Mermaid 7

By: KeikoJade
(continued straight from Mermaid 6)
My mind went blank. I had no idea of what to say or do. I felt the
instinctual urge to submerge and flee. Unconsciously, I backed away
slightly from the surfer.
"Don't go!" she said, reaching toward me. Then, she withdrew her hand.
Her expression of alarm and surprise faded, and she manufactured a broad
smile and calm demeanor. "I hope I'm not scaring you away," she said.
I took a deep breath. "No," I said. "I'm just in shock that you recognize
me."
"Oh, well that's because you've been on the news," she said. "On TV, and
the web, and magazines and such."
"How?" I asked. "That's impossible." But even as I spoke, I realized I
should shutup. I had no idea how I should approach this girl. Should I
act ignorant of the human world? If I reveal the fact that I know about
such things as the media, I will be revealing the fact that I know about
her world. If I do that, I then have to explain how I ended up as a
mermaid. But hell, even speaking English revealed that I knew something
about human life.
"You were filmed attacking the tourist ship, with a bunch of pictures,"
the girl said. "And before that, there was some Japanese guy who wrote a
thesis about his encounter with you. Everyone thought it was a hoax, but
after last night it's more famous now. Oh my God, I can't believe you
made contact with me! Why me? Oh, but don't scare off, please? I want to
be your friend. How did you learn English? Are you a mutant? Oh, I'm
nosey, I'm sorry, I'm just... excited is all."
I nodded slowly. I had to recall my motives for making contact. Of
course, I wanted access to communications. But, there was something
deeper as well, and probably more dangerous. I wanted a friend, too.
"I know English," I said. "I just know it, is all. I don't speak much,
though. No one to talk to." What the hell was I saying? "You're a
surfer?" I asked, feeling stupid.
"Not really," she said. "I just come out here, then get scared to
approach the waves, so I just kind of float around. My names Julia."
"My name is..." I started, almost using my real name. "My name is Ytha."
The girl smiled. I suddenly decided that the best way to win her
confidence would be to be honest.
"Julia's a nice name," I said. But as I said her name, I felt a pang of
sadness. Here was an attractive girl, a girl whose head would rest
perfectly on my shoulder if I was still the original me, a girl about my
age, but one I would never have as a girlfriend.
"Ytha," she said. "That's a nice name too. Oh wow, what, uh... what are
you doing in Hawaii?" As if she wasn't aware of what she was doing, she
looked at her arm and pinched it. "I can't believe I'm having this
conversation," she mumbled.
"I'm trying to find my family," I said. "Or, not find, I want them to
know I'm alive."
"They live in Hawaii?" she asked? "Er, in the water, or on land?"
"No, neither," I said. "But what I need to do is use a phone, to contact
them," I said.
The girl's eyebrows knitted together. "They have a phone?"
"Yes," I said.
"So, have you always been a mermaid? Is your family human?"
"Yes, they're human," I said. "I was human once too, but Julia, I have
something to ask."
"Ask? Sure, of course."
"Well, I mean... I'm in danger, essentially. I'm not sure what will
happen if I make contact with people, anyone, even you. If you can
imagine, put yourself in my place, with the knowledge you have about what
people can do when they are confronted with the unknown. Well, you said I
attacked that ship. I didn't attack anything, I just defended myself. I
got snagged in fishing lines, and could only go up. But I can imagine
what people are thinking. Well, my point is, I need to meet someone who I
can trust and who can help me. Are you that person?"
She went to reply, but then paused, perhaps realizing the gravity of my
request. She put on a more serious expression.
"You can trust me," she said. "I can help you."
I took a deep breath. "Ok," I said.
"But now I'm kind of wondering," she said. "I mean, I don't want to be
taken for an idiot. This is so unlikely, I mean... are you for real?
Real, real?" She looked around. "I mean, where are the cameras?"
I suddenly laughed. "Yeah," I said. "They're up there." I pointed to the
sky. "In the remotely-controlled fake seagulls."
She looked up, then smiled. "Let me see," she said. "Can I see that
you're real? I won't hurt you."
I nodded. "Come off your board," I said.
Julia slipped off the surfboard and tread water. I moved toward her.
Seeing how delicately she tread water and how tentative was her ability
to stay alive in the ocean, I suddenly realized the amount of power I had
over her here, in what was my own environment. Next to an adult woman, I
also realized my own size. My torso was much longer than hers. It wasn't
disproportionate, just the torso of a very tall woman. My tail almost
twice the length of her legs.
She grew paralyzed as I grew close to her and then she instinctively
backed away. Her eyes grew round. "Holy shit..." she whispered through
trembling lips. She grabbed for her surfboard. "You're real, you're
really real," she said nervously.
"It's ok," I said. "I can't hurt you."
She nodded. Her breath came deep and fast. I suddenly recalled the powers
I had displayed on the boat, and made an effort to use them. I smiled and
tried to exhude calmness and feelings of safety. Julia's expression
immediately reflected the feelings I projected. Her eyes relaxed, and she
smiled.
"See?" I asked. "It's ok. I won't harm you."
She nodded. She tentatively reached out and touched my shoulder. I
reached to her and gently grasped her under the armpit, and helped keep
her head above water. Her touch slid down my arm, sliding over the
outside of my left breast, and down the side of my body to my waist. She
submerged her head to reach further. I felt her touch explore the area on
my unnatural hips, where a seam would be if I was wearing a costume.
She pulled back up and caught her breath.
"You're real," she said. "I can feel the muscles in your tail when you
move it. You're strong."
I nodded. "Plenty of exercise out here."
Our faces were only a nose apart. The water around us seemed to warm
slightly. Her breasts pressed against mine through her bodysuit. Her face
was slack and her eyes heavy. Her breathing drew quick and shallow, and
she angled her face, drawing her lips close to mine.
I suddenly jerked back. What the hell was happening? Julia blushed. I
laughed nervously, and so did she. She climbed back up on her board and
lay on it facing toward me. I reached out and held on to the nose of the
board.
I realized that somehow my attraction for her had reciprocated in her
brain and that we had nearly kissed one another. I made a conscious
effort to stop projecting emotion. I hadn't remembered to 'shut down' my
emotions after I had used them to calm her down, and must have
unconsciously made her attracted to me. I felt a pang of guilt.
"That was weird," she said dreamily.
"What was?" I replied, acting ignorant.
"Nothing," she said. She put her face down for a second. I felt
embarrassed.
"I feel strange," she said, with her face in her arms. She lifted her
head and looked at me with suspicion in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I think I influence people. I can influence
people... I think," I said. "Sometimes without meaning to. But I won't, I
mean..." I decided to shut up.
"How," Julia said, "How did you become a mermaid? You weren't born like
that if you are trying to call your family." She paused. "Are you a
genetic experiment? Did you escape from the military, or some secret
society?"
I realized that in my rush to make contact with someone from the modern
world, I hadn't made up a cover story for myself. Of course, modern
people aren't going to believe in fairy tales about men turning into
mermaids, about people entering 'the dream of a god.' They would relate
to modern fairy tales about genetic manipulation and animal-human
hybridization. But the latter wasn't true at all.
I shook my head. "I didn't escape from the military," I said. "Not
exactly."
"What happened, then?" she asked. "Who are you?"
I pursed my lips and stared at her. I shook my head. "It's hard to
believe that you would believe my explanation," I said.
"Did this happen to you voluntarily?" she asked. "Was it an accident?"
I nodded. "An accident," I said. "I didn't want this to happen. I mean, I
don't belong in the ocean. I'm human, or at least I was. I hope I can be
human again. I... I have a family, and they don't know what happened to
me. And yes, the military is wondering what happened to me, also, but I
can't contact them."
"Why not?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Look at me," I said. "There are obviously military
advantages to employing mermaids," I said. "I can breath underwater
indefinitely, I can swim very quickly, and I have some weird powers -
mental powers. I could be used for reconoittering, espionage, sabotage,
rescue and recovery... you name it."
She nodded. I took a breath.
