Emerald Huntsman

Emmet Irvin woke up to the gentle lap of water hitting his feet. It was nice for a few seconds before he realized that he was in a boat. Bolting upright he looked to see his small wooden raft had started taking on water.

"No, no, no, no." He said the word like a mantra as he grabbed a bucket and started trying to throw the water out. He scooped up as much water as he could before trying to hurl it over the side. When nothing came out he groaned as he looked to see the sizable hole at the bottom of the bucket. "Why me, why is it always me?"

He got to work saving the raft. It wasn't very big and only had a few supplies but he was proud of how it had come out. Weeks of trial and error had led to him finally getting it river ready. Soon enough he had been cruising along the rivers of America at fourteen in Huckleberry style, living off the water he road and the fish he caught. Months with no problems and now the boat had a leak.

He eventually got it under control after using the one of his bowls to scoop out the water. He found the hole in the raft and patched it up with some tape and got rid of the rest of the water. With a sigh he sat down and looked around. It was a calm day on the river, with blue skies, a light breeze and gentle currents that carried the raft forward. Moments like this were what it was all about. No one to tell him what to do and no responsibilities to deal with or tie him down, just the way he liked it. He lay back and using his hands to cushion his head and looked up to the endless sky and felt his eyelids grow heavier. Things were good, no need to change. That thought and the salty smell of the ocean were the last things were last things that registered in his head before he nodded off.

The sound of waves was the first things he registered after a while. He didn't really pay it much mind, until the sail slapped him in the face. Grumbling as he tore them off and stood up he paused to look around…at the vast endless ocean, surrounding him on all sides, with no end in sight.

"Oh, that is so not good."

It had been days and Emmet wasn't having any better luck getting back to shore. The wind hadn't picked up in a while and the currents weren't helping either. He had been fishing for food and rationing water but it wouldn't last. He knew drinking sea water was a terrible idea and as he fished he thought of what he could do to survive. Maybe a ship would pass by, he could try and signal it but he didn't have anything to help with that. A fire might help but the idea of lighting one on a wooden boat didn't seem too smart. He sighed as he gripped the fishing line harder. He'd find a way out this mess somehow, he'd always managed to get out of trouble before and he wasn't going to stop now. With that thought he suddenly felt a tug on the line.

"Come to papa, he's getting real hungry." Emmet murmured as he reeled in the line. Whatever was at the other end was heavy. Emmet's stomach growled and he suppressed the urge to start drooling at the thought of whatever it was he had latched unto. With a final tug he jettisoned his catch out of the water but shouted in surprise as he was smacked in the face by something metal. He groaned as he rubbed his nose gingerly and looked down at his catch. "What the heck…" It was a freaky traffic cone looking thing. It had a black base leading to a green body and end with a hole. Looking in the hole he couldn't really make out what was inside. He emptied it out of any water and seaweed before sticking his left hand inside. It was a tight fit but his wrists were thin so he managed to get it on. The inside was sticky from all the sea water but he could feel the grooves and some bumps inside before his hand reached the end. It covered up to almost at his elbow but it was light and he could barely feel it as he swung it around. "This is so weird."

He turned it around and his finger on the inside brushed against what felt like a button. Instantly the hole closed around his elbow and the cone latched on tight. Emmet gave off a grunt in pain as he tried to take it off. It wasn't coming off though, he was starting to panic, which got worse as it began to spark and fizzle. "Oh please don't explode, please don't, please, please, please."

He only freaked out worse when the whole thing lit up with neon green lights that ran across the surface like a circuit board. As suddenly as they lit up they turned off and for a few moments everything was quiet. "…is it over?"

Suddenly there was a voice coming out of Emmet's new robot arm. "Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG…"a burst of static cut off whatever it was going to say next. The static continued until he pressed another button inside. "…received…retrieving digits…standby…"

"Wait, what?"

Suddenly there was a sound. Like a far off whoosh leading to a whistle. Looking over the side of the raft he saw that something was cutting through the waves. He braced himself for a hit but when it didn't come he looked around to find that nothing had happened. He was confused until he saw it. A gleaming green metal cylinder the size and shape of a piece of chalk and it was just…floating at the end of the robot arm. He moved the arm and it followed, instantly following the end of the arm. He passed his hand in between the empty space between the arm and its new 'finger' but couldn't feel anything. Before he could figure it out he heard the noise of something coming out the ocean nearby. Before he could look he saw that three more fingers had come and started floating around the arm. Fiddling around with it from the inside, he found that there were buttons corresponding to the fingers. With a squeeze of his hand he watched as the fingers bent and made something resembling a fist echoing he hand inside. "This. Is. Awesome!"

