“Introduction of Captain Billows”

Aero tried to open his eyes, but they snapped shut again. For the moment, the dull ache he felt all through his body took a back seat to the confusion he felt as he slowly regained consciousness. He tried his eyes again and this time he was able to sustain just the faintest slit of a gap betwen his eyelids. It was good to be able to see, but it didn’t help his confusion much. As he slowly took in his surroundings, he was disoriented by the juxtaposition of the apparent darkness of the room and the blinding light streaming in through what he took to be a hole in the wall, casting a circular shape on the floor which appeared to be a sort of warm, brown-color. Aero looked across the room and could only just vaguely make out the shape of a man who was sitting a few feet away from the bed as he spoke.

“Gotta be one hell of a story you’ve got, lad,” said the man, “we’re all quite curious.”

Aero tried to get a better look at the man, but as he lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the light coming through the hole, it suddenly jerked to a stop, and he realized for the first time that his hands and feet were bound by chains attached to the wall.

“What... what’s going on??” the panic gave Aero his first real boost of energy for days, “let me go!” He shouted.

“Whoa there,” the man said, “take it easy, boy. You’re not in any danger. We’ve just got precautions. I told you, we’re very interested in your story and we just want it straight before we decide what direction to take things. We don’t often find skinny, half-conscious young lads bleeding out all by their lonesome in the middle of a cloud island with no ship anywhere in sight- if you can believe that.”

It was clear by the man’s expression that he thought this was a very entertaining comment. Aero could now see a face instead of the formless mass the man’s voice had emanated from before. As his eyes adjusted he could see that the man’s hair was wild and dark. He also now saw that the brown color on the floor was caused by the fact that it was a dark, stained wood, which covered the whole room, floor to ceiling.

"I think I got Icarus," Aero said, squinting and closing one eye.

"Pretty dark in here?" The man asked.

Aero nodded, his head throbbing.

"Do you see colors?"

"Just.. normal ones," Aero answered.

"That's a good sign," the man responded, "hopefully that means you’re past the worst of it. We wouldn't want you trying to fly away before you get to tell your story, now would we?”

“Look,” said Aero, “I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m nobody. I just got lost, and I thought I was gonna die, and I don’t even know where I am right now...”

“Take a breath, laddie,” the man said, “the only reason we have you locked up is because we don’t know anything about you and we needed to make sure you weren’t dangerous. That’s all we ‘want’ from you.”

The man picked up his hat and stood, holding the hat to his chest, “I am Captain Billows, and you are aboard my ship, the Thunderhawk.”

“Captain?” Aero asked, “Are we still in the sky? There’s no way this is a Skyfarm ship.”

A sudden laugh exploded out of Billows, “You really are starting to get your senses back, aren’t you boy? Tell you what,” he said, placing his hat on his head over his dark, shaggy hair, “you’ve got some water there, I’m gonna step out for a minute and bring back some food for the both of us, and while you eat we can start with my story first. How does that sound?”

“OK,” Aero responded. He was still ravenous, just not starving to death anymore.

Billows gave a nod and then, unlocking the door, stepped out of the room, letting in a flood of light that was not as direct and intense as the light streaming in from outside, but still made Aero squint. Whether it was his eyes adjusting better to the light or his mind relaxing in the absence of the Captain, Aero started to notice more details about his surroundings. The room was small and unfurnished except for the table and chair where the Captain had been sitting, both of which appeared to be made of scrap wood. It had a low ceiling and just the one door, from which he could see a small amount of light leaking in through a sliding slot at about head level and also around the edges of a little hatch about a foot wide on the bottom where it met the floor. He wondered if that was how the Captain would be giving him his food. The room hadn’t been swept in a while, and it smelled old. Not bad, just old. In a way, the smell of the dust and old wood was almost pleasant. It now began to occur to Aero how strange it was that the wall of the room would have a hole in it. As he had this thought he turned his face up to get a better look at it but the ship must have been turning because his face passed directly into the beam of light and his eyes snapped shut as he felt the muscles in his eye sockets straining. After a moment he made sure to move his head far from the beam and opened his eyes again. Not willing to risk the pain of another accident he looked instead down to where the light met the floor and examined it. He could tell that the hole was, in fact, perfectly round. “It’s a porthole,” he thought, and then just as he was tempted to look back up to the opening he heard a knock on the door. Aero looked down at his chains, he certainly couldn’t get to the door to open it.

