Another Piece Of Paradise Chapter 3 free porn video

Another Piece of Paradise By JJ This is a work of fiction (unfortunately). It may also contain themes and opinions that some may find objectionable. If you are not of the age to be able to view such things, then stop now. I'm writing in the universe of Patricia's "Changes in Paradise," If you have not read her magnum opus, and are interested in mermaids, then you should go right over to Fictionmania.tv and read them post haste. This story assumes that you have some understanding of her fantastic vision of mers. I'd like to thank her for expending so much time, energy, and thought on her story; it's what inspired me to start writing. I'd also like to thank her for her permission to write in her domain, and her outstanding suggestions and ideas for the story. I'd like to thank Len for his ideas and feedback, and work proofreading my grammar and spelling. Several of Patricia's characters remain in the story, and I hope that I do Patricia's vision of them justice. I mention events and concepts of Changes in Paradise. For a full telling, you should really read Patricia's chapters. As with Patricia's story, when you see a character's speech surrounded by brackets [word], they are using CHEW (telepathy, sort of). If you like, please leave a comment. I love to hear what people think of the story. Chapter 3 Merfolk have been in human legends from across the world. Sometimes benign, sometimes hostile, sometimes examples of physical beauty, sometimes they appear as twisted nightmares. Their powerful hold over human imagination has waxed and waned across the centuries, but it was always there. Some humans are obsessed with mers, wanting to be them, to share their power and beauty, to be mysterious and desired or simply be free of the all of the drudgery of normal human existence, to be rare and beautiful. Then there are humans who only wish to possess and dominate rare and beautiful things. Some are satisfied with benign things like rare coins or stamps. Others combine their desire with extravagant means and fill their homes with the treasures of the world. Their desire manifests in owning unique art, a rare breed of dog, a champion horse, or a unique house custom-designed to their proclivities. Some want to possess even rarer treasures. One such human sat in his sumptuous, ultramodern private office, just off his bedroom. A bank of four eighty-two inch televisions ran muted on one wall, muted, but showing three different international news networks and a weather channel based in his home of Abu Dhabi. His short, dark hair immaculately cut, a bespoke tailored suit jacket hung over the back of his chair. His brown eyes focused on a brushed aluminum laptop that sat open on his desk as he scrolled through his email. A seemingly innocuous message appeared, a message offering to renew the warranty on his brand new pickup truck. He didn't own a pickup truck. He drove a customized Aston-Martin when he wasn't being chauffeured in a Rolls- Royce Phantom. He logged into a virtual private network and switched to a secure program for interfacing with a private satellite imaging company's server available only to him, through a special agreement worked out between his country and the company. Why spend billions on reconnaissance like the Americans, Russians, or Chinese, when private parties would do the hard work of launching things into space and keeping them working? Once the server and his laptop finished shaking hands, he opened the folder named "Tropical Fish," A bit obvious, but effective. The first image opened, and he smiled. The money he'd spent on the aerial overflight and the private contractors' loitering in the area for follow-up hadn't been wasted. There they were. Those creatures of myth, rare and beautiful. Mermaids and mermen. Though it was mostly the mermaids that caught his interest. He saw the four he'd seen before, from the overflight he'd ordered after he'd heard about whispers concerning strange creatures living in the south Pacific during a briefing he'd taken in his office. Now he saw eight more mers with them on the beach! Most of the people in the room at the briefing on American shared intelligence, ostensibly to help fight terrorism, had laughed, including him. Such things were preposterous. But if the Americans considered it important enough to put a mention in their report, no matter how small... Now there were more of them! This was outstanding. It would give his idea a greater chance of success. One of his servants entered the room with his morning coffee and croissant. He looked at the girl as he ate, barely clothed per his proclivities, except for the collar that he made them wear just to remind them of their place. Where was this one from? She looked like she was from the Asian subcontinent. She had the darker skin of someone from southern India. Luring women to his home with promises of work was the most common method of acquiring new servants, though he did have one who was a lost European tourist and one naive American who who had foolishly thought that he was serious about marrying her without doing even a bit of research on her prospective husband. Simply take their passport, discipline them enough and they would calm down and do what he wanted. Since he was a relatively minor, though still protected, member of the family, his "recruiting" stayed off the radar of international police agencies. In fact, lording over his servants was the most common way he interacted with women. His wife was usually off spending money in Dubai, Paris, or Milan. She gave him respectability and helped satisfy the expectations of his society and position with the occasional child, he gave her an unlimited credit card. All in all, a good arrangement. "What is your name?" he casually asked the lithe young woman as she stood trembling under his gaze, waiting to be dismissed. "Indira, Your Highness," she said sheepishly. "How would you like to go on a cruise?" he smiled. Without waiting for her to answer, he finished the last bite of food and drank the rest of his coffee, then jumped up and grabbed his suit jacket. He walked briskly to the antechamber of his bedroom, where his assistant waited. The assistant, male of course--women couldn't be trusted to keep his secrets--began blathering about the schedule for the day as he walked beside his employer. "How long until the aquarium is ready Fredrick?" he asked, interrupting his assistant. Frederick Hartman was, as always, immaculately dressed and groomed. He was a man who could blend into any city, work with any particular person, by his quiet mannerisms and lack of emotion. He never said an indiscreet word or showed any discourtesy in his business and never showed any feeling toward his employer's proclivities. He was a complete contrast to his employer's boisterous, somewhat impetuous mannerisms. "The concrete has cured, and the water filtration and oxygenation systems are complete. Only the rock work and the glass panels remain,Your Highness. It should be only another two months or so before we begin stocking it," Frederick said as his employer marveled at the million gallon tank being installed in record time in his main entertaining space. "Perfect. Let's get some especially fine fish to fill it. We're going to the South Pacific. We'll take the Alnasl. Make the arrangements. We'll need security too," the man barked. "Yes, Your Highness," his assistant replied as he began tapping out orders in his tablet, cancelling four month's worth of engagements and ordering supplies and manpower for his employer's yacht docked in the harbor. He felt a tug on his pants and looked down. One of his daughters, she looked about three, which one was this? Fatima? He only really cared about the son his wife had