"If I 'turned myself in,' there's no question that I would be too useful
to ever be free again," I said. "At worst, I'd end up being a dead
specimen. At best, I'd be held captive, and held as a freak," I said.
I looked away for a moment. "So, you see the fix I'm in." I looked to
her. "Can you help me, though? I was hoping that you could possibly get a
cell phone out here on your board, and that I could make a few calls. And
hopefully, this could all remain a secret."
Julia was quiet. Then, she nodded. "I understand," she said. "I can help.
I want to help you."
I smiled gratefully. "Thank you."
"But," she said. "I do have conditions."
I nodded. "Ok."
"Explain to me honestly how you became a mermaid. If you were a girl
before, how did come to this?"
I looked at her for a moment. She was assuming that I was female before I
took this form. That actually made it easier for me to explain what had
happened. But if I went along with her assumptions, I wouldn't be
answering honestly.
Still, having a cell phone in my grasp was tempting. I decided to explain
to her what happened without embellishing on the exact truth.
I lifted the necklace from my chest. "This is what happened," I said. "I
found this in the ocean while swimming. It allowed me to breath
underwater. I spent the night underwater, and I became a mermaid. Then, I
couldn't get it off, but when I finally did, it didn't matter, I didn't
change back. I became stuck like this. And a giant squid told me that I'd
entered the dream of a god, I guess by this necklace. And I don't dare to
discard it in case it's the key for me to turn back. But at the same
time, I'm worried that it's the reason I stay stuck as I am."
I took a deep breath. Julia was staring at me.
I shrugged. "Crazy, I know, but true."
"It's ok," she said. "The fact that you're here and real pretty much
validates any explanation, no matter how strange."
"Unless you're hallucinating," I said.
"Which I'm not. But I'm wondering, who were you before this happened to
you?"
I blushed. "I'd rather not go into that," I said.
Julia stared at me for a second, then shrugged. "It's ok."
A wicked grin grew on Julia's face. "I have the weirdest idea."
"What's that?"
"Well, I guess you wouldn't know this since you just met me, but I work
on a reality TV show. Actually, a couple reality TV shows. Anyway, you
may have heard of one, it's called "Last Person," and on this show people
live together on an island, usually one that's nice and warm so we get to
see lots of skin. Ok, well they're not average people, but anyway... what
I'm saying is, that we could turn your life into a reality TV show."
I laughed. "Nice joke!"
"I'm serious!" she said. She reached out and grabbed my arm and shook it
gently. "Wow, the more I think about it... You're pretty, have a nice
body, at least the upper portion. Not sure how to rate the tail end. But,
wow... Underwater footage is always popular. You have access to a world
that no one has really seen. I mean, this show could be unbelievable. It
could be the biggest thing the world has ever seen. It'd be a legend!"
She had a strange look. Her eyes were looking far away, unfocused, and
she was grinning. She looked at me.
"What do you think?"
I didn't think anything. A reality show? That would definitely comprimise
my existence entirely. "There's no way," I said. "I can't meet people and
be in a situation where I could be captured. It simply wouldn't work."
"Well," she said, "It could work. It could. Have you ever heard of
something called a satellite uplink?"
"Of course," I said. We had satelite communications in the Marines. The
gear was heavy, fragile, and not something I could swim with.
"Well," she said. "Either that, or cell network..." she got that look
again. "I won't know unless I can get some tech guys on it. But, if I can
tell my company that you exist, and prove it, then I'm sure they can
cough up the dough to get the gear to you. I'm talking about a camera the
size of your hand, and an uplink not much bigger. "
"So, you mean, I could be absolutely independent, film life from my
perspective, and send it to you guys?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Great," I said. "But what about film, and power?"
"Power... well maybe solar. That, I'm not sure. Film is obsolete. You'll
be recording digitally, then upload the footage. We'll edit the footage
at the studio. As long as you send us let's say 20 minutes of footage
times length of one season... If you can manage to get us 12 hours of
workable footage, we could make a series out of it. There might have to
be some long commercial breaks and re-used footage... Maybe along with
expert commentary, but the spectacle ought to be enough to keep interest
going..."
She kept explaining while I thought about this. If I could upload
anonymously, and the equipment was all waterproof, and shockproof, and
didn't bog me down, then I could stay in hiding in the ocean. And, there
had to be a monetary incentive, as well. But how was I going to use
money? It quickly occurred to me that though this might not benefit me
directly, I could funnel the money to my family. They could then in turn
use the resources to help me...
In my mind I was outlining the details for a plan that could get me back
to some level of civility. I saw a way to have a life with my loved ones,
without having to do something like chop off the unwanted half of my body
and live out my days in a wheelchair.
Also, if I was no longer a secret to anyone, if the public knew about me
and I was in their minds, then it might become impossible for anyone from
a government lab or whatever to kidnap me. But if I was that 'known,'
wouldn't I just be a freak and a spectacle?
"I don't know," I said. "I guess it sounds like it could work. I think I
have reasons why it could work."
"Oh my God," she said. "This is great! But I need proof of your existence
if I'm going to sell this idea."
"Ok."
"Listen, stick around here. I'm going to come back with some equipment to
photograph you, ok? And, I'll have a cell phone."
"What are you coming in?" I asked.
"A boat."
"Just you," I said.
"Of course."
I didn't want to scare her, so I had been acting nice and sweet and non-
threatening. But, now I realized that I had an advantage. I had something
she wanted. I decided to change my tone just a bit, for my own safety.
I narrowed my eyes, but focused on not sending her the feeling of panic
or fear. "No tricks," I said. "Or I'll be gone. No seconds chances."
She wasn't phased. "None, you won't need a second chance, and you sure as
hell won't regret this. I gotta go, I gotta arrange things while there's
still light left in the day. I'll be back, no more than a couple hours,
max. Actually, tell you what, I'll be back out here, right at this spot,
at dawn.
"Alright," I said. She started paddeling for shore. I finned after her.
"I'll motor you into shore a bit," I said.
"Ok," she laughed. I grabbed the back of the board, and finned toward the
shore. I could hear her laughing at the speed. I didn't know if anyone
was watching, but it if they were it surely looked like she had a secret
turbo motor under her surfboard.
I broke off before it got to shallow, and banked back toward the rock
where I had met her. I hunted and ate without thinking about it. My mind
was concentrated on what could be a bright future. I was giddy with
anticipation at the thought of talking to my family. I ran through the
plan over and over. Call my sister first, convince her, then let her talk
to my parents. It was impossible to sleep that night. I'm not sure if I
did at all, but I do remember hearing a small motorboat approaching. I
looked up to see the bottom of a small boat cutting across the surface,
profiled by the pinkish dawn light. It stopped almost directly above me.
Without taking precautions or reconnoitering, I simply surfaced. It was a
small speedboat, useless in seas higher than a few feet. But the ocean
was calm. Julia was standing up in the boat, looking out to sea with her
back to me. With a flick of my tail I was alongside the boat. With
another flick, I jumped up and grabbed the gunwale, peering in. She was
alone.
"Hey," I said. She jumped.
"Damn, didn't hear you there," she said.
"I didn't sleep at all last night," I said.
"Me neither," she said. She bent over a large tote bag, one of several.
"Listen, I brought you a phone."
"Ok," I said.
She pulled the phone from the bag, and then cautiously handed it to me.
"You can come into the boat," she said.
I shook my head. "Doesn't look comfy," I said. I put the phone down, and
kicked my tail so it would come to the surface. "See this dorsal fin?
Lying on it is kind of like lying on your nose. It can hurts. And lying
on my side hurts these fins down here," I pointed at what would be
pectoral fins on a shark, but were placed on my tail, where my thigh
would be.
"Ok," she said.
"And it's kind of crowded in that boat with all the seats and junk to get
comfy on my belly."
I didn't want to tell her that I also wanted some ability to escape if I
needed, and it looked like I could be confined pretty easily in that
boat.
I pointed at a seat-type floatation device sitting on the deck. "Can I
have that?" I asked.
