Sink or Swim
Being the first ever fan-fic (and hopefully not the last) authored by Isreal Hands
A Note from the Author: As I have said, this is my first fan-fic. I've written stories in the past, but I have always been to self-critical to publish any. So, ANY criticism you may have will be very much appreciated. I am eager to see things from a second point of view. I cannot make any garuntees as to how often I will update. Then again, it seems that anyone who does makes a garuntee simply breaks it later. But I will say that I hope to post a chapter every weekday as a minimum. Well, here it is.
Chapter One: One Flew East...
In which the protagonist first falls (quite literally) into his curious... predicament.
Austen Trigg was standing stiffly at the water's edge, standing on tip-toe whenever a wave came up any further than his ankles; And he looked ridiculous. But he couldn't help himself. He was terrified, petrified of the Ocean. But not just the ocean- any body of water that was any larger than his bath tub was far too large for him; Despite the fact that he'd lived near water his whole life, he had never learned to swim. No one had bothered to teach him. His parents were far too busy working to pay any mind.
So here he was. A fourteen-year-old boy with virtually no knowledge of the Ocean, or how to swim in it standing at the edge of the Atlantic. Perhaps by now, the reader has wondered "What is he doing at the Ocean, if he's so afraid?" I shall answer. Austen, like many fourteen-year-olds, had a crush. And his crush had invited him to a party. Naturally, he accepted. But he had no idea that it was to be a boating party.
"C'mon, Austen!" yelled Cassie, the girl of his dreams. They were all waiting for him on the boat.
"Coming!" he yelled back. He clenched his fist, and stuck a foot into the icy water, squeezing his eyes shut. Nothing happened. He was still okay. He opened his eyes, cautiously optomistic. He took antoher step.
"What are you doing?!" They were all yelling. He quickened his pace, and by the time he got to the boat, the water was only waist deep. He clambered up the side of the boat, and took the towel his best friend Andrew was holding out to him.
"Everyone ready?" asked Cassies Dad.
Everyone answered, except Austen. "Yep," they all said excitedly.
"Great," her Dad said. "Let's make some waves!" And they sped off. Austen sat down quickly, next to Andrew and clamped onto the railing. They were going way fastetr than Austen would have liked.
"Hey man, you okay?" Andrew asked him.
"Yeah."
"You look like shit!"
"I'm fine," Austen snapped. He caught sight of Cassie out the corner of his eye. She was smiling at him. He smiled back, suddenley forgeting to hang on, ignorant to the fact that they were speeding along at sixty miles an hour.
Then it happened. They hit a bump, and the front of the boat- the bow, he thought it was called- went flying up into the air sending Austen hurtling through the air, and into the water. He sank like a rock.
Deeper. Deeper. Darker. He was flailing frantically, unable to find up. He quickly lost all sense on direction. His head was hammering from the inside out. His entire insides were screaming.
-air-
-Air-
-AIR-
Austen's muscles began to tense. He was too tired to kick. He began to sink again. Preciaous bubbles of air began to escape his lips. Suddenly, he caught a glimmer of light. He rocket towards it. But he was dying. He could feel the life leaving him, ecaping from his mouth by way of those little bubbles of air. He kept swimming, or rather flailing towards what he hoped what was the surface.
Then, a hand shot into the water, reaching downwards, trying to catch him. Austen would have sworn it was the hand of God, had he believed in that sort of thing. He was slowing. He would be sinking again, in a matter of moments.
His body seized, and incredibly, that seize was enough to propell him another foot towards that hand. He grabbed it, and felt his body lifted out of the water. He landed face down on a small jolly boat, sobbing, and choking, his body trying to take in as much air as possible, and trying to force out water at the same time.
"Boy!" came the voice of his savior, "Boy, are you alright?" it asked nervously, spinning him gently around, so that he was facing upwards again.
He managed a brief nod, choked for another moment, and was finally able to stop. He breathed heavily. He managed a hoarse "Thanks," before he fell back, exauhsted.
When he next awoke, he was in a dark cabin. He could make out two figures talking anxiously together. Austen could only make out part of what they were saying.
"...Spy-"
"Come now... Jack... Spy... Ridiculous-"
"-...Certain-"
Austen stopped listening when he recognized the two men. The first, the one who obviously suspected Austen of being a spy, was none other than Captain Jack Aubrey. His companion, Stephan Maturin.
This was SO NOT POSSIBLE! But obviously it was, because Austen could see them. His hammering head told him he was not dreaming. He looked down at himself. His clothes were ones he'd never seen before. And then the most bizzare fact yet came crashing down on him. If this was truly happening, then he, Austen Trigg, was in the early 1800's. Weird.
He shook, the thought gave him the willies. He was surprised to realize that he was not panicking. He was shaky, yes. But he wasn't really freaking out at all. He stayed quiet. After a minute, Jack noticed that Austen had woken up. He stopped mid-sentence, and nudged Stephen, then tilted his head towards Austen. Stephen spun around, and together, the approached him. Now he was freaking out. What the hell was going on?
His panic must have been visible, because Maturin said "Don't worry. We only want to talk. The man who rescued you said that you spoke English. I am Doctor Stephen Maturin, and this is the Captain of the ship you are on- Captain Jack Aubrey." His words took along time to get to him, as though they had to travel a long distance. He could hardly hear over all the racket his head was making.
He tried to sit up, he felt like a fool lying there on some sort of table. When he did, Austen felt a whole knew level of pain shoot through his skull, and he brought his hand to his head. What he felt was not bare skin, but a large bandage; He must have smashed his head on the boat when he was pulled out of the water. He compromised by leaning on his arm. He held out his hand for wither of them to shake. "My name is Austen Trigg," he managed.
The Captain shook first, with a firm grip. To Austen, it felt like all the bones in his body rattled around as the two shook hands. Then the Doctor, with the same firm grip, but with a much more gentle, careful shake.
"Now then," sad the Captain, getting right down to business. "We've got a few questions for you, Mr. Trigg."