borne him. Though his daughters were technically princesses, they would be used more traditionally: married off to secure alliances with cousins in the family. His grandmother, the family matriarch, arranged things like that. "What's that?" his daughter asked innocently. "It will be a home for many fish little one," he answered. "Very pretty fish. I just have to go pick them up." The little girl smiled. A nanny appeared and, after apologizing, ushered her charge away. The prince's smile faded. It would be a week before all of the people and materiel for their voyage were assembled. They'd need a small crew for the yacht, along with several security contractors from the same company he'd had scout the islands, and of course, his serving girls. For now, he had work to attend to. He turned to Fredrick. "To the office. The Rolls," he said and then walked to the front of his house for the trip to his country's intelligence agency. [I bet Pat, Galina, and the other scientists could really expand this place.] Rose sent to her pod as she wound through the tunnels leading to the cave in the southern part of the atoll. [What do you mean?] Manami asked as she led the nine mermaids through the tunnel system. [Pat and some of the other mermaids have conducted a ton of experiments with the siren cells. They made acids and special bacteria that can eat rock.] Rose explained. [They expanded old caves and hollowed out new ones, added bioluminescent lights in a bunch of the tunnels, that kind of thing. Maybe when things calm down, they can visit and do some work.] [We'll see if we even stay on this atoll when all this is done.] Sarah chimed in. [I'm not sure I feel comfortable being out here alone. Speaking of which, if you could explain what's going on with the mers scattering, I'd appreciate it.] [C'mon Sarah. We could expand the kitchen and put in a merman cave for Josh. Hardwood floors would be great too. This place has tons of potential.] Jenna joked. The mermaids reached the cavern. Sarah and her podmates hauled out onto the large shelf, joined by Janice, Jaclyn, and Rose, while Kate, Ann, and Julie sat in a row on the smaller shelf, tails dangling in the water. "It's nice," Janice said. "I wouldn't want to be in here for too long with all three pods, but we could shelter if we had to." "This seems like a really small pool for you to change in, and tough to get to without a tail," Rose observed. "There's a kind of rock and coral formation in the middle of the lagoon, with fan coral interlaced around it. There's an opening in the bottom of the fan coral that we use to go in and out," Jenna remembered. "Josh and I slept there once before we changed once our gills came in. We actually failed changing once, before we got it right," she smiled. "I remember that place! I made your tiaras there," Rose exclaimed. "Before we get into that," Sarah interrupted. "Please tell me what is going on with the mers scattering." Janice, Jaclyn, and Rose looked uncomfortable. Eventually, Janice spoke, "Basically, Pat, Galina, Alexis, and Phoebe, four of the mer scientists, had a conference call, along with some allies in the US and China, with generals, scientists, and politicians from major powers. It didn't go as well as we wanted it to. "They tried to give them carrots. Things like a pollution-eating anemone, being able to speed up the ocean's carbon pump to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, things like that. They didn't bite, so they also told them about the stick." "The stick?" Sarah asked, dreading the answer to her next question. "What stick do they have?" "All mers are responsible for it," Rose said. "Because lack of action by mers is what will set it off," she added gravely. "There's a device, hidden west of here, that is set so that if a pod doesn't have sex and release siren cells within a few feet of it once a year or so, it will open." Rose let that hang in the air. "Open and do what?" Jenna asked. "It will release special bacteria, developed by mer scientists, that disaggregates the elements of seawater. That would dump all of the hydrogen and all of the oxygen that makes up the water of the oceans into the atmosphere," Rose explained. "So it would dry out the oceans?" Jenna gasped. "Worse. That much hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere would make just about any organic matter burst into flames," Rose concluded. The new pod simultaneously gasped. "What the hell?" Sarah practically yelled. "You built a doomsday machine!" "Which will hopefully never be used," Janice repiled. "The only way it can go off is if all mers are captured or killed. I know it's horrifying-" "No kidding!" Jenna exclaimed. "You'd kill everything on Earth because someone tried to wipe us out!" "We'd be killing everything on Earth because someone did wipe us out," Rose countered. Everyone around her was looking down, unable to meet Sarah and her pod mates' gaze. "No one relished the idea of creating it, but we felt like we didn't have a choice." "I'm sure that's what the people at the Manhattan Project thought," Manami said. "My grandfather's brother died of radiation sickness in 1945, from a weapon that was never supposed to be used, that no one wanted to make." The mermaids sat in silence. Finally, Jaclyn spoke. "So, obviously, that conference didn't go well. We needed to spread out around the world, so all of the mers couldn't be wiped out or captured in one or two places." "Is there any chance of peace?" Jenna asked. "I think so. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail. Pat might offer to defuse The Device if that's what will secure our freedom," Rose noted. "The point is, mers are likely being hunted, we're the closest group of pods to The Device, and we need to hide, to reduce the number of mers in any one place. We thought it would be good to go to a place with a pod already there, too." "We're glad you're here. We're better off knowing what's going on," Sarah sighed. "Just, please, start from the beginning, how did all this happen? What have we gotten ourselves into?" Rose and Janice smiled. "You have several months as a mermaid on me Rose, plus you're in the scientist club, you know more of the details than I do," Janice said. Rose took a breath. "So, it started on an island in Kiribati known only as 399. Patrick and John were Greenpeace researchers studying the effects of nuclear testing on local wildlife..." Sarah and her pod listened intently as Rose told the story of the synthesis of the original fish goop, the genetic changes it brought, and the beginnings of mer-kind. She told them about the fights with Malaki and his syndicate, and the varied, and often horrific, origins of the mermaids and mermen that were even now scattering across the world's oceans. Josh tumbled over and over in the water, trying to recover from being tossed over Trevor's shoulder. He eventually righted himself. "Shit," he muttered. "I told you that you can't throw punches while you're floating in the water the same way you do while you're standing on land," Brian chuckled. "Okay, try it again." Josh swam back over to his starting position facing his opponent. Trevor floated in the lagoon a few feet below the surface, with that relaxed surfer dude smile of his. It was infuriating. Taking out someone's legs was usually a good idea on land, and mers relied on their tail in the water for locomotion, so Josh first feinted towards a shoulder lock before shooting towards the area just below Trevor's pelvic fins, as close to his center of gravity as he could get. He did succeed at flipping Trevor upside down, but Trevor countered with a whack to Josh's gills with his open hand "GAHHHH!!" Josh yelled as he released Trevor. "If you think that was painful, imagine if someone who wanted to actually hurt you hit