She handed to me. "Didn't think these would be handy for a mermaid," she
said.
"True, it's kind of ironic that it's useful for me." I tucked my arms
through its straps, and wore it on my back. "It'll keep my head a little
bit above the water, to help protect the phone."
With that, I slipped off the boat and into the water, acting carefully to
keep the phone up in the air. It was difficult to float on my back with
the floatation device. It was almost like balancing on a large ball. But
I managed.
I kicked slowly away from the boat. Sound travels well over water, so I
made sure I went downwind from Julia. When I was out of earshot, I dialed
my sister. I still had the numbers memorized. My face felt flush and my
palms were sweating as her phone rang.
"Hello?" she picked up.
"Hello," I said, conscious that my voice was one my sister had never
heard before. "Sarah... without introducing myself quite yet, I was
wondering if you and I could chat for a moment."
There was silence on the other end. "Ok," she said. "Go ahead."
Instinctively, I wanted to ask, "How's mom? How's dad? How are you?" But,
I held my tongue from those questions, and couldn't think of anything
else at all to say.
"Um... Listen, you know me, but you may not recognize this voice. I'm
calling to let you know that, first of all, this is not a trick... I want
to tell you that your brother is still alive and well, but just not as
you may remember him."
"Oh man... this isn't fucking funny," she said. "You know, this is really
sick."
"I know," I said. But her tone and anger was making me panic. "Listen,
I'm calling from Hawaii. This is Jason, your brother. I know I don't
sound like me, but it is me. Ask me anything, anything at all that only I
would know, and I can answer it. It's totally me, Sis."
"Now this is really sick," she said.
"I know, I'm sorry," I replied. "But you have to believe me."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I miss you guys, I don't want you and Mom and Dad to think I'm
dead. I'm not dead. I'm not the same, but I'm not dead."
"Ok," she said. "You tell me. Tell me something only Jason and I would
know."
"Ok. I remember the first time you got really angry at me that I can
recall. For Halloween you got a candy necklace from the Kowalskis down
the street. You kept the necklace without eating the candy in your room
for a long time. One day, I ate it. When you discovered that, you were
really angry. Me, I just didn't understand that you liked it because it
was pretty. I didn't think you wanted to eat it, so I was entitled. Does
that work?"
The phone was silent. "Are you Jason's girlfriend? Did you know Jason?
Who put you up to this?"
"No, I'm not," I said. "I am Jason."
"Then, ok... Why do you sound like a girl?"
"Because I kind of am one... but not entirely."
"Explain."
"Ok, listen, Sarah, this is going to sound really fucking crazy, but, I'm
not sure what the military has told you guys. But regardless, what
happened to me is really bizarre. I'm calling you first because you're
the one in the family most likely to believe it. In Okinawa I was
swimming, I found a magical amulet that allowed me to breath underwater,
and, um... I got turned into a mermaid. I can't turn back. I don't know
how. This is the first opportunity I've had to get in touch with you or
anyone else."
I listed to silence for a moment. "No fucking way..." she said, but not
incredulously. "Are you for real?"
"Yes," I said.
"Jason?" she asked.
"Yes. Yes, it's me."
"We had a funeral for you. Mom's a goddamned wreck. But, how can this be
real? You have to be fucking kidding me. This has to be a joke. But you
sound like you... I mean, you sound different, but you talk like you. I
don't know..."
"Let it sink in," I said. "I'll be calling you again. And if in the
meantime you believe me, then tell mom, then dad. I'm not sure how we are
going to stay in touch, but don't change your cell phone number, ok? And
I'm coming back. I'm coming back to the US. I don't know how."
"Jason, if you're a mermaid, how in the fuck are you going to be coming
back here? I mean, not that I believe this is real, this is pretty sick.
But..."
"Sarah, I said I'm near Hawaii. I'm going to think of a way for you to
come visit me. I think I have a TV show in the works. That should pay for
it."
"A TV show? What the hell?"
"I don't know what the news situation is these days, but I heard that I
was actually on the news lately because I got tangled up with some jerks
on a fishing boat, and someone videotaped me. I'm something of a media
sensation."
"What? That's you? Come on. Who is this?"
"Sarah, it's me. You'll believe me eventually. I don't know what the
military told you about my disappearance, but I'm sure it had something
to do with a late-night swim or falling off a cliff into the waters, and
never coming back. The only thing they found was some torn clothing."
"Go on," she said.
I continued on. We talked for another hour. The cell phone grew hot in my
hand, and the sun had come up entirely. I had drifted far from the boat
and Julia. My emotions ranged from shame, to happiness that she believed
me, to frustration when she was more dismissive. Likewise, she sounded
alternately happy, angry, and disapproving. She grilled me on every minor
detail of our childhood. I was able to answer most things, at least
enough to prove that I knew Jason's life beyond intimately. Finally, I
told her goodbye, and that I'd be in touch. The cell phone was beeping at
me, telling me the batteries were almost dead.
My arm ached from holding the phone up to my ear that long. I had to
fight instinct to prevent myself from dropping it casually to my side,
which would place it into salt water. At times, Sara had almost said she
believed me. I had been correct in my assumptions about what the military
had told my family. My grave in Pennsylvania was an artifice holding no
remains. My mother and father were wrecks. Would they be any better upon
learning that their son was not dead, but transformed into a mythical
female sea creature? Hell if I knew, but they had to be told the truth.
I swam back to the boat and pulled myself up the side. Julia was lying on
the deck on her stomach, with her bikini top undone so she could tan
better.
"Hey," I said. "Thank you." I dropped the cell phone into the boat.
"No problem," she said, tying her top back together and sitting up. "Did
you talk to your family?"
I nodded. "They think I'm dead. I'm trying to convince my sister of what
happened."
Julia shook her head. "Weird. So, that necklace is what changed you into
a mermaid?"
I nodded. "Wanna try it?"
She laughed, but stared at it. "Are you serious?" she asked quietly.
I shrugged. "Sure, why not? I mean, it's up to you if you want to become
like me. But look at the position I'm in. It's not a great one."
"Why?" she asked. "What's so bad about it?"
"Loneliness."
"I see. But if you had another mermaid as a friend, it wouldn't be so
bad, would it?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, I don't think so, but then again, maybe so.
Two people can drive one another bonkers. Besides that, I mean, do you
realize what I have to do to eat? There are no restaraunts or taco stands
under the waves, if you know what I mean."
"No, what do you eat? "What's life like down there?" she asked.
Holding onto the gunwales of the boat was painful after a few minutes.
The edges sunk into my armpits, and my breasts were squashed. Also, it
exposed a good portion of my tail. Though it didn't look like anyone was
around, the idea was uncomfortable.
I dropped into the water, and lay on my back. Julia leaned over the
gunwales and looked down at me.
"So tell me," she said, "what's life like for you?"
"Pretty and lonely," I said. "I've seen some amazing stuff out at sea."
"You swam all the way from Japan?"
"Yeah, all the way from the Ryuku Islands."
I found myself launching into a long description of everything that had
transpired from the day I had become a mermaid until now. Julia listened
to all of it attentively. I held on to the edge of the boat sometimes,
and we drifted. It felt like my mouth was moving automatically. My mouth
would go dry from all the talking, and I'd relieve it with a gulp of
ocean water. Eventually, my tongue and lips actually grew tired from all
the talking. As I wrapped up my story, I realized the sun was already
three-quarters of the way across the sky. The shoreline was barely
visible. We had drifted about 10 miles.
"Well," I said. "I've probably bored you enough by now."
She laughed. As she did, I felt a sisterly bond to her that took me by
surprise. I felt an urge to be in the boat with her, lounging in the sun
with my feet up, but this was impossible. I had to settle for the next
best thing: looking up at her shaded face, with the ocean lapping at the
fiberglass side of the boat and making gurgling sounds in my ears.
She looked at the sun, then back down at me. She brought up her proposal
from the previous day.
"I've though about it," I said. "I think it can be done. What do I have
to do? And can my family be the beneficiaries of my work?"
