Its voice grew clearer in my mind. "Yesss.

The deep, where will you

sleep? Ytha sleeps, but not in the deeps. What are you doing here, puny
Ytha?"
"You, the squid, this is you talking to me?"
"Squid?!" It sounded angry, and I regretted thinking the word. "In your
mind squid is little animal. I am more than animal, you are more than
animal, don't you know this?"
"I'm sorry," I thought. "I hadn't the word for you."
"Hmmmm, you are not Ytha, yet you are Ytha. Aaaaah, now I see, you
simply carry the legacy of Ytha. Sometimes... I forget when it is. Times
change, but I don't change so easily as the times."
"Who is Ytha?" I asked.
"Ytha is Ytha," he said. "Born after I was born, but Ytha. You are Ytha,
look at yourself and see, see answer to your question. We were born when
the world was warm, and life sprung from the thoughts of gods. The
thoughts of sleeping gods persist, perhaps you are a dream, dimly
remembered. Now, there are no Ytha, but you."
"Are you... a god?" I asked.
"Nooooo, no no no, heh. I will live as long as there is water. Ytha will
live as long as there is water. Gods sleep now, but will live when there
is no longer this world. Perhaps they will not awake until it is gone.
Perhaps we will live again in the new world. Time will tell."
"I haven't been Ytha long," I said. "Until a short time ago I was a
man."
"Man?"
This leviathan hadn't heard of men? "Yes, you know, the men... from the
land, they build ships and sail on the sea."
He pondered this. I realized that I had grown perfectly calm. The flesh
around me was smooth, without a hint of tentacles, and it was warm in
here. The light had dimmed to a dull neon blue.
"I do not know this men thing. But sometimes, the waters are dirty, and
it does seem less food visits the bottom. Oh wait, yes, I remember
now... Recently, making much noise, with funny little... whatever you
call them, that stay on the surface, or sometimes just beneath it. They
are so new, I scantly heard of them."
I figured he didn't know much about mankind, and perhaps that was a good
thing. "Yes, well until recently, I was one. Then I found this... um,
trinket, this bit of gold, and it turned me into, uh, Ytha."
"Yes. Well, regardless, you entered the dream of a god, and became Ytha.
Odd, but no one understands the gods, so contact with their dreams may
produce strange results."
I pondered this. I had entered a god's dream? I didn't understand, but
figured another question would lead to more questions, and I was tired.
"Do you have a name?" I asked.
"Glubok," he said.
"Are we moving?"
"Yes. You wish to move south?"
"Yes please. Can you take me to where it's shallow, near land?"
"Of course. There is one thing I ask in return. When we arrive, can you
look at what is itching my tail? I can't get a grasp of it."
I nodded. "Yes, yes, of course. Is there anything else?"
"No, Ytha. Just rest. Your company is enough. Sometimes, I grow lonely.
Until I grow tired of talk. Talk tires me. Quiet now."
He fell silent. I was exhausted, but also somewhat hungry. Eating seemed
more important to me now than when I was a man. It always put my mind at
ease, too.
"Do you mind if I eat clams in here?" I asked.
"Certainly."
A sliced a few clams open and ate the slimy, tasty meat. Glubok's skin
faded to a deep purple, and I felt warm and tired. I still didn't trust
him entirely, and had many questions, but he was difficult to talk with.
After some time, I fell asleep.
A wave of fresh, cool water awoke me. Glubok had spread his tentacles
open, and the cavity I was in disappeared. I wasn't sure if I was awake
or dreaming, but the sight of his huge beak below my tailfin reminded me
of where I was.
"Glubok, it's dark here," I said.
"Yes, little one, mmmmm. I don't go into the shallows, where Ytha live."
"I live in the shallows? You mean near shores?"
"Yes. Safer for you there than the deep, where I live. Ytha always live
there."
"Well, I'm kind of new at this." I swam down close to his beak. It
opened and closed gently.
"Come to my eye."