you there," Brian stated. "That was like getting hit in the balls." Josh blinked his eyes. "Yep. That's why flipping someone over your back is a bad idea," Trevor confirmed. "Are you going to teach me anything, or are you just having fun kicking my ass around the lagoon?" Josh asked. "Little column A, little column B," Brian said as he tilted his hand as if he wasn't sure which option he'd pick. "Easy there 'Recruit', everyone has to pay their dues." "You've been a merman for what, a month longer than me?" Josh protested. "It counts," Brian retorted. "Besides, Trevor and I have actually been through Mark and Mu Su's training." "You mentioned them before," Josh said, trying to give himself some time to recover. "Mark sounds like a bit of a hard ass, what about Mu Su?" "Mu Su's interesting. He actually used to be a she. She was a martial artist in China, until her class was captured by pirates while she was on a pleasure trip with classmates and was going to be sold as a prostitute. She was one of two survivors from that group. Those pirates made the mistake of landing on Mermaid Island, and the first couple pods of mers rescued them," Trevor related. "She was rescued with another Chinese girl and a set of Australian twin sisters and their brother. The other Chinese girl is Xing Hua, and she's mates with Gabriel, Petra, and Galina. Mu Su became mates with Rikki, Cleo, and their brother Martin, who is now Emma, and they are identical triplets." "Wow. Okay," Josh tried to absorb all of that. "So Mu Su is a guy, just like Rose is a girl?" "Yeah. You couldn't tell if you met him and didn't know. He's not nearly as much of an asshole of a teacher as I am, though," Brian smiled. "It gets better: With the help of some friends, a group of pods rescued Emma, Rikki, and Cleo's mother. She became a merman," Trevor shrugged. "Enough procrastinating. Defend yourself!" Brian launched himself at Josh. Josh's reflexes were quick enough to intercept and grapple with Brian. Brian tried to overpower Josh with upper body strength, but matching Josh strength for strength was not to Brian's advantage. Josh began to get the upper hand. Brian tried to get Josh to overcommit by falling backwards, but Josh didn't let Brian out of his grip, and the two of them remained locked together as they tumbled all the way around back to their starting orientation. "Good. Hope for you yet," Brian quipped as he struggled to keep Josh from controlling the encounter with his greater strength. Brian countered Josh with a whack to the ribs with his tail. Josh grunted, and Brian tried to press his advantage and attempted a move Mark had taught him where he could spin Josh and bend his arm behind his back. Brian was quick, but Josh had an idea. He spun as Brian attempted the arm pin, and clasping Brian's forearm, pulled him in as Josh bent his tail up and did the merman equivalent of kneeing Brian in the stomach. "Aughhhh." Brian clenched his midsection and floated away. "Who the hell taught you that?" "Trevor did, when he used my momentum to flip me. I went with the momentum you gave me with that arm twisting move to swing my body around. After that, I had your arm, and control, so I hit you with the biggest thing I had that wouldn't put me off balance." Brian smiled. "He can learn. Good. But you're likely going to be outnumbered if you do fight. Trevor, get him." Brian and Trevor launched themselves at Josh simultaneously. Trevor came from behind and to the right of Josh, going high and trying for a chokehold. Brian advanced from the front. Josh lifted his tail to fend off Brian. Trevor put his hand over Josh's eyes, but with mer senses, it didn't incapacitate Josh as much as it would a human. Brian made the mistake of pushing Josh's fluke up, rather than down. Mers, like other marine mammals, had a more powerful upstroke than downstroke when swimming face down. Josh brought his heavy tail down as hard as he could on Brian's back. He heard, and felt, a hard *thump* along the middle third of his tail. Trevor kept wrestling him for a moment. Josh didn't know any moves to break a chokehold, and couldn't get his eyes clear. Brian had recovered from the tail thump after a half minute and delivered a series of punches to Josh's midsection. Josh went limp, as if Trevor's chokehold had rendered him unconscious, despite being underwater and using his gills. Trevor actually released him, which gave Josh the space to elbow Trevor in the nose and deliver a punch to Brian. "Woah, woah, woah!" Brian called a halt. "Trevor, what the fuck? You thought you choked him out with a hold around his neck when he's underwater and has gills?" Trevor rubbed his nose. "Yeah, I can't believe I fell for that." "We'll be fighting regular humans, so it would work if you held it long enough," Josh tried to console him. "I was surprised that you let me go though." He smiled at the other merman. "So you can use your strength and weight, and can think on the fly. Have you ever taken any martial arts?" Brian asked. "Only a little as a kid. I never got very far though," Josh answered. "Then we'll do the basics. Watch and repeat what I do," Brian and Trevor began demonstrating the mer-adapted strikes and kicks, with Josh mirroring them, building upon the basics of merman combat into combinations. "Alright. Now that you've got a handle on that," Brian said after a couple of hours of instruction. "Defend yourself!" He attacked Josh again, calling upon more technique rather than a test of strength and starting a new, more intense round of sparring. "So, the mers have rescued numerous women from prostitution, destroyed an international crime syndicate, and made world-changing scientific breakthroughs," Rose concluded. "Good L-rd," Jenna said once Rose concluded her recital or mer history. "I thought we had it rough." "I knew that prostitution existed. Men would leave conferences and meetings to visit 'comfort women'; but not to the extent, or to the level of organization that this Malaki character set up." Sarah shivered at the thought. "You've had your own trials, and losses," Janice said. "We've all found our own way to being mers. The point is that we're here, we are what we are, and we are trying to survive in a world that can't decide if we have a right to life or liberty." "Perhaps I shouldn't get pregnant," Manami said sadly. "It's up to you, but please don't let external politics determine your life. The more mers there are in the world, the better," Janice assured her. "Besides, we know why you want to get pregnant. Nothing should stop you from bringing Miki back." Sarah smiled and squeezed Manami's hand, kissing her head. "Yeah. We have your back all the way. No one is messing with you." Jenna held Manmi's other hand. "We are all here to support you as well. Your pod isn't alone anymore," Rose added. "Okay." Manami smiled. "I'll think about it." Her podmates smiled and kissed each of her cheeks. "So what else would you like to see next?" Sarah asked. "How about where you changed?" Janice asked. "Only a few mers have changed outside the Moon Pool on Mermaid Island." "Sure. It gives us a chance to grab dinner and check on the guys too," Sarah agreed. The nine mermaids each swam down the tunnels in single file and out into the reef, turning east to re-enter the lagoon. [Hey, does Josh feel alright?] Manami asked only her pod mates over what the other mermaids explained was called "CHEW". [He does seem stressed, and angry.] Sarah agreed. She switched to sending to the other mermaids too. [Hey, I'm getting some bad feelings from Josh. Weren't your mermen supposed to be teaching him something?] [They're probably sparring. They got serious about hand-to-hand combat training on Mermaid Island. Josh is also the newest merman, so they're probably giving him a bit of a hard