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Our story begins with a mirror. The said mirror was found hundreds of years before the map makers Rusty, Tonya, and Bear were even born. It was found by Trenton Pennywonk. Yes, you would be correct in assuming Trenton is related to Temple Pennywonk who hid his treasure in the Stellar Graveyard, the very treasure Captain Margay entered the Stellar Graveyard to find. Trenton was Temple's great¹⁷ grandfather, and he was a pirate who sailed the High Seas. Little did Margay know the treasure she sought was not the kind of treasure you want to find.

Trenton soon discovered that the mirror he found possessed a strange and most undesired power. When Trenton looked into the eyes of his reflection, the reflection came to life and stepped out of the mirror. Except for being a pirate, Trenton was a pretty nice guy. His reflection was not. Being a reflection, he was not a perfect copy of Trenton but rather a reflection of one aspect of him. In this case, it happened to be his avarice. And being a mischievous reflection, he looked into the mirror until there were several Trentons.

When you are used to being just you, it can be quite jarring to become a one of you. Trenton resolved that the mirror could not stay on earth, but in the 1700s, he had no way of carrying through with his resolution. The mirror was passed down through the family with precise instructions to never look into it and that the first family member capable of it would hide the mirror among the stars. Thus, Temple hid it on a planet in the Stellar Graveyard covered with glassy mountains where he was sure it could never be found. The planet was like the universe's largest fun house. He hid it on…

"The Glassy Planet"

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"This planet is a girl's dream come true," cooed Tonya. "What’s that? A zit! This planet is a girl's worst nightmare."

"I thought you just said this planet was a dream come true," Darcy prompted.

"Don’t try to understand women, Darcy," advised Rusty. "Trust me. Your life will be much simpler that way."

Tonya was admiring her reflection in one of the glassy rocks that covered the planet’s surface. The jagged glass jutted out of the planet just a couple of feet in some places and towered as tall as mountains in others. It was everywhere forming a complex maze of walking space. The pirate ship lay atop shards of broken glass. Several yards from the pirate ship, lying in a similar pile of shards, sat an empty escape pod bearing a skull and cross bones.

The pirate ship led by map maker Rusty Wallace had been scouring the Stellar Graveyard for the past couple of weeks for just such an escape pod. It was the escape pod Captain Margay used to venture into the Stellar Graveyard in search of Temple Pennywonk's treasure. Too scared to enter the Stellar Graveyard on their own, Pirate Dark Star and Darcy kidnapped Rusty and his map making crew from Pluto a couple months ago.
Pirate Dark Star marched down the ship's ramp with a coil of rope over one shoulder, a pick over the other, a heavy backpack, a brown fedora, and sunglasses. "Those sunglasses so don't go with that hat," quipped Tonya.

"They so do," Dark Star quipped back.

"Both of you, quiet!" shouted Rusty. "We only have three hours until sunset. You do not want to be outside the ship after dark in the Stellar Graveyard. We will split into teams, so we can cover more area. When you see the sun starting to go down, head back to the ship whether you've found Margay or not. Bear, you’re with me."

Pointing at Rusty's ferret, Bear asked, "Is Also coming too?"

"Forgot you were scared of Also. That's not going to work. Dark Star, you and me together."

Captain Spectacular volunteered, "I will accompany the young lady to ensure her safety."

"Not in that cape you aren't," countered Tonya.

"Then you and Bear can search together, Spectacular," instructed Rusty. "He needs more protecting than Tonya anyhow. That leaves Darcy and Tonya."

Quoted Text

Our story begins with a mirror. Said mirror was found hundreds of years before the map makers Rusty, Tonya, and Bear were even born. It was found by Trenton Pennywonk. Yes, you would be correct in assuming Trenton is related to Temple Pennywonk who hid his treasure in the Stellar Graveyard, the very treasure Captain Margay entered the Stellar Graveyard to find. Trenton was Temple's great¹⁷ grandfather, and he was a pirate who sailed the High Seas. Little did Margay know the treasure she sought was not the kind of treasure you want to find.

