The BenBow Inn, usually quiet yet packed, was filled with the rambunctious noise of several people rushing around, all getting ready for a certain someone's certain birthday. Of course, the one person that was worrying the most was Kate, mother of the birthday girl who was unable to find her anywhere.

"I'll bet she's out solar-surfing again. She's going to show up late, covered in mud, or being escorted in by the police again. The police, no less!" She wandered around the dining room, trying to make sure the decorations were all properly in place. Jim chuckled a bit.

"She's a chip off the old block...she'll be fine," He tried to take Kate's hands but she walked off.

"It's her eighteenth, it's meant to be a special occasion," She was dressed elegantly in red and orange, her husband in a matching formal suit.

"She'll come," Jim reassured her just as B.E.N. crashed through the kitchen doors, holding a large platter of small cakes.

"Dessert is done! Now we just need to light these babies up!" He cheered, placing them on the main table.

"Well the birthday girl isn't even here yet!" Kate reminded him.

"I found her! She was trying to sneak out the back," Sarah smiled a smirk worthy of her son as she pulled her granddaughter into the room; just as Kate predicted, her hair was loose and wild and she wore an oversized coat and boots over an embroidered skirt. "Now come on, go get ready for your party,"

Jennifer, nicknamed Jenny, pouted slightly. "It's just going to be like all my other birthdays where you tell stories about cool things I never got to do," She had feline ears like her mother but long brown hair like her father. "Dad, you discovered Treasure Planet! Why do you want to sit around this stupid inn for?"

"I grew up," Jim said simply. "Besides, I think you'll like this year,"

"Your sisters want to dress you up!" Kate exclaimed before handing her daughter off into the eager hands of the triplet girls, all basically squealing over it.

"They're not my sisters," Jenny rolled her eyes a bit.

"Oh, we basically are!" Messa cheered, taking Jenny up the stairs into her bedroom. "This'll be so much fun!"

Jenny didn't really mind the company of the Doppler triplets, they just got overbearing at times, and despite differing names and traits, if one made them dress and act alike, you couldn't tell the difference. The only real physical difference came from their colours; Messa loved pink and purple and wore her long brown hair in a tight ponytail, Estelle enjoyed green and wore her reddish-orange hair to her shoulders, and Bridget liked purple and orange and wore her super long blonde hair loose with fancy bows and lace and pins to look regal. Plus there was the annoying confusion of hanging around them in public; when Jenny was made to dress up all formal and nice like her parents wanted, people often asked if all four girls were related just because Jenny had feline-looking traits. It was enough to drive her up a wall at times.

"What dress do I have to wear?" She finally asked, watching the girls toss seemingly every option out of her closet onto her bed.

"Something fancy," Messa said.

"No, what about something a bit more plain? It's just a family event," Bridget suggested.

"Madame Hawkins said she set aside the perfect dress for the occasion and that's what we should pick," Estelle directed. "We should make it like a debutante dress since she's an adult now,"

Sensing the triplets still weren't quite done arguing, Jenny wandered around her room, looking at all the paintings and maps hanging up on her walls. They were all of purported voyages of pirates and sailors that came before her, of missions the privateers took to take down evildoers. On her desk was a model ship her and her mom made when Jenny herself was only about nine and she smiled as she recollected the memory. She did most of it by herself, getting all sticky with glue and frustrated when the ship didn't fit in the bottle at first, but the moment she was done, her dad had come home from work and she ran up to him with a proud smile on her face to show him.

Another oddity she always liked that she kept inside an old box under her bed, or more like oddities, were treasures and trinkets she had been receiving every so often on birthdays. She never really understood where they came from. Sometimes she was able to pinpoint a possible location in her geography and astronomy books, but most of the time the locations remained a mystery. Her space-faring parents who made a living and name for themselves scouring the galaxy for adventure and uncharted worlds often were no help either. Her dad notably told her to stop being so curious, which only made her more curious. They were things like a lavender rock that glowed almost blindly when looked at submerged in water, a golden spyglass that could see for several hundred miles no matter the weather, a bronze coin that always found its way back into your pocket no matter how much you spent it, a shard of ice that burned like magma when held, and a soft green feather that felt made of the richest silk possible that belonged to no known species or creature on Montressor.