"Where is it?" I asked.
"Here." I felt a wave of water as a tentacle descended on my back, and
nudged me up, over his spread of tentacles. On the side of his body,
behind the tentacles, was a gigantic eye, bigger than a manhole cover.
It was almost human, with whites, an iris the size of a dinner plate,
and a corona a color of which I couldn't tell in the darkness. Again I
felt fear, but tried to act calm.
"Talk to me here," he said. "My, how long has it been since I've talked
with Ytha? Some time."
"Is Ytha my name, or the name of my race?"
"Hmmm, heh, there are many Ytha, or once were. I never knew they had
different names."
"Are there any Ytha, besides me?" I asked.
"Not for some time," he said. "But I have sensed one or two recently."
"In recent years?"
"Years? I know not years."
"Ok, when um... In the time it takes for the waters to grow cold or
warm, that's a year."
"Is it? I know only the temperature I like, which is the temperature
right now. When it changes, I go where it's colder. I know not years."
"Well, how about... What do you eat? Does your food go certain places,
when it's warmer or colder?"
"My food is whale. I eat them when I'm hungry. I haven't been hungry for
some time, but I know that recently I've heard and smelled less whales
in the water. Perhaps these new animals, the metal whales, have been
eating them. If they get too pushy, I'll eat the metal whales instead.
Hmmmm."
The unblinking eye stared at me. He was unfathomable. "So, where are we
now?" I asked.
"There are many islands, just south of here. Soon it will be shallow.
Will you help me now?"
I nodded. "Sure. What is it you'd like?"
"Go to my nose. No no no, not my beak, my nose. The other way. There is
something there prickling me and I can't reach it with my tentacles.
Infernal, it's bothersome. Ytha can relieve me."
I swam past his eye and trailed his smooth-skinned body. Wow, this thing
was longer than a submarine! He was shaped like a giant ice cream cone.
The waters were still greenish down here, but his skin flashed bright
colors, so I could see anything on his body in profile.
"Closer," he said.
I came across a net, made of thick nylon strands, wrapped tightly around
his body. The net was imbued with countless small stainless steel hooks.
The net had picked up other things, thick fishing line, and even junk
like soda bottles and foam. From the point of his cone, his 'nose' as he
said, it extended perhaps twenty feet down his body.
"I found it," I said. "Looks like you hit an industrial fishing net."
"Hmmm."
"It's from those metal whales you mentioned," I said. "Men drive those."
"Hmmm. Can you help me?"
"Yep," I said. It was going to be a big job, but he had kept me safe.
Besides, I didn't dare refuse, had nothing else better to do, and might
need a friend as strong as Glubok later on.
I got to work with my knife. I warned him he might feel some pain when I
pulled the hooks out, and he said just as long as I make it better. I
cut away the netting in patches and dropped it. Weighted with hooks and
balls of lead, the patches quickly sank out of sight
I came across a hook driven into his flesh. It was almost the size of my
hand. "This will sting," I said.
"That's fine."
I got my fingers in the hook and pulled the barb out. It tore a small
hole in his flesh. His skin trembled and grew bright pink, and then
faded. I looked at the hook. It had a thin coating of rust. I wondered
if the tetanus shots I'd gotten as a man would still be working, and
decided to look out for the barbs.
Glubok was patient as I worked for hours. Next I knew, it'd been eight
hours since I'd started, according to my watch. I was starving. I swam
up to his eye.
"I have to rest a second," I said. "I guess I eat more often than you."
"Mmmmm. Most do," he said. I rolled onto my back to use my chest as a
bench as I sliced open some clams and ate them. Glubok didn't seem to be
in the mood for conversation, so I ate in silence.
I returned to work, and after another eight hours had rid him of all the
netting, hooks, and junk. I returned to the eye.
"All done, sir."
"Really? Finally. Those stingers were slowing me down, and growing
painful as well. Thank you very much. I owe you debts."
"Nah, I owe you," I said. "I thought you'd eat me when we first met."
