Captain Rydian of the Human Galactic Unit

The next day, I walked up to the Education Hall with Orville. It was a bit relieving to have someone know my secret who could help me out. He was right though; I really didn't know much of anything about Klicta. As well as I might have been doing so far, I could still use all the help I could get.

There stood Mimi waiting for me. She smiled once she spotted me, "Hi, Rydian!" Then she gave me a curious look, "What happened to you yesterday? You didn't come back to class."

I actually hadn't thought about that until that moment. I really had walked out and hadn't gone back. Hopefully not too many people gave it much thought, "Something came up. It's all taken care of now though, so I should be in for the whole class this time."

She giggled as she twirled a bit of her hair, "Well, good! It would really disappoint the Professor to lose such a good student after only the first day. Plus, I would miss my study buddy!"

Orville seemed a little disappointed, but didn't say anything. I knew what he was thinking though. Once the shuttle arrived, I would be gone, meaning they'd lose me anyways.

Then Mimi thought of something, bringing me out of my thoughts, "Oh right, there's something else. Today is the annual check up. Meaning our class is a dot later. Have you had your check up yet?"

I could only be worried by that, but I smiled, "No, I haven't. Mind showing me where I have to go?"

She grabbed my hand and led the way inside while Orville sat on the front stairs and opened a book to read until class. She took me down a new hallway and stopped in front of the door with the Dixone word for "Nurse" on the front. Thanks to Mimi, I already knew a few little words.

Mimi smiled once we stopped, "You go ahead in and get checked out. I'll see you in class, ok?" With that, she skipped off.

I sighed and looked at the door, "I have a feeling this is not going to go well."

Then I rubbed my chin in thought, "Though, Vanessa did make a decent identity for me, so I shouldn't need to worry about that. With that taken care of, what could go wrong?" Wrong choice of words.

I opened the door and walked in. It was a simple little office with a front desk and waiting area. Not much different from the nurse's offices on Earth. Though, this one was all colored in, to my surprise, green.

At the desk was a very interesting green kliton woman. She was a pretty woman who seemed friendly and maybe a bit like a teenager. Her coat was so light a green that it almost looked white.

She saw me and smiled, "Hi there! Come right in!" Even her voice made her seem younger than I could assume she was. A lot like Commander Mayn really.

I walked over, trying to not look nervous, "Uh, hi. I was told today was the annual check up?"

She smiled and walked out from behind the desk, "Yep! You're at the right place! I'm Doctor Aggy!" Then she noticed my neckerchief, "That's odd. Your scarf is red."

I was pretty used to this by now, "Yeah, I really have no idea how it happened, but here it is." I scratched behind my head, "Plus, I can never tell it's red. I happen to be colorblind, meaning I can't tell colors well sometimes."

She actually looked really excited, "Very interesting! Never heard of someone being colorblind! Perhaps I'll take a look at those eyes and see why they only tell color sometimes!" That made me fairly nervous, seeing as I was still only wearing contacts. Before I could think much on what to do, she grabbed my hand and hurried me into her office, looking a little too excited for my liking.

Everything went pretty smoothly. Doctor Aggy did a lot of touching and prodding, even a couple times with a stick. I was starting to feel more at ease, even as she did an x-ray. After everything was printed, she sat down in front of me and looked over the pages.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy.

Doctor Aggy watched the page in her hands, dead silent. I knew something was wrong, "Uh, is there a problem, Dr. Aggy?" She didn't say a word to me as she looked it over.

I admit, I was worried. Very worried. That couldn't have been a good sign. Surely a human's anatomy would match a kliton's anatomy, right? How different could they be?

Aggy finally looked at me, but she didn't look happy at all, "Who are you?"

I blinked at her, "I beg your..."

She cut me off right there, raising her voice as she did, "What on Klicta are you!?" She showed me an x-ray, "Tell me, what is that in your chest?"

I knew there was no safe way to answer that, "Uh, my heart?"

She glared at me, proving that was definitely the wrong answer, "And since when do klitons have hearts, might I ask?"

That was an interesting concept, "They don't have hearts?" I sighed, now annoyed with myself, "Of course they wouldn't. Just my luck. One of the most common things, and it's the one thing wrong." I stood up as she jumped to her feet.

She pointed accusingly at me, "I don't know what this is, but I won't have it! Just what are you? Some test for the government? An underground project to create artificial life?"