time to test his limits.] Rose answered. [If you say so.] Sarah seemed skeptical. [It has been going on for a while.] Janice conceded. [Let's get them to take a break and eat, then we'll see where you changed.] [Thank you.] Sarah was still worried. It felt like Josh was fighting hard as they turned to enter the lagoon. Brian tried to get a neck hold on Josh from behind. The bigger merman had had enough of that though, and caught Brain's left wrist, and using his strength and a turn of his body in the water, pulled Brian over his shoulder in front of him and flung him right into an onrushing Trevor. The two mermen grunted as they collided and disentangled themselves. Josh floated, readying himself for their next attack. How long had they been going at it? He didn't know and didn't care. If he had to fight for his pod, there wouldn't be any clock running. They'd each gone completely into a fight or flight survival mode, and none of them were running. Their fight was no hold barred, no punches pulled. No quarter asked, and none given. All three mermen were covered in bruises and cuts from being hit with strikes from hands, elbows, tails, and even a headbutt, in the case of Josh's nose that was trickling blood. It floated in the water in a red haze that mirrored their thoughts. Brian and Trevor spread out again, looking to attack Josh from two directions as they'd done almost every time the fight reset. "Come on if you think you're hard enough!" he growled in challenge. They charged again. Josh struck Trevor first by avoiding a chop and using an open- palm strike on his nose that got Trevor bleeding. He then used his flukes to deflect Brian's charge and deliver a couple of quick body blows as he passed. Brian swung his flukes and hit Josh in the back of the head, knocking him upside down and dazing him. [What is going on?!] The words thundered into their heads. The message struck their minds like lightning, immediately knocking them out of the frenzy of battle. The three males turned to where their senses picked up their mermaids and saw all nine of them about twenty yards away charging towards the mermen. "You were supposed to show him some moves, not turn him into hamburger!" Julie scolded her husband as the mermaids approached. "Hey!" Brian waved at his own battered form. "He gives as good as he gets." "Josh, no!" Manami was nearly in tears upon seeing his injuries. "Sweetie, it's okay, I'm fine," he tried to reassure her as he righted himself, though the pain and tiredness began taking a toll as the adrenaline left his system. "You should see the other guys." He smiled, despite still feeling the effects of Brian's blow to his head. "Stop talking and take my milk," Sarah ordered as she pulled his head towards her chest. He dutifully drew her milk from her nipple, and began feeling better quickly. "You should also directly apply milk to his wounds. That will speed up healing," Rose assured them as she fed Trevor while Kate and Ann expressed milk onto the injuries that marked his skin and scales. Jenna floated over to Trevor and Brian with an angry look on her face. "If either of you ever do anything like that to him again, you will answer to me," she said as she poked Brian in the chest and Trevor in the shoulder. Josh left Sarah's nipple. "Please, honey, don't-" "Don't 'honey' me," Jenna snapped. "Drink." Josh, who felt as if he were being chastened by his mother all over again, returned to drinking as he felt Manami express milk onto a particularly large bruise on his side from Brian's tail whip early on in the lesson. "I'm sure none of them will let things get out out of hand like this ever again," Janice assured Jenna and laid down the law for the three mermen. "What if you'd seriously hurt one, or all of you, and tomorrow the Chinese navy shows up?" "We'll be healed by tomorrow," Brian pointed out. "Totally missing the point!" Janice exclaimed. Jaclyn swam up to Brian and pulled his head to her large breast without comment. Brian took the hint and began drinking the rejuvenating milk himself. "Will you each promise?" Janice said exasperated. [I promise.] Josh sent as he switched to Sarah's other breast. [I promise.] Trevor sent as well. [I promise I will never kick Josh's ass as hard as I did today again.] Brian sent with a cocky grin. [You needed Trevor's help to do this. I did that to you all on my own Chair Force.] Josh trash talked right back. [Both of you stop it right now.] Janice interrupted. [Please tell me you're just being men and don't actually hate each other.] she said, rubbing her forehead. [We're cool. Right?] Brian said. [Yeah. We're cool.] Josh replied as he and Trevor finished drinking, their bleeding already stopped, though their bruises would take a while to fade. "Thank you," Josh said to Sarah and Manami. "I feel much better." "I'm still mad at you," Sarah said. "Why? I learned a lot about fighting to protect you three. Her too." He brushed Sarah's abdomen with one hand. "When do you think Manmi last saw someone she loves beat up like you are?" Sarah asked. Josh's stomach felt like it fell to his flukes. Her sister's body. Masculine cockiness was chased off into a corner in his mind. He turned to see Manami floating, looking at his injuries with red eyes, though he couldn't see the tears. "I'm so sorry," he said. It was like a knife to the gut to see any of his girls sad on his account. Manami hugged him, her head against his chest. "Just be careful." By now Brian had finished feeding, and he could feel how upset Manami was too. "Hey, why don't the three of us get dinner?" Brian indicated Trevor, Josh, and himself in a conciliatory tone. "You three are going to cool off. I don't want you together without mermaids present for a while. If I could ground you, I would," Sarah declared. "Two mermaids from each pod will get dinner," Janice decided. "Jenna, Manami, Kate, Rose, Jaclyn and me. The rest of you meet us on the beach where we had our nap," Sarah and Rose nodded their agreement. The mermen and their mermaid escorts swam off, while the mermaids who were assigned to gather food watched. "Not even a month pregnant with her first kid and she's already threatening to ground everyone who misbehaves," Jenna joked. "And you threatened two mermen," Jaclyn chimed in. "You've got the whole 'mermaids are in charge' thing down." "So that really is universal, not just our pods?" Jenna asked. "It's the main reason Janice convinced me to become a mermaid and not fight over being a merman with Brian," she replied. The six mermaids set off to gather dinner from the lagoon. The mermen and the three mermaids left the water and laid out on the beach. Sarah felt the need to be with Josh, and laid on her side with her head on his shoulder, her arm over his chest. Josh winced, her head laid on a shoulder that he'd wrenched and was still sore. The sun felt good after being in the water for so long. He breathed deep, rubbing Sarah's shoulder with his hand. Sarah was content to lay quietly with him, even laying the bottom of her tail across his and gently rubbing. He looked to his left and saw Ann on top of Trevor kissing him. Further down the beach, Julie and Brian were even farther along into heavy petting. The pheromones stirred up by the other mers began to affect him and his mate. He felt Sarah's hand move down his body, teasing him until she reached his vent, circling it. He turned his head back to her. Her eyes twinkled, and he felt her nipples harden against his side. He lifted his head to lean into a kiss. She was on top of him in an instant, kissing him and pushing his head back down into the sand. He released his vent, his member jutting straight out into the air. Sarah levered herself up, lined up her vent, and sank down, taking Josh inside her again. "Ughhh. Oh G-d." She