meeting Ben

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[Jim and Morph wander into the dense woods to find cover; they hear rustling and get the feeling they are being watched by someone. Suddenly a robot jumps out and startles them.]

B.E.N.: AAAAAAAAAAAHH!

JIM: Aah!

B.E.N.: Oh, this is fantastic! A carbon-based life form come to rescue me at last! l just want to hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me.

JIM: [He hugs Jim tightlly.] All right. OK. Would you just let go of me?!

B.E.N.: Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. It's just I-l've been marooned for so long, l mean...solitude's fine. Don't get me wrong. For heaven's sakes, after a hundred years... YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!!! Ha ha ha! I'm sorry. Am l...l am, um...My name is, uh...

MORPH: [Makes a cuckoo cuckoo noise.]

B.E.N.: B.E.N.! Of course, I'm B.E.N. Bioelectronic Navigator. Oops. And you are?

JIM: Jim.

B.E.N.: Oh, what a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy.

JIM: It's Jim.

B.E.N.: Anyway--

JIM: Look, I'm kind of in a hurry, OK? l got to find a place to hide, and there's pirates chasing me.

B.E.N.: Oh, pirates! Don't get me started on pirates! l don't like them. l remember Captain Flint. This guy had such a temper--

JIM: Wait, wait, wait. You knew Captain Flint?

B.E.N.: I think he suffered from mood swings, personally. I'm not a therapist, and anyway, but l--you let me know when I'm rambling.

JIM: But that means--but wait. But then you gotta know about the treasure?

B.E.N.: Treasure?

JIM: Yeah, Flint's trove? You know, loot of a thousand worlds.

B.E.N.: It's--well, it's...it's all a little--little--little fuzzy. Wait. l--l r-r-remember. l do. l--treasure! Lots of treasure buried in the centroid--centroid--centroid of the mechanism. And there was this big door opening and closing...and opening and closing...and Captain Flint wanted to make sure...nobody could ever get to his treasure...so I helped him...[Sputtering] Aah! Data inaccessible! Reboot!

JIM: B.E.N.?

B.E.N.: REBOOT!

JIM: B.E..N?

B.E.N.: REBOOT!

JIM: B.E.N.!

B.E.N.: REBOOT! [Jim slaps him.]

B.E.N.: Aah! And you are?

JIM: Wait, wait, wait! What about the treasure?

B.E.N.: l want to say Larry.

JIM: The--the centroid of the mechanism, or--

B.E.N.: I'm sorry. M-m-my memory isn't what it used to be. I-l've lost my mind. Ha ha! l've lost my mind. You haven't found it, have you?

JIM: Uh--

B.E.N.: My missing piece? My primary memory circuit? [On the back of his head there appears to be a piece missing.]

JIM: Look, B.E.N., I really need to find a place to hide, OK? So I'm just gonna be, you know, moving on.

B.E.N.: Oh, uh...so, well, then...l guess, uh...this is good-bye, huh? I'm sorry that I'm so dysfunctional. So, uh, go ahead and...l do understand. l do. Bye-bye. [B.E.N. starts to wheel away and Morph whines.]

JIM: [Sighs] Look, if you're gonna come along you're gonna have to stop talking.

B.E.N.: Huzzah! Ha ha ha! Oh, this is fantastic! Me and my best buddy are lookin' for a...[Jim looks at him sternly.]

B.E.N.: [Clears throat] [Whispering] Being quiet.

JIM: And you have to stop touching me.

B.E.N.: Touching and talking. That's my two big no-nos.

JIM: OK. Now, I think that we should--

B.E.N.: Say, listen, before we go out on our big search...um, would you mind if we made a quick pit stop at my place? [Chuckles] Kind of urgent.

JIM: B.E.N., I think you just solved my problem.

[We see B.E.N.'s home off in the distance, a massive moss covered building in the middle of a field.]

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