The narrator, who was recently transformed from a human into a creature called a Ytha, encounters a massive deep-sea creature named Glubok. Glubok agrees to carry the narrator south toward shallower waters near land. During the journey, the narrator notices Glubok is entangled in a large fishing net. The narrator spends over 16 hours carefully removing all the netting and hooks from Glubok's body. In return, Glubok warns the narrator of dangers in the deep waters and offers to help if needed, before departing to deeper areas while the narrator continues south toward the shallows near islands as advised.
The narrator, who was recently transformed from a human into a creature called a Ytha, encounters a massive deep-sea creature named Glubok. Glubok agrees to carry the narrator south toward shallower waters near land. During the journey, the narrator notices Glubok is entangled in a large fishing net. The narrator spends over 16 hours carefully removing all the netting and hooks from Glubok's body. In return, Glubok warns the narrator of dangers in the deep waters and offers to help if needed, before departing to deeper areas while the narrator continues south toward the shallows near islands as advised.
The narrator, who was recently transformed from a human into a creature called a Ytha, encounters a massive deep-sea creature named Glubok. Glubok agrees to carry the narrator south toward shallower waters near land. During the journey, the narrator notices Glubok is entangled in a large fishing net. The narrator spends over 16 hours carefully removing all the netting and hooks from Glubok's body. In return, Glubok warns the narrator of dangers in the deep waters and offers to help if needed, before departing to deeper areas while the narrator continues south toward the shallows near islands as advised.
sleep? Ytha sleeps, but not in the deeps. What are you doing here, puny Ytha?" "You, the squid, this is you talking to me?" "Squid?!" It sounded angry, and I regretted thinking the word. "In your mind squid is little animal. I am more than animal, you are more than animal, don't you know this?" "I'm sorry," I thought. "I hadn't the word for you." "Hmmmm, you are not Ytha, yet you are Ytha. Aaaaah, now I see, you simply carry the legacy of Ytha. Sometimes... I forget when it is. Times change, but I don't change so easily as the times." "Who is Ytha?" I asked. "Ytha is Ytha," he said. "Born after I was born, but Ytha. You are Ytha, look at yourself and see, see answer to your question. We were born when the world was warm, and life sprung from the thoughts of gods. The thoughts of sleeping gods persist, perhaps you are a dream, dimly remembered. Now, there are no Ytha, but you." "Are you... a god?" I asked. "Nooooo, no no no, heh. I will live as long as there is water. Ytha will live as long as there is water. Gods sleep now, but will live when there is no longer this world. Perhaps they will not awake until it is gone. Perhaps we will live again in the new world. Time will tell." "I haven't been Ytha long," I said. "Until a short time ago I was a man." "Man?" This leviathan hadn't heard of men? "Yes, you know, the men... from the land, they build ships and sail on the sea." He pondered this. I realized that I had grown perfectly calm. The flesh around me was smooth, without a hint of tentacles, and it was warm in here. The light had dimmed to a dull neon blue. "I do not know this men thing. But sometimes, the waters are dirty, and it does seem less food visits the bottom. Oh wait, yes, I remember now... Recently, making much noise, with funny little... whatever you call them, that stay on the surface, or sometimes just beneath it. They are so new, I scantly heard of them." I figured he didn't know much about mankind, and perhaps that was a good thing. "Yes, well until recently, I was one. Then I found this... um, trinket, this bit of gold, and it turned me into, uh, Ytha." "Yes. Well, regardless, you entered the dream of a god, and became Ytha. Odd, but no one understands the gods, so contact with their dreams may produce strange results." I pondered this. I had entered a god's dream? I didn't understand, but figured another question would lead to more questions, and I was tired. "Do you have a name?" I asked. "Glubok," he said. "Are we moving?" "Yes. You wish to move south?" "Yes please. Can you take me to where it's shallow, near land?" "Of course. There is one thing I ask in return. When we arrive, can you look at what is itching my tail? I can't get a grasp of it." I nodded. "Yes, yes, of course. Is there anything else?" "No, Ytha. Just rest. Your company is enough. Sometimes, I grow lonely. Until I grow tired of talk. Talk