《Fear of the Ocean》


 Chapter 1 – Scars and Sharp Teeth

    ¡®Liam. Welcome to Last Refuge. The place where I have been reborn. Don¡¯t you love me now? I have taken a new form. I¡¯m doing it. I¡¯m actually realising my dream. I¡¯ll become a true mermaid.¡¯ said the woman as she stood there naked and proud.


    The man paused in disgust, bile rising up from his throat as he saw the abdominal scars that had mostly recovered on the body of the woman who had once been his wife. His love and his first serious girlfriend. She had been a brilliant woman once, or one of the most famous and despised woman on the planet depending on your viewpoint.


    She¡¯d called him and he answered, all the way on the drive to this isolated lighthouse in the middle of nowhere next to the ocean. He walked through a series of unlocked security gates and past barbed wire fences to the door where she¡¯d been waiting for him in a pristine light blue dressing down.


    He¡¯d almost thrown up on the doormat when she¡¯d let her gown drop to the floor and showed off her naked form.


    ¡®Carissa. I don¡¯t hear from you for months. Nobody else has even heard from you in at least a year and you call me out to this isolated lighthouse for a strip show? Last Refuge? This isn¡¯t funny. Please, at least tell me that you¡¯ve been taking your medication. We can fix your body. Cutting yourself doesn¡¯t help anyone. Please.¡¯ said the man.


    ¡®¡­Liam. I¡¯ve done it. Don¡¯t you understand? Why the self-regulation alone, I can control the flow and temperate of water within two metres of my person. I don¡¯t need the necessary body fat to survive. Granted the power drain means I need to consume a suitable number of calories but still aren¡¯t you happy for me? Medication? I was treated Liam. Don¡¯t you dare turn on me. I am refreshed. Reborn.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®A beautiful, intelligent woman who was once brilliant before she grew ill. A scientist who changed the face of our planet and enabled an environmental change that will enable us to carry on as a species. The woman that I loved, married, shared my life with decides to mutilate her own body through surgery out of some delusional sense of purpose and is standing in front of me naked. You need help Carissa. Serious treatment. I can help you. You called me for a reason, you know it as well.¡¯ the man replied.


    Liam felt bile rise up from his stomach. The scars were mostly healed but still fresh enough that she must have cut herself a few days ago at most. She had obviously been through serious physical surgery. The sutures rose from her lower pelvic region up to her breasts.


    Another time, when they had been together the thought might have aroused him once all he wanted was to throw up the meagre contents of his breakfast. He didn¡¯t know why she¡¯d called him but he wished he¡¯d never picked up her call.


    ¡®Liam. Beloved. You listened to me before I made you money, and now you¡¯re famous, rich and successful beyond your wildest dreams. Well, I don¡¯t need you now. I¡¯ll get my dream. Further alteration will have to wait until I¡¯ve healed but I¡¯ll do it Liam. Truly become a mermaid You don¡¯t know how much I¡¯ve had to work for it, the sacrifices I¡¯ve made. The experiments.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She gazed at the man with a fierce intensity in her eyes, if he had noticed her face, then the man called Liam would have noticed her open smile, teeth sharper and whiter than any human teeth have a right to be.


    Her self-improvement on her body had not only been related to surgery and technology. A little genetic altering had made further changes.


    ¡®¡­Carrisa. If you ever thought that I loved you then please, come back with me. You have so much more brilliance to offer the world. Please. You¡¯re not alone. Do you even know what you¡¯ve done to your body? Are those scars even healed? We can find a facility, a ward to take you into just for recovery purposes. A second opinion from a medical doctor. Please. We can keep this private, between us. I¡¯m going to enter the door. Please. Let me come in and take care of you. This isn¡¯t too late to fix. Please Carissa.¡¯ responded Liam.


    ¡®Weakness and fear. I don¡¯t know why I expected anything else from you. Leave Liam. I thought you might¡­no. I don¡¯t need a companion who¡¯s too scared of his own failings to join me. You were barely anything before you met me. A research assistant at most with a keen eye for business. I¡¯ll grant you that. But you can get out right now. I¡¯m going to rearm the security protocols just in case you get any funny ideas about trying to force me out. Not that I¡¯ll be in this location much longer. The automated defences are going to be active, and I¡¯ll be reborn into the embrace of the only goddess this sad little planet has known. The mother of our species.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®Carissa¡­I have no clue of what you¡¯re talking about. You disappear from my life and the world for a year and all traces of you evaporated. In the world outside they think you died. This brilliant, beautiful scientist who came up with the method of cleaning the waters of the world, free of pollution and human degradation. Granted, a portion of the population hates you but they¡¯re poor. This...self-mutilation of your body. You don¡¯t need to do it out of guilt. You forget Carissa, we were married for eight years. I know you. This is wrong. You know deep inside that you¡¯re only hurting yourself out of anger.¡¯ said Liam.


    The woman turned away from the man. Her nude body slightly glistening in the light of the room.


    ¡®You¡¯ll find that it doesn¡¯t matter soon enough. I¡¯ve been working on a book that will include all my post-research notes on the ocean cleaning technology. Enough to keep you in the public eye for a few more decades and with as many women as you want to sleep with.¡¯ said Carrisa.


    ¡®Carrisa¡­I didn¡¯t want anyone else. You were my first and last. I¡¯ll leave but others will find you, they¡¯ll have traced my movements. You can¡¯t hide forever. Please let me come inside and we can discuss this. Please.¡¯ said Liam.


    ¡®Too late. I need a few more treatments and then I¡¯ll be ready. This prototype form can withstand far more than any base human. Field testing is my priority. Besides, I know you came here because you loved me once. I was prepared to share a new life with you. Nobody will find me. Unless¡­.you wanted to transform yourself as well. Become more. Live with me forever in the waters of our world.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®Goodbye Carrisa. I don¡¯t honestly know how to respond to your state of mind. You¡¯ve obviously made up your brilliant mind about this. If anyone on the planet could be successful it¡¯d be you. You are truly unique, a genius, you rose above everyone else and literally changed our world. Changed mine. You always did have an amazing talent in you but not like this. Not with your body. Your...transformation. I¡¯ll leave but you can call me. No. I¡¯m going to call you. One last attempt to change your mind. I¡¯ll call. Please, no testing. No. I changed my mind. Wait for me. I¡¯ll join you but it¡¯s going to take time to prepare. Will you wait for me Carissa?¡¯


    ¡®Goodbye Liam. I loved you. You always were a terrible liar. Goodbye my handsome man.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Not turning around to watch her ex-husband and once business partner depart as she hit a button on the wall with the palm of her hand setting the main door to close and reactivating the security systems.


    The doors would self-lock behind him and he¡¯d never try to approach her without direct permission. He was weak that way in her mind. Her thinking may have been affected by the gene therapy which had sharpened her teeth and mind but she knew his behaviour both inside and out. He¡¯d think and think before he took any final action. He had always been the hesitant one.


    A book title rose in her then. She had the thought as soon as Liam had left her. She watched him leave through a screen on the wall, hidden cameras tracking his movements as the security protection systems rearmed themselves once he walked past them.


    How much do you love the oceans? Thought Carissa to herself.


    A fitting title for her last span of time living as a human being living on the land. She picked up her fallen bathrobe and wrapped it around her nude form, tying it up as she walked. Her body still needed a little more time to adjust to the implants and she had always felt the cold, it was to be expected with the lack of moisture within the air.


    She¡¯d need to work on the book to get it finished and a copy left behind when the hate groups finally came storming down the gates of her last refuge. Carissa would make sure that Liam got a copy of the book as well, the unabridged version, she may not have loved him now but she¡¯d keep her promise.


    After all, without his intervention she would never have experienced an extreme push to finally transform herself into a true mermaid. The ocean was waiting for her entrance, all she needed was a little more time and the final test of a lifetime. A transformation into a being of higher beauty, a creature that would survive.


    Her body though would need a little more time to recover from the surgery as she had pushed herself a little bit when she¡¯d sent the message to Liam to come to her hidden place. Her Last Refuge against an uncaring world.


    Carissa put out a hand to the smooth wall on her house. In order to survive under colder waters, she¡¯d had to find a compromise for the lack of body fat that humans possessed and her sense of touch had worsened as a side effect.


    She passed her way through the structure that she had purchased, corridors and rooms empty and bare. Furniture removed and belongings that were casually tossed away without care nor concern. The emptiness of the house reflected her mind, minimal and uncaring.


    The purchase of the property had been a good choice, she had made sure that it was done privately without alerting those actively hostile to her for her supposed sins against the environment and the sanctity of the oceans. Time though, she knew would not be on her side. A few words would either leak and electronic traces would pick up her trail soon enough, those that hated her were more than a few for her supposed betrayal of the human race.


    ¡®Empty and¡­. soon to be fulfilled.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Carissa had toyed with the idea of following in the footsteps of an ancient Emperor who let his capital city burn to the ground while he watched. His actions remembered but his name long forgotten.


    She could have paid for a fixed demolitions of the building to go off on a fixed time, then as she lay in the cool arms of the deep ocean waters, she could watch her last material possessions literally go up in smoke.


    ¡®A waste of a life and time spent on worthless ideals.¡¯ Carissa talked aloud to herself.


    At this point anyone considering her living conditions would have either called her insane or not understood why for a woman who was meant to be mentally ill, the entire property was both immaculate and entirely minimal. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The only room inside the building which had any personal possessions of value was her small working office. A single dark gray sofa bed, desk, chair, lone bookshelf with her notes and final research materials and her writing materials. Sparse enough to be considered barely lived in, she¡¯d eaten her main meals in her research laboratory. Any form of electronics beyond basic lighting had long been stripped out and disposed of.


    A single piece of technology rested upon the top of the sofa, one of the more costly purchases which her ex-husband Liam had insisted upon. She had used it earlier to call him to come over to her and provide a secure form of communication along with her specific address.


    Other methods of communication with the outside world she no longer trusted, only holding onto an expensive modified security phone which she had been advised by experts to be encrypted and also secure without her biometrics to access.


    Carissa was not willing to be harassed any further by those who either hated her or lusted after her fame and beauty. To become a multi-billionaire at the relatively youthful age of twenty-five was unusual, even more so when she had never studied business in her life but had focused on the triple subject of biology, oceanography and technology.


    ¡®For the final touch, I¡¯ll need a decent book title. My last work for an uncaring surface world. Suitable...suitable...¡¯ said Carissa.


    Before Carissa had met her husband, she had made sure that all of her personal experimental materials were thoroughly destroyed and all of her genetic traces wiped clean.


    The furnace had disposed of the cloned test bodies and animal subjects and the ashes washed into the ocean waiting deep below.


    ¡®Liam wouldn¡¯t tell anyone. No. He¡¯d think and think. I don¡¯t care what he said. I am beautiful. I will be reborn.¡¯ said Carissa to herself.


    Showing him her transformed body was a moment of hubris she knew, but she had wanted to show it to someone, anyone just before she left the dirt world for one filled with watery wonders. Given Liam¡¯s emotional state she doubted that he would tell anyone immediately, he had also been catapulted into fame and riches but he wasn¡¯t arrogant and knew to keep his ego in check.


    No, for him it was all about having the resources to actually make a difference to the environmental state of the planet, it had been a large part of what had made him so attractive to Carissa in the first place. Ideals, and the strength and will to act on those ideals.


    An investigative and skilled research team might be able to find minor traces of her implants if they knew roughly what she had been working on but she also knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to make it bond with the human structure.


    At most they would have an inkling of a patch to create a superhuman which involved water, she had created false technology to throw them off the trail. Her entirely failed prototypes which were built to fail were scattered inside her research laboratory and in several of the notes hidden inside journals in the bookshelf in her small office.


    ¡®Enough. I can¡¯t keep waiting.¡¯ Carissa muttered aloud. She glanced at the modified security phone before she put it down.


    Running one finger across the desk she looked at her book that she had spent time writing. The title made her smile, it summed up her entire life and the words held real meaning. She was so tired now, not just physically but the long wait for her transformation had drained her emotionally and mentally.


    For a moment she held herself back from picking up the book concerned that Liam had been right and she was simply a woman who needed treatment. No. His concern might have been real but in listening to him she had made all of the major mistakes of her life, perhaps if she had been a little more experienced or a little less naive growing up, she wouldn¡¯t have fallen in love with him in the first place.


    Carissa undid her bathrobe and folded it neatly on the sofa. The ancients had tombs in which they left riches and hoped to be served in their second life. This house, this room would serve as her final giving to the world.


    Likely, given her current fame and status on the planet her last recorded words in the surface would polarise the population. She was sure that Liam would publish them in a final attempt to understand her.


    He had always called her a complicated but innocent woman. Even when he had cheated on her by stealing her research and producing the results and then selling the final products onto the global environmental markets, he had claimed that she was a genius.


    Liam would have been easier if he had found someone else to have a physical relationship with but they had both been virgins when they met and the thought of other partners had never crossed their minds.


    ¡®I¡¯m beautiful and in the process of transforming. My last words will be for you Liam.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Holding the book in one hand she opened a draw on her desk and pulled out an expensive gold-leaf pen and wrote one final personal brief message to her ex-husband. Rather than twist a knife in old wounds, she simply wrote that she had loved him and they deserved each other.


    ¡®Good enough. He¡¯ll get nothing else from me though.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Standing fully naked in her scarred body and letting her long hair hang loose she reached into the desk draw to take out an item of personal value. One was the wedding ring which Liam had given to her when he had proposed back in their university days. The ocean demanded sacrifice and had hungry gods, hungrier creatures. The source of life and the destroyer of worlds.


    All she had left would suffice. Money and other material possessions would have other little value. The only thing that she possessed in the immediate vicinity was the modified security phone.


    ¡®Messages and phone calls can be tracked. Even now. Off to the deep waters with you as well.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Carissa would dispose of it before she undertook her new journey, despite the fact that her injuries from the surgery had entirely yet to heal it would suffice. Rebirth would never be a price freely paid, there was always a cost.


    To make sure that the phone would suffer sufficient damage she would need to unlock the hard casing first, otherwise it would still be tracked by its opposite number which would be held by Liam. They were unique and costly but she had been trained in how to dismantle the essentials.


    Picking up the modified security phone Carissa held in her free hand. She placed the book down upon the table before considering to reset the security doors and access points which she had previously told Liam when he had left.


    ¡®No point. The vultures and scavengers will find me regardless. Eventually.¡¯ said Carissa with a flourish of her hand.


    For Carissa escaping into the deep waters of the world would free her from the terrors of the surface. Still, she would leave open the doors to this place. Her ex-husband would return and as word spread, they would find nothing except falsified research notes, a sterile and vacant surgical suite and a single copy of her hand-penned last book.


    Her hand vibrated as the phone gave Carissa an alert. Her mind paused for a moment before she considered that it had either an issue or Liam had decided to contact her again. He would, he was always needy in that way. The private security company had told her that the modified phone was only one of two unique prototypes in existence. Her absolute privacy should have been guaranteed except for being contacted by one other when she allowed it.


    Her deep green eyes which had shifted from a light blue to the viral load which had altered her physical structure gazed down to an unknown message. Her eyes focused in the light with the inner translucent eyelid protecting her eyeball unconsciously.


    [Candidate. Do you want to fix the oceans?]


    Carissa knew that this was another cruel joke. Liam had decided to use his rough grasp on her psychology to shock her instead, she was tired of him. Tired of everything.


    Her eyes fixed on the message Carissa spoke mostly to herself. ¡®No. I already did; all you need to do is pay for it. Sign your life away or pay with everything you own. Stupid Liam¡¯


    Carissa knew that talking aloud wouldn¡¯t make any difference. The message still felt odd. She felt a deep itch at the back of her mind, the alterations to her genetic structure had changed more than her physiology.


    She had needed to remove certain ethical constraints from her brain in order to be able to process proteins and fats. Cannibalism might have to be a necessity if she found a drowning sailor in the future. Anything living in the water knew how to maximise energy usage, the deeper down you went the less life-giving sunshine touched.


    Protein was protein. Best to plan for an emergency. Her own teeth would find it hard to get any purchase on her changing flesh. A buzzing sound rang out this time as one of the security measures on the modified phone warned her that an outside source had contacted her. This time she looked at it again, recalling that the tool to dismantle it was inside the desk.


    ¡®Again. One is a joke, twice is an annoyance, three times is a threat to be removed.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Her eyes ran down to the screen once more as the same message repeated word for word.


    [Candidate. Do you want to fix the oceans?]


    ¡®Time is running out. I need to move.¡¯ said Carissa aloud to herself.


    Carissa had enough threats to her life previously to take it seriously enough. The word candidate meant that she had been marked, or targeted. Fixing the oceans indicated that whomever had contacted her knew of her, that was obvious enough. The alternative was that she was being recruited by a company or organization that she was unaware of.


    In order to break through the private connection to her modified phone which had cost her roughly the yearly entire food budget of the population of a small country they would need to be specialised. Threat or offer. She had no inclination for either. The phone would be making the trip with her, ideally, she would be deep enough for it to be lost.


    ¡®If the person who sent this message thinks they killed me then they¡¯ll regret their attempt.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Carissa needed to prepare earlier than originally planned. Reaching inside the desk her finger hurt, blood swiftly coagulating to avoid loss as her implants responded to her will and drew any excess moisture from the air around her.


    An old necklace with a single shark tooth on it, a reminder of the times when she had found it so hard to process her own emotions. The scars that had healed and been cut over and over until she had first met Liam. She had made many modifications to the tooth over the years, the shape remaining the same but reinforced and strengthened enough times to keep as she grew older.


    ¡®One last item for good luck¡¯. Said Carissa.


    Still entirely nude except for the necklace around her neck, the modified security phone on one hand and a gold ring on her finger she headed for the one place she knew that would be ignored and offer both her a quick exit, a place for prayer and the entry into her new world.


    The open top roof with the extended sea view platform, it would provide the means for her to enter the ocean without having to leap off. She¡¯d need to make sure that her implants and physical modifications worked fully, usually through a series of tests but as the message on her secure phone had shown her, time was not on her side.


    Carissa didn¡¯t know how much time she had left until her final bastion, her refuge would be found and she would be under pressure from either those who wanted her hidden secrets or individuals who would actually throw off her the edge, prepared or otherwise.


    Naked with her bare feet, Carissa walked into the elevator that would take her to the roof. The camera above scanned her identity before confirming and opening with a light chime. Her skin slightly tingled with soreness after her various treatments. As the elevator doors closed, she bid her old life farewell with a smile on her face.


    ¡®None will find me. Never again, I¡¯ll find my own true freedom.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Her sharpened teeth glistened in her reflection in the polished metal of the doors as she took the gold ring off her finger and let it slip through the gaps as they closed.


    She never heard the sound it made clattering to the ground. Carissa had always let her emotions be flexible. Adaptability was built into her.

 Chapter 2 – Mermaid Dreams

    As the elevator door opened and Carissa stepped out an ocean breeze lapped on her bare skin. Small droplets of rain fell from greying clouds. The water running down her face felt good and she opened her arms outspread to embrace it. The security phone held tight in one hand as her eyes roamed over the rippling waters far below.


    ¡®Beauty in nature, purity through water.¡¯ Carissa murmured lightly to herself touching her modified shark tooth necklace. The sharp edges on her toughened skin made her secure, more so than being fully dressed in a storm would.