Seems it was time to play the bad alien again.

I rolled my eyes, "No, you klitons aren't smart enough for that. Not yet anyway." I held out my hand, "Why don't you be a good girl and hand those papers over? I can't have them getting out."

She hid the files and x-rays behind her back, "No way! I'm not helping you! I don't know what you are, but you're not getting away with... with whatever is going on here." Immediately, she ran for the door. Figures she would run.

I quickly pulled out my pen and shot the door knob with the laser. Aggy grabbed the knob, but quickly let go when it burned her hand. She ran for the phone, but I jumped in the way. She stopped, looking frightened and not sure where else to go.

She backed away as I walked towards her, my eyes cold, "Let's make this as simple as possible, Doc. Hand them over."

She squeeked with fright as she backed into a wall. She held the papers close to her chest, sweat dotting her forehead. I had her cornered, and she knew it.

I leaned in, my hand against the wall next to her as I smiled, "Look, you don't wanna give me trouble. I'll easily stuff you in a pod and leave you there if I need to, so how about you play nice with me, huh? Just give those to me and we'll have nothing to worry about. I don't need you held captive anymore than you do."

She looked terrified as she looked into my eyes, "You won't get away with this. If you hurt me, everyone will know it! The camera in the waiting room saw you at the front desk!"

I grinned, playing the role with ease, "Took it out when I walked in. It didn't see a thing." Of course, I didn't, but I was really in trouble if she didn't hand those papers over.

She looked like she could have passed out at that moment, "Just who are you and what do you want from me?"

I sighed as I gave her a clever smile, "You expect me to tell you, a kliton ready to turn me in, who I am? Just like that?" I smirked, leaning in a little closer, "I don't think so, sweetie."

She flinched as I placed my hands on the papers and gently pulled them from her. She was too scared to try pulling against me. She looked away and closed her eyes as I stepped back and looked over the x-ray, probably expecting me to do something to her to keep her quiet.

I sighed, curious and a bit disappointed, "So Kliton's don't have hearts." I spoke under my breath so she couldn't hear me, "I really should have asked Orville about that."

Then I thought of something. I walked over to her desk and opened the drawers. I stopped at the top drawer that was full of files. I pulled one out and opened it. There sat an x-ray of a kliton and it surprised me. Several human organs were missing and replaced by different other shapes and things.

I looked at where the heart ought to have been and was surprised by the blue light sitting there instead. I turned to Aggy, who was sitting on the floor, "What is this?" I held the x-ray so she could see it and pointed at the blue light.

She spoke softly, "It's the Florence. The life of Klitons."

I rubbed my chin as I looked it over, "So, instead of a heart, Klitons have Florences."

Aggy spoke up, "It's just Florence for both singular and plural."

I sighed as I pulled out a tiny device that worked as a camera, "Of course." I took pictures of the kliton file and of my own file, then I put away both the camera and the other file, and pulled out a lighter. Aggy sighed as I burned my files and tossed the burning pages into the metal trash can. Couldn't risk anyone seeing it. Ever.

I turned to her, looking serious, "Alright, doc, let me make this as simple and clear as possible." I poured her cup of water from the desk into the little flames of the trash can, then I walked up to her, "I am Captain Rydian from Planet Earth, and if you tell anyone anything about it, I'll..."

Aggy spoke up, looking quite surprised, "Wait a minute!" She stood up and faced me, "Did you say you're from another planet?"

I was quite surprised by her reaction, but answered, "Uh, yes. I did. Why?"

Her surprise slowly turned into a smile, "So then you're an alien life form?"

I crossed my arms, "Yes, and you'd better not breathe a word about it to anyone. If you do, allow me to remind you of my earlier threat. I will toss you in a pod at base and keep you there until I get off this ridiculous planet."

She smiled bigger, making her eyes sparkle, "So then, you're an alien stuck here on Klicta?"

I was quickly becoming both bored and worried by all her questions, "Yes, now stop asking so many questions. I'm the one..."

She tapped her chin, now ignoring me, "So that's why you wanted to keep those x-rays secret! If someone saw them, you'd be in serious danger!" She smiled at me, as if I hadn't just been threatening her only a moment ago, "You should have just told me! I can understand that you're in a very dangerous, and certainly terrifying, situation, being trapped on a planet you don't know or fully understand while trying to hide your true identity. It must be very difficult for you. So difficult that you'd have no choice, but to resort to extreme measures if you get caught."

