"D'you see that? In the water about 'alf a mile due west?" "What was that, Captain?" "Something in the water, look west!" The captains voice echoed across the expanse of his near-empty ship. He'd just dropped off cargo, along with crew at their fishing port in Peking. His only crew-mate left was in the crows nest. William Ambrosia was his name. Oh hell, Ambrosia said. His metal compass dropped to the hull below. "Captain, could you give me a bearing? I've dropped my compass." Bloody ell, the captain said, drawing his compass from his pocket. He pointed west. Ambrosia fixed his telescope to the spot. He winked with one eye to try and focus on the telescope. Damn, he muttered. He was new, but this was the only job he'd been able to land lately. If he lost this, then his wife back home would kill him. Quite literally, at that. There would be no money left for bread and jam. He tried his best to prove himself to the captain, but there was no hiding the fact that he was a novice. "Christ, Will, well hit the sodding thing before you quit fiddling around," the captain said. "I'm sorry, Captain. Just looks like a bunch of rubble from here. No harm in pulling up closer." The captain paced along the floorboards. "You sure?" he said. Ambrosia looked through his telescope again. It looked like a few planks of wood, maybe some clothes. A shipwreck, most likely. "Yeah, Im sure," Ambrosia said. "Alright, come on down and give me a hand," the captain said. Ambrosia climbed his way down the rope ladder, nearly losing his footing once. He got to the bottom and the captain directed him. "I'm going to steer us in," the captain said, "you get out in front and tell me what you see." The captain turned the wheel and the ship creaked as it shifted directions. They headed toward the rubble. Ambrosia stood out front, waiting as they approached. At first, the pile looked like rubble. Nothing stood out as extraordinary or peculiar. No matter what the rubble was, Ambrosia thought it odd that it would stay clumped up in the middle of the sea. "Looks like trash to me, Captain, but maybe we can sift through it," Ambrosia said. The captain let go of the wheel. The winds were dull at best, so the ship lurched forward on its own. He walked up to the front of the ship and stood beside Ambrosia. "Whats that, there?" the captain said, pointing to a plank of wood. "What?" Ambrosia said. "Looks like a shop sign or something. Yeah, see there, it says Browns Cutlery on it. Now why in the ell do ye think there would be a post for a knife shop all the way out here?" the captain said. Ambrosia peered at the sign. It was painted on with red ink. This wasn't rubble from a ship, this was rubble from a shop. "You don"t suppose..." Ambrosia said. "No, no. It cant be," the captain said, "must have been cargo that got dropped off to shed weight. Yeah, that's it." There was a loud shriek from above. Ambrosia heard what sounded like flapping, and metal grinding against metal. He looked up to see the bulking beast spotting out the sun. It swooped down lower and before they had time to react, it swooped down and picked up the captain. Ambrosia dashed for the stairs. He sprinted down and huddled into the corner of his room. Footsteps pounded on the floorboards above his head, and he looked to a frame of his wife beside his bed.