    She allowed her nictating membrane to activate, stopped the rain from obscuring her vision. Part of her recent physical enhancements were active and present, the ones that she had put within her had been trickier to activate but she felt the temperature surrounding her remain constant. She would experience no cold unless she allowed herself to, humans after all, weren¡¯t designed to exist in freezing cold waters. Not with minimal body fat and skin protection, she would try and active the more advanced features when she was in the ocean proper.


    The security phone had failed to provide her with another message. Thankful that she didn¡¯t have to worry about more outside attempts to contact her she decided to enjoy the view. Her time had been almost entirely spent locked away either for gene treatments or self-surgery and a degree of pure fresh ocean air.


    When Carissa had purchased the property through a series of shell companies, she had been careful not to come into any contact with either the seller or the estate agent. The photos available didn¡¯t do the view enough justice.


    An isolated building, previously a private research facility which had been converted into an ocean view home for the wealthy and those who preferred their own space. Both of which she possessed in equal measure.


    ¡®Money never brought me true happiness, but the tools and materials progressed my great work.¡¯ said Carissa.


    If Liam had been standing next to to her, he would have gently reminded her that talking to oneself was a sign of mental instability. The weather in the skies began to change as they did on the coastal regions, clouds shifting as the wind pushed and pulled them and storms began to develop.


    Carissa had paid for her own specific changes to the extended sea view platform. A detachable viewing chamber designed to fit several people had been fitted in, a modified version of an underwater experience chamber.


    After Carissa''s successful technology began to clean and regulate the temperature of the oceans and effective ownership of them had shifted towards those rich and powerful to own the rights to clean waters personal viewing chambers had become somewhat of a trend.


    The fact that hers was detachable was nothing special, it was still fixed to the main building structure and was attached by multiple cables. The inside was suitably modified to cope with waters and was largely self-contained, emergency equipment would keep her secure in the case that there was a breakage and water flooded into the interior.


    ¡®The ocean. The place where we all come from and where we should all return.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Usually, there were strict limits placed on user safety but Carissa had spent a portion of her time in the dwelling making her own personal alterations. Where she needed her own privacy her own talent kicked in, allowing her to learn how to disable the necessary safeguards and allow the personal viewing chamber to detach and drift in the ocean.


    Although she was in a hurry, she needed to verify that her implants and genetic alterations worked perfectly. Live testing was so different to that under controlled conditions in her home laboratory. If Liam had been more amenable or open minded, he could have even joined her, Carissa was certain that while he might have refused, he still would have assisted her regardless but she hadn¡¯t been willing to take that chance.


    Despite the beautiful view, Carissa hadn¡¯t purchased the property for location alone. At least not only for its isolated location, the oceans around here were owned through the company that had been built through her breakthroughs and Liam¡¯s connections and efforts.


    Unless her location was broadcast to the world, she would have enough privacy here to get far out enough and then ensure that the viewing platform sank deep enough. Carissa considered that Liam would have thought her unstable enough to simply leap off the roof in a fit of madness but true clarity and purpose meant taking all the right steps.


    She would become a mermaid, a true one of her own design, but only through the steps that she provided herself. All traces of her presence gone, the alterations to the viewing platform would be considered a tragic accident. Not that she would be missed, perhaps by Liam and several others but not by the general population of her planet who saw her as the figurehead and main reason for monetizing a public resource.


    Carissa had allowed herself enough time to appreciate the view afforded to her and the chilled breeze of the salty winds on her flesh when she felt a sensation in her hand. The physical movement of the device came along with a sound that she wasn¡¯t interested in hearing again. Having forgotten to bring the tool from her desk inside her personal office she had little choice but to carry it along with her and drop it in the eventually sunken viewing chamber when it had drifted out enough.


    ¡®Another message. The same surely, repeated over by an automated system until I respond out of futility. The oceans were already fixed by my hand along with a man who stole my heart and designs out of a sense of guilt and opportunity.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Sighing to herself, the view and the pure sensation of nature being partially ruined. She preferred a simpler environment, one without demands beyond simple survival. The fact that she would have been classified as suffering from several severe psychological disorders was an afterthought. In her mind Carissa was aware that she wanted to fulfil her true dream, to become a beautiful mermaid who lived freely in the ocean.


    The viewing platform awaited Carissa, she had stripped most of the luxury items already including the leather seating and left supplies of her own design instead. A bodysuit to allow her recovering form to adapt before it could be removed and abandoned, made from cloned fungus it would dissolve eventually. Not that she was keen on using it, her body although naked and covered in rainwater experienced no inner cold. Her skin had been adapted comparable to a sharks or dolphins with the benefits of protecting her from environmental toxins and pathogens in saltwater.


    She would shed it once in the water, allowing her form to have streamlined speed for swimming. A mixture of shark¡¯s denticles within her genetics would further protect her from damage and parasites.


    The shark tooth necklace around her neck was a reminder of that.


    ¡®Predators evolved to survive as will I.,¡¯ said Carissa. Pressing the button to allow her direct access and providing both a retinal scan and DNA sample in the form of a drop of blood from her finger.


    She had learnt to be paranoid after her project had gone public, the security inside her current home would be enough to deter most intruders for long enough except for Liam.


    There was an exception in the system for him and him alone, as the doors opened Carissa let out a breath, she didn¡¯t know she had been holding. A few more steps towards her true freedom and life purpose. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I¡¯m going to do it Liam.


    As she walked inside her stomach ached, Carissa put a single bare hand on her naked and healing abdomen. She had followed a strict medical diet of her own creation and her implants and genetic alterations had worked well under strict, intense testing in her own laboratory and especially well on small mammals. Live testing was a priority.


    They had all been euthanised then cremated after being dissected and all mechanical parts removed and then reduced into ash and disposed of in the coastal storms. Given her process of physical enhancements Carissa had taken several bites to test how her changing form handled eating raw, uncooked flesh, her teeth and digestion had done a decent job.


    The implants within her were fuelled temporarily but she would need to eat far more in the oceans, luckily life was teeming and food was readily available. Humans didn¡¯t possess the necessary fat under their skin so Carissa had made a few changes to her own liver. She would not compromise her physical form more than necessary. Scars could heal over time.


    ¡®Proteins. I need¡­food. And water.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The viewing platform was stacked and organised with a selection of boxes. Taking one of them she ripped off the plastic top and took out a soft plastic squeezable container of water, it would rapidly degrade into a biodegradable form when submersed into water with a high enough salt percentage.


    Pouring the fresh water into her waiting throat, she took hold of a similar stacked box and repeated the process. This time she smelt fresh fish and blood which rapidly vanished into her mouth and splashed a little over her nose and eyes, Carissa made her nictating membrane reset back to normal once she wiped her face off with another water container.


    The materials would be found eventually as would the supplies. One of the alterations that Carissa had made to the viewing chamber had been to the connecting tether, it would catch and break when she flipped a switch inside the interior. For now, she pressed the relevant buttons to seal the doors and slowly begin her decent into the ocean. The platform would extend out from the roof before lowering down and far enough off the coast to avoid rocks and other storms, the software within processing the best location.


    ¡®Soon, I¡¯ll be free of the burdens of the surface. A freak mistake and an accident and I¡¯ll be alone. Free to swim the oceans and become a true mermaid.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She had dropped the security phone on the surface of another box during her replenishment. The buzzing sound rang out and rather than accept another message, Carissa picked it up and smashed it onto the hard metallic bare floor. The viewing chamber had been designed to drop deep enough into the oceans of her world, it would surely survive a little damage when a mostly unbreakable device was slammed into the floor.


    The chamber still shook slightly, her strength and reinforced body stronger than she had originally thought. She¡¯d need to be if she needed to kill sharks with her bare hands.


    A pain ached inside her again. Carissa understood the sensation. This time it was her implants. She would need to adapt to living with a degree of pain for a period of time until her body had fully recovered. Still, once they were fully operational within a marine environment, she would be able to affect her immediate environment and beyond.


    The security phone buzzed out again. The screen doubtfully even cracked, it had been designed to withstand high pressures, temperatures and other extreme situations. The view outside the viewing chamber shifted from the edge of the roof to the open oceans as it began to extend outwards in preparation for its final descent.


    ¡®Liam. Stop trying to contact me.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She was about to hit the switch to lower the platform when a sharp pain hit her eyes hard enough to force her to drop to the ground. The security device continued to buzz without stopping, a sign of an incoming call but Carissa was in sufficient pain that she was unable to consider answering.


    Her necklace. The way to stop pain was through pain. She wasn¡¯t clear on why her eyes hurt but she needed clarity of mind to work it out. Grabbing on tight enough to rip the necklace from her throat Carissa pulled the shark tooth directly into her shoulder, pushing it hard enough to draw blood and dig through. Her hands strong enough to pierce through the outer layers of skin and sinew of her reinforced body.


    ¡®Pain. Cancels. Pain.¡¯ said Carissa with her hands fully clenched tightly.


    Carissa struggled to breath but she felt the sharpness on her eyes lessen. The platform had been prepared to lower into the waiting ocean below and she had yet to change into the body suit purpose built for her body. She hadn¡¯t even noticed that during her movements she had knocked several of the boxes stacked up to the ground, including the one with the security phone.


    It continued to buzz until her foot touched it. Despite the pain she wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if Liam had directly contacted the company that produced it to locate an override signal in order to get in contact with her.


    The signal from the device had been overridden to incapacitate her and likely he would be on the way, even inside the building, to stop her from entering the viewing platform. Carissa wanted to curse herself for her stupidity, her act of vanity in showing off to him, in having a single observer of her life work.


    An audience. And he saw her new form, her body transforming into a true mermaid. No, he would have felt pride then pity and love for her, the type which meant that he would want her to recover, to be treated both physically and mentally.


    Thankfully, the lack of buzzing sound meant that Carissa had a brief period of respite. Carissa felt dampness on her face and touched her cheeks with her fingers. Wet but fresh with a copper like smell. Blood. Her blood.


    Her other senses remained keen and despite it being her own blood the coppery smell made her mouth water slightly. Shaking her head Carissa saw a box that was opened and full of water packs, grabbing one she tore it open roughly with two hands and poured it over her face before taking several more and repeating the process until she was clean and fresh again.


    ¡®Liam knew. He knew my location. He¡¯s here. Here to take me to a hospital again for treatment. Not this time. Not this close to my day of transformation.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The interior of the viewing chamber was becoming a messier one that she had originally planned. Crates and broken food and water packets scattered around and worse he had hurt her. He had tampered with her belongings without her permission and hurt her.


    The button. Carissa knew she would have a severely limited time before the security team that Liam had hired would reach her location. They may not be willing to fly in the storm this close to the edge but if he knew then so would others. The ones who blamed and hated her equally.


    She had two choices before her, she could either hit the button and disable the tether which would drop her into the ocean and risk direct injury or hit another which would lower the platform deep into the ocean. The second option meant that the platform could in theory still be overridden. The structure would be able to handle the impact, it would just mean that she would have less time to prepare herself for entering the freezing waters.


    In her case it was going to be a true case of sink or swim.


    ¡®I¡¯m not paranoid. I¡¯m not.¡¯ said Carissa aloud to the air.


    As she forced herself steady and her hand outreached a red warning light on the wall warned her that an override was in place. Slamming her open palm onto the emergency stop release Carissa managed to stop the retraction of the viewing platform.


    The small structure was dangling over the edge of the cliff now, deep ocean, rocks and waves far below her. The walls and floor including transparent features for better views.


    Her senses were beginning to adjust and she heard the low-level frequency before the security phone began to buzz at higher audible levels. She might not be able to break it and once she had hit the emergency stop the platform was in total lock down.


    Before she hit the switch to cut the tether and release her free-fall into the waiting stormy waters below, she grabbed the phone with both hands and screamed her frustration at Liam, at the world, at everyone who hated her before the message confused her and a darkness slammed into her brain, cutting off all conscious thought.


    [Direct Player-Candidate Override Initiated. Suitability Match 96%. Ocean Gateway Protocol began. Warning: Illegal Modifications detected ¨C Deactivation in Process. No cheats permitted. Penalty. Enabled. Welcome Carissa.]

 Chapter 3 – Embracing Waters

    Carissa¡¯s skin tingled. She curled up tightly. Long reddish-brown hair flowed gently behind her before it was sealed in. Darkness. Warmth and a presence. Her arms and legs began to cramp. Then she stretched her body out as a thin film broke open and a pure warmish liquid rushed over her body as she was directly exposed to the deep, warm depths.


    Water.


    Survive.


    The oceans were bright and transparent and despite being under the surface her body bobbed in a steady position, neither rising to the surface of sinking further but remaining several meters below.


    The remains of the once bubble began to stick over her naked skin and hair turning from luminescent white into Grey as it rapidly enveloped her waking form. Parts of it broke off and attached themselves to her legs, chest and lower back as it shifted and covered.


    Carissa¡¯s hair was enclosed as the pale mass of transparent jelly-like matter stuck to her mouth, nose and eyes before moving to cover the rest of her body. A small electrical jolt stimulated her unconscious body as it began to breath in and out and her limbs twitched.


    Her face rose up before falling once more, her mind trying to wake her up. Implants once active and genetic alterations failing to activate, shut off, powered down and all personal and unconscious control removed.


    Empty.


    Weak.


    Hollow.


    A gradual pressure reached forced itself across each inch of her body, her form no longer naked but covered in a skin-tight grey suit. Another electrical jolt shook her entire body and Carissa¡¯s eyes opened despite her nictating membrane refusing to emerge in unconscious response.


    Liam.


    No.


    Freedom.


    Struggling to awaken another electrical jolt went through Carissa and she immediately forced her eyes open, one hand rising to her mouth and the other to her eyes. Her legs kicking instinctively to drive her to the surface but her body remained in the same position despite her best efforts.


    Endless blue in front of her eyes, water clearer that she had remembered even as a girl swimming on her parents¡¯ boat in the pure oceans of her home world. An unknown artificial filter in front of her eyes that enabled her vision underwater, the sunlight from the surface clear enough for her to understand that she was only a relatively short distance from the surface.


    The darkness shouldn¡¯t have been an issue as her eyes would have made the necessary adjustments but given the relative abundance of light it didn¡¯t concern her presently.


    Her lungs failed to ache, full of air but Carrisa experienced a tightness around her body as though a second skin had been put over her. Similar to her the suit of her own design which she had prepared for use on board the viewing chamber.


    The chamber!


    Liam!


    Having free dived before Carissa was no stranger to finding herself under the surface of the water, there was no weight on her legs or anything holding her in place stopping her movements.


    Her nose and mouth had no sensation of liquid on them and she decided to risk it and open her mouth a fraction. Even if water rushed in, she could easily hold her breath for another twenty minutes if she applied static apnea to herself and restricted all unnecessary movements. Releasing beta blockers into her bloodstream would further increase the time but she knew there was something wrong with her body.


    A sensation of sheer emptiness and weakness. Her mouth opened a fraction and she breathed air in, although the process was similar to breaking through a thin piece of fabric. Stifled and difficult but perfectly usable, a new type of filter which she had little knowledge of.


    Not entirely comfortable but enough for her not to have to worry about a threat of drowning in the short-term. She¡¯d researched gills but found the concept of them aberrant when they needed to be built into her skin around either her chest, back or neck.


    Carissa had wanted her skin to be pure and unmarked, scars would heal and installing a respiratory organ into her body would have taken away resources from other areas. Touching the surface of her mouth and nose found that there was a covering over it, she viewed at her arms and legs.


    Despite not treading water she wasn¡¯t sinking but maintained a steady rate of buoyancy. The water was far clearer regarding visibility for her eyes than it should have been. In the near distance there was a vague white shape, large enough to be a threat to her but it stood there unmoving.


    Bobbing, similar to a jellyfish, but without tentacles, a shadow form within.


    Not a threat.


    Not yet.


    Below her grey covered feet, she saw a white sheen reminiscent of the outer layer of a jellyfish skin except on a massive scale, part of it remained attached to her foot and Carissa lowered her hand to touch it.


    This water is wrong.


    Around her mouth and nose she was breathing perfectly normally and regularly as though she was standing on land. The sensation was one of gently floating while underwater while her body performed regular functions.


    The white sheen was near a light pearl colour and when Carissa touched it, she realised that her hands were covered by the rest of the material covering her entire body, her hair had been sealed in. Resting down her back, not tight but comfortable enough.


    With a mental focus the skin-tight grey material slid itself from her hand allowing the water surrounding her to touch the bare skin on her fingers as she gently played with the remnants of the materials. A slight stinging sensation brushed her but vanished almost immediately as the remaining left overs streamed up her body.


    Carissa realised that her skin tight suit had the purposeful function of protecting her, enough to stop her from drowning and maintaining a steady rate of buoyancy that would stop her sinking further.


    She didn¡¯t yet know how it would fare with enhancing her own natural swimming ability nor how it would fare against predators but she still preferred her own suit. The sensation of the warmish waters on her fingers gave her a tingle when she had made her suit retract.


    Gathering her thoughts, Carissa thought it likely that she had been retracted within the viewing platform, captured and then brought to a government or company held facility and then examined before being dressed and placed into this situation.


    The message on the phone had been from a private group which had identified her as a candidate for their own experimentation. She had been as cautious as possible when purchasing her own materials and research subjects and had used various shell companies and intermediaries to hide traces of her own tracks but business had never been her strong suit.


    Spreading her arms and legs out, Carissa gave a few kicks and pushes and check if she could manually override the controls on the suit. As far as she knew this level of technology didn¡¯t exist or was only theoretical, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be available for public or private usage.


    Carissa had relatively free movement although it was akin to wearing a wetsuit, or one of sufficiently more advanced design.


    The entire suit felt like a second layer of skin that enveloped her entire body, and it had successfully disabled both her conscious and unconscious control of both her internal implants and physical alterations. Running her tongue across her own teeth, Carissa touched on the sharpness of each one.


    Her teeth functioned at least. They didn¡¯t decide to rip them out of her mouth or decided that she they provided little serious threat to their own experiments. Her body was weaker she knew, she would be unable to control the surrounding temperatures of the water if her implants were entirely non-functional but if her teeth weren¡¯t removed then other genetic alterations had only been suppressed.


    Unless they had the technology to clone her original baseline body and switch her into that then she would need to understand the treatment needed to fix it.


    The suit. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The suit is suppressing me.


    Carissa willed the suit to remove itself from her entire body as it had done with her fingers but the best that she was able to do was reduce her fingertips. Whoever controlled this either remotely or program wasn¡¯t going to give her easy access or quick answers.


    The words on the security phone message were stranger to her but she knew that it also provided her with an answer for the name of this experiment. Ocean Gateway Protocol. Either that or someone had finally caught up with her and decided to punish her. There was no way that Liam would have agreed to put her in an experiment.


    Gently kicking her legs, while floating in the water beneath the surface, Carissa experimented with her range of movement. She was able to move her head and legs as long as she wanted but her body refused to rise up towards the surface or sink deeper.


    Twisting her body, she moved around as several more of the vague white shapes filled her field of vision. They were spread out across some distance. Several of them opened and dissipated and she could recognise movement even if gradual.


    The same.


    The same as me.