tires me. Quiet now." He fell silent. I was exhausted, but also somewhat hungry. Eating seemed more important to me now than when I was a man. It always put my mind at ease, too. "Do you mind if I eat clams in here?" I asked. "Certainly." A sliced a few clams open and ate the slimy, tasty meat. Glubok's skin faded to a deep purple, and I felt warm and tired. I still didn't trust him entirely, and had many questions, but he was difficult to talk with. After some time, I fell asleep. A wave of fresh, cool water awoke me. Glubok had spread his tentacles open, and the cavity I was in disappeared. I wasn't sure if I was awake or dreaming, but the sight of his huge beak below my tailfin reminded me of where I was. "Glubok, it's dark here," I said. "Yes, little one, mmmmm. I don't go into the shallows, where Ytha live." "I live in the shallows? You mean near shores?" "Yes. Safer for you there than the deep, where I live. Ytha always live there." "Well, I'm kind of new at this." I swam down close to his beak. It opened and closed gently. "Come to my eye." "Where is it?" I asked. "Here." I felt a wave of water as a tentacle descended on my back, and nudged me up, over his spread of tentacles. On the side of his body, behind the tentacles, was a gigantic eye, bigger than a manhole cover. It was almost human, with whites, an iris the size of a dinner plate, and a corona a color of which I couldn't tell in the darkness. Again I felt fear, but tried to act calm. "Talk to me here," he said. "My, how long has it been since I've talked with Ytha? Some time." "Is Ytha my name, or the name of my race?" "Hmmm, heh, there are many Ytha, or once were. I never knew they had different names." "Are there any Ytha, besides me?" I asked. "Not for some time," he said. "But I have sensed one or two recently." "In recent years?" "Years? I know not years." "Ok, when um... In the time it takes for the waters to grow cold or warm, that's a year." "Is it? I know only the temperature I like, which is the temperature right now. When it changes, I go where it's colder. I know not years." "Well, how about... What do you eat? Does your food go certain places, when it's warmer or colder?" "My food is whale. I eat them when I'm hungry. I haven't been hungry for some time, but I know that recently I've heard and smelled less whales in the water. Perhaps these new animals, the metal whales, have been eating them. If they get too pushy, I'll eat the metal whales instead. Hmmmm." The unblinking eye stared at me. He was unfathomable. "So, where are we now?" I asked. "There are many islands, just south of here. Soon it will be shallow. Will you help me now?" I nodded. "Sure. What is it you'd like?" "Go to my nose. No no no, not my beak, my nose. The other way. There is something there prickling me and I can't reach it with my tentacles. Infernal, it's bothersome. Ytha can relieve me." I swam past his eye and trailed his smooth-skinned body. Wow, this thing was longer than a submarine! He was shaped like a giant ice cream cone. The waters were still greenish down here, but his skin flashed bright colors, so I could see anything on his body in profile. "Closer," he said. I came across a net, made of thick nylon strands, wrapped tightly around his body. The net was imbued with countless small stainless steel hooks. The net had picked up other things, thick fishing line, and even junk like soda bottles and foam. From the point of his cone, his 'nose' as he said, it extended perhaps twenty feet down his body. "I found it," I said. "Looks like you hit an industrial fishing net." "Hmmm." "It's from those metal whales you mentioned," I said. "Men drive those." "Hmmm. Can you help me?" "Yep," I said. It was going to be a big job, but he had kept me safe. Besides, I didn't dare refuse, had nothing else better to do, and might need a friend as strong as Glubok later on. I got to work with my knife. I warned him he might feel some pain when I pulled the hooks out, and he said just as long as I make it better. I cut away the netting in patches and dropped it. Weighted with hooks and balls of lead, the patches quickly sank out of sight I came across a hook driven into his flesh. It was almost the size of my hand. "This will sting," I said. "That's fine." I got my fingers in the hook and pulled the barb out. It tore a small hole in his flesh. His skin trembled and grew bright pink, and then faded. I looked at the hook. It had a thin coating of rust. I wondered if the tetanus shots I'd gotten as a man would still be working, and decided to look out for the barbs. Glubok was patient as I worked for hours. Next I knew, it'd been eight hours since I'd started, according to my