all of it.” She stared into his eyes as the first tear fell. “I’m sorry. I took some of your memories without asking.”
“No,” Norrington shook his head. “You didn’t. Your memories are all yours.” He was begging to get the faintest idea of what the others were talking about. “You can’t take someone’s memories away.”
“You still have yours, and now I have some of them. It’s not stealing, but sharing and I didn’t mean to see. I never mean to see. Only when Mal asks me to see.” She continued to sob.
“Even if you know my memories and took them the same way you said, I am not mad.” He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe the side of her face. “You had a horrible dream and I know this means you will probably not want to sleep again.”
She only responded with a nod of her head.
“Yes,” he sighed. What was he going to do with her? “Perhaps if we talked about this dream you will feel better.”
She shook her head. “No. It will not fix me. It won’t replace what they took away.”
“Please work with me,” he knew his voice was stern and may have pushed her back but he had to figure her out, until he knew she was safe to be around people he could not let her leave his cabin. “What are Reavers?”
“They are also broken,” River closed her eyes. “They were people once, but they wanted to make them better, make everyone better and they tried, but it didn’t work. Everyone was dead, except the Reavers. They made them worse, made them hungry for our skin to eat and wear, made them cut their own skin. Their faces bleed everywhere.”
James released his hold on her hands. He had seen such people before, but they were in his dream. He had dreamed about things she knew about. “Where are these Reavers?”
“In the darkest of black between Miranda and the borders.” She opened her eyes and smiled weakly. “We don’t have to worry now. We are far away from them.”
“That is good to hear.” He had enough to deal with. He didn’t want to come across such men he had only seen in a dream.
“I took care of most of them anyway.” She reached forward and snatched away his wig.
“Miss Tam,” his voice grew stern again as he reached for his wig. “That is highly improper behavior.” He grabbed onto the soft mass and tried to pull it forward. She pulled back.
“White hides the green. This isn’t you, James.”
“Actually it is.” He retrieved his wig, but did not place it back on his head. He shouldn’t be wearing it when he goes to sleep.
“You have a good heart. You are a good man, yet you stole another heart and gave it to a bad man. There are two voices and you are listening to the bad one.”
“This is me.” She knew too much about him, but he couldn’t figure out why. “I am a good man, a man with honor who respects the crown.”
“I won’t let you disappear.” She grabbed onto his hand again. “I won’t let it happen.”
“I won’t disappear.” He rose to his feet. “I shouldn’t be doing this, but perhaps we both could use some sherry.”
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Elizabeth watched from the window as the Luna Ghost pulled into the docks. She had overheard Barbossa mention it was the first stop they had to make before they could rescue Jack.
“Are you ready?” She felt Will brush his fingers across her shoulder. “We will find Jack soon.”
“How can you be certain?”
He shrugged. “I am not certain. I just rely on hope.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You hope we find Jack. He sent you to replace him on the Dutchman and he fought against you and James over the chest.”
“I only hope for the man if it means protecting and saving those I care about,” Will smiled briefly. “We need Jack to find the heart.”
“And once you have the heart your father will be free.” She smiled. “We need another invitation made out for our wedding.”
“Everything will be all right,” he brushed away a few loose strands of her hair. “We just have to hope this plan of Barbossa’s works out and we have to hope he will not betray us in any fashion.”
“’ello Poppet,” Pintel approached them. “Captain Barbossa says we all needs to be heading out.”
“All those who sailed on the Black Pearl,” Will confirmed.
Pintel nodded. “That about right. Reason why we have to leave some of the blokes onboard.”
“Is that wise?” Will asked. He remembered how some of the crew of the Pearl fell to their deaths because they were greedy to reach the ship first and sail her away. “How do we know they won’t steal the ship while we are trying to get the Pearl back?”
“Uh,” Pintel blinked as he tried to come up with an answer.
“Because I won’t let them,” Anamaria appeared behind him. “Everyone is coming off the Ghost. I am not going to risk loosing another ship.”
“That’s why,” Pintel gestured behind him with his thumb.
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They were all ordered off the ship and were told to wait on the pier while Barbossa went off to find transportation. In his absence, Anamaria was in charge. She kept walking around the group, her eyes glared at Pintel, Ragetti, and several of the new members.
“Hopefully it won’t be long,” Gibbs said before he took another swig from his canteen. “We will have both the Pearl and our captain back.”
“Which one?” Marty asked.
“Jack,” Elizabeth answered. “Don’t tell me you are all thinking of joining Barbossa again.”
“He isn’t captain of my ship,” Anamaria said and paused by Pintel and Ragetti. “And the Pearl belongs to Jack.” She stared straight into the eyes of the former cursed men. “If you want to continue with Barbossa you can go with him and find your own ship.”
Both of the two winced from her words. “We don’t want Barbossa as our captain,” Pintel said. “He got us cursed.”
“We miss ole Jack,” Ragetti whimpered.
“You might want to keep it down,” Elizabeth said to them. Her eyes were on the carriages that were approaching them. “Barbossa has returned.”
The carriages came to a pause and Barbossa stepped out of one of them. “Everyone aboard. It won’t take long till we reach the shaman’s house.”
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The shaman’s house turned out to be more of a shack. The roof was made out of dried grass with things woven into them. Elizabeth could make out scraps of clothing, jewelry, dolls and even a few animal skeletons.
A small man was seated in front, dressed in robes and had a large hat covering most of his head and face. His bare feet was caked with dirt and his toenails were long, jagged and yellow.
“This is the place,” Will said as he reached out to grab Elizabeth’s hand.
“Or we hope,” Elizabeth said. During the ride in they did not say anything and only stared out the windows. Everything seemed so exotic, the people, the clothing and customs. Part of her wanted to explore the place, taste the various foods and even do a little shopping.
“I will speak with the man,” Barbossa said as he approached the man seated in front of the hut.
“How does Barbossa know the language,” Will asked.
“Does Barbossa know the language?” Marty brought up another point.
“Does the man we seek speak English?” Gibbs asked.
“He is reading from something,” Elizabeth pointed over to Barbossa. The resurrected pirate was reading from a sheet of parchment, appeared to be a difficult read from the way Barbossa kept furrowing his brow.
The man with the large hat slowly rose to his feet. The top of his head came to Barbossa’s chest. He tilted his hat back, displaying his red-rimmed eyes and shook his head.
“What do ye mean by no?” Barbossa asked. “We were told you were the one.”
The man shook his head and pointed to the hut.
“So the man we are searching for is still inside?”
The man nodded but did not move away from the door. He clasped his hands together and laid his head on top of them.
“I don’t care if he is sleeping. This is important,” Barbossa tried to shove him aside.
The short man uttered a string of words and held his hand out before he opened the door a bit.
It was enough for Elizabeth to peer inside. She could see a rail thin man being suspended from several chains. The chains were attached to hooks in his ceiling and to rings and bits of metal embedded in the man’s flesh. Her eyes widened a bit, but she noticed something else, something that caused her to shield her eyes and step back. The man was completely naked.
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