"Well, yes, your family can, but of course we'll need some details. As to
what you have to do, we first have to get some proof of your existence. I
have some camera gear. We can do some filming, and I'll take the film
back and show it to some people who can finance a project."
"What kind of filming?" I asked.
"Underwater filming," she said. "Is that ok?"
I thought about it for a moment. Should I sign some type of release form?
What type of legal things was I getting into with my consent to be
filmed? I really had no idea. I realized that this must be the work that
agents perform for actors and such. But at the same time, I had no really
great options.
"I brought scuba gear," Julia said. "But, hey, what should I do? You tell
me."
"Um, it's kind of restrictive," I said. "But if you want to get some
shots of me zooming around, it'll work."
As she got prepared, she started briefing me on how the camera would
work, and what depths would be best for lighting. She sat on the side of
the boat, encumbered by air tanks, goggles, and awkward fins.
"Hey," I said, holding up the necklace from my neck. "You could just try
this. It allowed me to breath underwater before I changed."
She shook her head. "No thanks," she said. "I'm not sure I want to try.
Besides, what if it doesn't work when I breath the water in? That'll hurt
like hell." She put her regulator into her mouth, then pulled it out.
"Shit, I almost forgot," she said. She reached into the boat and pulled
out a blue bikini top.
"Would you mind wearing this?" she asked.
"What?" I said. "Why?" I asked, but then realized the answer as soon as
the question left my lips. She explained as I nodded in understanding.
"This will probably be a family-oriented show," she said. "And I'm not
sure that we can have bare breasts on it. It depends on if we depict you
as, uh, 'aboriginal,' or not.
I shrugged, momentarily feeling shame for my nudity. Should I, now that I
was with another person? It seemed so natural.
"Well," I said. "It won't last long. I mean, that thing's not designed to
stay on a body that swims more than five miles per hour. And, I really
don't like to swim with clothing on. It feels like drag."
"Ok," she said congenially, "no problem." She tossed the bikini top back
into the boat.
"You explained lighting and stuff," I said. "What do you want me to do
once you start filming?"
"Just do some incredible stuff. Do stuff that, I don't know, no one could
mistake for being fake, or you wearing a fake tail, or anything that
could be computer graphics or animation."
She handed me the underwater video camera. It was definitely too large
for me to carry around with it being bulky and awkward. It was the size
of a small microwave oven, but heavier. However, it was neutrally bouyant
in the water. I submerged, and Julia slide in after me. Her body entered
the water with a cacophony of shimmering bubbles. I heard the compressed
air hissing into her lungs as she breathed.
I handed the camera back to her. We were mute now, and I used hand
signals to show her where I was going. She turned on the camera and
signaled for me to go.
I dove straight down. The ocean bottom was nowhere in sight or sense.
Before I completely lost sight of the surface, I shot back up, coming
straight up at her, then did a vertical roll as I passed in front of her.
I kept launching and rolling, and even did a few flips into the open air.
Finally, I came back to her. What to do? I felt a bit embarrassed as she
panned the camera across my body. I slid up past her from below, curving
back for a mighty thrust, and when the tip of my tail was only an inch
from the camera lens, I fanned as hard as I could. The wash I produced
pushed Julia over, and she somersaulted twice, like a leaf, momentarily
letting go of the camera.
I felt fear that I had hurt her, and flipped over and swam back to her,
trying to convey an apology with a large grimace. She smiled with her
lips pursed around the regulator and gave me a thumbs up. Then I had an
idea. I gently took hold of the camera and nodded at her. She nodded and
let go of it.
I grabbed the pistol grip. The readouts seemed to indicate it was still
filming. It only took a second to figure out the viewscreen, which was a
large open frame on the top, meant to be used by someone encumbered by a
diving mask. I swam around Julia, filming her as she tried to turn to
keep up with me. I swam faster in a tight circle, orbiting her three
times for every one time she could turn all the way around. Then, I held
the camera on my chest, pointed at my tail, and dove as hard as I could,
while stilling keeping Julia in the viewfinder, as a reference. She
shrank quickly, but I halted before I got too deep. I didn't know what
pressure tolerance the camera had. I swooped back up, and held the camera
above my head, pointed to the surface. I gained as much speed as I could
holding that position, and broke into the air I didn't have enough speed
to make a really good flip, but I hoped it would impress whoever saw the
film.
Meanwhile, Julia had surfaced, and was backfinning to her boat. I swam
over to her.
"Was that good?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," she said. "It was awesome." She smiled broadly.
"Even without the bikini?" I asked.
She laughed, then reached out and hugged me. I hugged her back, finding
great solace in the embrace. "Yep," she said. "I see what you mean, it
would come off in a second at the speeds you swim."
"So what's next?" I asked. "Are you going to make me famous?"
She nodded vigorously. She tossed her fins and mask into the boat, and
pulled down a small ladder fitted next to the outboard motor to climb
aboard. She sat on the stern and slipped out of her air tanks.
"I think," she said, "I think we're going to get funding for the project.
But we have to talk details now. And it's starting to get dark. Hey, are
you hungry?" she asked, reaching into a bag.
Actually, I was. She produced a sandwich from a cooler. "This is ham and
cheese, do you want some?"
Before I could reply, I reached up and grabbed the sandwich from her
hand. Ham and cheese - and white bread. The ingredients seemed so foreign
to me that I'd almost forgotten them. I quickly took a bite. Ham and
cheese and bread and mustard. But, it didn't taste like I remembered. The
bread tasted overly sweet, like cotton candy times ten. The cheese tasted
like melted plastic, or oil, and the ham smelled and tasted as if it was
spoiled. I was paralyzed in mid-bite, holding the sandwich in one hand
with my cheeks stuffed.
"What a face!" Julia said. "You don't have to eat it."
I silently handed the sandwich back to her and forced myself to swallow
the mouthful of sandwich. I felt remorseful and sad, as if I had lost
something important and dear to me.
"Doesn't taste right," I said, apologetically. "I'm not that hungry."
"Wow, after that, I don't even want to eat it," Julia said. "But hey, I'm
hungry."
I felt a bit ill as I watched her eat the sandwich, but I just looked
away as we talked. By now, the sun was setting. We talked business until
the sky was black and the Moon rose. Finally, we made arrangements to
meet again after she got funding for the project and got the ball
rolling.
Without sunlight for people to see us, I felt more comfortable hanging
around the boat. I pulled myself up onto the gunwale, and with some help
from Julia, found a comfortable way to lie on my stomach resting on
floatation seats. Julia lay in the boat, dressed now in a sweater and
jeans. The ocean air was cool. This was a better way for us to talk.
Julia yawned. "Aren't you worried about sharks down there?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I can hear them coming, as long as I pay attention."
"Well," I said, "there's one detail we haven't discussed yet, and I have
to bring it up."
"Ok."
"About my past, before I was a mermaid. The difficult thing is," I felt
my throat closing up. "Well, the thing is, I was male before this
happened."
I paused to see her reaction. She was lying back on the bags, her forearm
over her forehead as she stared into the night sky. She didn't react at
all.
"And, so as you can guess, this transformation is pretty embarrasing for
me. If there's going to be a show about me, I don't want anyone to know."
Julia nodded. She sat up and stared at me with awe.
"That's incredible!" She said. "Oh my God, sometimes I thought you were
kind of masculine in the way you acted. But then you'd act kind of
girlish. Wow, how much more is there to your story?"
"Not much," I said. "I'm only nineteen. I, oh man, how can I say this?
Well, I trust you." I was resting on my elbows and stomach. "It's so
weird this happened. But I was in the Marine Corps. I was a Marine. Then,
this."
Julia drew close to me. She nodded. "Marines are... well, they're pretty
manly, to say the least. A bit too much in some ways. Well, turning into
an attractive woman, or... mermaid, would be hard for you."
"Yeah," I said. "It's hard. My family isn't going to understand, but what
am I going to do in the ocean, live by myself forever? And it seems it's
going to be hard to have both things, my family and my life, unless I can
find a way out of this body."
