Night Creatures on the Ship Destiny's Dreams

Two million years ago a turtle munched tender green morsels while she floated on a giant mass of vegetation in the Pacific ocean.

She did not know that someday, in the 1800s, her story would be part of the songs and myths sung by the people of the Andes Mountains in South America, to the music that a young boy named Paulo would play on his flute.

One of her descendants would help rescue a clipper ship called Destiny’s Dreams in the 1800s from a creature of the sea depths.

The hard-backed turtle, drifting on her living raft, also did not know that a storyteller on a clipper ship in the 1800s would write down Paulo’s mythic tales in a journal. It would be found in yet another age and time in the attic of a lighthouse on the Mystical Coast.

Ana the Storyteller of the Blue Lantern recorded the legends and stories with a quill pen dipped in brown ink, writing by hand on the rough rag paper, while the clipper ship where she traveled swayed with the ocean waves.

The flowing handwriting continued with the story.

In those ancient times two million years ago, the turtle’s living raft of plants was carried by wind and currents across the sea.

She floated for 600 miles from the west coast of South America until an ocean swell gently set her on the stony beach of a barren, rocky island in an archipelago.

For over a year, the huge floating world rose up with towering waves and slid down into the depths between the swells.

The turtles and other creatures on their vegetation raft were carried by wind and sea currents, from a beach on the South American coast, on a voyage to their new home on what would later be called the Galapagos Islands.

The cold water of the Humboldt Current flowing from Antarctica, sweeping past the western coast of South America and then out to sea, carried the creatures on their raft made of delicious treats, on a voyage across calm, tropical, seas at the equator.

Sometimes creatures under the sea with ten waving appendages swirled by the floating raft of plants.

By sucking in water and blowing it out, the creatures launched themselves out of the water and into the air. They spread their appendages to use the webbing to catch the air and stay above the water for seconds at a time.

When they stretched out their fins like wings they could soar on the wind, swiftly going for long distances to escape predators.

Eight of the appendages were tentacles attached to the creature’s head, waving in the water. Two more were arms that could reach out and grab things in a flash.

The fishy body behind the head was long and slender, built for speed. It had a fearsome hard beak and a soft, squishy body.

Millions of years later, the white sails of a sleek clipper ship rose above the waves at dusk and the vessel floated on the Humboldt current from the western coast of South America out to the Mystery Islands.

Later they would be known as the Galapagos Islands. When the ship got to the archipelago it anchored near one of the islands.

“Such a nice, quiet voyage. I have enjoyed it so much, Captain.” One of the passengers was commenting to Captain Alfonse of the ship, Destiny’s Dreams.

“But I almost wish we had a little excitement. Sometimes things can be too tranquil.” Captain Alfonse listened to the passenger and nodded.

“But be careful what you wish for,” Alfonse said. He was a little bit superstitious, and he did not want to seek out trouble.

It was a tranquil evening with the colors of the sunset’s afterglow still on the western horizon. The guests, scientists, musicians, and some of the crew were sitting near the stern of the Destiny’s Dreams.

Ana the Storyteller sat on a bench near the rudder of the ship.

“They say those ancient creatures with eight appendages and two long arms all connected to its snout, where it has a beak, are able to fly."

The listeners looked at each other in the indigo glow of the blue lantern under the darkening sky and pinpricks of light.

Their imaginations began to go wild.

“You mean they could fly right up into the ship?”

“OH. EEE. I think I saw one out there in the ocean.”

“How big did you say they were?”

Off the side of the boat, Isabella, the wife of Adelberto, the First Mate, thought she saw something flashing red and then white. The surface of the quiet sea rippled in patterns against the waves.

She laughed. “Yes. I see one now. Come on everyone. Stop worrying. It is only a story.”

Captain Alfonse of the Destiny’s Dreams walked down the wooden deck toward them. His long beard, braided and tied with colorful strips, hung down.

On his shoulder was a red, yellow and blue parrot who stepped back and forth and nodded his head at each step. This was Foresta, the captain’s rescued bird who had fallen out of a nest in a tall tree when the bird was a baby.

The starving baby bird was found by the crew, given to Alfonse, and nursed back to health by the ship’s cook.

Swinging from a line attached to one of the masts was Rio, another rescued pet of Captain Alfonse. Rio the monkey used his long, nimble fingers and toes to fly across the ship by grasping the rigging.

Deep beneath the ocean surface, another creature, as big as a ship, slipped through the water.

The whale shark was almost sixty feet long. It was one of the largest creatures in the ocean.