I won't lie; I was incredibly surprised. She was taking pity on me. No doubt she was one of those people who believed that aliens were peaceful. Of course, I was, but that's not that point.

I then felt I could use this to my advantage, "Yeah, well, nosy doctors like you don't help. Right now, I'm waiting for a recovery shuttle from Earth. My ship took off without me, so I'm stuck here on Klicta. Sadly, it will take a while for the shuttle to arrive."

Aggy smiled, both excited and sympathetic, "Well, someone in your position should have at least one ally here." She held up her left hand and did a hand gesture of her three fingers pointing straight up right next to each other while her thumb and pinky finger pointed outward. She smiled while doing this gesture, "I promise I won't tell anyone about your secret." I figured the gesture was like holding up your right hand when making an oath on Earth.

I decided that was enough for now, "Well, I guess a doctor would be a big help in keeping me hidden. Can't risk any more x-rays, that's for certain."

She spoke, looking excited, though she was more talking to herself than me, "I can't believe I'm friends with an alien lifeform. A real alien! This is the greatest achievement of my career! I told my brother it would pay off to become a scientist, even if the only job I could get was as a nurse!"

I stepped back, not interested in answering anymore questions at the moment, "Right, well I need to go. Remember, you can't tell anyone anything! I don't care who or why, if you tell anyone, I will take matters into my own hands, and you don't want that." I turned to leave, "If anyone asks, tell them I passed the check up fine. If they ask to see papers, tell them I have the right as an Adolescent..."

She finished for me, "You have the right to keep personal information private. I know how it works. I am a doctor after all." Then she gave me a big smile, "Seems you've done your research. Well done."

I couldn't get over how weirdly open-minded this kliton was, but I played nice, "Yeah, thanks. Later." With that, I left her office.

I could only hope no one else figured me out. I was being found out left and right and it had me worried. Who else would discover me before the shuttle arrived? And will the next person be as accepting? I had a good feeling they wouldn't be.

And I was right.

"What do you mean, I'm broke?" was all I could manage later at the house.

Vanessa explained, "I'm sorry, sir. You see, you pay for those classes. I had enough for a good several days, if not weeks, which I figured was the longest we would need to be here. Unfortunately, it never occured to me that you would take multiple classes each day, so it ran out much faster. And now that we will be here longer than anticipated, I'm afraid we will need more. There is only enough links left to pay for three more classes."

Alphonse could only add to the bad news, "And to make matters worse, we're nearly out of food. There is only enough left for another day, at most."

Vanessa began to look worried, "And we still have bills to pay soon. Even the links we have won't be enough. We have a couple days left to pay them or risk being evicted."

I looked between the two and realized they were starting to panic. I raised my hands to slow them down, "Stop! Calm down!"

They turned their attention to me as I spoke calmly, "Relax. This isn't a problem. If it's links we need, I'll get some. I'm sure even I can manage to get a job somewhere around here. I'll get a job and earn some links to cover all the expenses. As for food, we'll just have to start trying to eat Klicta foods." I looked between the two, "Alright? No need to panic. We've made it this far, we can keep going. One step at a time."

They nodded, both agreeing that I was right, "Yes, sir."

I turned to Vanessa, "Can you find any jobs available in town?"

She made her clipboard appear, "I'll see what I can find." After a couple seconds, she made a few newspaper articles appear on screen next to her, "There are about seven available jobs in town, sir." She looked over each article, "How about sanitation?"

I raised an eyebrow, "You even need to ask?"

She looked at another one, "How about at the bank?"

I sighed as I sat in a chair, "Honestly, I don't think I'm smart enough for a job like that. I don't know enough about how those things work yet."

She checked the next few, "Afraid most of them are that way, sir." Then she stopped, "There are a couple that may prove easier. A cashier in a shop in town and a position at the library."

I thought about it, "I usually avoid jobs that involve money. Last thing I need is to end up in a bad situation or blamed for missing links. No thanks. Tell me more about the librarian job."

She read the article out loud, "Position for librarian at Tintale Library. A class education of four days is required. The job involves organizing and returning books to their proper shelves, checking new books in, working with digital filing systems, registering new books, and other small duties." She smiled at me, "Simple enough, I think, sir."

