By Noah Vickers

Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night, in the midst of the violent roar of the ocean’s wrath rumbling beneath the growing warzone. Captain Brown walked up to the deck of Imagination, the wooden planks creaking beneath his boots.

“Captain! It’s raining cats and dogs! I think we should turn around and head back to shore. Our sail needs repair!” Christopher called from behind as he came in quick as a rabbit, panting as a dog, an odd balance to the howls and shrieks of the limp bodies falling from the clouds.

     “Son, I’m afraid we can’t afford to go back to square one. We must persist until those… things bite the dust! Load the cannons!”

            The things in question were visible to the eye as little green creatures, crawling around their battleship of an alien metal, hulking about at twice the size of Imagination, around a hundred metres away from it.

            To Admiral Crow, bearing the gold-rimmed spyglass passed down by his ancestors, the creepy crawlies had wrinkled leathery skin and rotting brown nails protruding from their digits.

            “I spy with my little eye…uhh…Captain? You might want to see this. I think victory might be easier said than done.”

Brown snatched it out of his grip and looked at the enemies. “Is there something I’m supposed to see here?”

“Look about 30 degrees to the East. We’ve got two more ships coming in, and they seem a lot bigger than the first one.”

Silence stood between them like a thick fog. Brown hollered through the tension, shoving Crow away like a dummy as he turned around.

            “Christopher! Those cannons better be loaded by the time I get down there!”

Captain Brown was quite shocked to see that not only were they not loaded, the ship’s immense reserve of ammunition was nowhere to be found. Steam began to pour out of the captain’s ears. Christopher dropped to his knees and began to plead like his life was on the line.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry…I don’t know what to say! I was just minding my own business…walking down-“

            “Don’t beat around the bush! What happened?”

“The ammunition was here when I got down, I swear, but I turned around and it magically disappeared!

            Captain Brown let out a low grumble. “This is making my blood boil…I can’t trust these fools to do anything.” He then bellowed and flailed and cried in a moment of uncontrolled rage, knocking over a tin of fishing bait that was left out. “What a can of worms you’ve gotten us into!  This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket – we’ve invested everything into our cannons!”

            The fog of silence returned, more dense than before, moistening their chins as they stood in opposition. Brown blew it away before it could thicken in his throat.

“I’m sorry Christopher, I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I haven’t really felt myself lately. But it’s time to lay down the law. Gather all crew members in the war room immediately. We’re going to need to fight like there’s no tomorrow.”

About a dozen figures aboard Imagination trickled into the war room like a colony of ants after sensing something sweet, each one being placed on a stool around the white marble table. It had a rectangular shape to it, more elevated than others in the ship, jumping out to the eye like a flash grenade due to the rotting wooden walls, floor and ceiling which enclosed it. Captain Brown appeared at the front and instinctively grabbed the canteen sitting on the foot-long shelf at about shoulder height on the wall. It was full. He took a sip.

“Crewmates, companions, friends; for those who don’t know, our entire supply of cannon ammunition has gone missing. Even if you weren’t aware of the setback we’ve encountered, I’m sure you all understand the severity of our situation. Our lives depend on the outcome of this battle, and we need a plan. Any ideas?”

The room was flooded with silence as if it were sinking in a sea of it. Captain Brown wavered as he looked around. To his left, a familiar figure appeared and reached out to him. He couldn’t see its face, but could tell it was smiling. Before he could comprehend the figure’s existence, it began to drown, grasping its throat as it helplessly choked. Captain Brown’s voice pierced through the feverish hallucination.

“Ideas! Now! We don’t have any time! Just throw out anything you have, I’ll be the judge of it!”

“Uhh could we just turn around and sail away?” one voice asked.

“Futile. With a faulty sail, we won’t have the speed for it, we might sink from the turn, and we’d get caught in the crossfire; and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the iceberg is blocking the route about two hundred metres to the South, precisely where we would need to go.”

“What if we try to make peace with them? We can offer something up if we need to,” another chimed in.

            “Ha! Peace! With those things? In your dreams!”

            “Can we just charge in there and give it everything we’ve got? What else can we do?” asked another.

            “I’m afraid you might be right. That’s our only hope at this rate. It’ll be a last ditch effort in which we abandon ship; it’ll become every man for himself. I hope we all make it out of this alive, crewmates. I do. Knock on wood.”

            The thirty eyes in the room turned toward the door as a knock from the other side echoed its way through the air to meet the thirty ears that accompanied them. The captain hobbled his way over to open it. Christopher burst in from the other side, panting like a child who had just had a nightmare.

            “Look what the cat dragged in! Christopher! Where have you been?”

            “Heh heh heh…you see, Brown, the devil is in the details,” Christopher began to giggle with a demonic grin expanding on his face.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I know the ropes, Captain. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”

            “What?

            “I’ll get the last laugh…you haven’t seen the ace up my sleeve…”

            “Christopher…”

            “Hey – don’t worry. This is the moment of truth you’ve been waiting for. And remember, it’s no use crying over spilled milk.”

            Christopher’s face turned green so quickly it seemed like it always had been.

            “I am the loose cannon, Brown! Now surrender to the superior species or falter to our strength!”

            Imagination began to sink, gasping for just a few more breaths. A faint siren started sounding throughout, warning of the ship’s critical condition.

            “This can’t be right. We don’t have sirens. This is an old ship.”

            The alarm echoed louder and louder inside Captain Brown’s head. He shut his eyes and covered his ears as the world closed in on him.

            But it was all a dream.

            Jonathan Brown switched off his alarm and sat up, taking a deep breath. After getting dressed, he creaked open the window, allowing the sea-scented breeze to clear his senses. He went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing his mug from the cupboard. He prepared some coffee and took a seat at the pristine marble counter, noticing a can of worms at the edge. “Fishing Bait,” it read, in bold letters. As he considered the can, a knock shook through the door of the cottage. Jonathan hesitantly opened it.

            “Hey there! I’m Christopher, your new neighbour! It’s quite nice up here isn’t it? Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to come join me on my boat. We could go fishing!” the stranger began enthusiastically.

            Jonathan glanced at the can of worms. “Sorry, I’m not really feeling it today, Christopher.”

            Jonathan shut the door, and lived happily ever after.