They were strange, but they were clearly meant for her. She figured they likely were just gifts from her parents, or Doctor Doppler, or some other distant relative that wanted to give Jenny the adventure in her life she so desperately craved. It was enough, she supposed, she could dream about the worlds and planets these amazing gifts came from on her own.

"We got it!" Estelle cheered, and Jenny pushed the box back under her bed and stood up, preparing herself to be literally dolled up by her pseudo-sisters.

"At least let me see it," She put her hands on her hips, making the triplets giggle. Bridget pulled out the dress they had in mind, and soon Jenny was pulled into her desk chair and had the girls fussing all over her. Estelle wanted the dress, Bridget wanted hair, and Messa wanted makeup. Jenny leaned back slightly and looked over at another model she made to hang on her ceiling when she was fifteen, a rotating model of Treasure Planet itself. If one pressed the correct buttons to activate it, it would spin and rotate and glimmer a low gold, revealing a shiny green secondary ring. She was most proud of it, even though she wasn't sure how accurate it was, as according to Dad the planet itself was blown up and he barely escaped with his own life alongside the crew. Nobody was able to recover any pieces of the planet or the treasure that supposedly lay within, and thus ideas of what the planet actually looked like remained clouded in mystery. Only Dad and the remaining members of his crew, like 'Aunt' Amelia and 'Uncle' Delbert, knew, and they rarely spoke of it these days.

"So, who baked the cake? Grandma?" Jenny finally asked to break the silence, gasping as Bridget began brushing her hair out.

"Uncle B.E.N. did!" She replied.

"Oh," Jenny groaned. "It'll taste like oil then. I remember one year he tried to make cookies for Yuletide and the cookies were so runny they slid off the plate!"

Messa laughed at that while Estelle and Bridget glared at her.

"He's getting a lot better at cooking!" Bridget scolded. "He made cupcakes for Thomas' birthday and they were so good, they even had little sprinkles on them!"

Jenny just looked at her reflection in the mirror, her ears drooping slightly. The triplets talked amongst themselves as they continued getting Jenny ready; she moved when she had to but otherwise said little.

After a time, Estelle nodded to herself and stepped back. "The belle of the birthday ball," She said proudly.

"Look at yourself," Bridget smiled.

Jenny did indeed and spun around a bit, feeling and looking completely transformed. She put her hands on her head and felt her hair had bee masterly braided and weaved into a fancy bun-braid, kept in place with a silver tiara. A matching set of earrings and a bracelet completed her jewelry. Her actual gown was a dusted rose with capped sleeves and a long skirt that trailed behind her. She wore white gloves and dancing boots, and around her neck was a silk ribbon tied neatly. Her makeup was light and tasteful for a girl of her age. She looked like a new person, and though she still wasn't much for dressing up, she still appreciated what the triplets did.

"I look like a flower," She stuck out her tongue.

"Don't be so rude!" Messa gasped. "We worked so hard on you!"

"I mean, maybe the pink is a bit too much..." Bridget shyly twirled her hair around.

"Madame Hawkins wanted us to make her look like a debutante and a debutante we made her be like. We did good. We can't fix her personality," Estelle crossed her arms over her chest.

"My personality is fine," Jenny rolled her eyes and held her head up.

There was a knock at the door and Sarah peeked her head in, dressed in a lacy white gown with her hair up. "Oh my, you look so beautiful. Let me see you better," She opened the door more and Jenny carefully stepped over to her grandmother. "Already an adult. I feel so old," She smiled a bit. "It seems like just yesterday you built that model ship, or started finishing school..."

"You're acting as if I'm your own daughter!" Jenny couldn't help but to smile.

"In a way, you are," Sarah carefully adjusted the tiara on her head. "When you smile, I see my own James in your face. Now come on, there's a whole party downstairs for you,"

"Am I going to be escorted?" Jenny meant it as a joke, sensing how formal everything was, but Sarah nodded and made her face fall. "Seriously? An escort? I'm having a family party at an inn, not a super fancy manor or anything!"

"Awww, you wound me!" Thomas pouted, coming up the stairs in a finely-pressed suit and colourful coat. "I was going to be your escort too,"

"You sure you don't want our brother to escort you?" Messa teased.