I had to agree, "Yeah, so it sounds. How much is paid?"

She looked over it again, "I don't think it says, sir. Perhaps you must go speak with the head librarian. She's the one who made the article."

I adjusted my neckerchief as I got to my feet, "Very well. I'll go see her. Where's the library again?"

Vanessa made a map appear with a red line marking the path from the house to the destination, "Once you reach the square from here, you head down the street called Maygal. Head straight down that street and you'll find the library to your right, sir."

I memorized the map, "Alright, then I'll head there now. You two see what you can learn about the foods of Klicta." With that, I turned and headed out.

It took only about ten minutes or so to reach the library. It was a blue building, though all the blues were dull or pale. It was rustic in its own way. I climbed the front steps and walked inside.

Inside was still dull and pale, but neat and quiet. Like any library I've ever been in. Yet, this one was far more amazing. The shelves on the walls reached several feet into the air, reaching the ceiling. Tall rolling ladders let you reach the books up high, while a grand staircase took you to the floor above that worked as a path around the top of the room. There was also a large glass dome roof, letting light down inside. It was actually pretty incredible, especially for a library.

"Um, excuse me?" I turned to see a girl at the front desk. She was a white kliton with long white hair in big braids that hung over the front of her shoulders to her chest, big light grey eyes, and a soft, delicate white face. She smiled softly at me, "Sorry, but I noticed you're new here. If you want to take books out, you'll need a library card."

I walked over, still taking in the beauty of the library, "Actually, I'm here for a job."

She looked pleased to hear that, "How nice! Though, a class education of four days is required. Mrs. El does not accept average Adolescents."

I thought about it, "I'm pretty sure I've only gone for three days, but I did take three classes each day, so I technically took nine days of classes."

She came out from behind the desk with a smile, "Very impressive. I think she'll be happy to have you."

"I'm happy to have no one." I turned to see a tall, lean blue kliton woman with blue hair in two buns, sharp sky blue eyes, and almost purpley-blue skin. She stood tall, even taller than me, "Do you have an education?"

I could honestly name several different women I knew who this kliton reminded me of, including the woman who raised me. I nodded politely, "Yes, ma'am."

She looked me over, "Education and manners. Good. Have you had a job before?"

I nodded again, "Yes, ma'am, in a way. It was more of hard labor. I've worked with a great deal of machines most of my life, ma'am. It was always a lot of work, but I always give my all in any job I'm given."

She thought about it, "I see. Not useful skills towards this job, but it proves commitment, so it'll do." She sighed and turned from me, "Very well, the job is yours."

I was glad to hear that, "Thank you, ma'am."

She spoke again as she walked away, "Lighten your voice. No one wants a librarian with a male voice." I... I wasn't really sure what to say to that.

The white kliton girl suddenly gasped, "Oops. I forgot." She turned to me, looking a bit embarrassed, "The article did say only females, didn't it?" Wait, did she mean...

"She thinks I'm a girl?!" I was shushed by a couple klitons reading nearby.

The girl nodded as she looked at her feet in embarrassment, "I'm afraid so. I was supposed to put in the article that only females could have the job. Your long hair probably confused her."

Yeah, that sounded about right. I could remember people who used to tease me for letting my hair grow out. It wasn't the first time someone made that mistake, though it was usually from behind, not from looking at me straight on. I was starting to think Ms. El needed a new pair of glasses.

I shook the thoughts from my mind and sighed, "Well, I got the job, so I'll make it work. I'll get as much time in as I can, just in case she decides to fire me when she finds out."

The girl smiled encouragingly, "Maybe you'll even impress her so she won't want to fire you. Luckily, she doesn't talk to anyone much, so she may not ever realize anything."

That was a funny idea, but it was time to get focused, "Well, tell me what I've got to do. I'll show her that there is a such thing as a good male librarian."

The girl led the way, "Come with me and I'll show you." As she walked, she looked back at me with a sweet smile, "By the way, my name is Lillian. Your teacher at the Education Hall, Professor Nick, is my father."

I found that surprising, even though I could recall Professor Nick mentioning a daughter once before, "Really? Then, if I may ask, why don't you come to his classes? I'm sure he'd love to have another student, especially his own daughter."

She smiled as me, "That's sweet of you to think about him, but I actually do go to his classes. I go to the earliest one."