    The experiment or study that Carissa had been thrown into wasn¡¯t an accident if she was called a candidate. That meant that where would be others alongside her who would also be experiencing the same, but in her case, she was used to being underwater inside specialised isolation tanks to adapt herself to the loneliness of a life in the oceans.


    My necklace.


    Carissa needed her necklace. The comforting touch of the shark tooth on her bare flesh and the pain that she experienced would relieve her. There. It was under the suit, but she couldn¡¯t touch it. She focused her mental thoughts on the suit moving away from the area of her upper neck but it refused to obey.


    Pain.


    I need pain.


    Failing other options with her body in near lock-down floating Carissa considered biting her tongue with her sharpened teeth, the taste of blood and saliva would be her own but it wasn¡¯t the type of pain relief that she wanted.


    The ritual of the shark tooth had been hers since she had been a teenager, a way to express her emotions through digging into the flesh of her arms or by her neck. Even her hands in an emergency.


    Liam had been the one who had convinced her to try and express her emotions and switch to more positive channels but with his continued absence from her life Carissa had lapsed back into old behaviours. And here she was, stuck underwater in an experiment as a candidate by an unknown captor in a body of water that she was unfamiliar with.


    Carissa flexed her hands, curling them tightly as she struggled to keep her breathing steady and in a steady rhythm. Although, breaking air through the suits covering was possible it wasn¡¯t comfortable and the fact that she was becoming emotionally distressed was making it worse.


    Her lack of control and her constant awareness was becoming an issue.


    Focus Carissa.


    Adapt. Learn. Survive.


    When she had run her own experiments as a scientist and through her own research, she had run variables on her own animal test subjects and finally herself. There was always a series of stages, this would only be stage one. Either the suits or monitors in the water would be checking on the physical and emotional states, they would even be checking on Carissa.


    And when this first stage ended, she would move onto the next. And eventually there would be group testing. Of course, she knew that this depended on the ethical constraints that they were following. There was a strict reason that Carissa had only experimented on herself and done her own surgery over time, she had her own issues she knew that, but she wasn¡¯t going to torture other sentient beings for the purposes of research.


    Kill them if they tried to steal her notes yes, but not torture. She had limits, which she was going to need to break if she wanted to get out of this experiment. Carissa would not be a subject, even an experimental one. She would become. Become more than human.


    Beautiful mermaid.


    As she continued to flex and open her hands while gently remaining in the same position, neither sinking or floating in spite of her best efforts a voice resonated within Carissa¡¯s head shutting off all other immediate thoughts.


    Dark coloured words with the appearance of flowing water appeared before her eyes. She was able to make out the text after blinking her eyes several times. To her senses the lenses or covering inside this advanced sea protection suit offered the option of text.


    The next stage begins.


    [Ocean Gateway Entry System Initiated. Registering Candidate Number. Verifying Health Status¡­Present Status: Not Dead. Further message shortly. Remain calm. Carissa]


    If Carissa had a single regret at being trapped in her underwater suit prison, it would be that she was unable to scream out or vent her frustrations. The monitoring control did in fact know her name, and her status as¡­not dead. This meant the suit acted as a health checker, not her mental state but her physical one.


    Again, the words Ocean Gateway. The name of the project, group or research team that had kidnapped her and brought her here. She was certain that she had failed to activate the tether release on the viewing chamber, the fact that she had been forced to unconscious as she was going to make her own descent meant that she had been watched. Likely through the security device. It hadn¡¯t been Liam after all.


    Stuck alone with her thoughts for company Carissa wasn¡¯t prepared for the next message to flow into her vision, still in the shape of watery dripping text.


    [You have been selected as a candidate by the Ocean Gateway Entry System. Introduction and Tutorial Removed due to increased difficulty level. Temporary water filter system is in place. HTS mode is engaged. Please wait for imminent surfacing. Candidate. Do not restrict your suit actions for your own safety. Carissa. Survive.]


    The pressure of the water finally began to act on her and slowly she was regaining freedom of movement in her limbs despite the suit clinging tightly to her skin surfaces and hair. Counting the seconds that it took for her to rise towards the surface and the distance that she was from the sunlight, Carissa estimated that she had been stuck underneath the water around ten to fifteen metres with twenty metres at most.


    She had previously free dived further than that, without equipment enjoying the pleasure when she reached past those limits and began to sink deeper rather than being pushed up again.


    In order to maintain a steady presence at this relatively shallow depth was in her mind not realistically feasible only wearing a suit, either the water had been altered somehow or there were other forces that she wasn¡¯t aware of.


    As she rose up, Carissa decided to tuck her limbs in, given her freedom of movement and tightly hugged herself. She had spent enough time underwater previously to know that her first breath when she reached the surface would be an experience.


    Like being born again.


    The breath of life.


    Carissa tried to slowly release breath, an old habit when free diving to avoid damage to her lungs when pressure was decreased. She counted down the seconds, the warmth of the sun on the surface of the ocean beginning to reach her form.


    Soon.


    Three.


    Two.


    Breath.


    Carissa surfaced, her body moved by an unknown force or through the external control of the suit. She didn¡¯t know which.


    As her head broke through the top of the water the sealed portion in front of her face and nose peeled backwards and from her eyes allowing her to take a deep breath. The sensation of fresh air on her face was nearly overwhelming to her senses.


    She spoke aloud, even if to hear to the sound of a human voice after being submerged.


    ¡®¡­. Hello? Is anyone there?¡¯ she called out.


    Carissa knew that it was a stupid thing to say, but if she was being monitored it would be the expected result. Humans would depend upon one another for support, especially in crises. And if she found that anyone was a threat to her immediate safety then she would react accordingly. Life had taught her this.


    She spoke again. This time raising her voice. Her body simply floated on the surface without any need for her to thread water. Her hair remained covered but her face stayed dry despite the splash of the light waves around her.


    ¡®Hello! Is there anyone there?¡¯ called Carissa.


    She saw no signs of any wreckage of boats or planes or anything. Just an endless blue sky above her head with the sun shining and an entire ocean of water.


    The burst of words in front of her eyes surprised her given that the lenses that had covered her eyes underwater had peeled back with the rest of her suit. She read the text several times to memorise it.


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402 you have been provided with randomly chosen basic starter equipment.


    -Warning: Due to Illegal Body Modification (Disabled) basic starter equipment removed.


    -You are (Classless)


    -First Goal: Survive for 10 hours.


    -Bonus Goal: Find other Starter Candidates and Survive as a group for 10 hours


    -Reward: Basic bone-based weapon, Fishing Line, Bonus Goal: Harpoon with Leash, additional HTS mode enabled.]


    Carissa felt disappointed that this time it didn¡¯t end with her name but a number instead, but this time she had a better clue of her situation.


    ¡®A test subject. I¡¯m being turned into a bloody test subject.¡¯ she said muttering to herself.


    With full movement and the suit stopping her from sinking into the water, Carissa chose a random direction and began to swim breaststroke.


    ¡®A little exercise won¡¯t hurt me at this point. Time to find another candidate.¡¯ said Carissa as she tried to conserve her energy.

 Chapter 4 – Drowned Hopes

    Carissa had been swimming breaststroke at a medium pace, not enough for her to build up a sweat but her heart beating marginally and it gave her a little more time to work out the capabilities of the skin tight grey suit which had fixed itself to her.


    Friction was reduced although not to a massive degree and relying on her own swimming ability meant that she was able to make some distance in the random direction that she had chosen earlier. The water remained warm and the sun bright enough but the air itself tasted different in a way, purer even without any hint of pollution.


    The lack of salt in the water when she had tried a mouthful and found that it made the inside of her mouth tingle slightly but little other reaction was another sign that she was wary of.


    There was no signs of land or boats, noise carried well though across the waves and she heard vague sounds but nothing clear enough. The suit itself maintained her thirst and hunger though, that or she had been drugged and fed through a drip to make sure that her body was sufficiently full for the experiment.


    Stopping for a moment and letting the suit to the floating she lay on her back and gazed up into the blue skies. Carrisa was unable to gauge how far she had swum; it had been partially to de-stress given that she was unable to still access her shark tooth necklace.


    She did find though that by concentrating on her previous messages she was able to read through them once more. Besides her body modifications being restricted the rest of the messages made little sense to her aside from the set tasks that she was meant to perform.


    ¡®A test subject, or a candidate. The levels and equipment mean conflict especially when it comes to group survival.¡¯ said Carissa.


    It was then she heard a sound, a human voice calling out from a distance away. Given the water carried sound she wasn¡¯t sure how far away it would be, but it might provide her with some answers.


    At least it would progress her time in this experiment and if they proved a threat well her teeth were still sharp and she had more than enough experience dealing with those who saw themselves as predators in her old life. A female voice, younger than her but not by much. A few years at most. Not panicked but eager, not desperate though.


    ¡®Hello? I need to make a group, over here! We have a boat. I repeat, we have a boat! Join our group for safety!¡¯


    She saw in the distance a vague blob on the edge of her vision. Hard to make out but her brain was able to filter through unnecessary distractions and make out the colour.


    Yellow, bright yellow. Inflatable.


    Safety.


    Another test subject.


    Or a trap.


    The design was simple enough but it only looked large enough to hold two or three people at a time. Not quite a group unless that was want counted according to the instructions.


    Either way, Carissa had little choice. She had next to no equipment if she counted her suit, and any of her physical enhancements and augmentation had been disabled. To work out exactly what she been deactivated through drug use or surgery she would need to examine her own body and run several through checks.


    Even if she could remove her suit entirely, she would lose the floatation support it provided and lastly, she was stuck in a large body of water with no memory of how she arrived.


    A boat could provide her with the illusion of safety and perhaps even answers. And if the young woman and her friends or fellow group members proved a threat. Well, Carissa needed protein regardless. Her lack of hunger and thirst weren¡¯t going to last forever.


    ¡®Here! Over here!¡¯ shouted Carissa, pushing more than a little emotion into her voice.


    Liam had always said that her secondary calling should have been an actress the way that she could switch her voice and personality to match different situations. Still, it was emotionally draining and there was only so long that she could disguise herself. As long as the young woman didn¡¯t recognise her immediately on sight there was hope.


    ¡®I¡¯m here! I¡¯m going to swim towards you! Thank you so much! Please wait, don¡¯t leave me!¡¯ shouted Carissa.


    The young woman heard her shout and cupped her own hands to amplify her own voice across the waters in the vague direction of Carissa.


    ¡®I heard you, swim over to me, follow the sound of my¡­oh screw it. Follow the flare! You need to follow the flare before it runs out! Can you hear me! Wave your arms if you can hear me!¡¯


    Carissa complied by halting her swimming and waving both arms above her head. She had been expecting a large amount of colourful smoke to waft across the waves but was met with a single bright light shining on the ocean, sparks blazing outwards.


    ¡®Come over in my direction! The waves don¡¯t stop the suit, use the suit to move faster! I¡¯m here for you, come over here!¡¯ shouted the young woman.


    Carissa made the swift decision to continue with breaststroke but push herself harder to reach the small inflatable orange inflatable. She didn¡¯t trust the flare to not die out and although the skies were bright and clear she wanted visibility.


    Just in case this is a trap.


    For all Carissa knew, they could have several people waiting underwater as soon as she approached. She¡¯d try her best though. Rather than wasting her breath on replying to the young woman she kicked her legs harder and pulled her arms through the water, willing the suit to boost her swimming and found that the friction drag on her body had reduced.


    ¡®You¡¯re doing it! Great! Come here! We need to make a group! Follow the flare!¡¯ shouted the young woman, enthusiasm in her voice at the reaction from Carrisa.


    Despite the swimming going smoothly Carissa still had the sense of emptiness within her body and a greater fatigue placed on her body. Two dozen more metres and she¡¯d be within close reach of the woman. Her arms pulled harder and she kept her head pulled up out of the water swimming in a steady progressive motion.


    Details of the young woman and her boat became clearer. It was more of an emergency inflatable lifeboat but smaller than she had first imagined. No canopy, but a mixture of yellow and oranges, designed to enhance visibility when lost on the ocean. The figure came into Carissa¡¯s view as the water that splashed into her face fell off as soon as it touched her.


    Odd.


    ¡®Almost¡­almost there! You¡¯re doing it! Here, just here!¡¯ called out the young woman.


    To her surprise she tried standing up and waving the flare in one hand to make sure that Carissa knew where she was. Her actions on the relatively calm waters still almost made her tip off the small inflatable life raft and she swiftly sat down again.


    Her limbs were beginning to ache and the suit, while reducing friction as she swam through the water hadn¡¯t eliminated it entirely. Once she was in a dozen metres of the raft she stopped and waved a hand at the woman. Close enough for her to gain an initial impression but with enough distance in case this was part of the experiment. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡®Heya. Thanks for your flare, it really helped me find you fast. Are you by yourself or is there a group hanging around?¡¯ said Carissa with a bright smile and a casual waving hand as she tried to relax her posture in the water.


    The young women were better equipped than Carissa had been, she wore a grey skin-tight suit with a green life jacket, matching goggles, a hat and a colourful backpack. Her face showed her relative youth with an awkward smile attached.


    Enough fat on her body that the skin tight suit was packed tight but her eyes were bright with the energy of youth. As Carissa had been once, frizzy blonde hair tied back in a bun with her head, face and neck exposed to the elements.


    She bent down and carefully crouched over the side extending an arm for Carissa to grab onto. When Carissa didn¡¯t respond immediately, she spoke.


    ¡®Yeah, do you want to come on board? I¡¯m not here to fight, I¡¯m here to help and give you guidance and a safe place to stay for a few nights. My leader Mike, he¡¯s asks us to search other survivors so we can help each other a little in this crazy game. Wow, I¡¯m sorry, uh, if you swim over here, I can help you on board. Kind of a tight squeeze but we have more space back at the shelter. I¡¯m Sheri. My flare worked, you¡¯re my first new member of the group. Here, takes my arm.¡¯


    Tensing herself, Carissa allowed herself to float a moment longer. The young woman stopped and put her hand on her mouth.


    ¡®I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know sign language. Can you talk? You understand what I¡¯m saying right? Some of us on the boat come from different places, I think. It¡¯s confusing.¡¯ she spoke softly.


    Carissa sighed and gently pushed herself forward as she swam the last dozen metres slowly and extended her arm out as the young woman pulled her onto the inflatable life raft. If it was a make that she knew she didn¡¯t recognise it nor the brand. As she was helped out of the ocean, water ran off Carissa in sheets and she emerged fully dry.


    Her face turned into a bright smile and she replied to the young woman. The pair of them took a seat inside the inflatable, making themselves comfortable before Carissa decided to extend a hand. The fact that the other woman was holding a flare was a minor threat but she hadn¡¯t used it to threaten.


    Yet.


    ¡®Hi there, thank you so much for saving me. I¡¯m Carissa. Goodness, this is a situation. I understand you perfectly.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The younger woman showed a degree of surprise on her face at Carissa¡¯s lack of equipment besides her suit but the smile put her at ease somewhat.


    ¡®Uh, did you lose your stuff when you were swimming? I¡¯ve got a spare bottle of water if you want but we¡¯re meant to be rationing as best as we can. Mike has more answers than I can give, he¡¯s there to help. We all are in our own way. Kinda odd that you started with nothing. Sorry, that came out wrong, I¡¯m not saying we won¡¯t help if you don¡¯t have anything. I¡¯ve been there, believe me.¡¯ said the young woman.


    Carissa made herself comfortable on the boat but paused at the open flare held in the young woman¡¯s hand. There was a flick of a wrist and the item vanished before it reappeared but unlit.


    ¡®Ah! I totally forgot that I was holding it, no wonder you kept your distance. Wait a second, it turns out by itself. The item description says that each one only has five uses at a time¡­there we go. Out now. Also, it said clearly that it can¡¯t be used as a weapon against Starter Candidates. Did you meet up with any other survivors?¡¯ asked the young woman.


    Shaking her head, Carissa pointed at the flare which she had watched a magic trick performed with. Or slight of hand.


    ¡®An item description? No, I didn¡¯t encounter anyone else. There were shapes beneath the water and my equipment¡­well I wasn¡¯t assigned any. Or it was lost when I was surfacing, I¡¯m not quite clear. There are others, can you bring me to the rest of your group? I¡¯d like to try and find a way out of this experiment before it gets dangerous.¡¯


    The young woman gave Carissa a curious look before shrugging her shoulders and putting the extinguished flare into her backpack. She had one hand inside and pulled it out offering a basic glass bottle of water with the top removed.


    ¡®Sorry, did you want a water? We can feed you a proper meal when we arrive at the refuge. Chas is a decent cook. You¡¯ll like him, although Mike is our leader Are you sure you didn¡¯t receive any system notifications yet?¡¯ said the young woman.


    Carissa focused her suit on peeling back from her head and hair, if this worked then she¡¯d try and free her arms and legs a little. The surgery recovery scars on her chest were best left covered in case they raised too many questions. It was a little odd how this woman Sherry had no recognition of her. She¡¯d been one of the most famous and hated figures on her planet depending on which side you took.


    ¡®...Sherry, do you know who I am? I¡¯m going to take off this suit and show myself better.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The grey tight suit retracted according to Carissa¡¯s will and her face, hair and neck showed. Anyone who had seen her image back on her home planet of Bephus would recognise her immediately. She waited for the reaction from Sherry, the boat was useful, so was the backpack and supplies within.


    She¡¯d prefer not to resort to violence early on but she was confident enough in underwater to at least find a workaround to the suit filtration systems. Experiment monitoring or not, there would be conflict eventually. Humans always did in her experience. It was part of what had drawn her to become a true mermaid when she had only been a girl.


    Sherry sat back and slid the glass bottle of water into her backpack holding it tight to her chest. Her face began to redden.


    ¡®.¡­Are you coming onto me? For saving your life? This is¡­uh, I¡¯m not clear on¡­uh. You are beautiful, oh my gosh. Are you a supermodel? Like, for real, are you an actual supermodel? You are so good looking. No, I need to be strong and put this aside. How about we first visit Mike? He¡¯s the leader of our group and has a better idea about your current situation. I¡¯m not comfortable trying to explain it clearly to someone...so fresh. Not everyone is accepting of their situation as you seem to be. You might find it a little tricky to accept.¡¯ said the young woman.


    Turning her back Sherry reached down on one side of the inflatable life raft and pulled onto a cable before she tilted her head towards Carissa.


    ¡®I think we need to work together on this. You pull in the cord and I¡¯ll take this end, it¡¯s how we¡¯re attached to the main refuge. If we both put in the effort we can be there in fifteen minutes.¡¯ said Sherry before looking at Carissa¡¯s unmasked face and features. ¡®I¡¯d keep the suit on your hands for protection. I mean, you don¡¯t want to hurt yourself.¡¯


    Coming on to you?


    No. Not like that.


    Of all the reactions Carissa had expected she hadn¡¯t expected compliments and a blushing face in response to showing her features. She knew that she was a rare beauty, Liam had always made it clear how good-looking she always was and had encouraged her to dress well but still, Sherry showed a complete ignorance of who she was.


    ¡®Thank you, Sherry. I¡¯ll pull on the cord and reel it in, and while we¡¯re doing this why don¡¯t you take the time to tell me a little more about yourself and how you found yourself here.¡¯ replied Carissa.


    Carissa gave her a smile hiding part of her teeth to avoid discomfort.


