The Half Human Captain

The Picture That Started It All

"The kids were all outside playing in the Burbuja Espacial. Grandma was inside making lunch for everyone while I stood there making sure the ship didn't start with the kids inside. Our yard was huge. We lived on the ground because we grew the food for our planet. On our planet the middle class and the rich lived in the sky cities. The grass was neon green and the sky was a dark blue-ish black from the underside of the sky city Monica. The kids raced around the ship before popping back in. Once lunch was ready Grandma came out and sat next to me. She hollered for the kids to come and get some food and they all jumped out. The neighbor kids were pink-skinned with white horns and My kids were a little creepy looking. My oldest had bright red eyes, pale skin and midnight black hair. My youngest wasn't much better. He had black pits for eyes, however you'd be surprised at how much emotion can be conveyed in those two peepers. His hair is fluffy, and snow white. Grandma gave them what she called sandwiches. The kids liked them so I guess it's fine to call them that. That's why everyone called her a crazy old woman. I tried one but it doesn't have any flavor. Even her tasters were old. After the kids ate they went back out to the Burbuja Especial and played.

She called the kids over for story time and waited for them to get settled down.

"I'm old and human. I know that somethings I talk about may not be understandable most of the time. But I would like to tell you kids what my home was like before the last world war." The kids looked at Grandma, then up at me.

"Dad, did Grandma take her medicine today? Humans take pills if they're considered crazy, right?" My oldest child, Belladonna, asked.

"Beldon, I-"

"It's Belladonna. Please get it right. You're crazy, just admit it."

"Hush! Your Grandmother is kind enough to tell us a story in her condition."

"Thank you, Tooru. I was trying to tell you young'uns back when I was your age I lived on a planet where there were so many different organisms. The one I want to tell you kids about is the squid. It was one of the most majestic creatures on my home planet. It lived in deep water and had many limbs. It's head had a pointed tip and had a triangle part towards the top of it's head. They came in many different colors like red, white, and they were even translucent. They were also very squishy but slimy. They were very caring and intelligent creatures." She paused for a few moments almost as if she had forgotten what else she wanted to say.

"If they were so smart then why didn't they run away from earth like you had?"

"Well you see they weren't nearly as advanced as we humans were. They couldn't run even if they had wanted to anyways.", She laughed, "They couldn't even walk on land. They didn't have any bones and could only live in water." The kids couldn't understand why the creatures were like that. "On my home planet these creatures lived with many other creatures in the ocean. Also on my planet the water wasn't yellow. That was the color of our urine.

"Gross Grandma! None of us needed to know that." My youngest child, Sho said. My Mom, I mean Grandma, just started laughing. It was more of a witch's cackle than a nice old woman's laugh.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how you kids would react. But the story doesn't end there. You see these creatures had limbs that were called tentacles. These tentacles had suction cups on them that they would use for... for... I forget but they had a use." Grandma stopped for a few moments for a quick drink of water.

"Grandma, why do you forget stuff so easily?" Belladonna asked.

"I'm old that's why. So stop interrupting me or I might just drop dead before I can finish." The kids looked up at her. One of the neighbor kids started to cry and I had to carry him out of the room. His sister followed us and asked if it would be okay for the both of them to go home. I told them that it was fine and that I would let Belladonna and Sho know.

After I dealt with them I rushed back to the living room to find the kids and Grandma sitting there talking about her home planet. She had seemed to finish her story on the squids but was talking about some animal called a sea otter.

"...their cuteness. Sometimes I wish that these creatures never died out. If the earth had never been lost then you kids might have been able to see these wonderful things." Her eyes began to water. "All the things that were lost because of human error were able to be reversed. I hope that this world will do better than we did."

"Geez, Mom, that was dark." I told her.

"I know but sometimes these things have to be said otherwise no one will learn."

"Anyways it's time for you kids to get ready for school."

"Awwwwwwwwwww come on. Can't we just stay home?" Sho whined.

"Nope come on." The kids finally got up and got ready to leave for school. I decided to take them to school and before we left I made sure that Grandma was alright and had everything she needed. When I got back Grandma had fallen asleep but it was a slumber that she would never wake up from. Ten years have passed since then and I finally found the picture that she was talking about." I said as I turned to my junior. I had actually shown my kids the picture after we had incinerated her body and had her ashes scattered through space. Now after all this time I was talking to the lieutenant as if he was one of my kids.

"That was a wonderful story, captain." He said to me as we sat in the ship's crew cabin. I haven't actually seen my kids in a couple of years. Hopefully they're doing well at the special warfare academy I enrolled them into. The lieutenant turned back to the controls as another couple members of my crew came in arguing, as usual. I sighed and looked over at them. Acacia, the only girl I've ever met that could crush a piece of metal with her bare hands. Sadly she has an ability called imperium. Pretty much means power so I guess it's fitting. The second one is Lucius. He's a bit... off. He can hit any target no matter where it is. I was in his line of fire once, never going to happen again. That's the only thing he has going for him though, poor kid. He still can't tell the difference between a girl and a boy. That's what happens when your entire society is made up of one gender. The lieutenant's name is Alsie, he's a little bit too serious but that's alright. He hasn't failed me yet. I sighed again.

"Alright that's enou-Augh!" I got hit in the face with another doll eye. The kids who had been arguing immediately stopped and stared at me. I growled at them and they both started quivering in fear. "3 seconds, then I'm coming after you." Both Acacia and Lucius turned and ran out of the cabin. I wasn't feeling as generous today so I decided to chase them after 2 seconds. Yep, my name is Tooru Abaddon, and I am the captain of the Pasaku 38. 

Hello this story is something I started a long time ago and felt that it was good enough to continue. Hope you enjoyed :)