"Eat you?" His laughter filled my head and the eye rolled upwards. "Oh,
that's a good joke."
"Really, I thought I was going to be your snack, and I'm glad it's not
so."
"Yes, yes. Well, I hope we meet again, Ytha."
"Me too. Glubok, can I ask some things?"
He paused. "If you must. I haven't talked this much in such a long
time."
"Come to think of it, neither have I," I said. "Glubok, is the deep
dangerous for me, uh, dangerous for Ytha?"
"You have small body and are weak, so of course it is."
"What could attack me?"
"Something hungry. Be careful of dumbfish."
"Dumbfish?"
"Yes, dumbfish. The ones that are swimming mouths."
I nodded. "Yes, sharks," I said. "All dangerous?"
"Not all. You will learn. Ytha cannot swim as deep as I. Here, this is
shallow for me. Much deeper, and Ytha will grow sleepy, then fall
asleep. Forever."
I checked my watch. We were at the same depth as when we'd met, 1500
meters. "I see. So I can't swim deeper?"
"No, Ytha cannot."
I nodded. Whatever functions of chemistry my body used, it couldn't
breathe well in the deepest parts of the ocean, and I could be prey. So,
I was mortal after all.
"If you need me, call my name," Glubok said. "I will be going now, but
will aid you if I can."
"Yes," I said. "Thank you."
"Swim south, you are near the islands."
With that, he spread his tentacles wide and glowed bright orange. His
reach was so wide the gloom of the depth faded his tips out of view.
With a massive swoosh, his tentacles came together. I was left spinning
in a vortex of water. I stabilized, and he was already gone.
I heard his laughter in my mind. "Much better!" he shouted. He seemed to
be growing closer. Suddenly, he exploded out of the darkness, and his
body passed by my, only a reach away. It was there for a second and then
disappeared out of view. The water trembled with his wake, and he was
gone.
I was left hovering in the deep, exactly as if I'd never met him.
I shook my head and headed toward the surface, thinking of Glubok. The
water grew lighter and its smell changed as I entered the zones where
life began. I realized I hadn't seen the sun in some time, and didn't
know exactly how long I'd traveled with Glubok. I sped up, porpoising
through the water, just under the limit where it cavitated. The water
pressed against the top of my head with such force my neck grew tired. I
kept it stiff, and held my arms to my side. The water grew lighter and
lighter, and with a splash I exploded into air and kept sailing upward.
The sky was bright blue and the midday sun shone down on the water. I
kept sailing upward, saw a deep blue ocean all around, with small
verdant islands to the south. I was about twenty feet above the surface,
and the waves were rolling easily with caps a few feet high. I
jackknifed at the apex of my climb, and dove, arms ahead of me. I landed
in the spot of sea still frothing from my ejection from the water, and
with the momentum of the dive curved toward land.
I swam calmly for the shallows. The sea here was still deep, and the
islands were mountaintops, just like in southern Japan. I approached a
thick school of jellyfish. In Japan, their stingers had no effect on me,
and it was the same here. I slalomed through the swarm, but it was too
thick to avoid all of them. They bounced off my face and shoulders like
soft pillows, and they tumbled in the wash of my tailfin. I felt the
seafloor rising to meet the surface, and heard the hissing of waves on
sand.
I surfaced. A green island with bright, white beaches was a quarter mile
ahead. A thick reef stood between us. I circled the reef. These crystal
waters seemed to be untouched by man, and were far warmer than those of
Southern Japan. Turtles, fish of all colors, and eels were everywhere. A
trio of nurse sharks worked on eating clams on the bottom. These sharks
were smaller than I was, and were perfectly harmless. I'd even slept in
a coral grotto with a pair one night.
I kept surfacing to check out the shore. There wasn't a sign of humans.
I wondered how far south of Japan I was, and wished I had a world map.