    ¡®After all, we might become good friends. I mean, you did save my life.¡¯ said Carissa.


    In response Sherry flushed again and began the process of reeling the cable in out of the water and onto the small inflatable between her and Carissa.


    ¡®Um, I¡¯m a Gemini. I like seafood a lot and I get panic attacks sometimes. I was part of a team before but you won¡¯t understand what I¡¯m talking about. In happier days, one time in a restaurant my friends ordered this giant blue lobster as a practical joke on my birthday and¡­¡¯ began Sherry.


    Carissa listened to the younger woman prattle on as they both reeled in the line, drawing the inflatable boat closer to its destination. She needed to get clearer answers on the nature of this experiment from the leader of a group called Mike.


    Entirely elaborate but the fact that there was no engine attached to the inflatable boat aside from a cord didn¡¯t make any sense to Carissa. Not that she was going to question the oddness of it yet, given the emptiness of the surrounding ocean it didn¡¯t make any sense that it was able to randomly float exactly in her direction without either paddles or realistically an onboard engine.


    Her attention focused on the odd details she had no answers for Carissa nodded and agreed with the strange new woman as she listened as the inflatable raft made its way across the calm waters of the ocean to its destination. A message drifted across her eyes.


    [Candidate Number 5428119402


    -Warning HTS Mode (34:00 Hours Cooling Countdown)


    -Temporary Survivor Beacon Locator Activated]


    Suddenly, Carissa was aware of Sherry next to her. As another candidate of this game, the location of her fixed in her mind. Ignoring the message which she dismissed as a clever visual effect and another factor for this experiment, Carissa focused her energies on a most important task.


    Winding up the line as it was reeled in and making sure it was organised into a neat pile in the centre of the raft. The mindless chatting from Sherry continued as Carissa closed her eyes and tried her best to relax and slow her mind.

 Chapter 5 – Survival Sea Tales

    ¡®I¡¯ve been in this situation before when my squad¡¯s vehicle broke down in the Australian outback. I survived by lying underneath to take advantage of the shade and not moving from my position. Yes, it was hell but I was rescued by the Confederation and put back to work for my Overseer. Stupid of me to try and escape in the first place but that¡¯s beside the point. Deciding to move away from this vicinity by yourself is a far bigger danger than staying put. Trust me on this. You look like a good person, a kind person so I¡¯m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Everybody pulls their weight and I lead. We can give you support until we need to go deep below for your introductions from the ones who like to big-note themselves. Another convoy for another time. A deep pleasure to meet you, Carissa. Call me Mike or Kenzie.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa had made her way back to the main boat which Sherry had described in brief detail as a safe zone for their group and been subjected to a meaty handshake from a tanned man in his mid-fifties, once strong stomach muscles gradually turning into fat, with close cropped shaved hair and bright white teeth.


    His suit was patchy, parts of it missing with rough patches in place compared to her own sleep design. Hair on his head was closely shaved down to a fine stubble and his demeanour was relaxed. On the side of his hip a makeshift belt with a wooden club stuck through it added to his appearance.


    ¡®I¡¯m the leader of our little community Carissa if you want to join us. All candidates who aren¡¯t out to become pirates or raiders are most welcome. Providing you agree. Our main home is a constant work in progress. No bludgers allowed. Or you can choose to go straight back on a boat and make your own way deeper down later. You might not survive the experience though.¡¯ said Mike.


    The structure itself was a surprise to Carissa, she didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d been expecting but it was surely more than this. Sherry had described the main boat as a hub of activity when she hadn¡¯t kept talking about her social life and how much she appreciated the health benefits of seafood.


    ¡®We¡¯re in what you would call a welcome area. An inflatable boat docks here and we try to best judge new characters before we enter our custom-built tutorial up on the roof. More space there means less space for accidents or damage.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa was barely listening to the conversation, her mind trying to remember if she had seen designs of this boat before. It was familiar in a way but also different enough that it could have come from an artist¡¯s impression of an ocean-going floating community building.


    If Carissa had been asked to describe the main boat, she would have called it a miracle that it remained floating. Driftwood and various scavenged materials acted as a type of glue holding the structure together. Large enough to house at least several dozen people, it was a mixture of a houseboat and a shanty house. A refuge lying on this stretch of ocean which accommodated people who were lost and then found.


    Another part of the experiment.


    Build groups and create conflict for further study.


    ¡®Not much to look at unless you knew how it was built. And I¡¯d tell you and you wouldn¡¯t believe a word I¡¯m saying. You¡¯ll think I¡¯m making it up. Sherry thinks I¡¯m wasting my time but she¡¯d also tell you that I care too much.


    The interior was unknown to her, for all she knew, it could have been a high-level technological laboratory in disguise but she doubted it. The fact that when she had noticed that neither Mike or Sherry had been wearing shoes and when the topic arose and she asked she was told that they were generally a waste of time was a sign that this place, this mindset was different from her own.


    Wood and ropes had been mixed to build ladders but she doubted that the boat itself could actually be piloted in any direction, if she had a choice, she¡¯d call it more similar to a prototype floating village. The basis of one at least, the fact that there hadn¡¯t been any fishing nets or lobster pots had surprised her.


    Food and shelter were the immediate necessities for anyone, especially fresh water. More likely those functions deemed essential to their survival were kept deeper inside the boat, secure from both attackers and bad weather.


    ¡®Thank you, Mike, Sherry here rescued me when I¡­floated upward to the surface.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®No, Miss, she was doing her job. To find suitable beginner player candidates and bring them back here. If you tried to be aggressive with her and steal here boat then you¡¯d be unlikely to be alive. Some have tried and all have died. Just a little private joke of mine. Say, what¡¯s your Class? Your Skills? Are you willing to share them with me? No? Later then. Sherry come over here for our newly arrived guest.¡¯ replied Mike.


    Carissa was pleased to notice that Mike also had a complete lack of recognition of her. The sensation was pleasing although disconcerting. As though she had been shifted into a different reality to her own.


    ¡®Sherry, show her to Chas and then we need to have a talk about the next step once the others return. The rules of the game mean that we need to survive as long as possible. Take her direct though, we can have a look at the rest of the boat later. As long as she¡¯s willing to adapt to a new reality that is. You think the mighty ones would fix up the situation by now, we¡¯re flat out as usual.¡¯ said Mike.


    He gave a final nod to Sherry before he turned away and left into the wooden structure behind him.


    ¡®Carissa, follow me. Please avoid the other rooms, some are bedrooms and other¡­. private storage areas. Not all are safe. Trust me on this. Nobody wants you to have an accident this early on.¡¯ said Sherry.


    The pair left the tied-up inflatable behind them on the path, the size of the makeshift floating structure surprised Carissa, either it was larger than it seemed or appearances were deceiving. If there were true dangers here then they disguised them well.


    Carissa was going to meet the one in charge of the designated resource room, a place where all newly arrived players had to put their essential supplies according to Sherry as she chatted non-stop until they reached the designated community member.


    ¡®Right, so I¡¯m going to leave you here and then you need to make your own way to the roof. Do you remember the main path? If you don¡¯t, you¡¯re going to end up in one specific direction regardless. Mike designed it that way. We need to keep new people safe as much as we can. I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t give more answers. Call out in an emergency and either myself or Mike will find you. Oh, and Chas is harmless as long as you don¡¯t try and steal anything.¡¯ said Sherry.


    A room with a closed door, the same as all the other rooms, made of driftwood with minor additions of plastic and metal, smaller pieces to make the door have its own unique style.


    Sherry put a hand in front of Carissa, stopping her moving forward before she gave the door a quick knock and grabbed the handle pulling it open. Sherry opened her mouth to talk before Carissa got a chance.


    ¡®Chas, this is Carissa. The one you told me to locate. She¡¯s in desperate need of answers but we need to process her as the others. Don¡¯t tell her more than she needs to hear for her own sake. Please. She has no equipment to store here as she began without any basic kit.¡¯ said Sherry.


    The man wore a bright Hawaiian shirt, matching shorts with messy black hair and had simply blocked Carissa from entering the small space by sitting in a cross-legged position and putting his hands out in front of him with palms facing up. The room behind him was stacked to the shelves with various items, mostly made of bone, glass with the occasional shine of metal.


    Despite its organised appearance Carissa recognised that something was off, the quality of the items was far lower than any supermarket shelf back home. They all looked either hand-crafted or vaguely archaic, closer to antiques than usable equipment.


    ¡®Hello pretty lady. You can look but you can¡¯t take without permission. We have stores of everything you need but not much of what you want. Shoes, we don¡¯t need shoes much.¡¯ said Chas as he gestured towards his own lack of footwear.


    His feet were bare and tanned but shiny, not painted nails but cleaner than they had a right to be considering that everyone here went around barefoot from her perspective. He simply nodded his head to an unheard rhythm while he clasped his hands together. Either in prayer or simply because he wanted to complete his own look.


    ¡®Sorry, but the group needs and the individual wants. The system is always pushing us for more but we need to build to live. Fresh equipment helps. Are you seeing messages in front of your eyes as well? I can delay it for a time to give you time to adjust. Not all gifts given can be held in the hands Lady C.,¡¯ said the man.


    Carissa nodded and the man smiled in agreement before crossing his arms and closing his eyes nodding his head again. Despite the fact that she hadn¡¯t even spoken in response the man carried on talking as though she had.


    ¡®Peace. Not everything is at it appears. And then it is. Mike knows the truth. We belong here, all of us do in our own way. Drowned Gods be willing. I¡¯m Chas. The same as you are Lady C to some. Not me though, you want the fierce woman with the tattoos and the hidden mind. Dangerous. Sharp teeth. Almost as sharp as yours.¡¯ said the man.


    The man had been friendly enough with Carissa but seemed overly laid back and content to sit in the shade that was provided with the makeshift roof coverings which appeared to have been taken from various canopies of inflatable boats.


    She¡¯d had no idea where the rest of the pieces of driftwood and random debris had come from but the man wasn¡¯t keen on answering her questions, he knew her but talked complete nonsense.


    ¡®So, Chas, how about you explain to me exactly what you know about this experiment we find ourselves stuck in? Also, why do none of you wear shoes or anything on your feet? Having foot protection comes across as a good way to avoid getting splinters at least or any form of fungal infection. Do you like being so cryptic all the time?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    ¡®Sometimes in times of extreme stress the human brain creates things which aren¡¯t actually there. Brother, you¡¯ll be fine. We all experience it sometimes. Shoes¡­. shoes are a binding on the human soul. The suit. The suit binds the soul. Gods Below. My words, they come from those who live in the Depths. One of them likes you. One of them hates you. Peace brother. Peace be on your mind for your stay here.¡¯ said Chas as he shrugged his shoulders towards Carissa.


    ¡®I¡¯m not your brother, I¡¯m a woma-¡¯ she started before the relaxed man waved his hands in her direction and settled back into his cross-legged posture.


    ¡®Easy brothers and sisters, we need to relax and enjoy the motion of the waves. Panic is only going to tip the boat. I plan to enjoy myself in the shade. Go with the flow. I¡¯m working here. Find your way. Not all of us want beauty. I want to work wonders and be left alone. Mike wants community and revenge. Sherry wants community and support. I don¡¯t...I don¡¯t want to talk. This room will remain closed when I leave for the benefit of us all. Do not open it. Gifts will be provided in time. Good luck fighting newbie. .He knows. He did it. Be safe Veronica. Be. Safe.¡¯ murmured the man.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    After that he had closed his eyes and begun humming to himself softly. The makeshift structure around him creaked slightly when she took a step towards him and he refused to respond to her any further, let alone answer any of her questions.


    ¡®I see. Good luck with your work then. Nice to meet you Chas.¡¯ said Carissa before adding his name as an afterthought of politeness.


    The fact that she had been led to a room full of equipment and been given nothing nor asked to contribute a single item was a mild surprise to her. It would make more sense for the creators of this experiment to fully control every aspect of this minor reality or world that they had built. Regressing economic activity to a barter level of trade was a good incentive to provide conflict. Not that Carissa had anything to offer.


    Carissa had left the man to his meditation and gone to try and find Mike, the relative size of the boat meant that he was usually in the top structure where a makeshift lookout tower had been built. She had to admit that the man was driven and committed despite his faith in complete strangers.


    Her path back out of the room had been fairly straightforward, the path itself remained unchanged even without markers or signs she was able to find her way back to where she had first been led in by Sherry. The complete lack of doorways was a mild surprise but then she¡¯d already had a fully bellyful of questions by this point.


    Carissa was aware that the structure could change, with enough smokes and mirrors it could even come across as far larger than she first imagined it. A single straight corridor with one exit led her to a wooden ladder which went straight up. The skies above her head were cloudier and darker than she had earlier noticed when she had first arrived here.


    Despite the time passing her stomach or body had shown no signs of hunger or thirst. Either drugs, time passing slower than her senses realised or her body still existed in a state of shock. The concept that this would be a dream fever brought on by her own brain failing crossed her mind but she discarded it.


    She had her own delusions and hallucinations when she had been by herself for extended periods of time and this wasn¡¯t one of them.


    Real.


    I¡¯m trapped and this is real.


    No.


    An experiment.


    He was talking to Sherry making large gestures with his hands as Carissa was climbing up the ladder.


    ¡®...Immediate priorities in immediate order are shelter, water and a source of food. You found a candidate for our group; we just need to hold it together for longer and we¡¯ll be rewarded. Everyone gets their fair share and¡­oh Carissa. I needed to talk to you. Sherry tells me that you lost your basic starter equipment. A shame but we could have used that. She tells me that you¡¯re a decent swimmer, would you be willing to put those skills to use until you get a class of your own?¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®I need a basic answer first. And I¡¯d appreciate basic honesty. Sherry saved me and you¡¯re clearly making an effort. I would have asked Chas but he¡¯s in his own world a little.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Sherry frowned and whispered quick words in Mike¡¯s ear as he smiled a little.


    ¡®Ah, no I¡¯m not involved with Sherry. Not that way, I¡¯m more of a community leader. Also, she¡¯s too young for me. Not my type, neither are you. Sorry, that came out wrong. We¡¯re here to help new candidates. I¡¯m talking too much; you have a question? I¡¯ll try my best to answer honestly.¡¯ said Mike with a wry smile on his face.


    A frown began to form on his face after the smile washed away like a tide washing away a sandcastle on a beach when Sherry leaned in again and cupping her hand whispered into his ear again.


    ¡®...I¡¯m not attracted to women. I don¡¯t think I am. Given that I¡¯ve never tried. But this isn¡¯t about that particular topic. Do either of you actually know who I am? What I did? How my research was taken by my partner Liam and used for commercial purposes? I¡¯m not blaming either of you but a clear answer would be appreciated.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The silence was met with confusion on the parts of both Mike and Sherry. Turning towards Sherry, Mike frowned and his forehead creased, he rubbed a hand over his eyes.


    ¡®Sherry, don¡¯t tell me that you found a fresh fish and brought her here without giving her a full briefing. A newborn with no answers and questions is a bad mix. Especially for this place. We don¡¯t know how she¡¯s going to mix with the others. No, this is my responsibility. I gave you orders and you followed them, we¡¯re all human here. Some less so than others.¡¯ said Mike.


    Mike chuckled at his own joke. Sherry gave no response.


    ¡®Mostly. Heh. Sorry, you must be pretty confused. How about I answer your question with one of my own? Are you a big deal where you come from Carissa? A rich woman? Or a supermodel celebrity status? I¡¯m not only asking because of the way that you look but it¡¯s how you carry yourself. I know that body language, it strikes me as someone who¡¯s been at the top. My old Master and Mistress used to be the same. Tell you what, Sherry?¡¯ said Mike.


    Despite her lips tightening she looked at Mike¡¯s face.


    ¡®Mike?¡¯ said Sherry.


    ¡®I think we a need a strong drink to talk this out. You drink alcohol Carissa?¡¯ asked Mike.


    ¡®I can. Not my preference but I¡¯m willing to drink with you if you give answers. I¡¯m not going to go to bed with you though.¡¯ said Carissa with a firm face.


    Both Mike and Sherry spluttered at that. The face of Sherry blushed.


    ¡®Woah! No, no. If you¡¯re going to be a part of my community all I ask is that you share your workload. That sort of business is none of mine unless it creates conflict, also, you¡¯re not my type. Not gender I mean, not genetically. Not my type. Here, actions explain louder than words. Forget drinks, you need a more physical explanation to get through your mind.¡¯ said Mike.


    He lifted a hand in front of Carissa¡¯s face.


    ¡®Bite my hand. Not enough to chew through it but you can draw blood. You can¡¯t hide those teeth girl. I¡¯m older, not blind or stupid. Bite. Unless, you¡¯d prefer Sherry to put her hand there but her reaction might be a little different than mine. As in she would be hurt. Just bite. I¡¯m not poisonous. Also, Carissa. You need to work on your social skills, it takes a broken one to recognise another. Normal people don¡¯t respond like that.¡¯ said Mike.


    The silence around them was met with the creaking of the makeshift boat structure and the gentle sound of waves around them. Despite having enough capacity for at least a dozen, Carissa had only seen three people, Chas, Mike and Sherry.


    She had been told that the others were out scouting and would return in time but if she wanted to flee this place now was the time. Mike was armed with the wooden club on his belt but Sherry only had her backpack, goggles and the pair had the same basic suit as her.


    No weapons except for her hands and teeth. The choice was made. And she wanted answers badly enough to accept insane requests from near-complete strangers. Going back into the ocean waters to try swimming randomly wasn¡¯t going to get her any closer.


    ¡®Right Mike, I¡¯ll bite.¡¯ said Carissa. ¡®Give me your hand and I¡¯ll bare my teeth this time.¡¯ said Carissa.


    His hand was tanned and worn with age and the elements, he let it hang loosely, not drawing it back when she took it with two hands and bit into the flesh of the outside of his palm. Given his patchwork grey suit, parts of his body were fully exposed including his hands.


    She had expected her teeth to sink into her flesh with relative ease but the skin was tough and worn, Carissa had to fix her jaw and bite even harder. When her sharpened teeth bit through she tasted blood in her mouth and opened her mouth again before letting the hand drop.


    ¡®Done.¡¯ said Carissa. The blood had tasted off in a way, and the flesh was tough but it proved that her teeth could do the job. The rest of her might have been weakened by the suit, or a combination that reduced her capability for the experiment but her mind and will remained strong.


    Sherry stood there, slightly paled in her face underneath her goggles as she watched Carissa wipe a trace of blood off her mouth and stood back with a bright smile on her face, this time showing all her predatory teeth.


    ¡®Good. Carissa, watch this. I recognise one when I see one, you¡¯re not a killer. Not yet but you have a decent survival instinct. I have three lessons to teach you. Your first lesson is don¡¯t underestimate people. Look at my hand girl.¡¯ said Mike.


    Mike didn¡¯t show any signs of pain or discomfort as he held out his hand in front of her, teeth marks indented within the skin and blood dripping out. His other hand slipped to the wooden club on his belt.


    The broken skin on the hand began to repair itself before her eyes and the blood on the skin was absorbed until the hand showed no signs of damage or injury over the course of tens of seconds. Mike shook his hand and flexed his fingers into an open palm and a closed fist before he flourished it and showed the lack of damage.


    ¡®Lesson one Carissa, Sherry learnt this one early on, didn¡¯t you?¡¯ said Mike.