Julia nodded. "I had a feeling it was something like this. First you
didn't tell me who you were before, then you did act somewhat masculine,
and boyish."
"That obvious?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Well, I mean, you do have quite a bit of mental fortitude.
So, hearing that you were a Marine before you were a mermaid makes
absolute sense."
"How so?"
"Quite simply! I mean, if you really came from Japan, to Hawaii, how the
hell did you survive? How the hell did you figure out how to live in that
environment?" She gestured to the water. "How did you cope with the
isolation? I mean, think about it, not only did your body change, but
your physical environment changed radically, your social environment -
your friends, coworkers, family, all disappeared. Instead of trying to
contact someone immediately, and clawing back to civilization at all
cost, you figured out independence. Then you navigated yourself back to
the US. You survived a shark attack, and stitched your wounds closed. You
got unsnagged from that fishing boat deal. Do you realize how much heart
and brains you have?"
My face felt flush as she spoke. Her words filled me with pride, and
momentarily reversed my outlook on things.
"You definitely have what it takes to be a Marine," she said. "I only
know them from movies, and, well, ok - they go on liberty here and make
asses of themselves a lot. But, if you are an example of what a Marine
has, in their hearts and minds, then they are definitely as tough as
legend has it."
I laughed, humbled. "It's not that tough," I said.
Julia shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said. "But, you are a bit naive if
you don't see your abilities and courage the way I do. I mean, if I were
in your shoes - " she glanced at my tail. "So to speak, I don't know what
I'd do."
She paused, her lips moving slowly and silently. She gazed into the
distance.
"Marine," she said slowly, then looked at me. "You know what the word
'Marine' means?"
"Of course," I said.
"Well, perhaps it's part of how you became who you are."
"How so?"
"Marine. 'Of the sea.'"
"Yes," I said.
"In your case, literally 'of the sea.' I wonder..."
The coincidence hadn't occurred to me, but she was right.
"Wonder what?" I asked.
"I wonder if by chance, there are some unknown coincidences that caused
your transformation." She shook her head. "I believe in magic. I always
kind of believed in it, but now I have no choice but to accept it as
fact. Maybe not in the mundane sense of the word, with hokus pokus and
all that, but, something more real. Something that produced you just as
casually as human life is produced every day. I don't know. I guess what
I'm trying to say is that if you discovered this necklace, and you
weren't a Marine, that this transformation may not have happened. I don't
know - it's probably nothing. But words do have their own power. Marine."
"I see what you're saying," I said. It made an odd kind of sense. A
Marine was what I was. I felt it in my heart of hearts. Perhaps it had
been pounded into my identity through boot camp and indoctrination in the
Corps, but it was definitely part of me, regardless of its origin. Maybe
my identity had a hand in deciding my fate when, as Glubok said, I had
entered the dream of a god.
I shook my head. During the course of the day, when I talked non-stop, I
had sometimes felt light-headed. I felt that way now. I breathed in the
deep, cool salty air, and sighed.
"So, Julia," I said. "Now that you know my deepest secret..."
"I'll hold it close to me," she said. "No one will know."
"Thank you," I said. "But, I'm going to have to burden you with
something... heavy."
"What's that?"
"My family. You'll be dealing with them. You have to help convince them
I'm alive, and that we can meet once again. You'll have to be my liasion.
I don't know if you want to take that on."
Julia shrugged. "Well, I don't know it'll be that much. I mean, honestly,
you and I stand to profit a lot if things go as planned. And of course
I'm indebted to you for agreeing to do this. Hell, the only thing I've
paid you for your efforts so far is a ham sandwich that nearly made you
barf."
We both laughed at that, but it did remind me that I was ravenous. My
stomach was tying itself in knots.
Julia yawned deeply, covering her mouth. "I have to get back. I have a
lot of work to do now."
"Ok," I said.
"But, before I go, here's some stuff I brought for you, a couple gifts. I
don't know if they'll be useful or not."
She handed me a roll of plastic tied with a red ribbon and held together
with rubber bands. I unfurled it. It was two maps, one of the Hawaiian
islands, and one of the world. They were both laminated with plastic.
"Thank you!" I said, handing her the ribbon. "I think I can use them."
"And this, too," she said. She handed me a small gift box. I was touched,
and happy that she'd thought of me. The box contained a tiny radio worn
in the ear.
"What's this for?" I asked.
"Waterproof," she said. "It's used by professional divers to listen to
the radio. I didn't think it'd encumber you much."
"Thank you," I said. I wondered how many more things I could carry with
me. Radio, watch-compass-pressure gauge, dive belt, knife, net bags,
maps. I was becoming a high-tech mermaid!
I felt indebted to her. "Thank you," I said. I reached for a hug with one
arm. She embraced me. Her hair smelled sweet and salty.
She let go, and slid down so her face was close to mine. She looked up at
the stars. Moonlight pooled in her dark eyes.
She got a crazy grin. "Well, if it's any consolation, I don't think you
should be ashamed. We'll need to address your origin for the show, but we
can come up with something that hides your identity and protects your
family."
"Thank you," I said.
She turned on her side and looked at me mischeviously. "Ytha, now that
we're friends, I've got to ask you..." Her gaze dropped down to my tail.
"Can I touch you?"
"Sure," I said. She knelt and felt the skin of my tail. Her touch slid
down to its underside, and stopped where it met the gunwale.
"Ok, this is probably private, but, I have to ask - do you have a vagina?
I mean, what do you have?"
"Uh..." I paused. "Well, you probably noticed that there, right opposite
the rear base of my dorsal fin, is a slit in my flesh, almost hidden?
"Yeah," she said.
"Well, from the bottom of that slit, um... that's where I... you know..."
"Poop and pee?"
I laughed, and realized how nervous I was. "Yeah. And right above that,
well, there's something there, but I'm not sure if it's a... a, uh..."
"Vagina?"
"Yeah," I said. My lips felt heavy, and my jaw was locked.
"Wow," she said, staring at that section of my tail. "How do you know
it's a vagina? Did you put anything into it?"
"No!" I said.
"Really?"
"Did you put stuff in yours?" I blurted.
"Well," she said, "personally, hmmm. I guess you wouldn't know this, but,
did you ever play with yourself when you were a little boy?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Girls do the same thing."
I nodded. "Except me," I said. "I've been kind of embarrassed to even
really check it out. And, I mean, it seems kind of tight, like I
shouldn't be putting anything in there."
"That might change, depending on circumstances," she said. "Anyway, male
dolphins have a penis that's hidden in a slit," she said. "You might be a
male still and not even know it."
I blushed. "I'm not, unfortunately," I said.
Julia stroked my skin. "Your tail seems identical almost to a dolphin's.
I mean, you breath water, and are warm-blooded, which should mean you're
a mammal, but you can breath water, which shouldn't give you enough
oxygen to be warm blooded."
"Really?" I asked, suddenly intrigued. The nature of my own body had been
something I'd been ignorant about. I wanted to know more.
"Yeah," she said. "That's why fish are cold-blooded. There's not enough
oxygen in the water for their cells to metabolize at a warm-body rate.
Somehow, though, you're able to breath water and stay warm. It'd be
more... normal if you could only breath air. That would basically make
you a dolphin with the upper body of a human. But you breath water, so I
don't know..."
"Hey, remember when you explained how you are able to influence people's
emotions?" she asked as she sat back in the boat.
"Yeah."
"Well, perhaps there are other things you can do. Perhaps you can even, I
don't know, change your form, grow legs. Perhaps your original appearance
can be re-assumed."
"How?" I asked.
"You tell me," she laughed.
"I dunno," I said. "I tried laying on dry land for a long time. No
affect. But I didn't try to shape myself in one way or another."
"Try it."
"Ok." I closed my eyes and pictured my tail turning into a pair of legs.
I peeked. Nothing was happening. I didn't feel any power swelling or any
physical response to my wishes.
"Maybe it will take practice," I said. "I know my powers, so to speak,
are increasing with time."
