Finches

Chapter 27 - The Cabin Boy

Colt was getting rather irritated at having to prepare to die every several minutes. Getting ready to die was actually quite a lot of work. It's not something you'd really think about, since most people only have to do it once, but here he was time after time. He really couldn't tell if he was getting lucky or if the universe just wanted to test him. How many times can we make Colt think he's going to die without actually killing him? What a fun game.

"Wait!"

This time Colt wasn't surprised that he didn't die, but he was rather surprised at the person who spoke up.

"Don't kill him," said Cedric. "Believe me, Captain Rave will want to see to this one himself when he gets back. Colt here used to be a member of the crew, which makes it personal for the captain."

A member of the crew. Yeah, right. A servant of the crew, maybe. But not once did he feel like a member of the crew on this ship. He was always second-class, and treated as such too.

But whoever it was behind Colt must've listened to the cook, because Colt felt the cool object being removed from his head. Then someone took hold of his wrists and someone else grabbed Shelly. Something was thrown over his head, blinding him. He felt himself being dragged down some stairs and knew exactly where he was doing.

"Hey I know where the brig is, by the way," Colt told the darkness. "It's really no secret. I'll tell her too, so there's no need to blindfold us."

There was no answer from whoever was escorting him. They walked for several more seconds, then Colt felt himself being shoved to the ground. A few seconds passed and then the bag was removed from his head. The light blinded him for a moment and he had to blink it out. When his eyesight adjusted, he was in the last cell in the line of barred enclosures that made up the ship's brig, or jail. Shelly was in the cell to his right, sticking her hands out of the bars like she was reaching for something that was obviously not there.

"Not a good idea," Colt muttered to her. "Hands and feet inside the cell at all times. Trust me."

Shelly glanced over to him, started to say something, then decided against it. She rescinded her arms and took a seat at the back of the cell.

"Spending a lot of time in jail, aren't you?" she asked him. "It feels like every time I see you, you're locked up."

Colt nodded, the corners of his mouth turning up a little. "Three cells in two days. It's becoming a bad habit, I guess."

She smiled and glanced down at the dirty collection of planks that made up the floor. The brig was one of the worst areas to clean, Colt remembered.

Then Shelly's eyes got a glazed-over look, and her expression became sad. She looked back up at him. "I'm sorry," she said. "You're in here because you helped me."

Colt held her gaze for a moment before waving off her words. "I'm here because I attempted to overthrow the captain, and failed miserably. Besides, it's either this or the cell at the outpost, and there's not all that much difference to me."

"You tried to overthrow the captain? Why?"

"It's sort of a long story," he said.

Shelly looked around. "I sort of have a long time to hear it."

"You know that information that I'm looking for, on the Lost Captain Finch?" he asked, earning a nod in response. "Well I thought that Captain Rave had information about him, and knew where he was. So I worked on this ship for years, thinking that eventually we'd head out toward the lost captain. No pay, just a dream. But that never happened, and one day I learned that it was all a lie. Rave was never going after the Lost Captain Finch. He didn't even know where he was. So, I got a little angry and tried to fight the captain for control of the ship."