shuddered as she took him in. Eventually she bottomed out, laying belly to belly with Josh. They heard more moaning down the beach. Trevor had managed to lift Ann's tail and bend it back over her head as she lay face down and was standing up on what had been his knee joints, thrusting into her as her chest pressed into the sand and she voiced her pleasure and dug her hands in. Brian was on top of Julie. While they both loved their pod mates, they had been married for more than 20 years, and time for just the two of them was something they liked to take advantage of. Julie giggled and moaned as Brian serviced her. Josh pushed his hips up into Sarah, who squirmed on top of him, and she lifted herself up and began working herself up and down Josh's member, her hands braced against his shoulders for leverage. Sarah thought she heard two other people scream in ecstasy down the beach, but she was too far gone to pay much attention. The six mermaids who were out gathering food emerged from the water to find that they were late to the unscheduled orgy. The pheromones from their pod mates slammed into their brains. "Oh crap," Jenna exclaimed. Her nipples became painfully hard almost instantly. "The food?" she asked, breathing deeply. "Quick, put it in the raft. Keep it in the shade," Jancie said as she and Jaclyn salamandered over as fast as they could, dumped the food, and double-timed it to Julie and Brian, practically tackling their podmates. Rose and Kate repeated the procedure, joining Trevor and Ann, and Jenna was just able to make it herself. Manami was not able to control her arousal long enough to even drop the sea grasses she was carrying. She crashed into Jenna, intercepting her with a *splat* from her cargo as Jenna went from the raft to pile onto Sarah and Josh. "Ugh. What the-" Jenna started to say before Manami's mouth clamped onto hers. Oh, fuck it... she thought as their bodies rubbed together, Manami's hands now firmly gripping both of her breasts, expressing her milk and making even more of a mess as random cries of pleasure came from the mers spread across the campsite. "Okay, so, arousal jumps pods, I guess," Sarah panted as the mers recovered from their orgy. The sun was just touching the western horizon as the mers retrieved the discarded food from the raft. Sarah's whole pod had become covered in sea grass and mermaid milk as Manami and Jenna had switched partners. She shook the mixture off her hands. "I feel like I've been slimed." "Sorry," Manami said. "I couldn't help it." "It's quite alright. Slimy sex is still sex," Jenna said. "It's not your fault. Once mermaid pheromones get going, there's really nothing you can do," Rose said. "Who started that, anyway? I'm laying with Josh, and I was still kinda ticked with him, then we're off to the races," Sarah wanted to know. "Not it," Ann and Trevor said quickly. "Yeah, sorry." Julie raised her hand with a sheepish look on her face. "My bad." "C'est la vie." Janice sighed between bites of fish. "Occupational hazard of merhood. Sudden bouts of sex can happen at almost any moment." The mers continued eating their evening meal as the sun set, then lay on the beach staring up at the stars and the moon. "I've had less eventful days in my life," Josh mused. He heard chuckling from around him. "You're not the one who found out they're pregnant for the next TEN months!" Sarah lightly slapped his arm. "And I'm still kind of in shock about it," Josh said. "I'm thrilled to become a father. I just wasn't expecting Sarah to be the first one pregnant." "Are you okay with this?" Sarah asked. "Of course!" Josh exclaimed, turning to Sarah and taking her hands in his. "I just... we 'oopsed' our way into it, after..." "After I took so long to decide to be a mermaid," Sarah said understanding. "I know I didn't have the fantasy of mers like you, or the joy at the thought of becoming one like Jenna, but I did embrace this," She put her hand on his chest. "I gave myself to you, Jenna, and Manami, you have no reason to feel guilty, for anything. I've never been religious, but I can't help but feel that you three are my basherts." "What's that?" Rose asked. "It's Yiddish. It means 'soulmate' or 'destiny.'" Josh answered. "I don't want to hurt anyone, and I'm responsible for three of you, and I want you to be happy." "Feel our bonds. Trust your heart. They don't lie. I am happy. I love you," Sarah said and hugged his head to her chest. Manami and Jenna wrapped their arms around the two of them and kissed each of their heads. Several mers from the other pods wiped tears from their eyes. They waited for Sarah to release Josh. "Just don't scare us by getting hurt like today," Sarah said. "Deal," Josh said. "All three of us are responsible for that," Trevor said. "We should have stopped ourselves." "Yeah," Brian agreed. "When we do spar again, we'll have one of us be a referee, no more two on one fights." "Good," Janice said. "Now, where are we all sleeping tonight? It's been a long day." "Our grotto can probably hold two pods. More than that, and it will get tight. Same with the cave," Sarah thought out loud. "It's dark," Josh said, raising his head. "I honestly wouldn't want a pod going outside the lagoon on their own." "We just slept in the open ocean for several nights straight. We're not scared of a swim along the reef at night," Brian bragged. "Why don't we try your grotto tonight?" Rose suggested in a tired voice. "If it works, great, if not, we can make other arrangements during the day tomorrow." "Good," said Sarah. "I'm actually pretty tired too, so, my loves, let's head that way." "Are we going to have sex before bed?" Manami asked. "Again?" Jenna asked suggestively. "You little minx." "I, I think I want to..." she looked at Josh, eyes glistening. "Really, my heart?" Sarah asked. "Yes," she nodded. "She has waited in limbo long enough. I thought that we had done it when we found the cave, now I want to make sure." "If it's what you want, then that's what we'll do," Josh said. "Whoever or whatever chose you four to be a pod, they made a wonderful choice," Kate said. "Let's go then," Jenna said. "You can follow our signals?" she asked the other two pods. "We're right behind you," said Janice. Jenna and her pod entered the water, and the two guest pods followed. They swam down in the dark lagoon. Nocturnal denizens of the reef went about their business as they passed, or, in the case of small sharks, moved out of the way in reaction to the mer's electromagnetic fields' effects on their ampullae of lorenzini. Before long, the three pods reached the entrance to the grotto, and Josh moved the rocks away from the entrance. "This place is amazing," Rose said. "The fan coral really lets in the light during the day." "It does. It's almost like a pergola," Sarah agreed. Brian and Josh replaced the rocks once all of the mers were inside. It was a tight fit with all twelve mers spread out, but as they came together as pods to sleep, the mermaids wrapping tails around their merman's, they obtained a bit more elbow room. Jenna and Sarah pressed against Josh's sides. Manami looked at her pod mates floating before her. She smiled, feeling their love. They accepted her choice, either way, she could never do anything that would make them stop loving her. She felt the eyes of the other two pods on her, even in the darkness of the reef, they could still see her. She thought of the last time she had tried to make a baby with Josh in the cave, it had been wonderful. The memories of the encounter started her own arousal, and her own bioluminescence started. Her pod mates first felt the effects, then the other two pods fell in around their mermen. Josh's vent opened, Jenna and Manami's eyes became lidded as his pelvic fins vibrated. Manami floated forward, and took Josh's