"True."
"So," I said, stifling a yawn. "What do you think of the footage? Will it
convince people?"
"Yes," she said. "It's completely obvious that you're not fictional. For
one, you don't have anything that resembles human anatomy hidden under a
fake tail. You, or the bottom half of you, curves upward, opposite the
direction that human legs can bend, then back down to your tail fluke."
"Tail fluke?" I asked.
"Yeah, that part of you, your tailfin," she said. "Well, on cetaceans
it's not a tailfin, but a fluke, and I think that term is best for what
you have."
"Cetaceans?"
"Dolphins, whales... maybe mermaids?"
"I'm sorry," I said. "I have to read up on this stuff. I didn't realize
my tail looked that different."
"Well, you do have a couple other things that a different about you," she
said.
"Like?"
"Your neck, I guess. I see that you can turn your head upward, so it's
in-line with your spine, to a greater degree than a normal woman can. And
did you know you have floating ribs?"
"Floating?"
She approached me, and put her hand on my back. "Here, the ribs I can see
down your side, it doesn't look totally normal. I think I can feel their
ends, just before your spine."
"I didn't know that," I said. However, I had noticed that my chest and
waist compressed quite a bit at depth, because I would have to re-adjust
the waist belt to keep it from going up to my armpits.
We continued talking for a couple more hours. Finally, just before dawn,
we hugged and parted.
"I'll see you in two weeks," I said, which was in accordance with the
plans we'd made. "Thank you."
With that, I slipped off the gunwale and into the gray, dawnlit ocean. I
let out my breath, and took in a deep draft of salt water. It was cool
and welcome, and I felt it flow down my throat, through the tubes in my
chest, and fill my lungs. I rolled the maps around my left forearm and
secured them with rubber bands. I heard Julia's motor start up, and a
wake of bubbles exploded from the prop. I watched her take off. I felt
like sleeping, but my belly was so empty it felt like it was caving in. I
hunted for food. By the time I was full, the water was bright with
sunlight. I dove and found a deep grotto where the water was dark. I
drifted into a deep sleep. Woke in the evening, hunted, ate, and slept
again.
I was lying in a sandy bed in a coral reef, only a few dozen feet from
the surface, studying the map of the Hawaiian islands. Julia had been
courteous enough to mark the map in several spots. For example, the
location where we had met was marked with an 'X,' and I hadn't strayed
far from there. To the northeast of the main island was a string of small
islands. Julia had annotated the map, and according to her, these islands
were unpopulated.
It took me two days to get there. I swam casually, eating and sunning
along the way. I really didn't know why I wanted to be on land, but that
instinct just wouldn't die. I tried the tiny radio Julia had given me,
but it really couldn't pick up anything so far out to sea. I didn't chuck
it, though. Looking at it reminded me of her.
I was a bundle of nerves. I realized I was embarking on a new course in
my life as a mermaid, and the unknown quantities therein made me nervous,
as well as anxious and somewhat happy. I was also wondering what was
going on on Sandra's head, whether or not she believed me, and whether or
not she was calling Julia and talking to her.
I also wondered about Julia. I had felt so close to her that night we
spent on the boat. She was the only one in the world who knew what I'd
been through. I wondered whether or not I could trust her. I realized
that perhaps I had opened up too quickly to her. But I had felt a
connection, especially after she learned my true origins. She would have
to be pretty cold to betray me.
How could she betray me, though? Well, for one, I realized as I looked at
the tiny radio, that it could be a transmitter used to track me. Perhaps
she didn't work in television, but needed to draw me in, so she could
sell me out to someone who would capture me. She seemed to have a pretty
good knowledge about things of the sea. Then again, she was a part-time
surfer, and a college graduate, so she was educated. Me, I had read a
lot. I always had a book going. But the only formal education I recieved
after high school was in military studies that had nothing to do with
cetaceans.
The maps were a truly great gift. It took a lot of anxiety out of
navigating. But they did weigh me down with more drag. They also were
uncomfortable on my forearms. I found the first deserted island. It was
just a little stretch of sand with some palm trees, but it had a
marvelous lagoon. Unfortunately, the lagoon was only accessible at high
tide, and the waters of the lagoon weren't deep enough for me to hide in.
It would be impossible to escape the swimming-size pool lagoon at certain
times, so I passed the island. It was just a short swim to the next one,
and this one suited my needs. It was just as nice, but there was a deep
tunnel through the reef that fed into the lagoon at all times.
I beached myself and climbed onto the warm sands with great satisfaction.
I spent the afternoon sleeping in the sun with my dorsal fin tucked in a
deeply-dug hole, or on my belly, pouring over the maps. As I grew hungry,
I remembered with great joy that I would be able to eat coconuts for the
first time in months. The coconuts and seaweed, along with shallow-water
food like mussels, was a great dietary diversion from endless days of big
fish.
It also became obvious to me that as a mermaid I would be attracted to
waters that meet coastlines. For one, I had an affinity for being on
terra firma that I didn't think was entirely vestigal from my human days.
I liked to be able to see both the surface of the ocean and the ocean
floor at the same time. I could breath air, of course, and also, while I
didn't have an impossible time finding food in the deep ocean, I was the
appropriate size for deep ocean predators. In the deep ocean, I was a
perfectly proportioned prey for even a moderate-sized shark. However, in
the shallows, I was an apex predator, especially with tools as simple as
my knife. I also felt happier and more relaxed in shallow waters. Things
couldn't come at me from every single angle, like they could in the deep,
so I didn't need to be hypervigilant.
My long talk with Julia had calmed me immensely. It was as if I had fed
off human contact, and that contact was sustaining my spirit just as food
sustained my body. Somehow, I felt satisfied. I realized, as I was
swimming around my tiny island, or lying on its sands, that something had
diminished in me. It took awhile to realize that that something was
wanderlust. I didn't feel far from home. In a sense, I felt that the
island was a perfect home. It only lacked friends to complete it.
In the meantime, waiting until I had to head back to meet Julia, I met
some new friends. I was spending so much time on the island that I
started paying attention to the animals that called it home. For one,
weird birds rested there, camping on the limestone rocks and roosting in
the palm trees, of which there were exactly fourteen. Below the birds,
hiding in the grass and plants that clustered around the roots of the
palms, were rats. I wondered how they'd ended up here, and what they even
fed on. There couldn't be more than a dozen of them, just one family. On
the beach, there were little crabs. If I lay still long enough, they
would pop out of the sand and start to move around. I was laying on the
sand, feeling the tide coming in on my tail, and watching a crab one day.
He was only a few feet from my face. He was clawing at something in the
sand. Suddenly, a shadow formed on the ground around him. A seagull
crashed into the shadow, onto the crab, and then hopped away with the
crab in his bill. He got a few body lengths away from me, and ate the
crab. It was then that I realized why the crabs are perpetually looking
upward.
Also on the beach, at night, came sea snakes. As always, they were
gentle, and curious. It always chilled my blood to know that they carried
the world's most poisonous snake venom, but I also knew they wouldn't
harm anything they couldn't eat. They even drew so close that they
allowed me to pet them gently.
The reef was another story. If the reef was New York City, the dry-land
portion of the island was the surface of the Moon. The reef was a belt of
life surrounding the island. From inches below the surface, until about
sixty feet down, it was a hubbub of activity. I tried to count the number
of different types of fish I could find. By the time I got to 100, I
realized I was re-counting fish I had forgotten. Regardless, the reef
became so familiar I started to learn its micro-environments and quirks.
I recognized the clown fish guarding their anenomies, like doormen in
front of a grand building in Manhatten. I counted six moray eels, which I
took to be the reef's biggest predator. I grew familiar with the families
of puffer fish that puttered around the island, showing great impunity by
slowly swimming solo in open water.
One may think it's impossible to occupy yourself when you're on a
deserted island with nothing but time. Certainly, if one is sitting
someone, say in an office, or a house, time can drag with nothing to do.