“Room service!” the Scottish brogue floated through the door. Then laughter as Billows pushed it open with his rear. “Here we are!” he said, setting a tray down on the table. He then stepped back out the door and dragged another slipshod chair into the room.

Billows reached into his pocket and pulled out two keys. He turned and used the first to lock the door behind himself, then, to Aero’s shock, slid open the peephole and flicked the key out of it. Turning back to see the bewildered look on Aero’s face, he chuckled and tossed him the other key. Aero caught it and eyed the captain, hesitantly.

“I’m gonna go ahead and start,” Billows said, pointing at his own food and taking a seat.

Aero’s eyes darted from the captain’s food over to the food which was apparently for him and his hesitation vanished. He scrambled to unlock his fetters and leapt into his seat across from the captain. He found on his plate several large slices of bread, homemade and cut thick, with beans piled on top, and then finished off with some ketchup. He immediately snatched up a slice with his bare hands and began devouring it, not even aware that he had a fork and knife. It was warm and homey, and more delicious than he ever would have guessed back on the ground.

“This is really good,” he said out of the side of his mouth without looking up, already onto his second slice, “what is it?”

“Beans and bread,” Billows answered.

Aero, looked up at him, pausing for just a moment, “fair enough,” he shrugged, returning to the food.

“That’s what the crew calls it,” Billows laughed, “beans and bread. Jud’s invention. He cooks for us on board. His bread is really where the magic is. Especially when it’s fresh like this.” Aero nodded and grunted in agreement. “Make sure to have some of that soup as well,” Billows continued, indicating a bowl that Aero had only just noticed and eating a large lump of Jud’s bread with which he’d sopped up some of his own soup.

“It looks delicious,” Aero said.

“It’s more than delicious,” Billows said, “it’ll help with your Icarus.”

Aero looked up at the captain, the first real pause since he’d started eating. “Really? What is it?” he asked, half expecting the captain to just say, “Soup.”

“Mushrooms.” Billows smiled, “Jud’s secret recipe.” “Is it safe?” Aero asked.

A grave look came onto Billows’ face “No,” he replied, “it’s horribly deadly,” and without breaking eye contact stuffed another particularly large piece of soaked bread into his mouth, letting some of the soup drip down his chin.

Aero laughed.

Billows continued, “Just thought it might be nice to have a couple sips and die here together. What was your name again?”

“Ok, ok,” Aero chuckled, “all I meant was that I’ve never heard of anything that can help with Icarus. And you say it’s some kind of ‘secret recipe’ so... I don’t know.”

“Well that part’s not the secret,” Billows said, “the secret is how Jud brings out and blends the deep umami of the mushrooms with that tiny little hint of sweetness that you can’t quite place.”

Aero had started in on his soup as the captain was speaking and he could taste exactly what he meant.

“The part that prevents icarus is the mushrooms.” “The mushrooms? What kind of mushrooms are they?”

“Well these are cremini,” Billows explained, “but it actually doesn’t really matter what kind you use as far as Icarus is concerned. So long as ye eat yer ‘shrooms ye’ll be fine.”

“I don’t understand,” said Aero, “just mushrooms?”

“I don’t know how it works,” Billows said, “and I don’t know why Sky Farms goes through all the trouble with all their fancy equipment (though I’ve got some theories). But I can tell ye that I’ve been captain of the Thunder Hawk for 23 years, and neither myself nor any member of the crew’s ever once had trouble with Icarus, so long as they eat their ’shrooms, of course.”