The Curran Sea

Mer, Man

Ibrahim stared out the windows some more, watching the ocean life without. "Hal, are we in range of the sub bay arms?"
   "One increment higher, and the lab can traverse the arm to its end, yes. I gather you would like a change of scenery?"
   He nodded, then remembered that Hal didn't always respond to nonverbal cues.
   "Confirm."
   The mobile deep sea lab slowly rose three feet, then over seven feet, to hook up to the rail system that ran along the top of the walkway they used to observe the sub, underwater.
   "Sir, the Smith children are below. They may hear the movement of the lab."
   "Do they know what it means?"
   "If they do not, they will see it in motion."
   He rolled his massive shoulders. "Tell them it's a supply transport."
   "Sir?"
   "They can't see inside. The glass is on top. All they'll see is a big, rounded box moving above them. Say it's got supplies to work on Edi Sub."
   "Yes, sir. Should I notify you of any perceived disbelief?"
   "Always."
   He couldn't care what his older children would think. He was going stir crazy. If he was to help the smallest Curran child, he needed a clear mind. To have that, he needed to see something new. All the wall holograms in the world couldn't compete with good, old-fashioned nature. Pale imitations of the wonders the Big Guy Created could not bring him back to himself.
   As the lab moved, fish swam away in alarm. He could be patient, though. They would return. They always did. The dolphins, in particular, seemed enamored with it, if it was occupied. He had to hope that it wasn't the Curran Curse that attracted them.
   Whether or not it was, he enjoyed their company, when they joined him and his son in that part of the ocean. Their antics amused him; grounded him, ironically. He counted calves, as it was spring... No, calves would be smaller in spring. Is it summer already?
   The count was higher than last year, but not as drastic as it was, with humans. 
   "Or do I say 'not as drastic as it was, in my first body'? I do not know how any of this works, and it has been decades. I can work with wood, as I always could. It speaks to me, as it always did. I have sense memory, as the others do not."
   His disquiet rolled around the lab, vibrated the water around it. The dolphins found it curious, the fish feared it.
   But something off in the distance found it so intriguing, it swam closer.
   He watched the small shape, easy to see, without fish. It undulated, like a sea snake, but its shape was closer to a dolphin. He could see tendrils floating, like hair.
   "Does one of your friends bring us seaweed?" he asked. Except dolphins didn't swim quite like that. This creature had more... he hesitated to call it a hip waggle. Nothing in the ocean had humanoid hips.
   But he was a boatbuilder's son. He knew the stories. There were tales of a creature that could, theoretically, be swimming toward them.
   "Mother Mona, could it be?"
   As it got closer, he saw details that could only belong to the mer. His mother had told him tales of them, growing up. It was why she was drawn to the sea.
   "Then why do we live near a lake, Mama?" Adult Ibrahim said the words that little Ibra had asked.
   "'So I don't swim away, and leave you forever,' she'd say. But that would mean... No, Hal mapped my genes. If my mother was mer, Hal would know."
   "Apologies, sir. I do not have samples of this 'mer' you speak of. How would I identify it?"
   His blood went cold, hands trembled. The hair was black against the sea, swirling closer. There were only windows at the top of the lab, but Hal could project the remaining ocean on the wall in front of him. He ordered it to do so.
   "Exterior cameras are still experimental--"
   "Do it!" he hissed. He was afraid to frighten it away. No, her. The mer was a maid. Hair down to her fish waist, achingly familiar blue eyes, and... not much of a nose. They wouldn't need them, with gills, would they? Her skin was surprisingly dark, almost clay colored. Her tail was vertical, like a shark, and the blue-green of his heart stone. Small fins fluttered here and there, for maneuvering.
   Was he a man mer? That would be half of his genes, somehow hidden within human coding. Was it possible? That face... She could have been his mother's sister!
   Louder, he said "Greetings. I am Ibrahim Curran, son of Saul and Mona Curran." He bowed, as best he could, with his son in one hand.
   The large eyes grew larger, when he said his mother's name. Her webbed hands slapped against the glass, face pressed close. Her tail whipped behind her, clearly agitated, somehow. Was he right? Could he be right? Or was this all a hallucination? He had to see it through!
   "Do you have a name that would translate in my tongue, and a way with which to convey it?"
   The mermaid blinked rapidly, nodded. Her forehead pressed to the glass, eyes slid closed.
   :Hello, Uncle. I am Nora Curran.:
   Hal had a chair under him in time, but it was close.