"He even managed to clean up all nice and fancy for you," Estelle smirked. "For once,"

Jenny very slowly reached out her hand and took Thomas', who smiled happily at her and hurried to be by her side.

"You're just an escort," She sighed to herself as she carefully stepped down the stairs, still holding her head up high.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, applause greeted them from the expected guests and relatives that had all gathered; some tossed flowers on Jenny, making her roll her eyes slightly with a smile.

"It's not every day your daughter turns eighteen," Kate said, taking her from Thomas and smiling at her. "An adult. Do you know what you want to do?"

Despite everyone starting to dance, Kate and Jim sat Jenny down at the main table, still surrounded by everything.

"You could go to the Royal Interstellar Academy like we did and get trained in the military," Jim suggested. "Maybe even captain your own ship one day!"

"Adventure," Kate nodded.

Jenny couldn't lie, she was considering being a graduate of the Royal Interstellar Academy like her parents. While the training was stiff and formal and the actual graduate rate not super high due to many people dropping out or getting expelled after learning how difficult and demanding such a career is, she knew she had what it took. It was in her blood and she knew it would make her parents happy. Being the captain of her own privateer force didn't sound that bad either, it would give her the adventure she wanted, to taste that fresh and cool air out in space, seeing endless stars and galaxies swirl above her very head.

Yet, it wouldn't be enough. She didn't want to be a privateer, turning in her riches to the queen and returning home for dinner with her parents, wearing a stiff white uniform with medals. She wanted a real adventure like the ones her parents had. Dad discovered Treasure Planet and they were still living off the riches of it! To truly feel the solar wind, to take her solar-surfer out in the midst of space and twirl around, literally touching the stars, wearing her usual oversized clothing with her hair blowing in her face. That's what she wanted.

"Maybe," She finally said. "It's enough,"

It would never be enough.

The music started up loudly, a jovial and rustic sound that made Jim smile.

"Want to have your first dance with me?" He offered his hand to Jenny, which she accepted and slowly followed her dad out onto the dancefloor. She had never danced in such a formal outfit before so she felt clumsy, stomping hard in her boots and keeping part of her skirt held in her hand to prevent from tripping on it. Still, Jim was patient and spun her around a lot, helping her through. The dance was a fast-paced one that took them throughout the length of the whole floor; people stepped out of their way and cheered them on, clapping. More flowers were thrown on Jenny, and soon their dance stopped with them holding hands and bowing for the crowd.

"I still can't believe you're a good dancer," Jenny quipped as she sat back down at their table. Kate smirked.

"He's not as roguish as he was in his youth," Her two parents danced together and Jenny clapped a bit to keep the beat as her dinner was served to her by B.E.N. As the birthday girl, she was to decide what she wanted and eventually decided anyone could have whatever, it didn't seem fair to just make everyone eat stuff she liked just because it was her birthday. Thus, she had steamed fish and insects with purp juice and raisin fries. She took a bite of one of the insects and her ears flipped up; most of it was partly-cooked.

"Of course," She pulled the pieces out of her mouth and drank her juice to try and wash down the pieces she couldn't get out. Her parents were still dancing together, and so were 'Aunt' Amelia and 'Uncle' Delbert. The triplets and their brother were eagerly cheering their parents on, Estelle trying to cheer louder than Thomas while Bridget shyly spun around in her purple dress to try and match her mother's movements. Messa just watched in fascination, like she was waiting for something interesting or strange to happen. Jenny had to admit, her aunt and uncle cleaned up quite well; Delbert was in a trimmed red suit very suitable for the occasion and Amelia wore a matching blue and red coat over gold breeches. It was a more masculine look Jenny appreciated and thoroughly approved of.

The dancing went on for quite a while, and even when everyone was finished the music was still being played merrily. Jenny had finished most of her food by then when B.E.N. came over, a tie around his neck, and several small cakes on a platter, all with candles in them.

"I lit them all up for the birthday girl!" He explained.

"Make a wish," Bridget smiled a bit.

"Yeah!" Messa cheered.

"What are you going to wish for?" Thomas asked, only to get elbowed by Estelle. "Ouch!"

"Stupid, you can't ask her what she's going to wish for! It won't come true otherwise!" She scolded.

