Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1)
Read Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) Online
Authors: Fletcher Best
Tags: #science fiction, #free, #pirates, #time travel, #fiction action adventure
Pirates Of The Storm
Stranded In Time Book 1
By Fletcher Best
Published by George Fletcher Best at
Smashwords
Copyright © 2012 George Fletcher Best. All
rights reserved. While it is sometimes said that plagiarism is the
sincerest form of flattery, I happen to take the more conventional
legal stance on it and take enforcement of my copyright seriously.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the
prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is a work of fiction. While this book
does contain references to actual historical figures, all details
regarding such individuals have been fictionalized. Any
similarities to actual persons or time travel events are purely
coincidental.
Visit the author’s website:
Table of Contents
Chapter 10: No Honor Among Thieves
Chapter 13: Port Royal, Jamaica
Bonus: Chapter 1 of
The Corpornation
I had just written myself into a
corner on another book I was working on when I took a vacation to
the island of Roatan, located off the coast of Honduras. Roatan is
rich in pirate lore and visitors will see a number of references to
the island’s buccaneer past – including the name of the largest
town on the island, Coxen Hole, named after Captain John Coxen.
Captain Coxen is not as well-known as some other pirates of the
day, but in his time he was infamous for his daring raids and was
one of the most feared pirates on the Spanish Main, particularly in
the Western Caribbean.
As I was relaxing in a hammock looking
out on the water one day, the ever-present but subtle pirate theme
of Roatan led me to daydreaming about pirates and what life must
have been like in those days. The winds and seas were picking up,
as Hurricane Ernesto was approaching the island, and there were a
few scattered thunderstorms offshore. As I watched the storms, I
started to think about what might happen if I were to be somehow
transported back in time to the days of Captain Coxen, and from
those thoughts the idea for this book was born.
Initially, I set out to
make the book as historically accurate as possible, but soon
realized a couple of things. First, the recorded history regarding
Captain Coxen and the pirates of the 17
th
century is vague and often
contradictory. Second, getting caught up in historical details in a
book that is ultimately science-fiction is probably unnecessary.
So, I wound up taking some liberties with the history at hand and
focused primarily on providing my audience with an entertaining
read that has something for just about everyone: a little history,
“pirate talk” (and who doesn’t love that?), sexy pirate wenches,
humor, bloody violence, drunken debauchery, a healthy serving of
sex, and even some philosophy and subtle social
commentary.
Did I mention the sex and violence?
For the most part, any semi-realistic story about pirates is going
to contain at least a little “adult” content. While I do not think
I have been overly explicit with the sexual and violent content,
this book does contain adult themes. So is this a book for young
children? No. If this book were a movie, it would probably receive
a rating of PG-13 or perhaps an aaahhRRR! (a little pirate humor
there), so parents should take this into consideration before
permitting their children to read it, and certainly before reading
it to them as a bedtime story!
Anyway, this is the first
of the
Stranded in Time
series. I hope that you enjoy it and the
subsequent books in the series.
Jeff sucked down the last swallows
from his glass of rum and coke as he stared out at the water from
his hammock. It was the third day of his vacation on the island of
Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, and he was enjoying his
solitude. Jeff was between romantic relationships at the moment and
although several of his friends had initially expressed an interest
in going on the trip, they had ultimately all had to back out for
various reasons. But Jeff was not regretting going solo in the
least. He found that he liked the freedom to do whatever he wanted,
whenever he wanted, and not have to worry about anyone else’s plans
or desires.
Although his body had partially fused
into the webbing of the hammock, he pulled himself from its evil
clutches and headed toward his apartment to get his snorkeling
gear. A hurricane was approaching the Western Caribbean and
although it was predicted to pass well to the North of Roatan, it
would probably create some storms that would restrict his outdoor
activities for the next couple of days. Since he only had a few
days left on the island, he wanted to get in one more swim on the
reef before the weather turned. He collected his mask and fins and
walked over to one of the kayaks provided by the guest house he was
staying at. He secured his gear and grabbed a paddle before
dragging the kayak to the water’s edge.
Although the sky was still sunny and
clear, the wind was already picking up and he could see a white
line of surf where the water was hitting the barrier reef fifty
yards or so offshore. As he pushed the kayak out in the water and
jumped into the seat, he was already being blown sideways and he
quickly started paddling to avoid being blown under the dock. His
intended snorkel spot was on the edge of a channel through the reef
a good distance upwind and he got quite a workout paddling out to
it. Despite being in relatively good shape, he was not used to
kayaking, and by the time he reached the channel marker his
shoulders were burning and he was breathing hard. He took a moment
to recover before he slipped on his mask and fins and lowered
himself into the water.
After diving down and tying off the
kayak to a rock, he swam around slowly on the surface catching his
breath. The reef here was spectacular, with a wide variety of
corals and tropical fish. A huge queen angelfish caught his eye and
he approached it slowly, watching it swim in and out of the rocks.