Trenton soon discovered that the mirror he found possessed a strange and most undesirable power. When Trenton looked into the eyes of his reflection, the reflection came to life and stepped out of the mirror. Except for being a pirate, Trenton was a pretty nice guy. His reflection was not. Being a reflection, he was not a perfect copy of Trenton but rather a reflection of one aspect of him. In this case, it happened to be his avarice. And being a mischievous reflection, he looked into the mirror until there were several Trentons.

Trenton resolved that the mirror could not stay on earth, but in the 1700s, he had no way of carrying through with his resolution. The mirror was passed down through the family with precise instructions to never look into it and that the first family member capable of it would hide the mirror among the stars. Thus, Temple hid it on a planet in the Stellar Graveyard covered with glassy mountains where he was sure it could never be found. The planet was like the universe's largest fun house--without all the fun. He hid it on...

"The Glassy Planet"

"...which is the colloquial name for Planet SiO2, the only known planet with a glass core," explained the female voice of the pirate ship's Autopilot.

"When did that infernal Autopilot start being able to follow us outside the ship?" Rusty demanded.

"I heard that," the Autopilot replied.

"That was me," Darcy confessed. "I hooked her speech synthesizer to the exterior PA system. But Johnson told me to."

"You're undoing it as soon as we get back," Rusty barked.

"This planet is a girl's dream come true," Tonya cooed. "What's that? A zit! This planet is a girl's worst nightmare."

"I thought you just said this planet was a dream come true," Darcy prompted.

"Don't try to understand women, Darcy," Rusty advised. "Trust me. Your life will be much simpler that way."

Tonya was admiring her reflection in one of the glassy rocks that covered the planet's surface. The jagged glass jutted out of the planet just a couple of feet in some places and towered as tall as mountains in others. It was everywhere forming a complex maze of walking space. The pirate ship lay atop shards of broken glass. Several yards from the pirate ship, lying in a similar pile of shards, sat an empty escape pod bearing a skull and cross bones.

The pirate ship led by map maker Rusty Wallace had been scouring the Stellar Graveyard for the past couple of weeks for just such an escape pod. It was the escape pod Captain Margay used to venture into the Stellar Graveyard in search of Temple Pennywonk's treasure. Too scared to enter the Stellar Graveyard on their own, Pirate Dark Star and Darcy kidnapped Rusty and his map making crew from Pluto a couple months ago.

Pirate Dark Star marched down the ship's ramp with a coil of rope over one shoulder, a pick over the other, a heavy backpack, a brown fedora, and sunglasses. "Those sunglasses so don't go with that hat," Tonya quipped.

"They so do," Dark Star quipped back.

"Both of you, quiet!" Rusty shouted. "We only have three hours until sunset. You do not want to be outside the ship after dark in the Stellar Graveyard. We will split into teams, so we can cover more area. When you see the sun starting to go down, head back to the ship whether you've found Margay or not. Bear, you're with me."

Pointing at Rusty's ferret, Bear asked, "Is Also coming too?"

"Forgot you were scared of Also. That's not going to work. Dark Star, you and me together."

Captain Spectacular volunteered, "I will accompany the young lady to ensure her safety."

"Not in that cape you aren't," Tonya countered.

"Then you and Bear can search together, Spectacular," Rusty instructed. "He needs more protecting than Tonya anyhow. That leaves Darcy and Tonya."

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"I haven't always been a pirate," Dark Star shared with Rusty as he struggled under his heavy load. "I actually started out as an insurance agent. Are you listening?"

"Hmmm?" Rusty mumbled. "Oh, yes. You were an accountant. Go on."

"There's no reason for me to continue if you're not even listening."

"Please go on," Tonya piped. She was a few feet behind and jogged to catch up. "I'm listening."

Rusty turned and asked, "Where did you come from? Where's Darcy?"

"I don't know."

"You two were supposed to be a team," Rusty reminded.

