Pilfering Pirates: Two Girls Versus The Galaxy, #2

By Matthew J. Peterson

Having saved the prince of Oceanica from enslavement aboard a pirate ship, Vicky and Mira are given another, highly dangerous mission: the task of finding the traitor who orchestrated the prince's kidnapping. Disguising themselves as pirates and arming themselves with more of Zorp's wacky weaponry, they must penetrate Pirate Island, one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matthew J. Peterson
• Release date: Aug 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393071778

Matthew J. Peterson

Hello!  If you're checking out my profile than you're interested in what I write, which is awesome. Maybe we're even kindred spirits. Who knows?! I write fantasy fiction for readers young and old. My inspirations are all the works Hayao Miyazaki and classics like Peter Pan and Wind in the Willows, as well as Folktales the world over.  Writing is my happy place and I hope you have fun visiting the worlds that I've created. I'm also a children's music teacher and I live in Seattle with my wife, Jana. Check out my Instagram page "mattypcreations" to learn more about me and to get in touch.  

Book preview

Chapter One

Vicky had never seen so many books in her life.  They were crammed tightly onto shelves that rose many times over her own height so that the books on the top shelves were tiny and remote.  Farther above her still, on the ceilings, were vast paintings that depicted intricate and terrifying scenes.  She stared up at an image of a giant fish bearing down upon a group of innocent looking sea creatures.  The creatures were swimming for their lives, but were unable to escape.  Vicky shuddered. 

Sharks, said Jaya, floating beside her.  The first rulers of Oceanica.

Jaya, a dolphin and Prince Darian’s servant, had a friendly presence that immediately relaxed Vicky.  His kindness was making her stay in Oceanica far less overwhelming than it could have been.  He was showing her Oceanica’s museum, The Halls of Memory.  It was nice to get her mind off of the mission the Queen of Oceanica had just pressed upon her.  The mission made her feel like the creatures in the paintings above—-utterly vulnerable and helpless.

The sharks reigned a long, long time ago, he continued.  Perhaps rulers is too kind a word to describe them.  They were larger than even the biggest of what we know as sharks now, and they were mean.  Oceanica was different then.  It was a chaotic, lawless place where only the strong and cruel survived.  The sharks united the kingdom for the first time, but with much violence and bloodshed, and mainly for their own benefit.  In moments of anger, they were known to eat entire cities of their own citizens.  The ceiling paintings are a reminder of what it was like.  Of what tyranny leads to.  And it reminds us, that it could happen again.  If pirates take over.

Wow, whispered Vicky.  Who painted it?

Artists of Oceanica, years ago, said Jaya.  It took years to complete.

Vicky shook her head in awe.

I come here often to forget my woes, he said.  Which are quite trivial compared to history in general.  Delving deeply into our history cheers me up. I’ve even been known to lose track of the time in here and miss important meetings.

What woes could you possibly suffer from?  asked Vicky.  You seem so happy?

Not many, it’s true, said Jaya, becoming thoughtful.  But I did suffer one blow that still affects me to this day.  My parents and much of my family were kidnapped and killed by pirates.  I will always have a hole in my heart because of it.

I’m so sorry, said Vicky.  She reached out and stroked Jaya’s back.

You don’t have to be, he said.  You taking on the mission to bring down the pirates gives me hope that one day my family will be avenged.  Now come, enough of that subject, let me show you the rest of the museum.

There were many rooms, some as small as Vicky’s bedroom, some the size of airplane hangars, each dedicated to different aspects of Oceanica’s history. Vicky and Jaya couldn’t give each more than a cursory glance but Jaya tried to sum up the contents of each as they went along.  A few of the rooms intrigued Vicky greatly, such as The Architecture of Oceanica room and Beginnings Of Democracy.  Jaya mentioned that hundreds if not thousands of species would have gone extinct had Oceanica not begun practicing Democratic ideas. 

Democracy started on Earth, said Vicky proudly.

Jaya smiled and shook his head.

Actually they started on Ekt, he said.  And from there it spread to other parts of the galaxy.

Oh, said Vicky.  She wished she could tell her social studies teacher that.  But she knew she would only sound crazy if she did.

But who knows, maybe the rulers of Ekt got it from somewhere else, said Jaya.  It’s hard to know for sure where an idea really begins.

I hope I have time in the future to explore these rooms more, said  Vicky.

I hope so too.  And I hope I can join you, he said.  Our historians are planning to expand the Hall to several more buildings.  They were now passing through a corridor filled with statues of Oceanica’s great philosophers.  Oceanica is so old, you see, and so much of our history is still held tight in the books on our shelves.  But they hope to bring out the information and make it more accessible to the general public.  Because let’s be honest, most creatures aren’t interested in poring through confusing old tomes.  We are a democracy after all and everyone deserves to know their history, even the sad parts.