He was almost hypnotized by the beauty of the fish and was suddenly
brought back to consciousness when he looked up and found himself
face to face with a large barracuda a few feet away. Startled, he
actually yelled into his snorkel, and the sinister-looking toothy
fish moved off.
Although Jeff knew that barracudas are
generally harmless to people, the fact that he was on the reef by
himself made him a bit uneasy, so he kept an eye out for the
barracuda as he continued his tour of the reef. He reached the edge
of the reef where it suddenly went from about 8 feet to well over
40 feet deep on a sheer drop-off. Along the drop-off, clouds of
bright blue damselfish and various other tropical fish congregated.
It was a beautiful sight, but the deep water of the drop-off was
much darker than the water on the shallow reef, and with the
residual creepy feeling left by the barracuda encounter, Jeff
decided to swim back towards the shallows.
As he did, he noticed the visibility
on the reef seemed to have declined and then realized that it was
because the sun was no longer shining. He pulled his head from the
water and saw some dark clouds gathering, so he quickly headed back
to the kayak. By the time he untied the kayak and climbed on, the
sky had become quite dark and the wind and waves were building. He
pulled off his snorkel gear and started paddling the kayak towards
shore. Although the water was choppy, paddling was considerably
easier than it had been on the way out, since the strong wind was
now at his back. He could see the pier at the guest house now and
knew he would be able to make it to the beach in a few
minutes.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the
elevated deck at the end of the pier and a loud burst of thunder
roared through his ears. With a lightning strike so close to him,
Jeff knew that the safest thing to do would be to put down his
metal-handled paddle and lie back in the kayak to keep as low of a
profile as possible. He quickly tied the docking rope around the
paddle in case it got knocked off the kayak in the rough water and
laid as flat as possible. It was not the most comfortable position,
especially with the kayak getting bounced around in the
waves.
All at once, several bolts of
lightning flashed in the sky nearly simultaneously and the clouds
started circling over him. As they circled, the clouds seemed to be
getting closer and closer. As he looked to the side, Jeff could no
longer see the shore. It was as if the clouds had formed a tunnel
around him and the walls of the tunnel were closing in! Lightning
flashed in the walls of the tunnel, but unlike the bolt that had
struck the pier, it was not like any lightning John had ever seen.
It glowed pink, purple, and blue and instead of thunder, the
lightning made an odd crackling sound all around him. Jeff could
feel his heart pounding with terror as the cloud tunnel closed in
on him. The strange lightning was nearly upon him and he could feel
all of the hair on his head and body standing up in the static
electrical charge. The brightness of the flashes forced him to shut
his eyes and at that moment, he felt the searing pain of
electricity passing through his body. He saw a few brief flashes
through his eyelids and then darkness, just before losing
consciousness.
Jeff came to with a start and he sat
up in the kayak. The sky was sunny and the wind and sea were calm.
He looked around and to his relief, he saw the island to his left
and he was just inside the barrier reef. His fins were gone, but
his mask and snorkel were still there. He had a brief moment of
panic when he realized the paddle was not in the kayak but
fortunately it was still tied to the rope and Jeff pulled it in. He
untied the rope and started to paddle, but then realized that he
didn’t see any familiar landmarks. Along the shore there were no
structures he could see and the pier of the guesthouse was nowhere
in sight. He looked at his watch to see how long he had been
unconscious, but the digital screen was blank, apparently damaged
in the electrical storm. Since the wind had been blowing him
towards the West End of the island, he reasoned that if he paddled
East, he’d eventually find the guesthouse, so he set off paddling
in that direction.
As he paddled, he watched the shore
for some sign of civilization. Since he had no idea how far away he
was from the guesthouse, the best course of action would be to go
ashore anywhere he could get help, especially since it looked like
the sun was heading down and it would soon be getting dark. But
there was nothing on the shore as far as he could see. He continued
paddling, growing more and more worried. There were no buildings or
structures of any kind and the sun was definitely setting. Not
wanting to be paddling in the dark, Jeff turned towards
shore.
He beached the kayak and stepped out.
His back and legs were stiff and his arms were sore from the day of
paddling, but otherwise he didn’t seem to have suffered any damage
from his experiences of the day. Although the weather seemed fine
now, he knew that the approaching hurricane could cause problems at
any time, so he looked around to see what might serve as a
makeshift shelter. He was standing on a thin strip of sand, beyond
which appeared to be nothing but jungle. Several hundred yards up
the beach, he spotted a rocky outcropping at the edge of the trees.
He reasoned that it might at least provide a wind break, and since
there did not appear to be any other good shelter options, he
headed that direction. By now, the sun was getting low in the sky
and the bugs were coming out. There were a few mosquitoes, but the
bigger problem at the moment was the sand flies, which were quickly
building in number. The bites started slowly, but soon Jeff’s skin
was stinging all over and he would have done anything to have had
access to some insect repellent. His walk toward the outcropping
quickly turned into a run and he would periodically veer off into
the water to splash himself and get a brief respite from the
bugs.