My geography wasn't that great, but I thought that due south would bring
me to Taiwan, a big island without an archipelago, and beneath that
somewhere were the Philippines, which had something like 10,000 islands.
I found a large tunnel in the reef, and swam in. A pair of lobsters
huddled in pockets of rock on the tunnel floor, as if tentatively
greeting me. I took one and ate it. Little bits of lobster meat drifted
to the bottom, and the second lobster came out after them. I ate him
too.
The tunnel was long and dark, and then exited into a channel between
walls of coral. The coral sank into a sharp slope of coral sand. Even
though I was handicapped on land, I still had a strong instinct to get
on the beach, to get something firm beneath me. Switching the medium I
breathed had become easier with time, and now it was like second nature.
A few gentle coughs and I could breathe air. Still, differences remained
if I observed them. The air seemed so thin compared to the water, and
right after transition it seemed like I was gasping just to breathe
normally. But after a few moments I didn't notice.
The sun was extremely strong. By now, my human skin had become deep
brown, enough so that it seemed impossible to get sunburned, and my hair
was bleached nearly bone white. My dolphin skin, though, didn't like the
sun when it became dry. Too much sun, and I started growing
uncomfortably warm and the skin would itch and ache. But still, I liked
being on land, so I started crawling up the beach for the shade.
I got beneath a palm tree, dug a hole for my dorsal fin, and rolled into
it. I'd positioned myself so that my human half would be in sunlight,
and my dolphin skin in shade. It took a little compromise for my body to
agree with what my mind liked.
I simply lay in the sun, with a palm leaf over my eyes. I relaxed. Here,
I felt safe. There were only two dimensions I had to worry about, not
three.
It felt good to be on land, and in the sun, and dry and toasty warm. I
ate the last of my clams. Man, I loved to eat. I thought about it, and
figured I was eating about three times the amount of food I ate as a
man. I packed myself every time I ate, but didn't seem to be gaining
fat. In fact, I was in far better shape now than I was when I first
turned into a mermaid. The muscles of my dolphin half were harder and
more well defined, and my human body had more muscle, too. Over all the
muscle, though, was a taught layer of skin, and what I guessed was fat,
about an inch thick. It must be what the body needed to keep me warm
regardless of temperature, and it kept my top half pretty girlish
looking. One day I had been so preoccupied with swimming that I'd almost
missed eating, and on that day I'd noticed the fat diminish and the skin
grow tight over my muscles and ribs. I didn't know how much calories I
was burning or work I was performing in my new role, but it must be a
lot more than as a man.
Absentmindedly, I lay on my back, running my hands slowly across my
skin, exploring my new form. It was still hard getting used to wearing
this skin, and I thought about being a man, and walking on two legs,
just having my normal body. I missed it. But, this body was still
interesting. There was more to learn about being Ytha. The rush of power
when jetting threw the water, the freedom and speed were intoxicating. I
thought of my friends, my family, and my duties in the Marines. What did
they think had happened to me?
I must have been more tired than I thought, because before I knew it I
was dead asleep on the strange island. The open ocean swim, the ordeal
of meeting Glubok, and working so long to free him, had drained me more
than I'd realized.
I awoke to a deep blue evening sky. Something was tickling my tailfin. I
raised my head, and there was a boy gently touching my fin. He saw me
move and jumped back. He was completely naked and his skin was as dark
as a ripe coconut. His bright eyes and teeth flashed in the darkness,
and he looked scared. Something else moved to my left. It was a girl,
also naked except for a pouch over her genitals held there by leather
string. They moved together and stood there, watching me silently at a
safe distance.
I looked to the beach. There was a small dugout canoe beached well above
the high tide mark. I looked back at the humans. I'd guess they were
about twelve or thirteen years old. The female was very slender, and the
boy was thin with whipcord muscles. The boy's hair was down to his
shoulders and cut roughly and a bit curly, and the girl's much longer
going straight down her back. So young, how could they be out here all
alone? I didn't feel too threatened by kids, but adults could be a
different story.
TBC