I wouldn’t mind, said Vicky.  I love to read.

Well great! he said. How about I leave you alone then, for a while.

Okay. said Vicky.  She did rather like wandering in places like this, seeing where chance would take her.

Jaya swam off.

So she wandered, scanning plaques, examining statues, taking in more of the general layout, until she happened upon a row of books dedicated to Oceanica’s dealings with humans.  It was a huge row, filled with what had to be thousands of books.  She thought about what General Arbunkle had told her, about how all humans came from a planet called Ekt, originally.  In fact, by now she had heard several people refer to that planet and to unfortunate events that had befallen it.  She wished she could learn a bit more about it right now.  She decided to try a book locating method she sometimes used at the library or bookstore. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.  But it never hurt to try.  Emptying her mind, she scanned the shelf as if she didn’t care where her eyes landed.  She did this for about a minute before she stopped and focused in.  And way, way up, a few rows from the top, a brightly colored book caught her eye, like a little piece of gold in a stream might catch a prospector’s.  She took off her shoes and swam up to it.  It was quite heavy and she barely managed to tug it free.  Losing hold of it, it dropped like a giant brick to the floor.  Fortunately, the floor was made up of soft sand and the book wasn’t damaged.

She found a table and set the heavy book down upon it.  It was a beautiful powder blue, with thick golden finely sewn braids running along its edges.  She could have stared at the fine craftsmanship all day long.  Her mom, who loved old books, would have gushed over it.  It wasn’t made of tree paper, of course, but of some type of sea plant based material that made it waterproof.  The title read A History of Mankind’s Love of The Sea and All its Creatures.  She opened the front cover to find a beautiful handwritten inscription which read,

To King Jossemer and Queen Filtida, rulers of

The Beautiful Kingdom, Oceanica,

You are right to be suspicious of so much of

Mankind.  So many of us are cruel and

despise anything that is not like us.

But not all of us, as I hope this collection will

make clear.  I know also that

your home has been wracked

by inner conflict, and what I have to say

may be the last thing you want

or have time to hear.

It took me two years and the help of many intelligent,

hard working beings to compile this book. I will

stop at nothing, you see, to obtain

partnership and peace with the kingdom

of Oceanica,  I tell you that there is no other

option if we would avoid the malice of the

roving bands of cruel pirates who call the sea’s surface

their home.  Make no mistake, they want to destroy

our kingdoms.  If your kingdom and my own

could band together I believe we could rid

our galaxy of their foul kind.

Please, look this over.  You know how

to find me, and I dearly hope  your

messengers come to my kingdom soon.

Your Ally,

King Derrick of the Human Kingdom of Ekt

Vicky’s heart ached.  She guessed that King Derrick had never achieved his goal of pacifying the galaxy and she wondered again what terrible events Ekt had fallen victim to, and if pirates were behind it.

Flipping through the book she discovered that each chapter described in beautiful, ornately drawn words and pictures, the different ways the people of Ekt showed respect for the sea and its creatures.  Some worshipped sea gods, others simply recognized the vulnerability of the sea’s resources and sought to conserve them.  Descriptions were also given of cultures who suffered great losses, due to the abuse of the sea by pirates and the like.  All in all, it illustrated how dignified Ekt was in the way it treated its waterbound neighbors.

She closed the book and looked around—-as if someone might just pop up, whom she could share her astonishment with—-but of course no one was there. This made her think of Mira, whom she hadn’t spoken to since their fight in the hallway the day before.  Vicky had slept alone in their room after the meeting with the Queen and King had ended. Where Mira had slept, she didn’t know.  Maybe in Zorp’s wagon.  It filled her with frustration thinking about Mira’s treatment of her, and she tried to shrug it off by opening the book again.

But this great book also frustrated her.  It was filled with kind and considerate beings who despite their best attempts hadn’t been able to rid the galaxy of pirates, pirates who were still kidnapping innocent creatures and filling the seas with filth.  Her fellow Earthlings could certainly learn a lot from the people of Ekt, she thought.  Earth had their own unique brand of pirates too, many of whom were disguised as good people.

What she didn’t realize was that the pain she was feeling was due to her brain widening some, making her more worldly than before.  

She wished she could keep the book, but it was old and obviously worth a lot. But she would remember it, like so many of the other things that had happened on her adventure so far.  And she hoped she would revisit it someday.  She swam back to the top of the