member into her body. Josh felt Manami slide down his member, biting her lower lip as she took him. She stopped as their bellies touched. He began moving back and forth, gently thrusting in and out, getting faster and building a rhythm. Manmi struggled to keep her eyes open, rather than screwing them shut in pleasure. She built quickly towards orgasm. She put both hands on Josh's shoulders to steady herself, and looked up, only to see Josh's eyes tightly shut. She called to him, "Open your eyes!" Josh heard his mate. He opened them to see Manami's brown eyes, reflections of their luminescence dancing in their jewel-like corneas. This was it. Manami looked deep into Josh's blue eyes. If she was going to stop, it was now or never, but she was determined to reincarnate Miki. She thought of her sister, her brown eyes, and wondered if the baby she had with Josh would have them, or Josh's blue. Manami felt herself clamp down on Josh, then a muscle that she'd never felt before pumped his member. Her realization of what was happening lasted for only a split second before her mind was swamped with the biggest orgasm she'd ever felt. It crashed over her consciousness, and all she could feel was the unyielding pleasure and Josh's member spasming within her before the whole world went black and silent. As Manami's body began to pump his member, Josh's upper body pitched forward. He had just enough presence of mind left to stop himself from bending so far forward that he headbutted Manami. He clenched her wrists with his hands, his eyes closing. It felt like the orgasm was being ripped from his body, induced by her body's actions rather than the normal climax from sex. He gasped, rather than roared, in the water. For a moment he felt like he might pass out as well. Focusing, He willed himself to stay conscious. The orgasm waned, and he drowsily opened his eyes to see Manami's unconscious face floating before him. Josh actually felt drained, but that didn't stop him from reaching his hand up and cupping Manami's cheek with one hand. Yet more trust placed in him by these three women. He prayed silently that he would be worthy of that trust. He kissed her lips gently and waited for her to wake up. He turned to see Jenna smiling as she basked in her own afterglow. Manami came back to the land of the living slowly. Floating in a cloud of her own and her podmate's milk, everything had a smoky effect around it. She felt Josh's hand on her cheek and smiled, reaching her hand up to feel his. She looked left and right to see Jenna and Sarah's smiling, knowing faces. "We..." "We did," Josh said quietly. Manami pulled herself off of Josh's member, and Sarah moved around to Josh's front to take her turn. Manami settled in on a pelvic fin, her head on Josh's shoulder, and enjoyed the feelings of love and closeness as her fellow mermaids took their turns. Each pod completed their lovemaking, their lightshow died away, and darkness settled on the lagoon once again. "When will we be ready to sail, Fredrick?" the Prince asked as he ate a light lunch of nicoise salad in his office, washed down with Perrier. "We'll be ready to go in three days sir. We have six security personnel, along with a crew of eight for the Alnasl, plus Captain Omar, our engineer, and a doctor," Frederick reported. "And the girls?" he asked. Frederick knew who his employer was talking about. "We can fit four of them in one of the crew birthing rooms. Are you sure that you want to bring them?" "It wouldn't be the same without them!" the Prince said. "As you say Your Highness," Frederick replied. "Do you have any favorites?" "Bring that one from this morning, Indira, then Aluna, Marie, and Abbie." He named four of his eight girls off the top of his head. "Anything else?" "I also wanted to confirm the route with you sir." He handed his tablet to his employer with a nautical map. "Why are we going to Fiji when Vanuatu and the Solomons are much closer?" he asked. "Vanuatu and the Solomons don't normally host yachts the size of yours, Your Highness," Frederick explained. "There may not be enough diesel on hand to refuel it fully. Vuda Marina is a popular port for small and large pleasure craft, so it allows us to blend in as well. It would be wise to avoid attracting attention, given the reason for the trip and the passengers you'll be bringing back." "You are right my friend, as usual. How long will it take to get there?" he asked. "Four weeks each way, at the yacht's cruising speed, with stops in the Maldives, Jakarta, and Port Moresby for fuel before Vuda Marina in Fiji," Frederick answered. "I've allotted four months total, given stopovers, time at the atoll itself, and any unforeseen events, or side trips Your Highness would like to make." "Very wise, but my focus on this trip is singular. My friends and family may have tigers, cheetahs, or horses, but I will have mermaids!" The prince's eyes lit up. "So would you like to shorten the time you're away?" Frederick asked. "No no no! Even if we get back early, I will want to spend time with my mermaids," he thought of getting into that aquarium and having them swim around him, tickle him with their fins, and do... other things. "As you say, Your Highness," Frederick agreed. "I've informed the appropriate parties that you'll be going, and you'll have the satellite link on the yacht if you need to communicate. Also, the advanced team on their atoll found a raft. There wasn't much in it, but it did have a serial number, and I took the liberty of tracking it." "What did you find?" "It was part of an equipment package for an Airbus. This particular raft was equipped on flight 1138 that crashed between Hong Kong and Fiji about two months ago." Fredrick let that hang in the air. "So the mers rescued some people on the flight?" his employer asked. "What happened to them?" "Perhaps. Perhaps they just found the raft. I think it is possible that the four mers we saw in the pictures from the plane are survivors, and have been changed somehow." "It... would make sense, I suppose," the prince thought. "Mermaids suddenly appear in an age of satellites and air travel. But how could such a thing come to pass?" "Perhaps we will learn more once we get there. Shall I try to run the pictures from the overflight through facial recognition?" Fredrick asked. "It cannot hurt to try. The more information we have, the better. Just crop the tails out of the image before you submit it," he ordered. "I'll have it run this afternoon, there should be results by tomorrow morning," Fredrick made a note. "Excellent. What's my schedule after lunch?" the prince asked. Frederick switched to his employer's schedule, and detailed the last few meetings of the day. He wouldn't get to eat until his employer was in a meeting that was only for family members at 2 p.m. Jenna woke up slowly, the water around her only just beginning to brighten with the new dawn. She could tell her pod mates were still asleep, as were Trevor and Brian's pods behind them. Manami smiled peacefully to her left, her head on Josh's shoulder. Jenna focused her mer senses on her sleeping pod mate, feeling for that little extra bit that meant... there it was. That spark, barely a few hours old, of new life forming within her. In 11 months, if all went well, there would be a new little mermaid in the world. She felt a twinge of jealousy, but laid it aside. Sarah's pregnancy was a wonderful accident, and Jenna was willing to delay her own for a while to help her two pregnant sister wives. She knew she had help from other pods, but Rose was pregnant too, and she didn't want to pull the Connors away from their impending addition to help with her pod's pregnancies. