Fishing on Shakespearean Moons - Short Story

Fishing on Shakespearean Moons

Fishing on Shakespearean Moons.

The stars glimmered like distant lanterns as the Elysian Seeker soared toward the five moons of Uranus. Commander Malik, a stout woman with a deep love for literature, stood at the helm, gazing at the icy beacons around Uranus. Her crew, a lively mix of explorers and scientists, stirred with excitement. Today, they would fish in the alien oceans of Ariel, Miranda, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Each moon held its own mysteries—each, a Shakespearean scene in a new act.

They traveled to the icy moon of Ariel first, descending toward an ocean that lay beneath a veil of frost and fog. The submarine shivered as it broke the surface of the water. Malik recited, “O brave new world, that has such creatures in't!” Her fellow crew member Lin laughed, leaning toward the viewing glass as he scanned the depths.

They cast their nets and fishing lines, baited with bioluminescent lures, deep into Ariel’s icy waters. Malik's voice echoed through the submarine, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears... for I have a fish to catch!"

After some time, Lin’s line twitched. He let out a shout and reeled it in, uncovering a shimmering, translucent fish with fins like fine-spun silk. “A fish, a fish, my kingdom for a fish!” he declared, and the crew burst into laughter.

With a new specimen safely secured, they turned their sights on Miranda. The crew joked that Miranda, the broken and ridged moon, looked like a "madman’s dream." Miranda’s waters were deeper, denser, with craggy formations looming through the gloom. Malik quoted again, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” and the team grinned, their spirits lifted.

They dove deeper. Giant eel-like creatures twisted in and out of the rock formations, pulsing with a light all their own. Malik pointed at one, a creature with translucent scales and large, watchful eyes. “This is the fish of Ariel, perhaps,” she joked, referencing the *Tempest* character.

On Umbriel, their submarines entered even stranger waters—here, the ocean was almost ink-black, and creatures swam with bioluminescent trails that swirled and danced like fairy dust. “Methinks I am a prophet new inspired,” Malik whispered as a small, orb-shaped fish glided past. She felt herself transfixed by its slow, hypnotic drift.

Next came Titania, where the submarine emerged into a frozen sea under shimmering crystal arches. As they floated beneath them, Lin leaned forward, his breath caught. “If music be the food of love, play on,” he murmured, marveling at the soft, otherworldly sounds resonating from the ice walls.

In Titania’s frigid waters, they found strange, sinuous creatures, each glimmering faintly like stars. Every fish they caught had a tale, a sample to send back to the Fishing Museum of Uranus in Ahmedabad, India—a testament to the wonders they’d seen.

Finally, Oberon loomed ahead, its seas colder and wilder. Malik smiled, thinking of *A Midsummer Night’s Dream*. “The course of true love never did run smooth,” she muttered as the submarine rocked on the surface, the waves on Oberon unpredictable.

Just before they left, they caught a final creature—a vast, ribbon-like fish with elongated fins, an elegant, floating dancer in the water. The crew sat in silence, marveling at it, their final specimen for the museum.

They drifted into orbit and made one last toast. Malik raised her hand, her voice strong, quoting Prospero: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” And with that, they set course for Earth, where, on a distant continent, their discoveries would soon inspire dreams of space, of Shakespeare, and of oceans on faraway moons.