The Laminax Facility

(S2) TᕼE ᒪᗩᗰIᑎᗩ᙭ ᖴᗩᑕIᒪITY #16: Dusky

Jason felt a sharp prod on his arm, on the exact would the tranquilliser dart had jabbed into him in the arena. He woke up with a yelp of pain.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was a blur of light. When his eyes concentrated on the figure, he let out a muffled shriek underwater. A deformed, scarred snout was tilted at him, and Jason smelt a hint of blood in the water. Oh. He thought, instantly regretting crying out in fear. Dusky. He swam back a few paces, and tilted his head at her. She looked at her talons, with an expression of sadness and desperation, but gave him a weak grin. Jason smiled back, and paddled closer. He realised that one of her eyes was also the wrong colour, instead of a kawaii shork pink it was a pseudo shork's cyan, a detail that the other shorks haven't told him before. Dusky beckoned him upwards, to the underwater cave that she stayed in, the one he and Aloe was going to visit before he got caught for the arena. He glided after Dusky, who was expectedly slow at swimming, and he realised she was in pain. Swimming into the cave, his paws scraped against cold stone and a shiver scuttled through his spine.

The cave was dimly lit by bioluminescent algae, casting an eerie, greenish glow over the rough walls. There were various items scattered around: bones and scraps of prey, some aquatic plants, and a few stone jars full of whatever Dusky kept. She directed Jason to a small opening of air that Jason could just poke his head into. They surfaced, staring at each other for some time. Jason tilted his head, before remembering that Dusky couldn't talk. Instead, she made some confusing paw gestures at him, which made Jason tilt his head again.

Dusky whacked her face with her paw, and swam back into the water, opened one of her jars and materialised a cylinder of soggy white chalk.  Then, on the walls of the air pocket, she scrawled some words with the wet chalk, which made Jason choke down a gasp.

𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃?

Jason stared at the words as bitter shock crawled across his mouth and gagged down his throat. 

"H- how did you know that?" he blurted, instantly regretting it, as it basically just gave him away. But Jason knew that, even through multiple surgeries, pain, and the incapability to talk, Dusky was still an exceptionally smart shork, but he never expected for her to be the first to realise... or was she the first? His shock wriggled through his esophagus and came to settle uncomfortably in his stomach. If he was recognised as a human, the other shorks would detest him. They'll see him as some brutal murderer that is on the same side of the scientists, infected by an innocent shork that he was trying to imprison, or kill.

𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝑜𝒷𝓋𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 she scribbled.

Jason gaped. Obvious? What did he do? Or was it just because this shork was stunningly intelligent? His shock began to wriggle again. 

"How was it obvious?" he asked, clawing at his own paw. "Please don't tell the others..."

𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉'𝓈 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒.  she jotted. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑜 𝓊𝓅 𝓃𝑜𝓌. 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

Jason gave her a warm smile. "Thank you, Dusky" he said, before turning towards the entrance and rising to the surface of the water.