    Next to him, Sherry shook her head. Her eyes underneath her goggles watching closely at Carrisa reaction. A sound from below the lookout tower of a voice calling out caught their attention.


    ¡®I¡¯m back! Mike? I¡¯m back!¡¯ the voice called out louder this time from down below, near to where Sherry had tied up her own inflatable life raft. ¡®Hello? I¡¯m back!¡¯ came the voice. Feminine but the age was harder to place. Older than herself Carissa considered.


    ¡®A member of our little group had returned. Ideally with good news, if not then at least safe. Sherry, go and ask them to talk to Chas, would you? I need to finish here with Carissa. Don¡¯t look so worried, she won¡¯t die. The system won¡¯t allow it, not at this early stage. I mean she¡¯s practically a newborn baby by the look of her, the fact that she has no starter equipment is odd but the gods have their little games. Pretty sure, she¡¯s not an indigenous either, they wouldn¡¯t be given any of the starter suits, but she is a player. A new one, dangerous perhaps but not more so than anyone else beginning.¡¯ said Mike.


    Seeing Sherry¡¯s hesitance and the voice from below Mike turned towards Sherry and put a firm hand on her shoulder.


    ¡®Sherry, even if you like her, she needs to learn. We all did. You remember how I told you about the old days? How it used to be for the original players? This is the best we can do without a tutorial, I need to her, take care of her. Are we clear on this Sherry? I need to know that you¡¯re on-board with this.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®I don¡¯t like it, Mike. I understand why we have to do this but I don¡¯t like her. She¡¯s beautiful and innocent here. Do we have to do this yet? We could always protect her for a bit longer, she can be a scout or help us out in other ways.¡¯ said Sherry.


    ¡®Not on my main boat. We¡¯re not going down that road, I don¡¯t care how much you¡¯re attracted to her, I¡¯m not accepting anyone to live the life of a slave. Even a pampered one, I need you to go down and make sure that everything is stored away. Check your own provisions while you¡¯re at it, you can even do a full run through of your equipment.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa chose not to interrupt the conversation. She would have been called a wallflower in her previous life, in spite of her status, fame, wealth and derision.


    Her own time, her own research had always been her priority, but it had always annoyed her when people had assumed that she was a highly sociable or desirable person when they met her.


    Worse had been those who had tried to seduce her, the only person that she had ever been with was Liam and that was mainly due to the fact that they had met earlier in university before getting married.


    ¡®Girl, no. Carrisa. I promised you three lessons. Have you worked out the first one yet? Don¡¯t underestimate other people or you¡¯re going to die. Fast. I don¡¯t care how rich or powerful you were on your own planet but here, in this place you need to work harder to survive. Prepare yourself. I¡¯m going to see how you fight.¡¯ said Mike.


    Mike pulled the wooden club front his belt around his waist and held in front of him tensing his body. He drew one foot back and leaned forward with one hand bunched into a first and the other holding the weapon in an attacking position.


    ¡®This might hurt but it won¡¯t kill. Show me what you can do, new player candidate.¡¯ said Mike.

 Chapter 6 – False Tutorial

    The space on top of the makeshift wooden structure was large enough to give a clear view of the surrounding area. Mostly ocean but with various shades of blues and greens in waters around. The structure rocked slightly beneath her feet, not entirely stable but not enough to make her stumble. She had grown up on a houseboat after all.


    A place of refuge in an ocean populated by a total of three people that Carissa had met, one was Sherry, a younger woman than her who liked to talk about herself, a man called Chas wearing a Hawaiian shirt with matching shorts and bare feet who was laid back and said cryptic comments to her that made little sense and the final one was the leader of their small community.


    Mike. He stood in front of her with a wooden club and asking her to take action, to fight. In barefoot, she had a clearer understanding of why Mike, Sherry and Chas all went around without anything on their feet. It enabled them a better grip on the surface.


    Her own suit covered her feet though and had done since she had been pulled out of the water by Sherry. The grip that she felt on the wooden surface was decent besides the dampness.


    ¡®I wanted answers and all of you keep giving me nonsense. Who designed this experiment and how do we leave this place?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    She had prepared her own stance and taken several steps backward from Mike while keeping her own hands out. She willed the suit to cover her bare hands and face once more.


    Her weakness inside her was apparent, she still felt hollowed out and removed.


    ¡®Good, you¡¯re learning. You know how to use the basics of the suit. Not enough though, not enough at all.¡¯ said Mike.


    Mike rushed towards her with the club, without any weapons of her own, Carissa decided to get in close to him and stepped in close grabbing onto his arm to try and block any attacks.


    She immediately regretted it when Mike simply took a single step backwards and smashed the wooden club straight into her ribs on her right. The pain was diminished by the suit but not entirely eliminated.


    Mike reversed his grip on the wooden club and swept under her leg making Carissa stumble and fall to the ground.


    ¡®Second lesson. Stop ignoring system messages. They¡¯re real and can save your life. When was the last time you saw words made of water appear in front of your eyes?¡¯ said Mike.


    Pushing herself back onto her feet Carissa settled into a wrestler¡¯s stance, boxing wasn¡¯t going to work when the man could smash the club into her balled up fist. She needed to get close and take him onto the ground, then she could use fists against him.


    ¡®You¡¯ve had some training, not military but likely private. I don¡¯t recognise the style but I can see the confidence in your posture. If you don¡¯t try and fight then I need to come to you. Which would you prefer Lady Carrisa?¡¯ said Mike.


    Holding the club and patting it lightly in one hand Mike kept his distance from Carissa before he moved forward and slashed the club in her direction making her back off.


    ¡®Getting in close, a good plan but you¡¯re too focused on me and not your environment. This is my main boat. Do you think that I call it that out of a sense of privilege or to indulge my ego?¡¯ said Mike.


    Taking the wooden club Mike slammed it on the floor and stared at Carissa. One of the floor planks from the wooden structure of the lookout tower next to them bent as it loosened, broke off and wrapped itself around Carissa¡¯s ankle. Her movement immediately became restricted in her leg and she resisted the temptation to try and pull it off.


    She remained crouched; hands up ready to charge in. Mike lifted up the wooden club and his posture slacked slightly as he rested the weapon on a shoulder. He took in a deep breath and released it, sighing.


    ¡®Carissa. Do you think you¡¯re in your own reality? You¡¯re not even worth fighting, not because of your physical abilities, or rather the lack of them, but to be honest everything about you is screaming prey to my senses. What¡¯s left of them after arriving to this place.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®I keep hearing various hints and pieces. What is this place? This experiment? Why were we taken here? Why was I taken here?¡¯ questioned Carissa.


    She still circled Mike, keeping a healthy gap beneath herself and him, with one eye on the central lookout tower that lay in the middle of the roof. The wooden plank wrapped around her leg made it difficult to move but she was more concerned about exactly how he did it.


    ¡®That trick with the wood, this whole structure, Sherry, you, it¡¯s all designed to test me, is it? You know who I am and this is some kind of sick game to make me suffer. Did Liam convince you to do this? HOW MUCH WERE YOU PAID FOR THIS? I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!¡¯ shouted out Carissa.


    Mike stopped in his tracks and placed his wooden club back into his belt.


    ¡®.¡­We need a drink. I need a drink. Another crazy one, a bit broken but crazy. I can see that trying to beat some sense into you isn¡¯t going to work. Fine, this is going take some explaining to Sherry but¡­here we go. I¡¯m not trying to hurt you; nobody is trying to hurt you. Well, not here at least. You follow my rules and the rules of the community and we all protect each other.¡¯ said Mike as he rubbed his eyes with both hands.


    Carissa ignored the wood wrapped around her ankle and rushed at Mike, her teeth bared and her hands open as she snarled towards him when he dropped both hands to the floor and the wood beneath her feet peeled up and wrapped around her legs and arms causing her to fall to the floor face first.


    ¡®Lady, I really don¡¯t want to have to silence you or restrict you any more than absolutely necessary. We¡¯re going to sit down and I¡¯ll bring Sherry back and everyone else and we can have a peaceful, meaningful conversation. How does that sound?¡¯ said Mike.


    Her mind had been stretched to her absolute limits; she had lost track of how much time had passed in this place. Carissa did the only thing she was able to do. She sucked in a breath and began to scream.


    ¡®I see. The hard way it is. This is going to hurt a little for both of us. You need to learn your suit can¡¯t protect you from everything. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll reset quickly enough and you won¡¯t drown. Take a deep breath Carissa. It¡¯ll be fine.¡¯ said Mike. A look flashed through his eyes, perhaps sadness.


    The wooden decking beneath Carissa shifted and creaked as it created a hole for her to drop through, taken by surprise her body involuntary took a breath inwards as she went into free-fall and after a few seconds fell into a body of the same sea water in which she had found herself in when she had first arrived with one difference.


    Her restricted movements meant that she was unable to turn around and her screaming had left her mouth wide open to swallow water. The water was deep enough for to sink down into but when had body had fallen sufficiently to the bottom, she was able to make out wooden boards beneath here before she began to rise back to the surface.


    Her skintight suit only responding to her will when she focused on it. Both the shock of the fall, the restriction and the earlier blow from the wooden club had disorientated her enough that she panicked in the moment.


    Carissa involuntary swallowed an amount of the water as a portion went both into her lungs and stomach causing her pain when it combined with the intake of breath she had taken earlier. The grey skin suit refused to respond to her as her mind remained confused, there was a disconnect a part that was refusing to engage.


    Part her training, deep down inside her, reacted and she closed her mouth. Fighting through the impulse to spit the water out of her mouth she forced herself to swallow it before she willed her intent on the skintight suit to close over her face and mouth. This time it responded.


    Carissa remained bound in her fixed position, her legs and arms still wrapped around with wood from the lookout deck but she was able to breath and her eyes were protected. Her body became buoyant as she floated to the surface and she was turned around onto her back as her bindings shifted and lifted up above the water.


    The pool was deep enough that she heard his voice with a slight echo to it, he was above her, high enough up that she couldn¡¯t see him. She didn¡¯t understand how he appeared here so fast but he could have used the same trick as with her.


    The voice of the same man who had tried putting her through a combat assessment before he lost patience and she temporarily lost control of her own emotions.


    ¡®I can¡¯t see you. This place¡­is this a moon pool?¡¯ she asked.


    A deep hole in the bottom of a boat or a research vessel designed for divers to make their way into the water directly and which also provided stability to the boat. One this size also explained why the motion of the main structure wasn¡¯t overly affected by the motion of the waves. The rational part of her mind kicking in, trying to analyse to understand, anything to restrict any further outburst of emotion. It fed her information without her understanding, her mind trying to gauge the size and purpose of this one.


    ¡®Clever guess. Yes, we use it for our essential dives into the ocean. We make a few trips here and there when we need supplies or materials. You¡¯ll find out tomorrow when we¡­well. You appear to have cooled down far faster than I originally anticipated. Interesting.¡¯ said Mike.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡®A moon pool. For trips underneath the surface. But this one is surrounded by wood. Remove my restraints. As relaxing as it is lying on my back, I¡¯d prefer we have a face-to-face conversation. At least let me climb out of here.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®Not my favourite trick to try but you needed to cool down Carissa, badly. I¡¯m not working with many options here. Frankly, we don¡¯t have the facilities or help that you need. You¡¯re either a junkie or something very important to you has been removed. Lying down isn¡¯t helping you. I¡¯ll fix that.¡¯ said Mike.


    He left the edge of her sight and her back was pushed up out of the water as the wooden restraints on her body loosened and drifted away from her body and she found herself able to tread water. Putting her face down she saw nothing below her except wooden boards, deep enough for her to swim down, at least several metres but no sign of an open ocean.


    ¡®No. This doesn¡¯t make any sense. The air pressure means that the moon pool needs to be exposes openly to the water below your boat, not covered with bare wood. This space needs to be an open shaft. You did this?¡¯ questioned Carissa as she treads water and swam her way around the space.


    Several metres wide and far down enough that she could see the ceiling several metres above her head, no signs of any ladders or chains to lower any equipment to the pool from what she could see.


    ¡®Your suit has basic functionality but it¡¯s not designed to protect you in combat between players or much else in this place. In other words, you won¡¯t drown as long it maintains enough cohesive material, take enough treads though and sploosh!¡¯ said Mike as he gestured a mock explosion with his fingers.


    ¡®As for the wet porch, or moon pool as you call it, we don¡¯t want any unwelcome visitors making their way through it and up into the main structure. I told you; this place is more dangerous than you think. As for the air pressure, you¡¯ll find that the water in this place is special. The gods essentially control it. Magic, science or nonsense. Regardless, it works. You had enough of treading water?¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa looked up while treading water and saw his face appear over the edge, arms crossed. He looked down at her, a pitying expression on his face before he ran a hand over the stubble on his head and gestured as a wooden ladder appeared from the sides of the walls.


    ¡®Here you go. Climb up and I promise, no more tricks. I¡¯ll even step back and give you some distance, even make a few chairs so we can have a nice, polite and civil chat.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa heard his footsteps as she gently pushed herself to the ladder, water rapidly drying on her body as she climbed up, one hand and foot on each rung. None were slippery as her covered feet made good purchase on each one.


    Only when she had climbed to the top of the ladder, she could see exactly how far she had dropped and the hole in the ceiling which had vanished as though it had never been there.


    A long drop, at least fifteen metres from the top down into the bottom of the pool. She had been lucky not to have hurt herself on the sides or Mike had planned well for it. Her hands reached onto the ledge and she clambered up and over to see two beautifully decorated chairs further away from the edge.


    Mike pushed one chair away from the other and backed off, both hands up in a universal sign of peace. He gestured towards one chair while taking a seat in the other, crossing a leg over and sitting up straight.


    Carissa took a seat on the other chair. Wary if this was going to be another trick, she managed to shift her own chair further away from the edge of the moon pool, closer towards the wall. The lightness of the wood surprised her but when she took a seat it was more comfortable than she had been anticipating.


    ¡®Chas, you can bring the drinks in now. Take it out of my personal ration allowance this time. She won¡¯t see you as a threat and this young lady needs a calm voice. Chas!¡¯


    Carissa hadn¡¯t noticed the movement, her eyes fixed on the main threat to her, as Chas walked in the room, his movements slow and calm. His previous Hawaiian shirt changed into a brighter yellow one, the expression on his face disinterested.


    Chas plopped himself down on the floor between both chairs and crossed his legs, each hand holding a grey medium sized opaque container.


    He gave Carissa an awkward smile and hand wave. He rocked side to side as though riding a wave.


    She willed the mouth and nose on her suit to peel backwards, but kept her brown-reddish hair covered. Her beautiful hair would remain clean. A comb, she was in desperate need or a comb.


    ¡®Gods will you find your way pretty lady. This place isn¡¯t yours. No peace for you until you find your path. Beauty and power.¡¯ said Chas.


    Shaking his head side to side slowly his messy black hair shook and he settled down both containers to his side before closing his eyes.


    ¡®Great, you know what I don¡¯t need to hear at this moment? More of your cryptic junk. Either let me go or throw me back into the water. I¡¯m done with you, done with this place, done with¡­all this.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She¡¯d met the man before and all he offered her was nonsense. All everyone was offering her was nonsense. No clear answers, no explanations that made sense. All this talk of candidates and players and even gods. Nonsense the lot of it.


    ¡®The gods demand but they give. Transformation is available to those with the power. Beauty and power. You can demand both. Or you can choose the one with the sharpened teeth.¡¯ said Chas.


    ¡®Chas, settle down. You made your point but given that everyone is due to be back here soon we need to resolve this issue before we make a final choice. You know why I built this place and what we stand for. Everything would be a whole lot easier if the tutorial was still functioning but the gods love their little tricks. Mm, Carissa, let me ask you a single question.¡¯


    Mike paused for a moment, he crossed his legs and folded his arms before tilting his head to the side.


    ¡®You can choose to answer me or not but if you answer me honestly, we¡¯re going to sit here, I¡¯m going to drink, you¡¯re welcome to have some if you like and I¡¯ll answer all of your questions. We can even give you some food for your empty stomach. You can deny physical hunger with energy from the suit on but your body is going to need sustenance soon. It¡¯s an aid not a life support device, we know this from experience.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Food. Give me something to eat and I¡¯ll answer. You bring me here, question me, beat me and then you try to torture and shock me? Food first. Fresh. Protein.¡¯ growled Carissa.


    ¡®We¡¯re getting somewhere. Chas, bring me that bucket back there with the fresh squid. It was caught earlier, dead but relatively fresh. Also, you¡¯re going be the one feeding her and don¡¯t give me that look, you could have had the decency to offer her anything to eat or drink. Carissa, don¡¯t try to hurt Chas, he¡¯s harmless if a little mad. He turned up here after a few ordeals more than you did. Also, we have chum water or plain water. Do you have a preference?¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Food and water first. No more talking.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®Chas, just get the bucket and take the chum water bottle. I think the lady here prefers the taste of blood given how she bit into my hand earlier. Doesn¡¯t hurt by the way, all healed up.¡¯ said Mike.


    Opening his eyes slowly, Chas uncrossed his legs and went back into the doorway with a small metal bucket which exuded a strong smell, Carissa knew it well, squid.


    He took one of the grey opaque containers and walked over to her keeping himself at a distance as he pulled out part of a chopped squid and held it close to her mouth.


    Carissa bit into it and let the rest slide deep into her stomach, the water from earlier was still there and she wanted to throw it up and kept biting as she was fed from the bucket by hand until it was finished.


    ¡®Drink.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®The water, it changes and limits. Don¡¯t stay in the water. Your drink.¡¯ said Chas.


    He opened the seal and held it gingerly to her mouth, allowing Carissa to take small gulps of the liquid within. As promised it was a mixture of diluted fish blood and water.


    She hadn¡¯t known how much her body needed the food and drink until her limbs began to ache less and her mood immediately settled down.


    ¡®There we go. Peace, gods be willing that you find your way. This is the start. A full stomach soothes savage tempers.¡¯ said Chas as he recapped the container and picked up the now empty bucket before walking back through the doorway.


    ¡®Stick it back in storage to be cleaned by another member of the group Chas and see if the others have arrived back yet. I need Sherry to stay with them until we¡¯re ready to introduce Carissa to our little clan. But this all depends on her decision; we¡¯re not going to keep her here if she doesn¡¯t want to.¡¯ said Mike.¡¯


    ¡®Empty words from a man who keeps a woman bound against her will after dropping her into a pool of water face first.¡¯ said Carissa.


    As an afterthought she called after Chas as he walked through the same door that he entered.


    ¡®Thank you for the food and drink Chas. That was sweet of you.¡¯ she softly spoke.


    Mike smiled and relaxed in his chair stretching out.


    ¡®You do have manners. And now for my question, it¡¯s really simple and you don¡¯t even have to tell me everything about yourself. A one-word answer. I promise I¡¯ll loosen your restraints and we can have a civilised conversation as long as you don¡¯t try to attack me. Even answer your questions and give you answers that you never knew you wanted. Good deal, right?¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa hardened her features. Her stomach and thirst were quenched and while the mixture of the ocean water was causing her stomach some discomfort, she was sure it would pass.


    ¡®I have my own question first.¡¯ she asked.


    Mike nodded his head.


