Chapter One: Lost At Sea

He came to, screaming and thrashing.

"Sink me, he's still alive!"

It registered seconds later that there was nothing above him but clear blue skies, and a few confused, unfamiliar faces, one of which sported a strange metal 'beard'. He shoved his helmet off, gasping for lungfuls of fresh air, and tilted his head as he puzzled out his current situation. "Easy, lad," the metal-bearded one said as he attempted to sit up. "Do ye know where ye be?"

He looked around, then back at them. "Pirate's Cove, by the looks of you guys."

"So he be as lost as we are," one of the other sailors laughed.

"I'm not lost!" the metal-bearded pirate bellowed back, and he snickered. "I just need a bit to get me bearings!"

"We got chased out here by Bad Cop and we've no idea where we be at," the sailor explained.

"Who's Bad Cop?"

They stared at him in stunned silence. "…Ye don't know who Bad Cop is?"

"Uhh, duh? I wouldn't ask otherwise."

"Lord Business took over the world and outlawed Master Builders. Bad Cop's his attack dog, he's been hunting us down."

Business, Business… Why did that name sound familiar… He frowned. "Wait. You're all Master Builders?" He wrinkled his nose in distaste. Master Builders were usually bad news.

"Great, another one of them. Just leave him, Captain. Bad Cop will probably find him and pick him up," another of the pirates said, addressing the metal-bearded one as 'captain'.

"Nay, we be takin' him with us," the captain decided. "And bring that fancy coffin with ye!"

"It's not a coffin, it's a cryostasis pod," he explained, accepting the offered hand as he climbed out. He was feeling a little wobbly, like the ground wasn't as firmly under his feet as it should be.

That's because it wasn't, he realized, when he glanced down. His eyes went wide. "Whoa. Uh."

"…I take it ye don't normally do that?" the captain asked.

"Not really, no. Crap, how do I get down?" One of the other pirates pushed down on his shoulders until his feet were firmly planted in the sand again. "That's kinda freaky…" He grinned after a moment. "And kinda cool."

"Well come on then," the captain said. "What be yer name, lad?"

"Benny!" he chirped. "Benny Blue! I'm the engineer of my crew!" He gasped suddenly, horrified. "Oh stars, my crew-"

"We only found ye, Benny lad," the captain said softly.

"But you- you had to have seen our ship burning up! You should have seen where the others fell if you found me, right?"

The pirates glanced at each other, confused. "We've seen nothin' of the sort, lad."

"Wait wait wait," Benny said, trying not to start hyperventilating. Something wasn't right- "What day is it?"

"It be Thursday."

"No no, month and day-"

"June second," one of the other pirates answered. Benny paled.

"Oh- oh sh- How long was I in stasis?! Our flight was in August! Don't tell me I've been under for almost a whole year-!"

"…More like almost four, if ye don't know of Lord Business or Bad Cop," the captain admitted reluctantly. Benny had to sit down.

"What… So it's- it's Ninety-Two now? Ninety-Three?"

"…Try Two Thousand and Nine, lad." Benny wheezed, grabbing his head and hunching over.

Twenty years.

"Fuck."

"Ye be in shock," the captain gently told him. "Come on, come aboard. We can take ye to Cape Space, to yer hospital there."

"Yeah. That's- I think that's a good idea." Benny shakily got back to his feet, clinging to the captain's arm for support. "So uh. What's your name?"

"Me given name's Jonas, but most know me as Metalbeard."

"Oh. Cause of the-" Benny giggled, bordering on hysterical. "The metal beard. Yeah. That's- that's pretty cool, actually." The other pirates grabbed his pod, dragging it into the second dinghy. Metalbeard didn't comment on Benny's shaking, instead launching into one of his infamous stories to distract the astronaut.

"I got picked up by a pirate crew when I were a wee lad of only four years. A plague had been sweeping the islands, and me parents didn't wake, so they found me wandering the docks alone and took me in…"

Metalbeard's crew kept silent during the telling. They'd heard it before, of course- several times, even- but Benny really seemed in need of something, anything, else to occupy his mind with. He was barely responsive as they boarded the ship and Metalbeard tugged him toward his own quarters, giving him some space and some privacy to have a breakdown if he so needed. The stasis pod was hauled aboard and stowed in the cargo hold.

"You know, I never would have guessed you were from the islands if you hadn't said so," Benny finally spoke some minutes after Metalbeard's tale had ended. "Though I guess if you were picked up that young, of course you wouldn't really sound like it anymore." He quirked a grin at the pirate captain. "That's something we kinda have in common."

"Aye?"

"Yeah. I was born and raised in the Old West."

"Well shiver me timbers!" Metalbeard laughed. "Never would have pegged ye as a country boy."

Benny wrinkled his nose at that. "Yeah. I got poked fun at a lot for it, when I first started college. Everyone kept asking me what some backwater hick was doing studying engineering." He smirked. "I showed them, though. I was twenty-four when I flew my first mission into space! Youngest astronaut ever!"

"Gracious, lad, and ye look even younger."

Benny snickered. "Yeah, I get that a lot." He tilted his head as Metalbeard grabbed a blanket and shook it out, moving to drape it around his shoulders. "Dude. You know I don't need that, right? My suit's plenty warm as it is."

"Aye, maybe ye don't need the warmth, but I'd feel better knowin' ye be comfortable." Benny sighed, but didn't protest any further. He nuzzled into the material; it was very soft.

"Thanks," he murmured after a moment. "I don't know what you're expecting to get from me, for all your help, but I do appreciate it."

"I'm not expectin' anything, lad. Just helpin' a soul in need."

"You're really not was I was expecting a Master Builder to be like."

"Aye? And what were ye expectin'?"

"Well, when I… left… Master Builders were massive jerks. If you weren't one, you were worthless, in their eyes. I worked with a couple, before. They were always sneering down at me for 'thinking I could be like them without actually being one of them', or some such nonsense." Benny rolled his eyes. "I would have loved to see them figure out my cryostasis system."

"Ye invented that stasis contraption?"

"Well." Benny gave him a sheepish grin. "Me and my crew, anyway. I wonder what happened to them…"

"…Rest, lad. Maybe ye can find out when we get ye back to yer own realm."