"I'm sure everything you could want, you already have," Sarah smiled warmly at her.

Jenny stared at the candles, watching them flicker back and forth. The cakes themselves were small and round, gooey like chocolate rocks.

In a way, she already had everything one could want, but she wished for more. Adventure. The chance for one. A sign that someone would answer her prayers.

Finally, she blew her candles out, making everyone clap for her. B.E.N. started handing the cakes out to everyone, leaving the biggest one for the birthday girl. Jenny stared at it, having no clue how to eat it properly. With a fork or with her hands? She ultimately decided she didn't care and picked the cake up in her hands, getting a few crumbs on her gloves as she ate it. The chocolate seemed to explode in a gooey river in her mouth, making her widen her eyes and her ears flick up. It was an unexpected surprise, especially from B.E.N. She found herself eating the small cake faster than expected, making her pseudo-siblings giggle a bit.

"Aww, you like Uncle B.E.N.'s cooking now!" Bridget smiled.

"She disliked my cooking?!" B.E.N. gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, earlier she said everything you make is runny like oil," Estelle laughed. "She even made fun of those cupcakes you made for Thomas' birthday!"

"Sometimes his cooking is bad," Jenny interjected. "But...he's getting better,"

"Who's ready for presents? I know I'm excited to see what she got," Delbert announced, making the other adults nod. The table was pushed away to make more room and Jenny was the center of attention again as several presents were presented to her. She glanced around, finally picking a random one and unwrapping it, finding a small golden locket.

"Open it up," Sarah coaxed, sitting beside her. "It's modeled after mine,"

Jenny smiled slightly as she pulled open the locket and was treated to several small holographic pictures of her life; drinking milkshakes with the triplets at six, making the model ship at nine, pouting a bit as Kate pulled her hair up into a bun at twelve, wading in a creek at fourteen, making her first solar-surfer at sixteen, and finally a moment of her sitting with Jim and Kate in a more quiet moment. She closed the locket.

"Thanks, Grandma," She said genuinely and slipped it onto her neck.

"You're welcome. I thought you'd like one since I see you eyeing mine sometimes,"

"It's an interesting piece of technology!"

"Even it can only hold so many memories," She then stepped aside to let someone else offer a present, who happened to be the triplets.

"We all wanted to give you something," Bridget explained as Jenny opened it. She found a large and shiny new sail that glimmered when it caught the right sunlight. She smirked, knowing exactly what it was for.

"You gotta take us out solar-surfing sometime!" Messa grinned. "It sounds like fun!"

"We'll vouch if anything bad happens!" Estelle said. "It not only sounds like fun but looks like fun! We heard you needed a new sail after your last one got torn from that cave you went into,"

"You went solar-surfing in a mining cave?" Kate asked instantly. "When was this?"

"A few weeks ago...?" Jenny trailed off, not wanting to get into a debate about it. "Thanks by the way. I'll revamp my new one to fit more people. Even then, it won't fit all of you, but you can take turns-"

"Jennifer Penelope Hawkins!" Kate continued. "After your party, we'll discuss this in more detail!"

Jenny winced at hearing her full name, knowing there'd be no getting out of that conversation.

"In fact, take my gift," Kate handed Jenny hers, which she unwrapped to find a shiny silver tablet, which she stared at.

"What's it for?" Attached to the side was a matching pen, which Jenny took out and started drawing random shapes in the air with.

"Better and easier note-taking. Especially if you plan on going to the Royal Interstellar Academy, you'll need it," Kate smirked a bit. "It's fairly new technology so there might be some bugs, but still,"

Jenny turned it on and stared at a menu screen of a stock galaxy. She used her pen to press around and found a notepad and found she could write just as she would a regular slate and piece of chalk.

"It's really cool!" She marveled beside herself.

"I knew you'd like it,"

"Alright, mine, mine!" Thomas announced in excitement, handing his to Jenny.

"You didn't piggy-back off your sisters?" She teased, smirking when he blushed.

"You felines are always so mean to me," He pouted. "Just open it anyway!"

Jenny did so, finding a small bronze model of a draconic creature. It was sleekly-made but still had gears showing in certain places. Curious, she turned the model around several times in her hands carefully, poking around until she pulled up a lever on the underside of the model's neck, making the lights glow and the tiny model fly around, opening its mouth and roaring.