    ¡®Always the same, every single candidate who wears that suit and turns up here asks me the same question after we feed them. Your waste and urine are processed by the suit and released as the same ocean water surrounding us. A good way to avoid detection by predators, I don¡¯t know how it works only that it does. Some of us prefer the old-fashioned ways though, best way to secure decent fertilizer and¡­we¡¯re wasting time. I¡¯m going to cut to it and ask you outright. What¡¯s the name of the planet where you came from?¡¯


    Carissa was confused. Out of all the questions that she had anticipated, this wasn¡¯t one of them. Her hands tightened their grip on the chair handles beneath her.


    ¡®Excuse me?¡¯ she asked.


    ¡®.¡­Carissa, what is the name of the planet you came from?¡¯ asked Mike. He rested a hand on his head as though he was tired and he squeezed his eyelids tightly for a second.


    ¡®Bephus. I¡¯m from Bephus. Why, what planet are you from?¡¯ replied Carissa.


    ¡®...Earth.¡¯ said Mike. His features saddened slightly.

 Chapter 7 – Vitamin Sea

    ¡®I hoped but. Forget it. Bephus¡­.Bephus¡­hmm. Familiar. We¡¯ve got all kinds of people from all kinds of places who wash up on this planet. You¡¯re from a planet called Bephus and I¡¯m from a planet called Earth. And we end up with the third lesson which I was trying to teach you before you had a complete breakdown. Not all your fault though, I pushed you too hard. A problem of mine, I push people beyond their limits early on.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Earth? What planet is Earth?¡¯ asked Carissa as her brain tried to catch up with the conversation.


    Experiment or not, she would be better served to buy into his words during this place and time rather than fight. At least for now. She would need to verify this with other people.


    Liam would have called her naive but he had always appreciated her ability to both imagine and adapt to circumstances. She¡¯d try her best.


    ¡®We¡¯re on another planet. And you expect me to take this at face value? Sorry if I don¡¯t implicitly trust your words after all of your actions. I won¡¯t fight or scream but I need to verify this, to understand it better before I can accept. I was a scientist once and not a trusting one at that. Do you get my point Mike?¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®An understandable one but still¡­the third lesson is that this isn¡¯t your reality. Not your planet, not your plane of existence, not an experiment by a bunch of rich people with nothing better to do then make people suffer. Earth is my home planet, got an ocean much as yours does I imagine. Except for the clone slave batches privately owned by companies. Surprised they never got together and decided to change the name of the planet in the name of capital flows¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Earth? Not Bephus?¡¯ Carissa questioned.


    ¡®Both have oceans. Try to imagine something different, there are a bunch of gods. Can you imagine that? Beings of power and ability who get bored one day, a whole load of them who are supposed water or ocean related gods decide to begin flooding planets for the purposes of a game. The winner becomes another god. Or you can get be a runner-up and become a demi-god. Those are real by the way. Dangerous and you need to stay far, far away from them until you get strong enough.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Gods¡­ocean gods¡­this is a game? They flooded an entire world for a game?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    ¡®In short yes, they designed it and normally you¡¯d have a tutorial stage and everything but something went wrong. They got bored and all the original players died out or were transformed into demi-gods. In short, they upped the difficulty level. The system which they designed was¡­altered in some way. I¡¯m not clear on it, I heard all of this from one of the original players. A survivor. This guy survived to a high point in the game but refused to become a demi-god so they sort of left him alone. You might even meet the guy later, he¡¯s immortal. Sort-of. Loves sharks.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®No. This is a lie, a fabrication, you¡¯re¡­¡¯ started Carissa before they were interrupted by the voice of Sherry calling through the doorway.


    ¡®Mike, everyone is back. Did you find out where Carissa is from so I can share it with everyone? She could meet someone from her own reality. They could help her.¡¯ said Sherry.


    Mike turned his head back from his chair and shouted back through the doorway.


    ¡®Bephus. She¡¯s from somewhere called Bephus. The name sounds familiar to me so share it around with the others. No, wait. Hold off on that, Carissa needs her own privacy. She can share when fully prepared. None of them listen, they need to listen and understand but none of them do. This one is no different to any others. Carissa. Focus on me. Damn it.¡¯


    He refocused his attention on Carissa. Her attention began to break down as she absorbed the words he spoke so casually. The scientist part of her wanted evidence, trial and error but the part of her who had was in the process of being transformed into a new being rejoiced at the news. It felt opportunity.


    Against her own will, Carissa¡¯s tongue ran over her sharpened teeth. Hunger ran through her body. She struggled to gain conscious hold over her actions, forcing herself to listen to the spoken words of this man who was either mad, an actor or telling the complete truth to a stranger whom he barely knew.


    ¡®You need to listen to me carefully. This place is real, we¡¯re living in a world flooded by gods who want us to play a game and win. There are supports for players in the device called system but there is another way. You don¡¯t need to play to win. There are gates, ocean gateways which were used to flood the world. Reverse or destroy them and the gods lose their power. Bear in mind that this is only what one of the original players told me. Are you following me? I can call in everyone else if you need to accept this as reality. Or you¡¯re welcome to go out on an inflatable raft with Sherry and find out the truth.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®I¡¯m supposed to accept this? You abuse me, restrict me and I¡¯m your guest in a chair next to a moon pool. I appreciate your best efforts but you need to explain more or this conversation is finished.¡¯ replied Carissa.


    The wooden structure around them creaked and swayed gently and Mike touched the wooden floor that he was sitting on as he leaned down in his chair. The doorway in which Chas had passed through closed as a door swung shut.


    ¡®A guest without restriction. I think that we¡¯ve been more than reasonable up to this point. Sherry rescued you from the ocean and we¡¯ve invited you here without requesting anything in return. Not even a promise to work for us but an opportunity to put skills to short, the test. Last chance, you shut up and listen or you can stand up from that chair, jump back into that pool and go straight through the bottom of my craft into the open ocean. You¡¯ll survive for a while with your new suit and find another group or not. The only reason that I¡¯ve tolerated you up to now is the fact that we¡¯ve all been there and without a tutorial we¡¯re trying our best to help others to survive. Agree or don¡¯t. Make a decision Carissa.¡¯


    Given her circumstances Carissa decided to take the survival decision. This was it, Her new reality then. A drowned world with so-called gods and their own game. She would have to learn how to adapt, to restore herself and become the one object of true beauty she wanted. Her implants and other physical modifications were damaged, the words she had seen in front of her eyes what seemed like days ago made clearer sense.


    By using internal enhancements, she was breaking the rules of the game. Using a form of hydro kinesis of her own design with her physical abilities boosted beyond human levels would put here above a large number of other starting players.


    The answer to make it fair was simple in her case, she was punished by having them disabled and not being provided basic survival equipment.


    From what she had seen of Mike having the ability to control the surrounding wooden structure with his bare hands, magic was a possibility here, which meant that mermaids could be real. The chairs, the ladder, the hole in the floor. All of it obeyed him.


    ¡®Your ability, to control the wood of this ship when you touch it with your hands. Is that magic? An ability of a player in this flooded game world? A water god provided it to you when you prayed? Is that how it works?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    ¡®You know Carissa, when you ask another player for direct information about their abilities you¡¯re going to find a hostile reception. I¡¯d also keep your own close to your chest, having secrets means power in this place. I myself am vaguely aware of the powers of those around me. But my abilities are related to three things, this boat and community, control of the wooden structure and the ability to find more wood to add to it. A god provided the electrical power¡­in a way.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Driftwood. You can control driftwood. Or you can use it to build.¡¯ said Carissa.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    She allowed herself to relax a little in the chair.


    ¡®To a degree. Usually, the stuff is so contaminated that it¡¯s not fit to use but in this place the rules are a little different. I¡¯m able to have a steady flow to build and repair as it flows on the oceans towards me, not enough as I¡¯d like but the whims of the gods are fickle. They have all the power unless a player was to eventually join their ranks and change their minds. We¡¯re getting beside the point here. I need you to stop ignoring the system, accept the messages and the slight pull in your mind. The brain...undergoes a few changes when you first arrive here. You lot are far luckier than me and my original crew were though. Less pain.¡¯ said Mike.


    With a little concentration Carissa acknowledged the tug on the edge of her mind, she had been fighting against it unconsciously, either out of shock or anger but when she allowed it the familiar words made of water appeared in front of her eyes. The text had changed, barely.


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402 you have been provided with randomly chosen basic starter equipment.


    -Warning: Due to Illegal Body Modification (Disabled) basic starter equipment removed.


    -You are status: Player-Candidate


    -First Goal: Survive for 7 hours.


    -Bonus Goal: Find other Starter Candidates and Survive as a group for 7 hours


    -Reward: Basic bone-based weapon, Fishing Line, Bonus Goal: Harpoon with Leash, additional HTS mode enabled for Player-Candidate 5428119402. Carissa. You need to live to meet me. A friend.]


    The last portion of the message was odd, given how Mike was looking at her with a thoughtful gaze as her eyes effectively read invisible message to his eyes, she was showing visible physical signs of reading the text. Even if it was only inside her own brain.


    ¡®...Can you read the message? Does it become visible to you? Do I need to find a way to block other people from reading these¡­system messages from this game of gods?¡¯ questioned Carissa.


    Mike shook his head gently; a sad smile came across his face.


    ¡®Carissa, I¡¯ve been here for a long, long time. I¡¯m an old man. Older than you would believe. The game doesn¡¯t change, not in these early stages, there are variations yes but the essentials are the same. I could even read it out mostly word for word. The Ocean Gateway system is a tool of the water gods. There are stages involved, the first is when you click on the floating icon that drags you to this place, it offers opportunity and adventure and most press without thinking. Given that you¡¯ve already located fellow survivors or candidates you¡¯re on a countdown to acquire a bone weapon. Am I close?¡¯


    The last part of the message was odd, it addressed her directly and although Mike had been rough and abrupt he hadn¡¯t actively tried to hurt her.


    ¡®Mike, you said that there are variations from this¡­Ocean Gateway. Does that include personal messages directly to players?¡¯


    Frowning, Mike sat back in his wooden seat, relaxed and placed both hands behind his back before clicking his tongue a few times.


    ¡®No. Not unless¡­. no. I¡¯m not going into that. I¡¯m sorry, I promised answers. I can tell you this, the Drowned gods are varied and choose their own champions, eventually. You¡¯d be surprised at what tricks they can do when inclined, the demi-gods are pure examples of that. Dreams turned reality. Messy though from what I¡¯ve heard. What you most wish for granted reality doesn¡¯t always turn out well. All of them are highly dangerous though, at this point you¡¯d be dead within seconds trying to fight one. I¡¯m getting off track here, personal messages to players are entirely personal. I¡¯d advise not sharing that information with others, not even those you can trust. Yet.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa frowned. She had seen messages previously but had assumed that it was the work of the suit using an augmented reality overlay on her eyes. Part of an experiment. She hadn¡¯t been wrong; it was just that the experiment was a game by gods. Insane gods of the ocean.


    She raised her gaze towards Mike. Willing the suit to retract further, this time it responded flowing back over the surfaces of her skin so it only covered her torso and lower body, her legs and arms were exposed as was her face, nose and hair.


    ¡®I had a dream once. A purpose to become something more beautiful than anything and live a life of total freedom. Do you think that using the magic of the gods it¡¯s possible?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    Mike sat back on his chair and rubbed his chin with one hand.


    ¡®Freedom¡­in this place you need power. Would you like to know where we are presently? I mean the location in this game of the gods, not my own attempt at a refuge for players lacking tutorials.¡¯ Mike said.


    Carissa frowned. She ran a hand through her long reddish-hair, not all of her genetic alterations failed given her glossy hair had barely any impact from being soaked in the water or either via the suit.


    She recalled that Mike had demanded her to bite her hand.


    ¡®Your hand, it healed. I knew I drew blood with my teeth and it healed almost instantly, the blood never flowed out of here.¡¯ she said.


    Mike smiled and held up his hand.


    ¡®Still hurt though. Remember that I told you that we¡¯re mostly human here. I don¡¯t think the ocean gods want pure baseline humans in their game, at least not only them, they like to mix things up a little. Hi, I¡¯m Mike, a genetically modified slave caste from Earth. Designed to operate on the ocean for extended periods of time, don¡¯t get hungry or thirsty, no sunburn and my wounds heal quickly. But a lot of the good stuff was taken out of me, my technological mount was removed along with a few others pieces. The gods don¡¯t want anyone having an easy ride. Believe me, you¡¯re lucky that Sherry picked you up when she did. Some of the encounters in this place are bad, a few of the inhabitants even worse. We need to eat now, that¡¯s enough time chatting.¡¯ said Mike.


    Mike held both hands up in an attempt to placate her.


    ¡®All we¡¯re trying to do is give you what the non-existent tutorial should have given you. A stable place to recover, learn how to use a few skills and then you make your choices. In return you offer your support and class abilities to us for a relatively short time.¡¯


    Carissa had a puzzled expression on her face as she ran her fingers through her hair. She¡¯d need a comb, a decent one to undo any tangles. The alterations should have stopped it but combing her own hair would relax her.


    ¡®I don¡¯t understand your kindness but I¡¯ll accept your terms. Are you planning on feeding me bloodied water and raw seafood again?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    ¡®Forgive me, but I don¡¯t think I want to keep sitting in your chair of exile. Time to meet the rest of your community.¡¯ she stated with hands on her hips.


    She¡¯d had enough questions that hadn¡¯t been answered but they would over time, she¡¯d need to adjust herself to this new reality, this new place. She stood up and made herself over to the closed door.


    ¡®Great, follow me. And give yourself time to adjust, everyone sinks the first time. As long as you remember that I can only offer you support and guidance, danger is going to exist no matter what I want.¡¯ said Mike.


    He stood up and squatted down, placing both hands on the ground and both chairs receded back into the wooden driftwood floor. The wooden club on his makeshift belt shifting as his movement.


    ¡®Your sharp teeth. They¡¯re not standard design on your world are they? I was altered before I was even grown, you¡¯ve got a similar look as one who was generated. I hope your Master or Mistress didn¡¯t get angry at their loss. I¡¯m going to introduce you to the rest of my community and we¡¯re not going to have any more conflict, are we? At least, not the physical kind. Everyone else has player status unless they¡¯re new born like yourself so my advice is not to get involved.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa decided not to respond, she had enough to digest in her own thoughts and letting her emotions settle a bit would help her mind clear up. The room itself that she first been dropped into the water was bare in nature, the moon pool in the middle had been large enough to fit far more than her. Perhaps it would give a chance to explore, to research and discover more in this new world from a position of relative safety.


    As Mike opened the closed door and stepped through Carissa heard voices up ahead, following him, she heard the voices of Sherry and Chas which she recognised but several others she didn¡¯t.


    Putting a bright smile on her face without showing too much of her teeth and ensuring that her hair was flowing behind her she walked to meet the rest of the inhabitants on this floating driftwood boat.

 Chapter 8 – Betrayer of Worlds

    The wooden doors were inlaid with different patterns, each one with seashells, rocks, polished colourful stones and random broken parts of sea creatures which Carissa failed to recognise. Each door had the same type of wooden, identical to her eye.


    Each door that she had seen was closed, barring her vision of what lay inside. The open doorway behind her had rippled as a door that had disguised its surface ripped and closed the open doorway.


    Farewell to the torture and exile room.


    He¡¯d never threatened her with it, not directly as in he¡¯d carry it out if she failed to follow his instructions Mike would remove the wooden boards remove, drop her directly into the waiting ocean and let the currents wash her away, the same as he would with any other detritus.


    The main part which Carissa didn¡¯t understand was why the leader Mike was giving her more than enough opportunities to survive and learn. She had little to offer, and even if she did have basic starter equipment, he was a player with abilities far beyond her own. He surely had enough gear of his own that having hers meant little. All of this had to do with the lack of a tutorial but he was still out to give her a degree of basic protection and training.


    But the way in which he had beaten her earlier and taken action without pause made her understand that he was a leader to deal with the rest of their threats.


    ¡®.¡­Carissa? You still with me? I asked if you had any thoughts about the doors. Not the style that I preferred but it¡¯s a solution that we came up with over the years. Can¡¯t raid a castle easily if you have no idea where everything is stored. At least weapons and protection equipment wise, good deterrent for raiders and pirates. We do have limited protection within this region, in no way it¡¯s as bad as the others, but it pays off being careful.¡¯ asked Mike as he strode ahead of her, taking his time to place a hand on the driftwood walls occasionally.


    ¡®.¡­I¡¯m sorry, I wasn¡¯t paying attention. The part when you had me trapped underwater against my will after beating me around trying to gauge my capabilities as a fantasy player in a game took a little energy out of me. Oh, and the makeshift interrogation on your chair of exile added to the flavour. All of this after you promised me answers.¡¯ said Carissa, pausing in following Mike.


    Despite just leaving the doorway behind her, once the opening had closed the rest of the inside of the structure was the same style. They could have walked in a full circle and she wouldn¡¯t have known. Brushing a hand through her hair she stopped walking and corrected her posture, standing straight.


    An ache came into her brain as images made of flowing water filled her vision. Carissa stopped herself putting a hand to the side of the wall and tried her best to look through the words, to focus her attention on Mike and prove her own point.


    The message continued, words demanding her attention and understanding.


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402 you have been provided with randomly chosen basic starter equipment.


    -Warning: Due to Illegal Body Modification (Disabled) basic starter equipment removed.


    -You are status: Player-Candidate


    -First Goal: Survive for 6 hours.


    -Bonus Goal: Removed due to Candidate Penalties.


    -Reward: Basic bone-based weapon, Fishing Line, Bonus Goal: Harpoon with Leash, additional HTS mode enabled for Player-Candidate 5428119402. Carissa. Follow him.]


    The words were different again with another personal message directly put at her. Either there was someone who had hijacked the Ocean Gateway System a was directly targeting her or she was the chosen of a god. Either way she didn¡¯t care much and shrugged her shoulders, she was getting to grips with the language that was spoken her easily enough.


    ¡®Ocean Gateway system message, reminder to survive for six hours for a reward.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Her hands playing with her long hair before she flicked it behind her, letting it flow behind her back. She¡¯d tie it up or cut it short.


    Mike gave her a strange look before he shrugged his own shoulders and began walking again. This time keeping one hand on the wooden club on his belt and trailing another barely touching the walls with his fingers.


    After another two metres he stopped in front of another door. This one a similar style and design as the rest except for one difference. There were voices from within, Carissa recognised two of them as Sherry and Chas. One was busy chatting and the other was slower, minimum. The other voices she didn¡¯t recognise. Male, female any. It didn¡¯t matter.


    Waiting around wasn¡¯t going to solve anything. Carissa pushed in front of Mike and knocked on the door, loudly and the voices within stopped.


    ¡®...We have a rule. One single rule. And you just broke it. Joking, joking. Please enter freely. The rest of our little crew is happy to meet you and while our numbers do vary at least you¡¯ve already met the main three.¡¯ said Mike.


    He gestured with his hand as Carissa pushed open the door to find a larger room than she had been expecting with a large table bench with rows of chairs on each side, a kitchen or food preparation area and a table large set with metal plates, cutlery, jugs and various dishes and drinks set in front.


    Smaller plates of what looked to her eyes made of carved bone held a variety of snacks including eyeballs of various sea creatures. A figure worked down the end at the kitchen but was facing away from her and all she saw was a shimmering blue robe and an apron along with tied back brown hair.


