Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
LucasArts Fiction

CHAPTER 15: THINGS TURN OUT ALL RIGHT AFTER ALL

An hour later, we were somewhat recovered. Our mood was stern, but grim. We'd escaped from a strongly guarded pirate vessel, and sunk said vessel, but we were coming back penniless. The treasure was consigned to the deeps. Our maps were gone, burnt by Dad in what he now acknowledged as a fit of madness. And we didn't dare head back to the island. Supposing Raw Throat had managed to get a lifeboat off in time, and was waiting for us? We weren't that bold.
While we were in this somewhat glum mood, Wendy appeared at the door. She wasn't glum. She was smiling - why, I had no idea.
"Well, we made it," she said.
"Yeah," I agreed. "But we haven't got any treasure or any maps. It was all for nothing."
Wendy grinned again. "Not quite," she said, and brought her right hand out from behind her back. It held a sheaf of papers.
Dad took these and looked them. "What's this?"
"Those are the navigational maps from Raw Throat Hugo's ship," said Wendy. "It's got maps of the island we explored, as well as two others in the discovery zone that nobody else has stumbled across yet."
"Where did you get these?" I asked.
"I got them in that room while you two were at the door," said Wendy. I could have hugged her.
"This is great," said Dad, "but we can't just show these to people. They'll think we made them up."
"Perhaps," said Wendy, "but I've been looking through the storeroom and all the plant samples and specimens we took from the island have been left intact. That ought to be enough proof."
I felt an emotion seeping into my veins. It felt like elation.
"We've done it," said Wendy.
"No, you've done it," corrected Dad. And he said, solemnly, "I'm sorry that I burnt your charts."
"That's okay," said Wendy, shrugging. "It worked out for the best, anyway. We would never have found these other two islands. And they're even larger than Que Sera Island."
Dad laughed. "You know what this means, don't you?"
"What?" I said.
"We've found fame and fortune after all!"

Well, I suppose you'll want to know what happened next.
We got back home after two more months of sailing. Wendy spent most of that time fasting, having made good on her internal promise not to eat any more fish. By the time we reached shore, we were all bronzed and fit.
When we got to shore, Dad immediately took the charts and the samples to the relevant authorities. They created a sensation. For weeks our lives were turned upside down. First the papers featured us in stories, then the weekly magazines did stories on us, then the monthlies, then all the geographic serials wanted to do a story, then the first secondary reports came back from our newly discovered island, and the whole cycle started again.
Sometime during all this Wendy wrote an account of our journey there and back. It's probably a lot better than this one - at any rate, it stayed in the bestseller charts for months and months.
We were rich, all right. Dad was right, there. Everybody wanted our story so much that they'd pay large sums for the chance of an exclusive. And by the time the stories ran, we were famous, too. Amazing.
And so life nowadays is a bit different.
We've gone to live on Que Sera Island, in a large mansion built near the lagoon. We were among the first settlers - a lot have moved in since then.
We've kept the Que Sera. It's moored at a specially built dock.
Dad doesn't work any more - at least for money. He spends most of his days building up Que Sera Island, turning it into a nation. Someday he's going to be the Prime Minister.
Wendy just keeps on writing. She has picked up a secondary interest, though - swimming. About time she got some outdoor exercise.
And as for me, well, I think I might just keep that a secret. This isn't an autobiography, it's just the story of how we became rich and famous. I said I'd tell it. And now I have.