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to find Kate and Jaclyn had pulled away from their mermen and had come to see her. [Hey! Congratulations! Looks like there will be another baby!] Kate sent to her. [Thanks. Manami will be so happy.] Jenna sent back. [We were going to get breakfast for our pods. Want to come with us, keep the number of mermaids balanced so the guys don't go nuts?] Jaclyn asked. [Sure]. She carefully disentangled herself from her pod and helped clear the rocks away from the entrance to the grotto. The three blonde mermaids grabbed collection bags and headed out. [Jaclyn, I wanted to ask.] Jenna sent as they swam. [Feel free to tell me it's none of my business, but was the fact that the mermaids are in charge the only reason you became one?] [It's no problem.] Jaclyn answered as they headed west northwest from the grotto to harvest shellfish. [It was a case of Janice and Julie wanting to be in a pod together, and Brian and I having to work things out. Janice was really the one that pushed me to become female. I didn't really get why until after I became a woman. I could feel the bonds, and feel just how hopelessly, not controlled, but overwhelmed, I guess, Brian was.] [Interesting.] Jenna replied. [I could feel the same thing from Josh when we finished changing into mers.] [Why do you ask?] Kate asked as they arrived at the clusters of oysters and started harvesting protein. [I didn't mean to pry, but what Josh and the guys did yesterday worries me.] Jenna sent. [I'm trying to understand what goes through their head, and I figured if I knew the reasons someone might choose to not be a merman, it would help.] [Well, Josh might be the best person to ask. I don't know how much he talks about his feelings.] Jaclyn answered. [From what Pat has said, the mermen have a much higher testosterone level than human men, but the presence of mermaids can counteract and suppress the extra aggression that can come from high testosterone. It's all because of some mixture of hormones and pheromones. Rose might be able to give you specifics.] [So yesterday, they just went nuts from hormones?] Jenna's eyes went wide. [It's possible. Josh doesn't have any experience being around other mermen, and with Trevor and Brian coming at him at the same time, it's possible that the extra testosterone made Josh, and I'm not blaming him, mind you, lose it a little bit.] Jaclyn answered. [The same thing might have happened with Trevor and Brian too.] [Trevor?] Kate asked. [As laid back as he is, his brain is still swimming in the same hormones as any other merman's.] Jaclyn answered her daughter. [Now, that doesn't mean that they don't have a responsibility to not injure each other. Nor does it mean that they are incapable of controlling themselves, but just keep it in mind. Let's get some of those nice sea grasses your atoll has.] [Sure.] Jenna said as the three mermaids turned east. [Thanks Jaclyn. Talking to you is kind of like talking to my own mom again. I know that might sound weird, since...] [I take that as the highest compliment.] Jaclyn said. [Your mom must be pretty great if she has a daughter like you.] [Thanks.] Jenna said, touched. [Besides, I feel like, and am, a woman. Don't get me wrong, it was an immense, and traumatic, change. I was a straight man, and I was content that way. It was tough to accept Brian and being attracted to him. Janice and Julie had to hold me down while it was happening. Ultimately, I did what I did to be with Janice, the mother of my children and the only woman I'd ever contemplated spending my life with. Now that I've gone through it... Well, being a woman in and of itself isn't traumatic for you, is it?] Jaclyn mused. [No, I guess not.] Jenna agreed. [Can I ask, what did you do before this?] [I ran a technology company in Silicon Valley with Janice.] Jaclyn answered. [Ann and I were on the boat when we found Mermaid Island. Uncle Brian is the brother of John, the first merman, and we were looking for him and Pat since we hadn't heard from them in months. Mom and Dad made us go to college at Stanford and UCLA for a semester when we got back, but we eventually convinced them that it was better if we left to be with Trevor and Rose rather than finish our degrees.] Kate added. [More like begged, pleaded, and cajoled until we gave in! How about you Jenna?] Jaclyn sent. The mermaids arrived at a patch of longer seagrass and started collecting. [I was just out of Ole Miss, and was teaching English in Busan. I wanted to see some of the world before I settled down. I also wanted a vacation, so I saved up some money, and my parents helped a little, and was on my way to Fiji.] she recalled. [Now I'm a mermaid. Go figure.] Kate and Jaclyn laughed. [But you miss your parents.] Jaclyn said, stopping. [Yeah. I mean, I should be used to it by now. I was across the world from them already, but now, with the things going on with world governments that you told us about, I really feel like I'll never see them again.] Jenna stopped and closed her eyes. [Don't give up hope. There is too much that we can offer the world for them not to see the wisdom in leaving us in peace.] Jaclyn put her hand on Jenna's shoulder. [I hope so.] Jenna sent. [I heard you say that you were willing to wait to get pregnant. Why did you want to have a baby?] Kate asked. [I figured that if I had a baby, my parents would be more accepting of Josh, having sister wives, me being a mermaid, the whole thing.] Jenna admitted. [I do want to have a family anyway, don't get me wrong. It's just that I figured it would smooth things out.] [Your parents love you, right?] Jaclyn asked. [Yeah, of course.] Jenna blinked. [Then they will be thrilled to see you, baby or no. If I thought any of my girls were...] Jaclyn stopped, gathering herself. [I would be thrilled to find them alive, no matter what. I get the feeling your parents will feel the same way.] [Thanks Jaclyn.] Jaclyn and Jenna hugged. [I guess it can wait then. Two babies in one pod, plus Rose and Trevor's, we'll be a bit busy.] [I wouldn't put it past Julie and Brian to have a baby eventually either.] Jaclyn said. [I know it broke their hearts when they found out they couldn't have any of their own.] [Do we have enough food Mom Two?] Kate asked. [Looks like it, Daughter Three.] Jaclyn said with a bit of sarcastic bite. [Let's see if the rest of our pods have woken up yet.] The three mermaids turned back west, diving as the bottom of the lagoon fell away. The aqua blue water was alight with fish, bright corals and sponges, the reef awakening for another day as it had for thousands, if not millions of years. [It's so beautiful here.] Jaclyn said. [If we had to leave the island, I'm glad we wound up in a place like this.] [I'm just glad we found this place on the way back from planting the device.] Kate said. [Me too. Your island would have been nice, but I think it helped us to be out here by ourselves for a while.] Jenna agreed. [We got to work through our issues.] The mermaids arrived back at the grotto and entered to see Rose in the center, with the rest of the mers as spread out as was possible in the small space. She had a knife in her hand as a focus, and was making a metal disc, seemingly out of mid-water. "Pretty cool, huh?" Josh whispered as he floated. Manami hung on his shoulder, a happy, peaceful expression on her face as she watched the proceedings. "This is how she made all the tiaras and headbands." "We got breakfast," she said as she handed over the collection bag and joined her pod. "Thanks." Rose completed the disc she was working on. "So that's a set for you four," she held eight small discs in her hand. "What do they do, exactly?" Sarah asked. "They are sort of like our tiaras in that they focus our mer senses. But while those are the equivalent of eyeglasses, these are more like a microscope lens in their ability to focus and amplify what we can