I hadn't actually thought about there being earlier classes before. I simply went at seventh dot because that's when Mimi went, so it never actually occurred to me that they might start earlier, "Oh, I see. I go at seventh dot and stay until classes are over at tenth dot."

She giggled, "That's nice. I think father did mention you before."

I thought about it as I crossed my arms behind my back, "Maybe we could go to classes together sometime."

Her cheeks turned a shade darker as she blushed, "Sure. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to a later class. We can be study buddies."

I chuckled as I remembered Mimi, "Actually, I already agreed to be study buddies with Mimi."

Lillian seemed a bit surprised, but smiled, "That's nice of you. Most boys try to avoid being too close to Mimi. She's really sweet, but a little too sweet for some boys." I could understand that. Most guys from the cadet academy were the same way with some of the younger girls, too.

I decided to change the subject, "Well, he's a pretty nice teacher, your dad. I've never had a teacher who considered his class as a family."

She giggled as she picked up a stack of books that were left on one of the tables, "Yes, he can be awfully close with his class. He once taught a kliton who was having a really hard time in life and turned his whole life around. After that, my father has always tried to be a part of his students' lives."

I smiled at that, "Well, I certainly can admire that. He's a good ma... uh, kliton."

She didn't seem to notice my slip up, "Yes, he is. I'm very proud of him." She giggled as she handed the stack of books to me, "Now, enough talk. Time to learn."

So, for the next couple days, I continued to live on Klicta. I went to my new job at the library and worked exceptionally hard, if I do say so myself, and would go to my classes right after. Everything was going very smoothly. I even came to learn to like some of the food of Klicta. Though it was certainly difficult, seeing as most of their foods were incredibly spicy. But, aside from that, things were going fine.

I even started my own projects until the shuttle would arrive. My bigger project was working with the power source of Klicta, the energy that powered lights and technology and even cars. I learned from a class that it was called Qualta and it was harvested by crushing the stones that held it. The klitons mined it from deep in the ground and crushed them, releasing the energy, then collected them into power orbs that connected to the cords that led underground into towns and cities. From those cords, every house and shop was connected by their own cords to power everything inside. It was quite amazing, so I started doing tests and research of my own to take back to Earth.

It was during that research one day that I was paid a visit. I was fixing one of my drones to run on Qualta in the basement when Rubi, Orville, and Cleo walked in. Rubi spoke with his big grin, "Hi, Rydian!"

I continued to use my blowtorch on the drone laying on the table, "What are you three doing here?"

Orville watched me with curiosity expected from any intelligent kid, "Better question would be, what are you doing?"

I turned the blowtorch off and pulled off my mask, "Working. Now what do you want?"

Rubi grinned, clearly having a topic in mind, "I heard you got a job at the library."

I sighed as I watched him, bored, "Yes. Anything else?"

Rubi puffed out his chest, "Well, I just noticed you go to the same classes and now you work together. I'd be careful not to get too close to Lillian if I were you. Lillian, she's with me."

I rolled my eyes, "Only in your dreams, I'm sure."

Rubi scoffed, crossing his arms proudly, "Say what you want, but she is."

I smirked as a mean little idea popped into my head, "So then when I go into work tomorrow and ask her, she'll say yes?" Rubi didn't have a good answer, his cheeks turning a deeper blue, which made me laugh.

Cleo spoke up before Rubi could go at it, "We want to know more about your planet."

I leaned back against the table, "Why?"

Rubi smiled with a shrug, "We're bored and we know an alien, so why not?"

I thought about it a moment, then conceded to the curious faces that watched me, "Fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt." I pulled my mask back down as I turned back to my drone, "What do you wanna know?"

Rubi pointed at the drone, "How about what that thing is?"

I fiddled with a couple cords as I answered, "It's called a drone. It's a machine that works like a flying camera. I can see everything it sees from high in the sky through a small tv screen. Very helpful when you need a bird's eye view." Cleo and Rubi looked fascinated.

Orville watched me work, "Do all humans get one?"

I smirked as I continued to work with the cords, my rubber gloves protecting my hands from the sparks, "Nope. I get one because I'm a Space Captain. It's to help me get a good look at things from afar, especially big things. For example, I used it to get a sky view of Tintale shortly after I first arrived. Thanks to the fact that many birds on Klicta actually hover in flight, no one gave my hovering drone high in the sky a second thought."