On the beach of the nearest island, a five-hundred-pound turtle used her fins to push herself from the beach into the water.

Then she began swimming out to find tasty seaweed offshore.

Captain Alfonse’s sharp eyes spotted something in the water and he squinted.

“Adelberto, there is something big in the water next to the ship.”

Alfonse was not worried, but he still wanted to know what it was.

He and Adelberto leaned over the railing.

“A giant turtle. Looking for seaweed.”

“Yes, Captain. But there is something else out there too.” Adelberto nodded at the unusual patterns of swirling water on the waves.

“Something just below the surface.” Alfonse kept watching.

They did not know there was also a whale shark lurking nearby.

“What’s that?” One of the passengers shouted.

“Rrrrrr.” The huge wood rudder at the back of the boat gave a loud groan.

“Quick. Something is at the stern.” One of the sailors called and the group around the storyteller jumped back and ran to the center of the ship.

“Captain.” The sailor’s voice was almost a shriek.

A long, thin, appendage like a snake appeared over the stern of the vessel.

Then more of the wiggling, curling appendages came over the back of the boat. They spread themselves out, waving and winding around the railing.

Then a beak-like mouth opening appeared, followed by something with huge eyes on either side of it, slithering up onto the stern of the ship.

The giant flying Humboldt Squid average five feet long and sometimes they are as long as nine feet. This one was an outlier, at twelve feet long from tips of the tentacles to the end of the squishy body.

Underneath the hull of the Destiny’s Dreams, the huge whale shark’s dark shape approached through the water toward the creature on the stern of the ship.

On the other side of the vessel, the five-hundred-pound giant turtle flapped her flippers and she thought she saw something like seaweed floating.

The rudder gave another moan.

“It is going to break our rudder,” hollered one of the sailors.

Ana, the storyteller, still held her lantern with the blue glass. The indigo light fell upon the huge eyes of the creature as it rolled the eyes. It looked right into Ana’s face.

The light was attracting it. Giant Humboldt Squid are drawn to light when the sky is dark.

At that moment, the whale shark lazily floating by zoomed in the water toward one of the tentacles curling. From the other side of the boat, the five-hundred-pound turtle snapped at another tentacle that floated like a piece of seaweed.

Rio the monkey gave a screech and swung on a halyard line swooshing just above the creature’s eyes.

Foresta the parrot, thinking this was a fun game, gave an ear-splitting squawk and flew, diving past the creature's eyes, and then making a parrot laugh.

“Hahahaha.”

The giant squid released everything, slid back into the water, then drew in a long suction of water before squirting it out, launching itself into the air to escape.

The flying creature with all ten appendages spread out from its face and fins stretched out like wings flew through the air and into the night.

Here the handwriting in the journal stopped and there was a drawing by the author of the creature.

Then it continued.

The five hundred pound turtle flapped her flippers and swam away to keep looking for seaweed to eat.

The giant whale shark left with one of the creature’s tentacles in its jaws.

Shaken, the passengers and crew gathered together, exclaiming.

Their hearts were pounding. Voices rose over the sound of the waves against the hull of the ship.

“That was terrifying.”

“A monster.”

“What were those other things? Monsters too?”

They peered over the railing of the ship at the dark water of the sea. After awhile everyone quieted down.

The passenger who had said earlier he wished for excitement was still breathing heavily. He stood up by the railing.

Under the water, the rest of the swam of squid were still swimming.

The whale shark swam up to float near one of them. It was a young squid, not as big as some of the others.

Sensing the dark shadow approaching, the squid drew in the water and squirted it out, launching itself out of the water in a flying leap, spreading the ten appendages and its fins.

Ten feet above the water it flew like a bird. Then it ran into something. It was a man’s chest.

Splat.

The passenger screamed.

“AAAAghh.”

The passenger who had wished for excitement had a split second image of the flying tangle of ten appendages and then it struck him in the chest, wrapping the tentacles and arms around him.

“Adeberto.” Captain Alfonse hollered and he jumped to grab the twisting tentacles and arms writhing around the passenger.

This was not the first time Alfonse dealt with a flying squid.

He drew his knife and began cutting the appendages.

Then Alfonse grabbed the slippery, oozing blob and hurled it back into the sea.

The passenger collapsed on the deck, covered in wet slime.

The flying squid slithered through the water, waving its appendages and fins.

The passengers stared out at the quiet sea, wondering what else was out there. 

Foresta the parrot watched the group. Then she considered the evening's events and gave her characteristic reaction. It echoed across the ship and the sea.

"Hahahahaha."