    Likely Chas but harder to tell from the back as she couldn¡¯t tell easily without getting closer and her own senses told her that she needed sustenance. Barely holding in her own saliva at the sight of freshly prepared food she stepped into the room.


    The smell drew her in, hot cooked food was always a salve to those in survival situations and eating it would boost her mentally and physically.


    ¡®Please, take a seat. We can do the introductions when we¡¯re eating and drinking. I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to find any more new candidates today.¡¯ said Mike as he positioned himself on the inner side of the doorway.


    He busied himself closing the door behind him and running his bare hands over it before he took a seat at the head of the table and took a larger metal plate and a jug for himself, eating and drinking without making additional conversation.


    The table had several more people than Carissa had originally been expecting, two of them she knew, Chas giving her a nod and sitting opposite him was Sherry who gave her a small smile and a wave before reaching out for more snacks to put on her own plate.


    Sitting next to her was a middle-aged man with balding hair and a slight paunch who was shaking in his seat as he kept talking to Sherry. He wore the same suit as hers, just as new without any signs of damage and a standard backpack covered in wave and turtle patterns.


    Carissa heard his conversation briefly before she took in the rest of the room, his voice was loud enough to hear over the rest of the conversations. Sherry just nodded her head and patted the man on the shoulder, her clear dislike for his attention on her face.


    ¡®.¡­What about the voices? I know I¡¯m not crazy but it¡¯s hard to ignore what we can see in front of our eyes. Everyone else has heard them, right? I¡¯m not the only one having a breakdown in front of complete strangers? Please, tell me I¡¯m not. Please¡­. I¡­I¡­¡¯ said the man as he sucked in a deep breath when he saw Carissa enter the room.


    Either he was taken aback from her appearance or he was surprised to see another person dressed the same as him. Carissa had little interest in the man personally, the fact that he had the same suit as her and a backpack simply meant that he was another candidate, one more unwilling player in this game of the gods. His skin was oddly pale though, not that she wanted to ask him directly.


    Inwardly sighing, Carissa took a seat. Although she had attended enough social functions in her own world, she had wanted freedom from the responsibility from them. To focus on her own life and her own dreams of becoming a true mermaid. For now, she would follow basic etiquette and manners, sitting next to either Chas or Sherry would mean that she would show herself to be familiar with only those she knew.


    Being expressive and sociable was another weapon in her toolbox, the ability to make connections and friendly relationships always came easier if you acted with confidence and had a good-looking physical appearance. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    She took a seat next to a woman wearing the same type of suit with extra clothing covering her body and a calmer appearance on her face.


    There was no backpack of other equipment with her and she wore a flowery pink t-shirt on with pink dolphins on the front along with a pair of shorts. Her feet were bare. She had shorter blond hair and a heavier muscular build than Carissa.


    ¡®I¡¯m taking a seat here. Nice to meet everyone, I¡¯m Carissa. You OK with me taking a seat here? From the looks of it, we¡¯ve got plenty of space and not enough to fill it up!¡¯ Practising her own heavily weakened own sense of humour, Carissa chuckled lightly as she took her own bone plate and filled it up with several of the snacks.


    She tried an eyeball first, enjoying the spiced flavour as it popped inside her mouth, the juices running down her throat and into her waiting stomach. The earlier meal of fresh squid and mixed blood and water having settled and mixed entire with the ocean water she had swallowed.


    Mike had told her that the suit made it easier to relieve yourself and would process waste so she had already tried earlier when they had been walking to this room. Not the most comfortable impression but efficient enough for an emergency, once she had eaten and drunk more, she¡¯d ask to use their bathroom facilities such as they were.


    Piling more snacks on her plate she reached for a piece of freshly roasted fish when the woman sitting next to her gripped her own outstretched hand and turned her face towards Carissa.


    A frown formed on Carissa¡¯s face and she focused on making the suit flow outwards again to protect her own skin from the grip of the other woman but her stomach growled with additional hunger stopping her mental action.


    She¡¯d already had a decent dose of conflict and been warned by Mike that she needed to be more aware of directly fighting against other players unless she was confident in her own skills and experience.


    Carissa turned her head and flashed a smile barely showing her teeth when she saw the face of the other woman blank over and her eyes dulled. This must have been how Mike had seen her own features when she had received a message from the Ocean Gateway system.


    Either that, or the woman was having a medical emergency or had been poisoned and was having a reaction. The food wasn¡¯t going to cause serious harm to her own constitution, altered as it was.


    Eating raw fish and drinking watered down sea creature blood had little effect either, although Carissa still wasn¡¯t sure if it was her own body giving the protection or the suit.


    ¡®Excuse me, you¡¯re holding onto my arm. Is the fish dangerous to eat or do we have another problem here?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    The features of the woman¡¯s face twitched as her eyes shifted and she let go of Carissa¡¯s arm before she turned towards Mike sitting at the top of the table and crossed her arms.


    ¡®Mike. We have an issue here. This woman, this¡­figure. You can¡¯t trust her. I¡¯ve received my own message from the Ocean Gateway system. Also, I know her, she¡¯s from my planet. Bephus. My home reality. She¡¯s a bad person. Close to being a criminal except everyone said she died. Or at least her poor ex-husband did. Such a lovely man. Tricked by a complete cow. I heard she had links with the Tourism Board.¡¯ said the woman as she made a gesture with her hands.


    His face partially stuffed with food, Mike took a metal jug with two hands and poured it into his mouth before he wiped his face clean with one rough skinned hand.


    ¡®I know Bonnie. She told me she¡¯s from Bephus Once, just once, I¡¯d like someone else to come from Earth. It¡¯d make my pop culture references easier to understand. Bonnie, we stick to our rules here. This is a safe haven for tutorial of new players and we don¡¯t start physical fights. Either of you wants to leave this place and find your way to a Floating City then go for it but don¡¯t push it here. You¡¯d have to find your own way deep below or be forcefully dragged. I wouldn¡¯t wish that on a new Player Candidate.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®I can appreciate that you found me and what your goals are but even with your strict training I¡¯m telling you that you don¡¯t want this woman here. She¡¯s a threat and completely insane. There were rumours spreading about her and her worthless husband, what she did with all the money she made, experiments on herself, trying to become a sea monster. She¡¯s insane. Evil and greedy. The woman is pure evil. You need to make her leave. I hate her.¡¯ said the woman as she crossed her arms and ignored Carissa.


    Mike pulled another metal jug and took a deep drink, this time breathing out hard as one hand patted his stomach in satisfaction.


    ¡®Sherry, Chas, you see this why I keep needed to have a strong drink with a little extra added. We work and work and nothing is appreciated. Bonnie, she¡¯s not an issue right now. Focus on your own training and class choices, then you need to level up and make your own choices. This is a community meal, we come here to eat, drink and have a chat. Bonnie, keep it calm. Sherry is there to listen you but she¡¯s still a human being. You can come and talk to me after we finish eating but keep it calm. Direk, the food isn¡¯t bad right? Meet Carissa, another new candidate, same as you. Mostly. Got her own message which she clicked on before she ended up in this place I bet.¡¯ said Mike.


    The man sitting next to Sherry had been nervously picking at his food, taking small bites and then putting the leftovers onto a larger plate next to him. He had several eyeballs on his plate left entirely untouched and a plastic cup next to him.


    ¡®Wait, you¡¯re talking about auditory hallucinations, right? Messages which only you can see? I¡¯m not crazy. Wait, are you talking about her?¡¯ said the man as he pointed towards Bonnie.


    Shaking her head she tightened her crossed arms and tilted her shoulder towards Carissa sitting next to her.


    ¡®No. And shut up about how you¡¯re suffering a nervous breakdown. Go and cry in your room again and shut the door. None of us want to keep hearing your nonsense. This woman is a direct threat to our immediate safety, she¡¯s not crazy like you, she¡¯s insane.¡¯ said the woman.


    Carissa, having listened to the woman constantly deriding her and then further insulting the other new candidate, who even if he was weak, didn¡¯t deserve her scorn stood up. Swallowing the food inside her mouth gulping it down her throat she turned her attention in the direction of Sherry and Chas.


    ¡®Excuse me. My name is Carissa. If you don¡¯t need me here then I¡¯ll leave. Sink or swim. This place is a joke. An experiment. I wasn¡¯t expecting one of you to be here, one of the radicals who blame me for all my actions. The oceans of our planet are clean once again. And we¡¯re done with this conversation. Thanks for the food and the rescue. I can find my own answers.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She hadn¡¯t expected Sherry to come to her immediate rescue but she failed to mention a single word, just putting her hand on shoulder of the man sitting next to her and pushing him back into his seat. She whispered to him with a cupped hand before making a hand gesture towards Mike.


    ¡®We¡¯re done here then. Finish your food and head to your room, either myself, Chas or Sherry will show to you to your lodgings. Bonnie, you know the rules, no leaving your room unless essential and one of us will be in the next room along if you need help.¡¯ said Mike as he also stood up.


    ¡®I don¡¯t say this often enough but nobody listens. I tell you how dangerous this place is and all you do is fight, scream or keep talking about how this reality is false. Chas, take care of Bonnie, Sherry, you go with Direk and make sure he calms down enough to get some rest. I¡¯ll take Carissa to her quarters. Oh, and since we¡¯re all here a gift is in order. Welcome to the flooded game of the gods, a token of our appreciation for your continued survival. Sell it, break it or use it. The Ocean Gateway system will identify it for you.¡¯ said Mike.


    Stooping down he reached his arms under the table and came up with three small wooden dolls, each carved in the likeness of the three player candidates.


    ¡®Catch or don¡¯t my little newborn players.¡¯ he threw them in turn and they landed on the table neatly in front of Carissa, Direk and Bonnie.


    Picking hers up immediately to study its Carissa received a mild headache and another message, this time a mixture of driftwood and water effects.


    [Player-Candidate Designate: Carissa.


    Tool Received from Player: Mike


    -Second-Life Statuette


    -Will absorb significant physical/mental damage.


    -Single Usage only.


    -Self-Destruction Upon Usage.


    -Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.]


    No personal messages this time.


    ¡®Thanks for the gift. Do these quarters have locks on the inside? I¡¯m asking for the sake of our personal safety. Also, not in the mood for anything else.¡¯ said Carissa.


    The small statuette shrunk slightly and wrapped a bracelet around her wrist, hanging off securely.


    Waving a hand, Mike dismissed her attempt at a joke.


    ¡®Yes. They lock on the inside and you have my word that you won¡¯t be disturbed. None of you will. When the two of you finish your food follow Sherry and Chas, they know the way. Carissa, with me please. We¡¯re leaving first to avoid any¡­complications with your friend from the same reality.¡¯ said Mike.


    Chas and Sherry agreed. Given that he hadn¡¯t said a single word during the entire time Carissa was wondering how he would communicate with the woman called Bonnie but given her temperament he might have been smarter to keep his mouth shut.


    Sherry gave her full attention towards the man called Direk as she shifted closer along her seat to him and gave him a shoulder massage which raised a surprised eyebrow from Carissa.


    The woman wanted contact with someone and likely she had been put off due to the actions of Carissa. Not that she was interested in that way to begin with. Or she other plans.


    None of my business as long as they don''t try to drown me when I''m asleep.


    Rather than talking she grabbed a jug of her own off the table and poured the contents into her mouth much as Mike had, the strong alcoholic liquid within burning her throat as it went into her stomach.


    ¡®Time for bed. Good night, everyone.¡¯ said Carissa with a smile and her own casual wave as she followed Mike out of the community eating room. She didn¡¯t wait for a verbal reply or care to listen to empty conversation any further.

 Chapter 9 – Hidden Friends Sink Deep

    The walk itself had been surprisingly short, even more so than when they had initially left the interrogation and exile room. The pattern of this place confused her senses though, each door was similar yet slightly different with no signs or words describing which each room was.


    As she walked, the wooden floor softened under her own feet, that or the high-quality alcohol that was entering her bloodstream was affecting her own judgement. She was more. relaxed at least.


    The food had been fresh and hot and filled her stomach and despite the outburst from the short-haired blonde woman called Bonnie and the nervous wreck calling himself Direk expressing his own clear psychological fears it had been nice to eat in the company of other humans.


    Suddenly, Mike stopped in front of a door, much the same as all the others. Carissa had been certain that they had walked all of five metres of less before stopping but the passageway was different in a way. Not familiar to her. The wooden ceiling above her head and floor below her feet bare and plain.


    ¡®It¡¯s one of my little tricks if you¡¯re wondering¡¯ said Mike as he pushed open the door to reveal a well-lit room with a single bed, glowing organic style bulb on the ceiling and a wooden chest next to it.


    A smaller enclosed area held a stand-up shower and toilet from what Carissa could see. A basic type of room, but she had been raised on a house boat and was used to the smaller space.


    ¡®All yours, a wooden space of her own, don¡¯t worry, the mattress and pillow are sponge and the sheets are freshly produced. We destroy them each day and grow new ones. Also, got your own shower and toilet, small though but it should suffice. The door locks from the inside and either I or the others enter only in an extreme emergency.¡¯ said Mike.


    Carissa stayed by the doorway as she listened to him talk further. She¡¯d go in on her terms once he stepped away rather than risk being locked inside against her will.


    ¡®Don¡¯t want any more conversation? I don¡¯t blame you, if I met someone from Earth, depending on their economic level they¡¯d have a few choice words for me. Think I was a genetic servant for them to boss around or worse, act as their bodyguard. Here, in this place we¡¯re all in danger but it also brings us a type of freedom of our own. Do you understand that?¡¯ said Mike as he leaned back on the opposite wall from the open door.


    ¡®I would prefer to be left alone if possible but more information is always welcome until we go our separate ways.¡¯ said Carissa.


    She had one foot inside the door and the other outside so she could make sure that the door opened and closed under her own control and not others. The day had been tiring enough on her body and mind already.


    ¡®I¡¯ll give you a breakdown, this place is technically owned by me but also according to the whims of the gods. We¡¯ve suffered raids before even though we¡¯re only a small community and the structure is constantly altering itself and rearranging. I think you¡¯ve had enough conversation, unless you¡¯d like to talk directly to Chas and Sherry, I think would prefer to be matched with you personally but she needs to take care of that other candidate at the moment. All of this, is part of the makeshift tutorial that we can come up with.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®And I¡¯ve just told you that I want to be left alone. If I had a weapon for self-protection, it would be a different matter. You¡¯re expecting me to go into a room and not be able to keep myself safe in case someone decides to break in or drops me into the water. That isn¡¯t a bedroom, more of a trap.¡¯ said Carissa.


    ¡®Concentrate on your messages. You should be receiving one any second. Time inside this little community of ours tend to flow a little faster than most new players are aware of. The item I gave you will keep you safe in an emergency but check your own messages and check that chest by the bed. A bit of paranoia is healthy here, too much and you¡¯ll be scared to leave your room. I won¡¯t move an inch from this spot. Here, my hands are up.¡¯ said Mike.


    Holding both hands in front of him he leaned back against the wooden wall, a sad smile on his face told Carissa that he had done this before with other candidates he guessed. How many, she¡¯d never know unless he told her.


    ¡®Don¡¯t move.¡¯ she muttered as she focused her attention on the Ocean Gateway system messages.


    [Player-Candidate Designate: Carissa


    -(Classless)


    -First Goal Achieved! Survive for 7 hours.


    -Bonus Goal Achieved! Find other Starter Candidates and Survive as a group for 7 hours


    -Reward Accessible in Nearest Storage Area: Random Basic bone-based weapon, fishing line, Bonus Goal: Removed due to strict limits on Player Candidate.]


    No personal messages directed towards her again. Not that she was overly surprised, given how the man had been talking about hallucinations in that dining area she was aware that humans always tried to find connections even when none in fact existed.


    ¡®Good, you¡¯ve passed the first hurdle. No, I can¡¯t read your messages but I¡¯ve been through these enough times to guess what yo-¡¯. Mike stopped mid-sentence, his face frowning as his eyes flickered and he received his own message.


    ¡®Fine. I¡¯ve been¡­instructed that you need to check out the box in your room as it¡¯s filled with a few more items which you were cheated out of. Apparently. Please don¡¯t ask for more details. I¡¯m here to do my job and keep this micro-community secure. See you for breakfast, I¡¯ll be outside waiting when you¡¯re dressed and ready to go.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®Wait!¡¯ said Carissa, her voice hurried.


    ¡®Lady, I¡¯ve had an extremely exhausting day and I¡¯m an old man. I¡¯d like to take my hands down if you¡¯re secure. Answers, questions, conflict, how about you let me go my room which is next to yours and we call it a night? Get a decent sleep and then breakfast, I need to go and brief Sherry and Chas before my work is done.¡¯ said Mike.


    ¡®One last question. Please.¡¯ Urged Carissa.


    ¡®Yes, the toilet works and the shower is fresh. A change of clothes is provided in the storage next to your bed. I don¡¯t choose them, Chas does. If you want to remove your suit and I highly recommend you don¡¯t, then you can get changed. Or just wear them on top of the suit, it should fit to the skin from what I remember. I¡¯m out of here, good night. Close your own door.¡¯ said Mike as he stumbled off down the corridor in the opposite direction they had arrived.


    Carissa watched him leave, still keeping one foot wedged inside the door as she grabbed the handle and closed it from the front before opening it again. She tried this several times and when only when she was certain that the door wouldn¡¯t lock behind her easily did, she step inside.


    The inner part of the door held a bolt that slid straight down across and a personal lock which she clicked shut. The metal that it was made off was similar to the same as she had seen in the community dining area. The bolt made of refined bone. Strong enough to be hard to break through but Carissa had watched Mike alter the wood using his bare hands.


    The room itself was a place to sleep but not a place of safety, Mike had told her repeatedly that there was no safe place here. His lesson was kept. Once she had secured the door Carissa willed the suit to peel back further until she was entirely naked by herself in the room. The only item remaining on her body was the small statue hanging around her wrist.


    The suit itself came off her skin and folded itself into a rectangular shape. Useful for transportation at least but given the protection she offered Carissa wouldn¡¯t have traded it for anything else. Not that she had been offered anything and Mike and his two friends showed little interest in the capabilities of it.


    As she held it between her bare hands, flakes of it brushed off and drifted down to the floor of her bedroom. The loss was barely apparent but it showed her that according to wear and tear the outfit provided for this game would eventually break down. It made sense to her that the gods wouldn¡¯t provide an essential resource for players without an expiry date.


    Carissa would truly appreciate the bathroom as long as it had a decent mirror. Her scars were healing but she was still beautiful, transformed and in a true state of becoming the object of her dreams.


    She would use this time wisely to work out how the messages from the Ocean Gateway worked, there had to be a far more efficient way of processing messages than have a physical limitation. If she had to fight or be in an emergency situation then it could be critical to avoid that situation where words obscured her vision or pain affected her mind, no matter how small. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡®Anyone here?¡¯ she called aloud. Mike had told her that he would be next door but the walls could have been thin enough for conversation or another means of listening to her.


    Instead, the small wooden statue which she had been gifted vibrated and when she touched it an impression came into her mind. The system at work again but this time identifying item, the same as previously but with additional information.


    [Candidate Designate: Carissa.