Orville continued to watch me using my blowtorch with a look of curiosity, "How did you learn to do that?"

I chuckled as I welded the patch of metal I had cut open back closed, "When you've worked as long and hard as I have, you get pretty good at a lot of things. I used to fix spaceships when I was a cadet. Not all cadets were good with ships, but I've always loved them. The look, the feel, the way they're put together. Ships always fascinated me." I smiled big as I remembered, "Especially the Armada."

Rubi looked curious, "What's the Armada?"

I put down my torch and pulled off my mask, "Hang on, I'll show you." I walked over to one of the open boxes and pulled out a small model of the Armada. I held it for them to see, "This is a model of the Armada. Now imagine it being as big as this whole town." The three of them were amazed.

I let Cleo hold it for them to see as she spoke, "Have you ever been on it?"

I walked back over to the table with a nod, "Yep. I even saved it, along with everyone in it. That was when I stopped the Plakters. It was on the Armada I defeated their Prime Lord. I'm pretty sure I told you this before."

Orville turned to me, "Why is the Armada so important?"

I picked up my mask from the table, "Because it's not only the biggest ship of all Earth, but it's also the most powerful battleship in space. It's the last line of defence when Earth is in danger. Well, aside from me." I chuckled as I looked at the ceiling, thinking about the past, "I used to dream of flying it one day when I was little and would watch it from my window. Of course, no one but the Commander can fly it."

Cleo continued to look at the little ship, "Who's the Commander?"

I grinned remembering her, "The number one of the whole S.T.S. The Commander is the highest rank of all Earth, when associating with the space side of it."

Cleo smiled, giving Rubi the model, "So she's like the Lady of the S.T.S."

I looked at her, "Lady?"

That's when Vanessa appeared on the large screen, "It's what they call a queen on Klicta, Captain."

I smiled with a shrug, "Sure, the Commander is kinda like the Lady of the S.T.S." I looked at Vanessa, "You have a picture of her, Vanessa?" She smiled at me and pulled up a picture of Commander Mayn.

Cleo giggled as she walked over, "She's so young to be a Lady."

I leaned against the table with a smirk, "She's not as young as she looks. She's actually almost in her forties, yet she looks no older than twenty." I noticed the confusion on their faces, "Oh right. Humans grow differently than klitons. We grow constantly, changing over the course of years. For example, I'm eighteen years old. Legally, I'm an adult on Earth."

Orville was surprised, "No stages?"

I shook my head, "Nope. Even now, I'm slowly growing. I'm growing so slow that you can't even see it, but it's happening. We also have to learn everything ourselves. We have to learn to talk, to walk, to read and write, we have to learn everything. That's why we have schools, where young humans learn all kinds of things everyday."

Cleo smiled excitedly, "Like classes!"

I smirked as I thought about the serious differences between the two, "Kinda, except you are required by law to go. Every single day, except for certain vacations and other occasions. And you do this for twelve whole years, straight, and that's just for after you learn to read and write and do math. Before school, you're busy learning your alphabet and numbers and all the other things you all have just by maturing."

Rubi gasped in shock, "That would suck! I'd hate to be a human!"

Cleo spoke up quickly, "No offence, Rydian."

I had to laugh, "Don't worry, most humans hate it too. Though, once it's over, you can do whatever you want with your life. I was taught in the cadet academy by the woman who owned it. She kinda raised me, teaching me everything I needed to know. Once I was through the basics, she started training me to become a cadet while also having me do studies and tutored classes."

Orville looked thoughtful, "What about your parents?"

I'd been asked that a lot since I started becoming well known on Earth, so I pretty much had the story down to an art by now, "They ditched me at the academy when I was a baby. Completely ignored my existence my whole life." I smirked coldly as I continued, "Until I became a big hero. They were all over it, telling everyone how they were my parents and trying to get a piece of the action and praise. Of course, I didn't let them."

Orville noticed my dark pleasure in saying that, "What did you do?"

I grinned coldly as I remembered all too well, "I told everyone that they were good-for-nothing liars trying to make it big. Everyone believed me and scorned them for years. They even had to go into hiding just to escape it." I laughed, "They never mentioned my name again."

Rubi was surprised, "But they were your parents, weren't they?"

