Tidal Forces

Chapter 05: Extraction

"Adrianna!" Nileah exclaimed when she saw her.

"Since you seem to know this woman, would you mind asking her not to point her rifle at me?" the scientist asked nervously.

"It's alright," Nileah offered as the scientist finished lifting her out of the tank and gently set her down on the scaffolding. "His name's Chris Wheeler, and he's helping me escape."

"We'll see," Adrianna replied, her aim not wavering. Her next words were to the scientist. "Take off your coat."

Chris did as he'd been told as Adrianna handed Nileah the remainder of the enhanced salt; Nileah wrapped the confiscated lab coat around herself before spreading the glittering material on her tail fin. A moment later, she stood up, brushing the excess salt from her new legs. The lab coat had hung down just past Chris' knees, but because of their differences in height, it reached almost to Nileah's ankles.

"Fascinating," Chris marveled. "Are the scales simply really small, or did they withdraw under the human skin?"

"It's a full shift from one material to another, nothing remains of one or the other after the transformation," Nileah explained.

"Stop telling this human everything," Adrianna snapped. She pointed with her free hand while keeping the pressure launcher aimed at Chris. "You lead."

Chris headed for the door, Nileah accompanying him at his side. Adrianna brought up the rear, all her senses alert for a possible ambush.

Knowing the tricky nature of the human scientists, Adrianna suspected the ease of their escape might be intentional. If her sister had been tagged with a tracking device of some kind, the scientists might be using her to learn of the location of their underwater cities with the intent of capturing more than one test subject. Nileah would have to be checked thoroughly before returning.

The three person procession almost reached the stairwell door to the lower level before they were discovered. A door slid open and a security patrol came into view. Nileah, dressed in the lab coat, and Chris might've been able to fool the security team for a moment or two, but one look at Adrianna with her weapon and scale armor was enough to tell the security team they had an intruder.

Adrianna fired first. The pressure launcher puffed almost silently, using a chamber of compressed air to fire a thin needle of coral. The dart impacted the first guard, and he collapsed. The twin chambers of the pressure launcher switched places, rotating like the cylinder of a revolver. The empty chamber began to fill up again while the full one allowed her to fire a second time and take down another guard.

"Impressive," Chris praised. "What ammunition do you use?"

"Blue-ring octopus venom," Nileah answered before her sister could tell her to be silent.

"Tetrodotoxin," Chris said in whisper. "It's more lethal than cyanide, but I've never seen it work so quickly."

"Move!" Adrianna hissed, nudging Chris in the back with her forearm. She knew they had only a limited amount of time to escape before the bodies were found and the alerts sounded. Security might triple afterwards, making escape exceedingly difficult.

When they reached the water pool in the unused lower level, Nileah jumped in first. As her legs transformed into a tail of iridescent blue, she shed the lab coat as it only encumbered her under the water.

"I can't breathe underwater," Chris protested.

Adrianna grabbed him by the shoulder, and the golden cuff on her forearm glowed brightly for a moment. "Now you can."

She dived into the water, dragging Chris with her. Adrianna maintained her grip on him until they were out of the facility and into the ocean. Letting go of him temporarily, she let her pressure launcher float by itself in order to free a hand to touch the golden cuff. The ground under the facility moved aside at her command, opening a giant sinkhole. The entire research station collapsed into the hole, taking the scientists and all their work into the depths, and the waters closed over it.

"You are free to go, human. Provided you never capture or harm one of our kind again," Adrianna warned.

"Or, you could come with us," Nileah added with a playful smile.

"I could never turn my back on a chance to learn more about you," Chris answered, amused by the bubbling and gurgling of his voice underwater.

"You won't be able to take that knowledge back to your people," Adriana stated. "They are still a threat to us."

Chris looked to Nileah, offering her a hand she quickly accepted.

"I'm fine with staying," Chris said.

"We'll need to take Nileah to a cavern outpost where we can be certain she wasn't tagged," Adrianna told him. "If all checks out, you'll be taken to the King, and he will decide what is to be done with you."

"The King?" Chris asked.

"Don't worry," Nileah dismissed. "Daddy will love you."

"Your father is the King?" Chris stammered.

Nileah giggled and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You'll be fine. Rescuing his daughter will go a long way with him."

"Let's go," Adrianna urged.

As the three of them swam toward the isolated outpost, Nileah, still holding Chris' hand, pointed out fish and coral of interest, chattering away about all the things to see and enjoy in the undersea realm and all the fun they were going to have when they got home.