But out in nature, your brain slows down. The sky above your head becomes
more interesting. I slowly began to realize that I could read the reef
the way I read a book. It just took patience and observation to see which
animals lived on what, how they interacted with each other so
intricately, and what dramas were unfolding. Their lives, whether they
were predator or prey, were truly interlinked. Over and over, I wished I
knew more about the ocean and its inhabitants. I wanted answers to things
that only an education could provide me with.
I had kind of settled into the reef. I kept all the extraneous junk I'd
been carrying in one of the net bags on shore. It was much more enjoyable
to swim unencumbered. One day, I was lying on my back in the waters of
the reef, dozing, when I heard an odd whistling sound, followed by a
clicking. The sounds were ones I had heard faintly in the deep ocean, and
thanks to programming by a particular television show I'd seen as a kid,
I knew the animal from which they were emitted. I rolled over and slid
under the water. Coming into the lagoon, filling the hidden tunnel, was a
fast-moving creature with sharp fins. But the tail moved up and down, and
its body undulated, like mine. It didn't have the side-to-side motion of
a shark. The dolphin emerged from the tunnel and into the light. It was
about my length, but much more stout in girth.
I didn't know what to think for a moment. Apparently, neither did the
dolphin. A moment later, it was joined by another. Together, they circled
me, making whistles and chirps and clicks. I hadn't seen them up-close
before. The only thing I knew about them was from seeing that TV show
when I was a kid. They were supposed to be friendly. But life underwater
had taught me to stay on my toes. Or my fluke.
They made me nervous, because one was constantly behind me, while the
other was in front of me. I backed into shallow waters to avoid this
entrapment. They chirped at me. I sensed a strong curiosity and almost
kinship from them. But whatever they were chirping was entirely alien.
One came up to me and drew still. His head was below water, but the top
of his head was in the air. I could see that he was breathing as his
ribcage expanded and closed. He studied me with one eye for a long time,
before suddenly dashing off, stirring up sand and pushing me aside with
his tail wash. Then, his partner came in and did the same thing.
"What?" I thought to him. "Never seen the likes of me before?"
At that, he chirped loudly. He was so close to me that the sound was
almost painful on my eardrums. I guess I had grown accustomed to nothing
noisier than the surf crashing on the reef. He dashed off. The pair of
them raced across the reef with delicious speed, then one followed the
other as they tore through the tunnel and disappeared into the open sea.
A moment later, they both returned, circled the lagoon, then bolted
through the tunnel again.
I swam to the tunnel entrance. The tunnel was dark, but the other side of
the tunnel was brightly illuminated. The impression was almost of looking
at a framed picture against a dark background. I saw the head of one of
the dolphins enter the picture. He looked at me with one eye, seemed to
nod his head up and down, and then opened his mouth wide. The formation
of his mouth made a natural smile. He dashed off. This was obviously some
sort of invitation.
I accepted. I swam through the tunnel. The two of them were waiting on
the opposite side. One swam ahead, and I followed him. Soon I was going
at almost top speed, my arms plastered to my sides, and my hair pulling
at my scalp. But I was keeping pace with him perfectly. I pulled up to
him, and he turned on his back and dove. We were well past the reef, in
the section of the ocean that was bottomless blue. I followed him, and
kept pace at his side. His friend accompanied me on my other side. At
what I judged by the darkness and cold was almost a thousand feet, the
two of them swerved back upward. Again, I kept pace, but this time found
that they could turn with more agility than I. However, I seemed to have
better acceleration and top speed, unless they were holding back.
The light grew stronger and stronger as we rocketed to the surface. They
didn't seem to be slowing down, and I realized we were going to porpoise
into the air - literally! For a moment the three of us were suspended in
air, surrounded by splashes of sunlit water. Then, we crashed back into
the water. I was overwhelmed. The silence imposed by the water was too
constraining for the emotions I felt. I rose to the surface and laughed
aloud. The joy I had just experienced from swimming with these guys, two
animals that were at least my peers in the water, was incredible. I
realized that I'd grown bored with swimming alone. The incredible rush
I'd felt when I initially explored my abilities had returned.
The three of us hit it off well. We spent the entire afternoon in
exhaustive, non-stop races that continually broke the surface and plunged
the depths. We started playing tag - literally. The game was initiated
the same as humans played it - by touching someone, and enticing them to
chase you. I confirmed our comparative abilities. They didn't have the
speed or the acceleration I had, and I could dive deeper than they could.
As they chased me down, they would break off around a thousand feet. But
they were slippery. Time after time, just as I thought their flukes were
within the reach of my hand, they would turn. I realized that when we
were growing fast, the act of reaching forward with one hand was de-
stabilizing me. The slipstream of water surrounding my body at their
speed or faster was a very strong force, and I had to manipulate my body
carefully for maximum efficiency.
I was amazed to realize, after a few bouts of tag, that they seemed to
understood that I was off-balance at the point of reaching forward. The
way they tagged me was by nudging my fluke or tail section with their
nose, so I tried to do the same. I would get up on the dolphin, and with
a quick burst of acceleration, being careful to avoid the powerful
strokes of their flukes, would nudge their body with my head or
shoulders. This made it a bit more difficult for them to judge when to
turn.
As it grew dark, I was spent. Their body language wasn't too hard to
decipher. They were tired, too, and were conserving their energy more. I
was starving, but didn't know how to tell them I wanted to hunt. So, I
just started out for sea, opening my senses to find prey. They seemed to
understand. I suddenly heard their clicks and whistles change, becoming
short-bursting clicks with only intermittent whistling. They broke off
from me. Curious, I followed. We dove deep. Their clicking accelerated,
and then stopped. They shot upward, and I followed. Soon, we were coming
up on a school of mackerel swimming about a hundred feet below the
surface. The dolphins cut through them with frightening efficiency. The
fish never knew what was coming. As soon as the prey scattered, the
clicks and whistles returned, full force. I followed, fascinated,
grabbing an occasional panicked mackerel that fell within easy reach.
Following them, we continually submerged for a few minutes, the three of
us eating in silence. Then the clicks would start up again, then grow
silent as they located the school. The fish really had no chance but to
scatter, and then reform after the strike. It was a veritable mackeral
massacre. Again and again, the school would simply reform and keep
swimming on. It seemed they were resigned to their fate, and were just
going to survive as an entity through shear numbers. Eventually, their
tormentors would be full.
I was full after two fish. Stuffed to the gills, if what I breathed with
was gills. The dolphins kept at it though. After an hour or so, they were
satisfied, even though they hadn't put a detectable dent in the number of
mackeral. It was growing dark. I surfaced, and thrashed my tail to push
me up and get a good luck around. I had lost my island. At first, I asked
myself why this should be a concern, but then I realized that I had left
all my stuff there, including the two indispensables: my knife and watch.
We had spent so much time under the surface that I had lost all sense of
direction, but I thought that perhaps I should go east. Since the sun was
still setting it was easy to find direction.
The dolphins came along me, and then one took off to my right. The other
nudged me in his direction. I really didn't think it was possible that
they knew I was lost, however, I decided to go with them. After a half an
hour of anxiety, I was relieved to sense the ocean floor rising before
me, and then I heard the welcoming sound of coral sands clicking in
gentle waves. I recognized the reef immediately as my home. The three of
us streamed through the tunnel and into the lagoon.
I was bushed. I had never spent so much time expending so much energy.
Once the sun set, my brain wanted to, too. The dolphins, though sedated,
tried to play with me. But, I could only reply to their gentle nudges
with polite pats and strokes. I didn't want to ignore them, but damn, I
was tired. Eventually, the seemed to get the idea. I was floating just
above the sands of the lagoon. The dolphins played gently with one
another, and came and went through the tunnel.
I didn't know if I was watching the stars through the water, or dreaming.
My dreams were filled with images of the day and my new-found friends,
until I had no dreams, only comforting darkness.
