1 The Naked Man In The Middle of Sea

"AHA HA HA HA HA." The echoes of laughs swept across the waves of the ocean that carried along 16 year old Samuel. He laid on top a piece of driftwood big enough to fit his tall stature and lean body. He laid on his back, as he looked up to the blinding sun. His right forearm on his forehead and his left hand on his stomach, as he blurted out, "Fuck you! I've won my freedom bitch!"

The echoes returned, along with them came more water. Despite being in the middle of an ocean, he produced fine clear blue rivers from eyes as deep as the ocean. The echoes continued. He may have been blinded by the sun above, but his eyes were as dark as the bottoms of the ocean.

Speaking of bottoms, he wore nothing but a rag covering his most private and prized of parts. He had no prizes with him, no possessions, no money, no proper clothing, not even food. His stomach growled, as the echoes continued. "When was the last time I ate," he thought.

"Is this the end?"

The echoes continued.

"I just started."

The rivers flew.

"I don't want to die."

His stomach barked uncontrollably.

"What am I going to do?"

Yet, his eyes lit up.

"I'm going to conquer it all.

He rose up, dazed and lightheaded. The echoes stopped, but shortly continued again.

"AHA HA HA HA! I'm gonna rule it all!"

Dispersing the rivers was a smile that Samuel believed he could have never have produced. As wide as the ocean itself, his teeth shone in the sun. His arms outstretched as though he was showing to the world just how big it is. The sea breeze went by him moments later, as it did, his consciousness went along with it. He fell back, half of his upper-body off the driftwood, the rest of his body on the driftwood.

"I want to experience it again..." He said gargling salt water.

Samuel had little to no idea how big the world truly was. Not too far from him however, a ship carrying a hundred men approached.

"Guys! I see someone," a sailor with binoculars in his hands yelled, screaming downward to a crowd of sailors on the ship deck below.

"Is he hurt," a random sailor amongst the crowd. The sailor with the binoculars looks back toward Samuel, inspecting him for a second through the binoculars. he pulled it down, his face grimacing at the horror he saw.

"He's naked," he yelled down.

Laughter erupted in the crowd, "Naked? Did you just say he's naked. AHAHAHA," a random sailor said, gasping for air between each word.

STOMP

The beat of a boot stepping onto the deck and walking past the crowd of sailors stopped the laughter in an instant. "Men," the deep voice began, "are we going to let some featherless bird die out in the ocean."

All of the sailors in the crowd straightened their backs and lined up, as though they were getting roll called in a military base. "No sir!"

"So, what are you doing laughing. Get this ship to that naked man, and bring him aboard."

"Aye, aye captain," the sailors moved sporadically to an outsider, but each move the sailors made had a rhyme and reason to it. They turned the ship and prepared to lower the anchor. One sailor went into the galley to warn the chef of a newcomer. Another went to the cabins and grabbed spare clothes to give to the naked man. Within seconds, the crowd of sailors were working and within a minute or so, they were going to bring in Samuel.

"Captain Garret, you cannot be serious," a sailor with glasses, unkempt brown short hair, and a lab coat over a dirty button up shirt asked. "As your advisor, I advise that we completely skip over this man and go straight to the phenomenon. We have no time."

"I don't know what you mean, we have plenty of time," Captain Garret responded, lighting up a cigar and walking towards his own personal cabin.

The advisor followed, "Plenty of time? Has the Infinity Plane messed up your sense of time sir. The phenomenon only lasts a few days after it first occurs. given when we first got the signal, it's already been three days."

"Then it's probably gone by now, don't worry, we'll just wait a month for the next phenomenon," Garret said, reaching his cabin and opening the door.

"But sir!"

"But, nothing. Ask that naked man who he is. You know what to do," Garret slammed the door on his advisor's face. His advisor stood there for a second. Silently, he stomped on the ground, turned around, breathed in, turned back, silently screamed at the door, then turned around again. He fixed his glasses and went back to the deck.

Several minutes had passed, and two sailors were bringing in Samuel. "Careful," a third sailor said who seemed to not be helping at all. "Drag him up carefully."

"I swear if you make me touch his dick, I'm shooting yah," one of the sailors dragging him up said as he pulled him up by his right leg.

"I wish you'd try," the other who was dragging him up by his left leg said.

"Oh you wanna go, don'tcha, yah fat bastard."

"Stop arguing, pull," the third sailor said as she wrapped herself in a blanket and began to drink from a tin can.

"You aren't even helping," the sailors said.

"I'm a woman," she said taking another sip. "Ah, his rag is- never mind."

The two sailors pulling him onboard were looking away from him as they dragged him onto the deck. Once they heard the thump of his body falling on the wooden deck, they laughed, turned around, and saw his naked body. "He's pretty tall ain't he," one of the sailors said.

"Gatta be at least 180 centimeters," the female sailor said inspecting his whole body. "He kind of looks like Jordan, but with darker hair. We should put glasses on him to find out."

"He looks like me," the advisor asked as the two sailors who pulled him in, snickered. Jordan the advisor looked at Samuel, then looked at the snickering sailors. "Can you guys tell everyone to get this ship moving again, I don't want to waste any more time."

They stopped snickering, "right away, jaw-don," they both said running to tell the rest of the crew.

Jordan sighed, he looked at Samuel and took off his lab coat. He covered Samuel's body with it, then looked at the female sailor. "Is he alive?"

"I don't know."

"You're our doctor!"

"Shut up," she took another sip from the tin can. "You think I'm gonna check if he's alive or not? Remember last time I checked, I almost got all cut up."

"So you want me to do it?"

"Yes Jordan. My survival instincts said for you to check."

"Are you sure it isn't your womanly instincts," a passing sailor with a rope said laughing afterward.

"That's one month of no whiskey for you," the doctor screeched at the sailor.

"Well, he's alive," Jordan said getting up. "I wonder how long he's been out there for."

"You think he came from wherever the phenomenon originated from," the doctor asked finishing up her drink from the tin can.

Jordan looked at the doctor, who looked back at him. They both looked at Samuel, simultaneously thinking the same thought.

He must have experienced the Infinity Plane.

"Should we kill him," the doctor said, whispering into Jordan's ear while keeping an eye on Samuel.

Jordan was speechless. As the wind blew the ship along, thoughts blew through Jordan's mind all the same. In his mind, as thoughts were the wind, his psyche (himself) stood on a singular rowboat. Looking forward, he saw Captain Garret standing on top of the ocean wearing his usual captain gear of: black boots so rough and torn that each individual year he had worn it was shown; a sailor's cap that had multiple cuts in it; a sailor's uniform reminiscent to his crew's uniform; and to top it all off, a cape that slung over him as though it was a bird's wings.

In his mind, he reached out to that form of Captain Garret. In reality, he reached out and picked up Samuel, ensuring that the lab coat he had around him stayed on him. "Doctor, what did Captain say about this man."

She had backed away from Jordan to allow him to pick up Samuel. "What did he say? Something about a featherless-"

"A featherless bird, that's right. If he has experienced the Infinity Plane. Whether he is all powerful, or just some deranged fool. We can't kill him off the bat. We'll wait until he wakes up, talk to him about it, then we'll decide what to do with him."

As Jordan began to walk towards the cabins, he took a detour and went toward the doctor, "and if junior comes around asking, tell him to stay away," he tried to pat her on her shoulder, but she swatted his hand away, "happy new year, by the way."

"You too," she said taking a sip of the empty tin can, as Jordan walked away.