"You made this all yourself?" Her eyes widened at the craftmanship. Thomas nodded eagerly.

"Sure did! It took me a few weeks but I'm really proud of it!"

She turned it off and put it aside, taking her next gift from 'Uncle' Delbert, which was a stack of books on various subjects. She looked through them and found geography, biology, astronomy, physics, and engineering.

"More books? My bookshelf is already so small," She commented, placing the stack at her feet.

"Well you can never have too many books, and with your graduation coming soon, you might need more stuff for whatever university you choose to go to!" Delbert nodded.

"You opened his, so now you can open mine," 'Aunt' Amelia smiled, handing her own over. Jenny shook it a little bit, trying to figure out what was inside because the box felt softer than the other ones. She pulled it open and found several sets of girly but still practical skirts, blouses, and jackets, pouting a bit. "Your own are always oversized,"

"Yes but I like them that way!" She said, looking over the clothing. They were in the earthy colours a lot of people on Montressor wore to blend into the landscape better; grey, green, black, dark blue, and brown. They certainly weren't a planet known for fashion, not like it mattered much to Jenny. Oftentimes when she was walking around town in her baggy clothing, covered in oil and dust with her hair messy people often didn't recognize her as the Hawkins' daughter and instead as some miner, coming home from a hard day's work.

Jim handed his own to her without a word. She pulled the ribbon off and gasped when a bunch of warm slime jumped out at her face, wanting to lick her.

"Morph!" She laughed, watching the pink gooey shapeshifter fly around her eagerly.

"I was wondering where he was!" Jim just shook his head.

"You'd think he would've outgrown being mischievous by now," Kate said.

Jenny gently touched Morph and watched him break apart and reform into a small image of her, fluffing her hair. She rolled her eyes slightly and watched him switch back to his normal form.

"My actual present is still inside," Jim coaxed, and Jenny picked the box back up and pulled out a long necklace made of pearls and diamonds.

"A necklace?" She asked, looking it over for anything unique or unusual about it.

"It has eighteen pearls and diamonds on it. Just something to commemorate you being an adult now and being able to wear pearls," He smiled.

Jenny folded the necklace up and put it aside, not liking how long it was. What if it got in the way when she was solar-surfing or trying to work on something mechanical? They never had any events formal enough to even consider wearing such a necklace to. She felt it was a fairly useless gift.

All the presents being opened, everyone went back to eating, dancing, or just merrymaking.

"So many presents," Messa said in amazement.

"We'll help you put everything away in your room," Bridget suggested.

"Yeah! Then we can go back to dancing!" Estelle cheered.

Jenny smiled a bit at their excitement and nodded, letting Estelle handle the clothing and necklace, Messa got the sail, and Bridget got the school supplies. Jenny moved the more technological stuff herself, placing them in fitting spots around her room. She briefly thought of turning the metal model back on but then decided against it, not sure if it could be left alone unsupervised or if it would plow straight into a wall.

Afterwards, the triplets took to dancing for the remainder of the night while Jenny sat down and watched the festivities. Once Thomas shyly asked her to dance with him and she obliged, and once Kate wanted to do another fast country dance with her and she also obliged, but otherwise she remained sitting.

The party went on for a while before everyone was decidedly spent. Jenny helped her parents clean up slightly before she headed upstairs to her room, taking off her formal dress and settling into a white blouse and patchwork skirt with her hair slightly loosened. She felt tired, but not tired enough to fully attempt sleep, so instead she laid in her bed and amused herself by scribbling random things on her new tablet, holding it carefully because of the weight. The noise downstairs died down as the guests either went to their own rooms or left.

"Jenny? Are you still up?" Kate asked softly, opening the door. Jenny nodded, her face lit up by the tablet.

"What is it?"

"Your dad and I found a present for you, it was hidden under a counter in the kitchen," She slowly held it out; it was small and wrapped in a brown sack.

"From B.E.N.?" He was the only one who hadn't given her anything.

"No, it doesn't have a name on it," Kate winced a bit. "You sure you want to open it?"