He played around with it, flexing the fingers and applying different pressures to the buttons. He had trouble picking things up but he felt like he was getting a good handle on it. What was weird was that there were only four fingers, there was no thumb making it harder to grab stuff. Maybe whatever aliens who built it only had four? His thoughts were interrupted when the rafted shifted violently. He struggled to stay balance before a sharp crack echoed around him and the wood underneath his feet exploded upward. The first thing he noticed was that he now had a robot thumb, which was a relief if he was being honest. The next thing he noticed was that he was now knee deep in water. The thumb had blown a hole in his raft and it wouldn't be long now before it was underwater dragging him down too.

Emmet felt that he was a pretty strong swimmer. But he was down a hand in the middle of the ocean so he didn't like his odds. Panic was setting in before the robot arm spoke again. "Digits reacquired…system…reboot in progress."

"No," Emmet cried out as messed with the arm. "No reboot, help me, now, please!

The arm stuttered for a moment. "Reboot postponed…audio controls active…"

"Can you get me out of here?"

"…escape maneuvers…emergency…activate?"

"Yes!" Emmet yelled as the water was reaching his waist. "Activate, activate!"

"Modified program activated…flight function starting."

"Flight function, what flight function?" Emmet got a sick feeling in his stomach as he saw the fingers flatten and expand. In seconds the end of his hand looked like the propeller of an old timey plane. His eyes widened as the fingers quickly began to whir and move. "No, no, no, no!"

The fingers moved fast and faster until they were a blur and Emmet planted his feet on the submerged wood. His feet had enough traction but, while it felt like the robot arm might pull itself out of his socket, he had managed to stick to the boat. With the new pull it left the water and soon he was sent screaming across the ocean using the raft like a make shift surfboard. He could barely keep the arm straight. It kept careening off to the side sending him off in another random direction. He nearly managed to get it under control before it happened. It suddenly faced upward and before he could move it again he was sent flying into the air.

He'd like to say he handled the change well, that he managed to control the propellers and made a smooth landing back on the raft. In reality in-between screaming, wind in his face, salt in his eyes and almost fainting several times he barely managed to see the landmass coming up in the distance. "Stop, stop the flying!"

"…propeller…initiated…protocols?"

At this point he had been flung around the air so many times he was starting to get whiplash and a heavy case of nausea. Before he knew it he suddenly felt his feet skimming the water. His toes skirted the edge of the ocean surface and he realized that if he hit it at that speed he might as well be chum at that point.

"Whatever! Just please stop!"

With that the propellers didn't stop turning so much as instantly returning back to their finger forms. That meant for a few glorious moments he was cruising through the air completely free on pure momentum. Which was just before gravity reared its ugly head again and he was sent tumbling back into the water. He plummeted down into the waves and as he sank he realized that at some point he should be seeing his life flash before his eyes. So that was probably going to suck.

Before he got the chance to relive his mistakes there was a sudden push and he was sent hurtling through the water. There was a small part of his mind not desperate for air or internally screaming that registered that he was being taken by a strong underwater current. His hands desperately scrambled for something to hold unto before he suddenly stopped. The current was still pushing against him hard but he realize that the robot arm had latched onto the ocean floor nearby. Pulling with every bit of strength he had left he broke free of the current and eased his hand inside the arm to release its grip on the…sand? He guessed that the fingers must have embedded themselves in the sand and whatever thing connected them to the hand had managed to be strong enough to pull him out of the current. More importantly though it seemed like the ocean was getting shallower, as he reached the surface and gasped for air he saw a shoreline nearby.

Using the robot arm didn't seem viable at that point so he swam with his one regular hand and legs. It was slow going and took no small effort but he eventually made it to land. With one final heave he threw himself unto the sandy shore and just lay there gulping in as much air as he could. Everything hurt, his eyes burned, his lungs felt like collapsing and he was pretty sure he had broken some bones, but he was alive. He turned over so that he lay on his back and began to laugh hysterically. He was alive and had a robot arm, like…what?

The exhaustion finally caught up with him and he could feel his vison but as it blurred and blackened he spotted some figures at the edge of his peripherals standing over him. The hope that they were friendly, the salty taste of the ocean and the smell of….watermelon, huh, were the last things were last things that registered in his head before he completely passed out.