"Well, I lost track of him and got scared. Then I heard you guys. Please let me stay with you. This planet is creepy."

"Maybe he's with Bear and Spectacular," Dark Star offered. "Well, being an insurance agent and being a pirate are not as different as you might think."

"I don't know if I could do either," Tonya said.

"Being a pirate is not that hard," Dark Star continued. "Not that being an insurance agent is that hard either, but it's not easy. For that matter, it's not easy being a pirate...nor is it hard..."

***** ***** *****

Bear was the first to break the awkward silence between him and Captain Spectacular. "So...uh...Spectacular, how long have you been a super hero defending against accidental excursions into the Stellar Graveyard, which, by the way, I think is an extremely noble cause?"

"You can just call me Oscar. I was coming up on my twenty-fifth anniversary there on the second Outer Lying World. I was a super hero long before that though. The outpost was kind of like a retirement gig. I spent thirty years super heroing on earth and then did stints of a few years on both the moon and Mars."

"I hope it's not rude me asking," Bear pried, "but how old are you? It's just that you don't look old enough to retire."

"Ninety-two. Super heroes age differently than normal people. I feel as fit as a fifty-year-old."

"In those tights," came Tonya's voice, "you look as fit as my grandma." The team spun around to see Tonya rounding the corner.

"I thought you were with Darcy," Oscar prodded. "Something about not being worthy of a man with a cape."

"I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be, Cape Man, but Darcy ran off without me," Tonya retorted.

"It's Captain Spectacular, or even Oscar Bradley will work," Oscar asserted.

Bear asked, "About that: aren't super heroes supposed to have secret identities?"

"I tried keeping one up when I was younger. I just don't see the point any more."

"It's not like he's a real super hero," Tonya jibed. "I'm surprised you're not scared of super heroes, Bear."

"What's got into you?" Bear protested. "Did you start calling Darcy names too and chase him off? Oscar's a nice guy. Leave him alone."

"That's all I am," Oscar bemoaned. "A nice guy. While other super heroes are saving the universe, what am I doing? Keeping people from entering the Stellar Graveyard, and I even failed at that."

Bear glared at Tonya and then turned to Oscar. "Being with you makes me not as scared."

"Really?" Oscar raised his head. "You know what we're going to do? Before we leave this planet, we're going to cure you of all your fears, Bear!"

"Oh, brother!" Tonya groaned.

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"I'm really glad I was teamed up with you." Tonya wrapped her arms around Darcy's right arm. "Just you and me exploring a strange planet. It's going to be quite an adventure!"

"I'm glad I was teamed with you too, I guess."

"You guess?" Tonya giggled. "You're cute when you're on a mission."

"We haven't even started the mission yet."

"We haven't have we?" Tonya continued to giggle. "What are we supposed to be doing again?"

"We're searching for Captain Margay."

"Searching for her is going to give us plenty of time to get to know each other better." Tonya leaned her head against Darcy's shoulder.

Darcy stepped to the left and replied, "You're making me feel a bit uncomfortable."

***** ***** *****

Tonya thought she had seen something in her teeth. As soon as Rusty finished his speech, she turned back to the mirror. She sighed. False alarm. She had been teamed with Darcy. That wouldn’t be too bad.

"Darcy, we probably should get going."

She turned away from the mirror. Where was Darcy? Where was everybody?

"Darcy, Darcy?"

"I agree. Let's get going," came a voice in the direction of the mirror.

Tonya turned back to the mirror. "You're not Darcy."

"Oh, then who am I?" the voice asked.

"Well, you’re me, but that's impossible."

"Oh, well. Let’s go. This planet looks fun," the other Tonya said gleefully.

"No, I think we should wait here until Cap and the others return," Tonya told herself.

"You can wait here, but I'm going exploring." With that, the other Tonya walked off into a cluster of glassy ridges.

"Hey, you. Hey...me!" shouted Tonya. "Aw, shucks!" And with that, Tonya went running after the other Tonya.