Man Overboard

The hull was in pieces. My head was a ball of pain. Someone was shouting.

What adrenaline I had called for support had left just as quickly as they came, leaving me with a headache for a souvenir. My mind seemed to be made of molasses as I worked to gather the puzzle pieces back together and figure out what happened. Somehow I had been surprised by a swell, but not just any swell, something like the mother of swells. It had ripped through my hurried patchwork like a steak knife through vacuum. Only pieces and fragments of the hull remained, connected by mere splinters that could fail at any minute. I couldn’t even look at the display, because I knew all of my hard work up till that point had been for naught… Then my ears caught up.

…

“We got it!” someone had shouted first.

…

“Man Overboard!” the newbie Rat had shouted, a tinge of amusement there in his voice.

…

“We thought we had lost ye,” said a soft voice beside me as my eyes finally found something to focus on, which just so happened to be the smiling face of the Captain. “The sea can be a harsh mistress.”

“Aye,” I coughed, nearly choking. It felt as if I hadn’t spoken in years. “I can’t believe I failed you, Captain.”

The Captain’s eyes became stern, and I suppose I must have braced for a verbal beating, as the Captain chuckled and his eyes softened, “Ye’ve had a major battle, me heartie, and have survived to tell the tale. Ye didn’t fail me, you saved us the precious few seconds we needed to grab the booty...â ...