I simply shrugged, "Who can say? As far as I'm concerned, I never had any parents. If anyone ever asked, I told them who I was raised by. She was such a sure, confident woman that she never took any of the fancy credit for my work. She always told them the same thing." I spoke in the strong voice she always had with her russian accent, "He's a good boy. Strong young man. Only he can choose his fate. I made him a man, he made himself a hero."

I smiled with a sigh, "She was a pretty nice woman. She's retired now and living in a veterans home in Space Station 7, but I visit her often. I had to insist on her taking the gold trophy they awarded her in the veterans ceremony a month after I stopped the Plakters. She knew it was because they gave her credit for my upbringing and she didn't want to take any of my well earned credit, but I believed she deserved it."

Orville thought about it with a smile, "She sounds like a wonderful mom."

I smirked as I wagged my finger, "Not mom. She never wanted me to call her that. Not ever. There were no papers and she didn't give birth to me, so she wasn't my mom. So instead, I always called her Leader." I thought of different things I used to say, "Yes, Leader. Can I go play, Leader? Thank you, Leader." I chuckled, "It was just what I always called her as a child, and it stuck for life. And she always called me her little soldier."

Cleo smiled, thinking about what that would have been like, "That sounds so sweet."

Rubi grinned as he rubbed his chin in thought, "You as a child. I wish I could see that."

Vanessa giggled and made a picture of me as a little kid appear. It was a picture of me with the eight other boys around my age that were at the academy during that year. I was one of the shortest and my hair was always cut short, but my eyes never changed. Of course, that was back when my smile was full of crooked teeth, but I never minded. Like the other boys, I wore the dark green uniform with the gold sash and the matching cap of the academy. We all stood giving a salute.

I smirked as I looked over the old picture, "How do you even have that picture? That was from eleven years ago."

She smiled as she looked at the picture next to her, "I like to get to know my Captain before meeting them in person. I have plenty of pictures."

Rubi put his fists to his hips, "Bummer. I was hoping you looked dorky. You're actually kinda cool in the uniform."

I gave my handsome grin, "I was always the handsome one." And I was. From childhood, to graduation, to my years as a cadet, I was always the handsome one.

Orville watched the little me in the picture, "Your life is pretty amazing, Rydian. Ever since you were a baby, you were a great book waiting to be written. Raised in the academy, became Earth's great young hero, and even made history by becoming a Space Captain. That's quite a life."

I smiled at the thought, "Yeah, I know. I never doubted it. I believe in making the most of my life. Doing what no one else would do and doing it better than anyone else. That's my way of life, and it's one I'm proud of."

I then pulled on my mask, "Now, I have work to do. If there's nothing else, I'd like to get back to it."

Orville smiled at me as Vanessa took down the picture, "That's fine. I gotta head home anyways. See ya." He started to leave, but stopped, "Oh, one other thing. Rydian, did you hear about the trip?"

I pulled up my mask, "What trip?"

He smiled as he turned back to me, "The trip in a few days to the Capital. The whole class is going. You should come too."

This sounded interesting, "What's the Capital?"

Rubi grinned, "That's the biggest city on Klicta!"

Cleo smiled happily as she joined Rubi in educating me, "It's also where Lady Lavender lives! Her mansion is right in the center of the Capital!"

I sighed and looked back at Orville, "And why are we going?"

Orville smiled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "It's a full day lesson on the Capital and what it stands for. You should turn in your form before then, otherwise you'll get left behind."

I thought about it, "Well, I guess I ought to."

Rubi gave a sly grin, "Might be dangerous. That's where the Enforcers Station is."

I looked at him in confusion, "Enforcers Station? What is that supposed to be?"

Cleo looked a little worried, "Enforcers are the law authorities of Klicta. That station is like the biggest base they've got. Some of the most brilliant minds work there on advanced technology. It would be easy for them to suspect you of being an alien."

I could easily understand her worry, "I see."

Vanessa spoke up, "Though, this would be a great opportunity to learn more about Klicta's evolution progress, captain."

I rubbed my chin, "That is true. It could serve pretty useful later knowing more about Klicta, even if it is the wrong planet. Besides, the Professor might get suspicious that his new star student is ducking out of such a special class for no apparent reason. Can't risk that. I should take the opportunity while I have it. And it's only for the day. I'll be coming back right after, right?" Orville nodded.

I felt determined, "Well then, it looks like I'm heading to the Capital.