"Of course I want to open it!" Jenny sat up and placed her tablet down, taking the present from Kate. "Is it from Dad? It's gotta be from Dad,"

"Not from me," Jim joined her mom in the doorway, eyeing the bag too. "I just found it,"

Then maybe...it was from the mysterious person who sent her all those other gifts! She eagerly unwrapped the bag, finding a large piece of metal inside. It shimmered a dull gold but otherwise looked unimpressive.

"What is it?" It didn't have the grand splendor or sense of adventure her other gifts had, making her frown as she turned it over several times in her hands.

"Some piece of metal," Kate sat beside her and looked at it herself. "I can't figure out where it's from, I've never seen anything like it before,"

Jim's eyes widened slightly and took it from her. "I know what this is, and where it came from, and who set it to you,"

"Who?" Jenny asked in excitement.

He looked out the window and held the metal piece up. "You know about Treasure Planet and the stories I always told you of my adventure there, right?"

She nodded. "Of course,"

"This piece of metal came from the planet itself, likely from the core, though what it used to be I can't tell."

"Seriously?" Kate asked in disbelief. "You said the whole planet blew up,"

"It did, but I guess he was quick enough to grab something, almost like he knew,"

"Who?" Jenny asked, curious. "And something really survived from the planet?" She took it back from Jim and stared at it. She was truly holding something from the legendary Treasure Planet in her very hands!

"When I told you about my adventures, there was one part I always left out, but now I think you can hear it," Jim started, and then began weaving a story about a cyborg cook he was a cabin-boy under during the voyage, everything they did together and how he came to be a father-figure. He didn't hold back in describing how Silver turned out to be a pirate, only on the journey for his own gain, but came to care for Jim as his own and ultimately saved him when faced with a choice to do so. He went into hiding after their journeys were over, briefly reappearing to help him and Kate out on their own adventure but going right back into hiding. Jim ultimately couldn't blame him, despite the good he'd done he was also a pirate and still wanted, so it would likely be best for him in the long run if he remained hidden.

"Still, he's clearly still keeping an eye on me," He finally finished.

Jenny's eyes were wide, hardly believing a majority of what she was hearing. An estranged family friend, one who constantly gave her small tastes of adventure despite never having met her before...! It was almost romantic in a way, like those adventure novels Messa read because she was content with living in a fantasy world as she always put it. She sat back slightly, trying to process everything she heard.

"He must've been saving the best for last," Jim smiled at her.

Her parents left her then, leaving her in the dark to mull over what she learned. She constantly tossed the piece of metal in her hands over and over again, thinking about where in Treasure Planet it could've come from.

When she finally fell asleep, her dreams were filled with adventures like usual, but this time she dreamed specifically of Treasure Planet and all the wealth it once contained.


The next day at breakfast, the inn was quiet and still due to the early morning. Jenny was back in her oversized jackets and skirts and ate quickly, not one for lounging around.

"Bye! I'm going out again!" She ran off, calling out to her parents and grandma.

"Solar-surfing?" Kate questioned, a look in her eyes saying she wasn't about to let the previous conversation go.

"No...?" Jenny smiled a bit. "Dad and I are doing something,"

"Have fun!" Sarah called from the kitchen. Jenny took that as her cue to leave and slipped away, feeling her hand in her pocket. The piece of metal was in there.

"Jenny!" Jim greeted her nicely, pulling her into a hug that made her gasp.

"Dad, you're dressed all nicely! The gunk on my clothes will get on you. Then it'd be kinda funny to see you get side-eyed," She smirked.

"A chip off the old block," He ruffled her hair. "I'm inspecting ships today and thought you'd like to help. It's not much, but it's something, right?"

"Right," She nodded and followed after him. "By the way...why did you never mention that guy Silver before? You seemed so close to him, yet in all your stories of adventure he never once came up," She clutched the piece of metal again.

"I guess I was trying to think of the best way to accurately describe him. Even now he's an enigma to me. I guess I wanted you to see him as I knew him and waited for the right time when I thought you would,"

Jenny just nodded, having no clue what to say to that.

"And maybe, one of these days, after you've graduated and proven you can remain disciplined and courteous, maybe he can hook all three of us up with a new adventure,"

"To find a new Treasure Planet?"

"To find something even better," He winked at her, and father and daughter walked down to the docks together.