    Tool Received from Player: Mike


    -Second-Life Statuette


    -Will absorb significant physical/mental damage.


    -Single Usage only.


    -Self-Destruction Upon Usage.


    -Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.


    -Secondary Use Detected: Physical Health Monitor


    This statue detects the physical health of the owner and provides feedback to the maker within a limited distance.]


    ¡®Another type of health monitor. Makes sense given that he¡¯s taking care of new players.¡¯ said Carissa aloud. For several seconds, she was tempted to break it, just to avoid being another form of tracking before she sighed and left it hanging around her wrist.


    Heading over to the shower and toilet area she stood inside to find more familiar looking metal inside. The door again was lockable and she closed it, finding a clean sponge towel and a wooden container filled with a type of body wash and turned it on, the flow of water flowing over her naked body and washing away her frustrations and anger.


    The water was burning hot on her skin and she lost track of how long she stood in the shower for. Her fingers ran across the scars on her abdomen and body, remembering how she had performed surgery on herself and all in vain up to this point.


    She¡¯d tried her best to ignore her own lack of ability but any thought of her own type of hydro kinesis was a waste of time. Her body failed to respond to the most basic of physical reactions and she wasn¡¯t even aware of how much she¡¯d been reduced.


    Still, she¡¯d began her life as a normal human and through training and self-discipline she¡¯d improve.


    All she needed was a decent workshop and sufficient tools and materials depending on the technological level of this flooded planet. A future project which Carissa mentally stored away, the flow of the water beginning to wrinkle her skin.


    All thoughts of her immediate plans put aside as the initial deluge from the slower began to slow to a trickle and finally end. Grabbing a towel Carissa touched the shower handle and it began to flow when she touched it and swiftly ended when she removed her touch.


    Interesting.


    A type of training.


    Carissa was used to the water, far more than most people usually were. Having been born onto a house boat she had learned to swim in the oceans of her world far before she had been able to even take her first steps.


    Water for her was almost second nature. And with the practical abilities of the suit when she wore it to provide a flow of enough air while being submerged, the downside was that she didn¡¯t know how much usage it would have left.


    Ignoring the shower towel hanging up Carissa walked out naked, water dripping off her long red-brown hair and onto the wooden floor. Her priority was the folded rectangular grey skin suit which had given her so much protection, then she could check the wooden chest for any useful materials. Items could be lost, taken or traded but the suit was an overlooked and highly valued piece of equipment. Weapons of bone and t-shirts could wait.


    Focusing her attention as she eld it in her hands she drew on the same ache in her brain which signalled the Ocean Gateway System. This was part of her, or it been installed as a piece of software within her physical form.


    All she had to was¡­take control. In the same way that her implants and genetic alterations had caused her so much pain initially, this would be the same. She would harness the power and make it her own.


    Mike had mentioned demi-gods, humans transformed by ocean gods into new forms. Her dream, usurped by insanity, by a game. An activity played for amusement.


    Murmuring to herself while holding the suit, Carissa didn¡¯t notice the tears that fell from her eyes.


    ¡®Dreams turned reality. He said dreams turned reality. I make my own reality. I MAKE MY OWN REALITY!¡¯ she cried out.


    The suit. She needed to pay attention to the suit, not her own hopes and dreams. If this failed, she¡¯d need the towel and the shower. Pain was something to either recover from or work through. Not to be accepted.


    ¡®Give me the details of the suit. I want details of the suit, capabilities, usage, how long it has before it breaks down. Give me details.¡¯ she said.


    As the water on her naked skin slowly evaporated, she shivered slightly, the steam inside the room from the shower cooling down her environment.


    Her eyes ached, the pain lessened somewhat as a message appeared in her immediate vision.


    Carissa fought through, trying to make her own vision adapt to the message. She needed it either non-visual or have a smaller range so she could see past it.


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402


    -Carissa. No Cheating. Keep the Suit.]


    A personal message with her name. A reaction, the message left her vision and her eyes watered as she gripped the grey suit tighter with both hands, her fingernails digging deeper into the material with little effect.


    ¡®I need details of the suit. Give me the suit.¡¯ she spoke to herself.


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402 Carissa


    -Warning: Due to Illegal Usage of the Ocean Gateway Entry System Candidate will be punished.


    -Warning: Due to Illegal Usage of the Ocean Gateway Entry System Candidate will be punished.


    Warning: Ocean Gateway grante-


    Warning: Due to Illegal Usage of the Ocean Gateway Entry System Candidate will be punished.


    Temporary physical penalty enabled.


    Warning: Further attempts to coopt Ocean Gateway System authority will receive further punishment.


    Warning: A Drowned Goddess is paying direct attention to the punishment.


    Carissa. Stop. Stop. Rest. Chest. Open. Sorry.]


    Pain. Immense pain struck her head in waves, each one hitting harder than the previously one causing Carissa to fall down to the floor. Unable to control her own physical movements her body twitched and trashed about before she was able to gain control of her own emotions.


    A smell came into her nose. An acrid smell, she had lost control and urinated over herself and the wooden floor of her bedroom. Lying on her side she curled up involuntarily, tears in her eyes and a taste of copper in her mouth as her sharpened teeth found purchase on her own tongue.


    Tears fell from her eyes, stress and pain filled her body and she opened her mouth to scream before finding that her voice was gone, taken away, air rapidly leaving her lungs before she was released.


    Carissa had experienced discomfort before and the pain was an experience for her as opposed to a punishment but she found the lack of physical control humiliating.


    Her clenched palms open as she forced her hands onto the floor, face still inhaling the smell of her own urine as her body had lost total control and crawled into the shower.


    Even if gods were responsible for this, Carissa would find them, find them and punish them eventually. She had known despair before and sadness but hate, true hate filled her veins now.


    She wasn¡¯t a toy for their amusement. Gripping the walls of the shower, Carissa grabbed the handle and activated it with a touch. Once the hot water fell on her skin and she was becoming steady enough to stand Carissa took the shower towel.


    If they wanted restrictions on her after removing so much of her hard-earned abilities then she would adapt. She would train herself to see through the system messages and make sure her body refused to respond physically. The wooden storage chest could wait a little longer.


    Once the towel was fully soaked, she wrapped it around her face, leaving enough air for her nose and a tiny gap for her mouth to gasp enough air under the flood of water. The sensation reminded her of her time inside isolation chambers in her youth.


    Positioning both of her hands and feet to avoid collapsing again she focused herself on the previous messages from the Ocean Gateway System.


    Slowly teaching herself under pressure and lack of oxygen with hot water blasting from the shower to alter the messages so they no longer appeared in her vision but her mind¡¯s eye.


    The last apology from the final message meant little but Carissa gleamed one meaning from it.


    Carissa held value in the eyes of a higher being. One of the Ocean Gods had an eye on her personally.

 Chapter 10 – Deep Item Diving

    She had slept well, even exhausted and drained, Carissa had always slept well when she had achieved a self-set goal. Part of what made her a winner according to her ex-husband.


    Mike had been right when he had told her that time flowed differently inside the wooden structure. The knock at the door alerted her and the familiar voice called out, this time it was Sherry, asking her to wake up and have breakfast.


    ¡®I¡¯ll be back in around thirty minutes, enough time for you to wake up and get dressed. Hope you had a decent night¡¯s sleep though; we¡¯re going to have breakfast before another training tutorial. This one will be a whole lot more fun though. I promise, no fighting or endless talking.¡¯ said Sherry through the door.


    ¡®Thanks¡­Sherry.¡¯ said Carissa. Her voice loud enough to carry through the wood.


    She had decided to sleep naked or she had simply been so exhausted after her own training efforts. Either way, she had slept well and preserved the use of the suit for longer than necessary.


    The full capabilities of the suit needed to be used sparingly. Or until she found an alternative. It was though; the goods inside the wooden storage area that had made for a pleasant surprise when she completed her own personal training.


    A description of each item had appeared in her mind¡¯s eye rather than in her own vision, the words appeared the same, made out of water, bone or wood, it entirely depended on the material of the object in question.


    The bone weapon was both basic and unique, perfect for someone who had no real clue on how to fight with weapons. Carissa wanted the tutorial today, which was meant to be fun to include basic weapons training.


    Being beaten around when she was trying out her hand-to-hand combat skills had been an experience certainly but also a strong reminder of her own lack of ability to handle fights in this place.


    When she had picked up the bone item, the same basic message appeared in her mind¡¯s eye.


    [Candidate Designate: Carissa.


    Tool Received from Ocean Gateway System


    -Bone Toothed Blade/Club


    -Inflicts physical damage.


    -Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.


    -Presently bound to Player Candidate Carissa.


    A simple weapon grown from a piece of bone, teeth and sheath included.


    -Growth Potential]


    ¡®A weapon. I have a weapon at last. A piece of bone with sharp edges. In short better than nothing.¡¯ said Carissa as she rested the blade in its wooden sheath.


    The characteristics of it failed to impress her but her mind concentrated on the last sentence of the description. The fact that the weapon hadn¡¯t been built but had been grown. The last two words interested her mildly.


    Touching the edges they failed to pierce through her own bare skin but if applied with more force they drew blood. At least she wouldn¡¯t be at risk of cutting herself each time she used it.


    The wooden sheath and attached strap were far more useful in her own opinion. She could strap the blade to her back and practice withdrawing it or tie it around her waist. Once she dressed herself she would.


    ¡®No magic or special abilities, just a standard weapon designed to be used as a club or to block attacks.¡¯ said Carissa.


    Given with what had happened when she had tried to forcefully examine the grey suit, she decided that it would be a better option not to try and force it further for any hidden abilities or traits linked with the weapon.


    She put aside the other two items that were related to her as a candidate and grabbed the clothes that had been inside the chest, those had been useful enough but none of them could be examined in the same way that the weapon or other two items had been.


    Carissa had only taken a brief glance at them before closing her eyes and trying to use the Ocean Gateway System to gain further messages without success.


    The first item had been a diving suit, a swimming suit rather than exposed her arms and legs but kept her chest and body mostly covered. The scars from her self-surgery were evident on her form but it didn¡¯t mean that Carissa wanted to show them off.


    Not unless she chose to do so.


    A deep blue, shiny with a hint of mermaid scales attached. No, Carissa knew this suit. The style of it at least, it had been what she used to wear as a girl when swimming during her parents were busy with their own work as marine biologists on the family house boat.


    ¡®A copy. No, a replica of my own suit.¡¯ Carissa murmured as she put it over her own body.


    The grey suit needed to be kept secure as long as possible, not unless she had found an alternative and it could be stored in one of the candidate or player items she had received.


    The suit fit perfectly, exactly her height, width and body type when she slipped it on. Mike had earlier made no mention of clothing that was suited to her, he had only mentioned clothes in passing. The wooden statue bracelet on her hand simply slipped off and on easily enough when she had changed her clothing.


    Aware of time, Carissa put on one of the other two items, one was a bright pink t-shirt with yet another mermaid on the front, this time in a more cartoonish style. Slightly baggy over her body it allowed her relative ease of movement and was large enough to go down to her waist, allowing her legs to show.


    The last was a pair of women¡¯s water shoes. Coverings for her feet which she could wear when fully submerged in water. She held these close to her, despite the lack of examination from the Ocean Gateway System, Carissa knew that these needed to be checked for hidden any hidden qualities.


    The outside of the shoes and the tips were an exact copy of her own feet and toes, the style was a mixture of pinks and purples with two single names embossed into the inside of each shoe. Near impossible to remove without destroying the shoes themselves. Two names.


    Despite the shoes themselves appearing nearly pristine as though they had been freshly produces, they should have shown signs of wear and tear. The names inside confirmed it for her, these were no copies, not even a replica. She had been there when they had put them inside, her and Liam. Two names. Hers and that of her ex-husbands.


    He had custom-built these shoes for her birthday, by his own hand under the watchful eye of an expert shoe crafter. Carissa had watched the entire process on video as part of her twenty-third birthday from Liam. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡®These are my shoes. I wore them.¡¯ said Carissa as she cradled them gently in her hands and rubbed them with her fingers.


    The same indents, the same marks and scuffs were there as though protected but in pristine condition.


    It didn¡¯t make sense to her but then not much else in this world did. Not unless she was chosen as a candidate, or it this was meant to be an apology to her for trying to force system messages on the grey suit.


    A knock at the door startled her then. The voice of Sherry again.


    ¡®Um, are you OK in there? I knocked on the door ten minutes ago and had no answer. Mike and Chas have prepared breakfast for everyone. If you¡¯re dressed, we need to head to the community dining room. Carissa? Everything OK?¡¯ said Sherry.


    Slipping both the shoes on her feet, Carissa, grabbed the last two items in the wooden box before she examined both of them in her mind¡¯s eye before making sure her equipment was secure.


    One was a torch on an adjustable necklace which she slipped around her neck. The bottom part of it was removable and contained a space to insert a smaller item. A good place to store a hidden note but Carissa was disappointed to find it empty. No clues for her so easily given, she¡¯d need to find her own answers then.


    [Candidate Designate: Carissa.


    Tool Received from Ocean Gateway System


    -Water Powered Torch


    -Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.


    Torch recharges when submerged in water.]


    ¡®I¡¯m getting dressed. Give me a few more minutes to prepare myself.¡¯ said Carissa, louder to ensure that Sherry heard her through the door.


    The last item she had examined but not explored, it had puzzled her a little and was another sign of the fact that magic or special abilities were fairly common in this place. But it was hers and to her alone it would stay, the basic survival instinct of any human was to keep their belongings safe and this would be far more useful to her than the torch.


    Her water shoes were comfortable on her feet, even more so than when Carissa had been wearing the skin tight grey suit. That was a given item, these were hers and she had worn them for years. A familiar part of her, they had been almost moulded to the exact shape of her own feet. These she would not part with.


    The shoes could be examined later when she was back in her room or in a position of relative safety, such that it was.


    [Player-Candidate Designate: Carissa.


    Tool Received from Ocean Gateway System


    -Dry Bag, Spatial Container


    -Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.


    Can only be opened by Owner.]


    Two straps on the back to slide her arms into and another one that could be fixed around her chest it was grey and large enough to comfortably fit on her back without restriction her movements. It was only when Carissa had opened it, she had been surprised, a bag like this would usually contain emergency equipment but when she put her hand inside it only felt a material that she hadn¡¯t been expecting.


    ¡®Uh, we need to get a move on. Sorry for the rush but we have a schedule to stick to. I promise today will be better than yesterday, at least with training. I told you last night that it¡¯d be fun. Do you need any help with your equipment? Carissa?¡¯ said Sherry as she knocked on the door.


    ¡®Almost. Just one minute. Thanks Sherry!¡¯. said Carissa as she willed the bag to fully open, slinging it onto one shoulder with her hand inside she pulled out a magazine. The cover showed a man and woman smiling in front of a company logo, she didn¡¯t recognise the title or the location but the contents talked about business. Boring enough to her mind she stuck her hand in and pulled out a larger stack of them, all different types of magazines ranging from beauty tips to holiday travel, technology and nature.


    To her eyes, the contents were odd. Similar but odd. She didn¡¯t recognise the fashions that the people were wearing nor the locations, it was as though they had been manufactured in a reality that she didn¡¯t know which was likely enough.


    ¡®Carissa! We need to go. Mike is going to give me punishment detail for this and I don¡¯t need that. You¡¯re cute but there are limits. You need to open this door and we need to eat breakfast. I don¡¯t like giving warnings but I¡¯ll override the door if I need to.¡¯ said Sherry, her voice hardening from its usual cheerful tone.


    The small wooden statue bracelet vibrated as Carissa hurriedly stuffed all the magazines back into the dry bag, smoothing down her t-shirt and running her fingers through her hair trying to make it as tidy as possible. She stuffed the bone toothed club in the bag as it fit without filling up the space inside easily, the grey suit and the necklace torch.


    It had been disappointing that she hadn¡¯t even been provided with basic survival supplies or emergency food and drink rations but the magazines had been provided for a clear reason.


    Likely a joke from the Ocean Gateway System in her mind. Or a punishment gift. Too many questions and still too few answers.


    She had entirely forgotten to ask for a comb, if there was time during breakfast, she¡¯d make a point of asking Sherry. She doubted that Mike had one with his lack of hair and Chas was a total mess.


    ¡®Coming!¡¯ Carissa nearly shouted and she half-leapt to the door, unlocking it and removing the bolt, yanking it open to reveal a surprised young woman with a blush on her face.


    Sherry wore a red life jacket on this time, matching her tinted goggles with the standard grey suit.


    ¡®Hi. Sorry about the wait, I needed to run through everything. Breakfast sounds great. How are you? I love your new life-jacket, red is your colour. So is green actually, you carry them both off so well.¡¯ said Carissa with a bright toothless smile and her head tilted to the side, both hands holding onto the straps of her newly acquired dry bag.


    Although she didn¡¯t consider that she needed to be overly sociable, Carissa was going to try another approach today. Hostility yesterday had earned her a beating, dropped into a pool of water and strapped into a chair.


    Despite the answers, she needed more than this to survive. Not openly holding a weapon as Mike did, along with a decent hot shower and a change of clothes would make her more presentable.


    Carissa often forgot how good looking and young she actually was. Appearance was a small part of her life and Liam had told her that when she wanted to be sociable and turn on the charm, she could work wonders.


    Attempting her best at being mild coy and overly friendly she grabbed onto Sherry¡¯s arm, surprising her.


    ¡®Breakfast. And you said that Mike and Chas made it? That¡¯s so sweet. I¡¯m so sorry about yesterday, I had this whole shock to my body and well¡­it was a lot to take in. Would you forgive me for not talking to you much?¡¯ said Carissa.


    She had a bit of equipment to her name; a weapon and her training had stopped her body betraying her each time she had a message from a system created by bored ocean gods.


    Being a little more easy-going would work for her, even it was going to be temporary.


    She had a strong instinct after a sleep and an acceptance of her new reality that the three main members of this small community were players. But it begged the question in her mind, that if each of them was powerful enough then why were they stuck inside a driftwood boat structure helping three newborn candidates.


    ¡®Never mind. Breakfast will be great; do you mind if I sit next to you this time? I¡¯d prefer not to make any more bad blood between me and... what was her name again¡­?¡¯ asked Carissa.


    Sherry¡¯s face had transformed from a blush into a bright red.


    ¡®Bonnie. Oh, thanks for noticing. I like mix and match my equipment. I love your t-shirt, and you¡¯re not wearing your suit. I mean, you don¡¯t need to but it does help. Look at you! Equipment at last! You¡¯re going to be a player. Wait, I don¡¯t mean it that way. Yeah, we should get breakfast, Chas makes the best pancakes. Do you have those where you come from? Mike told me you¡¯re from a place called Bephus.¡¯


    Inwardly Carissa stiffened as she faked her way through the conversation, her tongue latched onto one of her teeth and she pushed hard enough to draw a drop of blood as she kept the smile on her face.


    She held tightly onto Sherry¡¯s arm as they walked, Carissa nodding and smiling as she heard the other woman¡¯s face light up with chatting.


    Liam was right. I need to use my looks to my own advantages.


    True beauty within and without.

 Chapter 11 – Hostile Looks

    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    [Player-Candidate Number 5428119402.


    -An unknown Ocean God has answered your prayer with the following message.


    Dry them out Carissa. Dry them all out.]


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®


    ¡®