watch. I was starving. I swam up to his eye. "I have to rest a second," I said. "I guess I eat more often than you." "Mmmmm. Most do," he said. I rolled onto my back to use my chest as a bench as I sliced open some clams and ate them. Glubok didn't seem to be in the mood for conversation, so I ate in silence. I returned to work, and after another eight hours had rid him of all the netting, hooks, and junk. I returned to the eye. "All done, sir." "Really? Finally. Those stingers were slowing me down, and growing painful as well. Thank you very much. I owe you debts." "Nah, I owe you," I said. "I thought you'd eat me when we first met." "Eat you?" His laughter filled my head and the eye rolled upwards. "Oh, that's a good joke." "Really, I thought I was going to be your snack, and I'm glad it's not so." "Yes, yes. Well, I hope we meet again, Ytha." "Me too. Glubok, can I ask some things?" He paused. "If you must. I haven't talked this much in such a long time." "Come to think of it, neither have I," I said. "Glubok, is the deep dangerous for me, uh, dangerous for Ytha?" "You have small body and are weak, so of course it is." "What could attack me?" "Something hungry. Be careful of dumbfish." "Dumbfish?" "Yes, dumbfish. The ones that are swimming mouths." I nodded. "Yes, sharks," I said. "All dangerous?" "Not all. You will learn. Ytha cannot swim as deep as I. Here, this is shallow for me. Much deeper, and Ytha will grow sleepy, then fall asleep. Forever." I checked my watch. We were at the same depth as when we'd met, 1500 meters. "I see. So I can't swim deeper?" "No, Ytha cannot." I nodded. Whatever functions of chemistry my body used, it couldn't breathe well in the deepest parts of the ocean, and I could be prey. So, I was mortal after all. "If you need me, call my name," Glubok said. "I will be going now, but will aid you if I can." "Yes," I said. "Thank you." "Swim south, you are near the islands." With that, he spread his tentacles wide and glowed bright orange. His reach was so wide the gloom of the depth faded his tips out of view. With a massive swoosh, his tentacles came together. I was left spinning in a vortex of water. I stabilized, and he was already gone. I heard his laughter in my mind. "Much better!" he shouted. He seemed to be growing closer. Suddenly, he exploded out of the darkness, and his body passed by my, only a reach away. It was there for a second and then disappeared out of view. The water trembled with his wake, and he was gone. I was left hovering in the deep, exactly as if I'd never met him. I shook my head and headed toward the surface, thinking of Glubok. The water grew lighter and its smell changed as I entered the zones where life began. I realized I hadn't seen the sun in some time, and didn't know exactly how long I'd traveled with Glubok. I sped up, porpoising through the water, just under the limit where it cavitated. The water pressed against the top of my head with such force my neck grew tired. I kept it stiff, and held my arms to my side. The water grew lighter and lighter, and with a splash I exploded into air and kept sailing upward. The sky was bright blue and the midday sun shone down on the water. I kept sailing upward, saw a deep blue ocean all around, with small verdant islands to the south. I was about twenty feet above the surface, and the waves were rolling easily with caps a few feet high. I jackknifed at the apex of my climb, and dove, arms ahead of me. I landed in the spot of sea still frothing from my ejection from the water, and with the momentum of the dive curved toward land. I swam calmly for the shallows. The sea here was still deep, and the islands were mountaintops, just like in southern Japan. I approached a thick school of jellyfish. In Japan, their stingers had no effect on me, and it was the same here. I slalomed through the swarm, but it was too thick to avoid all of them. They bounced off my face and shoulders like soft pillows, and they tumbled in the wash of my tailfin. I felt the seafloor rising to meet the surface, and heard the hissing of waves on sand. I surfaced. A green island with bright, white beaches was a quarter mile ahead. A thick reef stood between us. I circled the reef. These crystal waters seemed to be untouched by man, and were far warmer than those of Southern Japan. Turtles, fish of all colors, and eels were everywhere. A trio of nurse sharks worked on eating clams on the bottom. These sharks were smaller than I was, and were perfectly harmless. I'd even slept in a coral grotto with a pair one night. I kept surfacing to check out the shore. There wasn't a sign of humans. I wondered how far south of Japan I was, and wished I had a world