When I awoke the sun was already strong in the sky. My muscles ached from
the previous day's play. I didn't feel like seafood, so I dragged myself
up on the beach and scavenged some dried coconuts. I lay in my usual
position on my back with a palm frond over my eyes for shade, and thought
about what Julia had said. According to myth, or at least popular
stories, mermaids could attain legs. As I lay there relaxed, I tried to
imagine that I had legs. I recalled what it was like to have them. Only
this time, I tried to imagine legs that would accompany my upper body,
not the masculine legs that were so strong in my memories. I visualized
my tail morphing into a pair of legs for what must have been hours.
However, I didn't feel anything happen outside of my imagination. I still
had a tail after all my efforts.
I had also not worn the medallion ever since I arrived at the island. So,
I was beginning to seriously doubt that its proximity to me had any
affect. The only way I could be sure of this was to create some serious
distance between us. However, this opened the possibility of losing it,
and it might be key to my restoration. After weighing the pros and cons,
I swam to the first island I had visited. At high tide, I swam into the
lagoon, and tucked it under the trunk of a submerged palm tree. I swam
back to my island and nearly forgot about the thing.
My new friends arrived that afternoon. Again, I lost myself in play,
followed by hunting. The first dolphin was slightly larger than the
second. He was also darker in skin tone, and had a bright scar of
mysterious origin just behind his pectoral fin. At first, it seemed they
were equals, but after some time together it was obvious he was
subordinate to the slightly smaller dolphin. In nature bigger is usually
stronger, or so it seems. However, during our play and hunting I observed
the smaller one to be more intense and aggressive. He was clearly the
leader of the two. I coined names for them. The smaller I called Rico,
and the larger, Sky.
After an intense afternoon of play, I was basking on the surface while my
compatriots continued playing. They disappeared for a while, and I heard
their clicks, which I now recognized as hunting mode, fade into the
distance. I felt kind of hungry, but lazy, as well, so I just kept
basking, wishing the warm sun would hold out a bit longer before it
withdrew for the night. Eventually, I heard them come back. I felt the
water beneath me stir, and then Rico surfaced. He placed his head on my
stomach, and his jaws held a whole, live mackerel. He relaxed his grip a
bit, and I gently grabbed the fish's tail. He let go of it, clicked, and
slid into the water.
I was too stunned to eat it, even with the live fish flapping in my hand.
Then I realized what I was doing, and put the thing out of its misery,
and into my stomach. Rico had just given me a present. I couldn't believe
it. Was that a fluke, just a quirk, or had he actually given me a gift? I
couldn't fathom it.
That evening we were lollygagging outside the reef. I was still tired and
not feeling very playful. Rico and Sky were playing and clicking with one
another. Their movements slowed down, and they started nudging one
another, then darting off a short distance, before coming into contact
again. It was like a lazy form of tag. Eventually they came to a stop,
and Rico seemed to be caught on Sky as they lay parrallel, with Rico's
underbelly seemingly hooked to Sky's flipper. They turned together in the
water exposing their bellies to me. For a moment I couldn't believe my
eyes. A long stick of flesh proturbed from Rico's body and was rubbing
against Sky's flipper. Rico thrusted in the water. I was slack-jawed as I
watched this, realizing what was going on. After a few seconds, a massive
stream of white ejaculate shot from Rico. The stream dispersed in the
water and formed a cloud. A dozen or more colorful fish broke away from
the reef and attacked the cloud, apparently eating it.
Rico broke away from Sky, and Sky, who I noticed was now erect, turned on
Rico. After a few minutes of fuss, Rico turned submissive, just as Sky
had, and let Sky do his thing. This continued, each taking turns with the
other, for I don't know how long.
It was getting dark. I felt stunned, not knowing what to think. The only
thing I had seen that was close to that was on a bootleg porno in my
barracks. But that had been between human males and females. Were these
two dolphins gay? What the hell had I just seen? Did they have intentions
toward me? Watching the two of them seemed to stir me up somehow, but I
didn't know what was going on. Perhaps if I hadn't been a virgin before I
changed I would understand better what I'd witnessed. I felt somehow that
what I'd seen was wrong, or immoral. But at the same time, it didn't seem
like it was wrong.
How could they be immoral animals? I tried to relate what I'd seen to
humans. Basically, it was the equivalent of two good friends masturbating
one another. This sure as hell never happened in the Marines! This I'd
never heard of in the Marines, but I'd seen something close. One night in
the barracks they guys were having a porno night, and a few of them
decided to have a competition to see who could spray cum furthest. I'd
been too embarrassed to hang around for the finale, though wanting to be
part of the group had made me stick around for most of it. It may sound
gross, but when you're living with a bunch of guys for a long time, and
everyone has seen each other naked, taking craps, taking pisses, living
like animals, jerking off together doesn't seem that outlandish. Jerking
each other off is probably stepping over the line into homosexuality, and
no Marine would go that far. Then again, there was teabagging as a hazing
ritual, which I knew took place sometimes.
In the lagoon that night, I couldn't sleep. I hadn't felt sexuality that
I was aware of at all since the transformation. I think it was pure
shock, but I didn't feel sexual at all. I felt a lot like I did before I
ever discovered puberty. Maybe eunechs feel this way, just 'dead' down
there. But, Julia had brought up some interesting points. I didn't really
know much about my body. The slit that housed my privates was a little
further down than where it would be on a real woman, but I could reach it
easily enough. I just hadn't done anything to explore it. The slit just
seemed to stay closed, unless I need to defecate, in which case it
opened, and I could see a sphincter exactly like a person has.
I hadn't really accepted this body as mine. Perhaps that was part of the
problem, I thought. It only seemed like a temporary shell that house the
real me, which was a being of the opposite gender. As I lay in the
waters, I started doing what a child does: exploring. I caressed the slit
and felt it under my fingertips. The skin was tough and the slit tightly
closed. I closed my eyes, and still touching myself, thought of Julia.
She had a nice body, a pretty face, nice tits. My visualization ended
when I realized I felt something warm under my skin around the slit. The
warmth was also in my belly, and in my breasts, arms, and face. The
lagoon was illuminated by bright moonlight. It was almost as bright as
mid-day, but everything had a grey or silver hue. Under my fingers, I
watched the flesh around the slit swell. Slowly, the slit opened. It was
like the petals of a flower unfolding. The opening allowed my fingers to
penetrate deeper. The skin they found was sensitive beyond anything I'd
felt before. I could feel the ridges of my fingertips on the intensely
soft flesh.
The touch aroused me even further. Now the slit opened wide. It was
grotesque, a part of me I had never seen before. Soft red lips, maroon in
the moonlight, topped with a small, fleshy stud, were exposed to me.
Tentatively, I poked the slit, and felt on my finger an intense warmth. I
also felt myself from the inside. I left my finger there and thought of
Julia again. I massaged my lips and my finger dragged over the fleshy
stud at the top of my vagina. Now _that_ felt incredible. It felt almost
the same way my penis had felt the first time I dragged it across the
bedsheets when it was aroused. Only this time, it was a softer, deeper,
and far more intense. Again, I thought of Julia, how she turned me on.
But the fantasy was abstract. It wasn't like my fantasies of doing the
high school prom queen, or the pinups I had on my bedroom walls when
growing up, because I didn't have the same body. Besides, the sensations
were strong and new enough that I didn't need a fantasy. Exploring was
enough.
I didn't have an orgasm that I was aware of, but it had been intensely
pleasant, and fascinating. By the time I was too exhausted to continue,
much of the night had passed. I stopped stimulating myself. The arousal
faded, and as it did, the slit reformed over my vagina. The flesh around
it was padded and swollen, but as the slit closed, this went away. Soon
it was closed tight again. I touched myself again, and felt that the slit
would open quickly if I continued.
I fell asleep, accompanied by stars, and feeling as if a great weight had
been lifted off my shoulders. Suddenly, I remembered something: my
meeting with Julia. I had completely forgotten about it, and more than
two weeks had passed. Though I hadn't even worn my watch in that time, I
had watched the Moon wane past the two-week point. However, we had made
provisions to meet again in case the two week plan failed on one end or
the other, so I wasn't panicked. I would meet her in due time.
TBC