map. My geography wasn't that great, but I thought that due south would bring me to Taiwan, a big island without an archipelago, and beneath that somewhere were the Philippines, which had something like 10,000 islands. I found a large tunnel in the reef, and swam in. A pair of lobsters huddled in pockets of rock on the tunnel floor, as if tentatively greeting me. I took one and ate it. Little bits of lobster meat drifted to the bottom, and the second lobster came out after them. I ate him too. The tunnel was long and dark, and then exited into a channel between walls of coral. The coral sank into a sharp slope of coral sand. Even though I was handicapped on land, I still had a strong instinct to get on the beach, to get something firm beneath me. Switching the medium I breathed had become easier with time, and now it was like second nature. A few gentle coughs and I could breathe air. Still, differences remained if I observed them. The air seemed so thin compared to the water, and right after transition it seemed like I was gasping just to breathe normally. But after a few moments I didn't notice. The sun was extremely strong. By now, my human skin had become deep brown, enough so that it seemed impossible to get sunburned, and my hair was bleached nearly bone white. My dolphin skin, though, didn't like the sun when it became dry. Too much sun, and I started growing uncomfortably warm and the skin would itch and ache. But still, I liked being on land, so I started crawling up the beach for the shade. I got beneath a palm tree, dug a hole for my dorsal fin, and rolled into it. I'd positioned myself so that my human half would be in sunlight, and my dolphin skin in shade. It took a little compromise for my body to agree with what my mind liked. I simply lay in the sun, with a palm leaf over my eyes. I relaxed. Here, I felt safe. There were only two dimensions I had to worry about, not three. It felt good to be on land, and in the sun, and dry and toasty warm. I ate the last of my clams. Man, I loved to eat. I thought about it, and figured I was eating about three times the amount of food I ate as a man. I packed myself every time I ate, but didn't seem to be gaining fat. In fact, I was in far better shape now than I was when I first turned into a mermaid. The muscles of my dolphin half were harder and more well defined, and my human body had more muscle, too. Over all the muscle, though, was a taught layer of skin, and what I guessed was fat, about an inch thick. It must be what the body needed to keep me warm regardless of temperature, and it kept my top half pretty girlish looking. One day I had been so preoccupied with swimming that I'd almost missed eating, and on that day I'd noticed the fat diminish and the skin grow tight over my muscles and ribs. I didn't know how much calories I was burning or work I was performing in my new role, but it must be a lot more than as a man. Absentmindedly, I lay on my back, running my hands slowly across my skin, exploring my new form. It was still hard getting used to wearing this skin, and I thought about being a man, and walking on two legs, just having my normal body. I missed it. But, this body was still interesting. There was more to learn about being Ytha. The rush of power when jetting threw the water, the freedom and speed were intoxicating. I thought of my friends, my family, and my duties in the Marines. What did they think had happened to me? I must have been more tired than I thought, because before I knew it I was dead asleep on the strange island. The open ocean swim, the ordeal of meeting Glubok, and working so long to free him, had drained me more than I'd realized. I awoke to a deep blue evening sky. Something was tickling my tailfin. I raised my head, and there was a boy gently touching my fin. He saw me move and jumped back. He was completely naked and his skin was as dark as a ripe coconut. His bright eyes and teeth flashed in the darkness, and he looked scared. Something else moved to my left. It was a girl, also naked except for a pouch over her genitals held there by leather string. They moved together and stood there, watching me silently at a safe distance. I looked to the beach. There was a small dugout canoe beached well above the high tide mark. I looked back at the humans. I'd guess they were about twelve or thirteen years old. The female was very slender, and the boy was thin with whipcord muscles. The boy's hair was down to his shoulders and cut roughly and a bit curly, and the girl's much longer going straight down her back. So young, how could they be out here all alone? I didn't feel too threatened by kids, but adults could be a different story. TBC