do," Rose continued to explain. "Pat was able to talk to another mermaid 75 miles away, with no line of sight, and no formation behind her to boost her CHEW." "Is there anything mers can't do?" Sarah asked, astonished. "Tap dancing competitions are our kryptonite," Trevor deadpanned. The assembled mers burst out laughing. "Let's eat, then you can put your discs on and try them out. Only Eric, who can see CHEW links on his own, can place them properly on other people," Rose explained. "So, what's CHEW?" Sarah asked between oysters. "I keep hearing that term." "C.H.E.W. is the acronym for 'Christoffel, Higgs, Einstein Wave,'" Rose explained. "To put it simply, it's the phenomenon that connects podmates, and even other mers, though not as strongly. What we experience as bonding is our superconductive nature attuning to each other. When you're attuned, your signals find each other like a magnet. It's like if, instead of your eyes gathering light, the light finds you." "We're all attuned to you?" Manami asked. "Yes. Though not nearly as strongly as you are to your pod mates," she assured them. "There were actually experiments in trying to scramble the mer bonds between pod mates, but they didn't work. The bonds between pod mates are only severable in death." "Not happening on my watch," Josh said, his eyes narrowing. Rose smiled sadly. "I like your determination, but it has happened." "How did they try to break the mer bonds?" Sarah asked. "A bunch of mermaids had sex with other mermaids from different pods while scientific instruments recorded changes in their signals," Rose smiled. "But no matter what, even in the throes of passion, the mermaids could always feel their own pod mates' signals, and their bonds never changed." "I'd say that's unbelievable, but..." Sarah waved her hand down her own mermaid body. "Pat and the other scientists have made so many discoveries that will change how we understand biology and physics. If anyone listens, the world will never be the same," Janice declared. "To say nothing of the existence of mermaids whose milk can heal people," Josh said. "Once that gets out, every person with a chronic or terminal disease will flock to the South Pacific. Never mind a billion or two people who just want to see mermaids. I can see some cruise lines offering trips from Fiji or Australia out to Mermaid Island or here," Sarah put her hand to her forehead, thinking of the implications of hordes of tourists for their little atoll. "Think Seaworld will want a pod or two to throw in a tank and guarantee their profitability for the next 20 years?" Jenna mused. "Oh at least two," Jaclyn said sarcastically. "One for San Diego, one for Orlando." "Don't forget San Antonio," Jenna said. "I am not jumping through hoops for a sardine," Ann said bitterly. "You'll never have to," Trevor assured her. "Disney will totally build another aquarium in Florida too," Kate said. "Oh crap, Pat has red hair and a green tail!" she realized. "Yeah, they'd want her bad. Why have a woman in a fake tail and wig when you can have the real thing?" Rose said. "They could just get a pod or two of volunteer women, find mermen for them, and have them concentrate on looking like Ariel during their transitions," Kate said. "Pat would never consign herself, her pod, and their daughters to living at Disney. Complete waste of her talents." "I'm still bringing her a hermit crab the next time I see her," Rose smiled as she thought of the teasing she and the other scientists could inflict on Pat. "So, now that we've all depressed each other with how much danger we could be in," Sarah said as she placed her hands over her abdomen protectively, despite her not being visibly pregnant. "What about these discs? Would they amplify our abilities enough to use our telepathy out of the water?" "Sadly, no," Rose said. "As you've probably noticed, our abilities work far better in water. It's the medium we need for the signals our mer organs receive as part of our senses. Air just doesn't work well enough for telepathy, at least with what I've been able to make so far." "So Pat talked to us with these and mers boosting her?" Sarah asked. "Yep. And don't worry about being pregnant. I'm wearing them, and I'm fine," Rose assured her. "I'll go first, just in case," Josh volunteered. "Oh stop. She said it's fine," Sarah shooed him off. "I want to try it." Rose handed over two of the discs that she'd made. They were about the size of a nickel each. Sarah felt them in her fingers, one side was incredibly smooth, and another was almost fuzzy. "So where do I put these?" "They go where your mer organs are. Your butt, basically. Reach around with them and place them fuzzy-side down where you feel the strongest tingling," Rose instructed. Sarah reached around with a disk in each hand. Concentrating on the tingling feeling, as the discs moved along her dorsal ridge. She placed each gem where it was strongest, and new information from her enhanced mer senses flooded in. She saw a yellow string leave her chest and connect to each of her pod mates. Her mer senses seemed even clearer, and she could feel things further out. Her range must have been increased by miles! Focusing inward, the signal of the baby inside her was clearer than ever. She could even see a small tendril of light moving from the developing baby to her chest and to Josh, Jenna, and Manami's chests, though the strongest two were to her chest and Josh. Just when she thought being a mermaid couldn't get any better, it did. "Oh G-d," she felt tears form as she placed her hands above her womb again. "So beautiful." "Are you okay?" Josh asked, reaching for the disks to remove them out of caution. "I'm better than okay," Sarah said. "Put them on and you'll see." Josh accepted the disks from Rose, who gave him a knowing smile and handed the last two pairs to Jenna and Manami. Each of them placed their disks as Rose had instructed, and each of their eyes widened as their mer senses opened up even further. Manami started crying in joy as she focused on her new baby, conceived only hours ago. Jenna smiled, Josh gathered his mates into his arms and hugged them tightly, but gently. Josh met Rose's gaze as he hugged his wives. [Thank you, for everything.] "There is so much freaking happy crying on this atoll," Janice cracked as shed tears herself. The other mers chuckled softly. Frederick stood on the bridge of the Alnasl (The Blade) as it sat at the dock, looking over the instrumentation and confirming final preparations on his tablet. It was a 250-foot state of the art expedition yacht. Designed to be self-sufficient for months, if necessary. She had a 35 foot tender with a fold-away crane to lift it in and out of the water in less than a minute. She was also equipped with her own jet skis, which were stowed in compartments along each side of the ship. There were on board desalination and wastewater treatment facilities as well. The electronics were hardened against an electro-magnetic pulse, and she was capable of cruising at 20 knots for 3500 nautical miles, with a top speed of 25 knots. She didn't skimp on luxuries though. Not with this owner. His Highness had a 1000-square foot stateroom all to himself. There was also a large galley, a main dining room, a small gym, a small (relatively, of course) hot tub on the top sun deck and a larger one on the aft of the main deck, along with a special room down below for the storage and maintenance of scuba gear. The massive parlor at the rear of the ship could seat 20, not that he ever had that many guests, and doubled as a movie theater. "Captain Omar, Mr. Smythe," Frederick greeted the two men who entered the bridge. "I trust your respective teams are ready for tomorrow." "Yes, sir. Eight deck hands as ordered, not including the chef, our usual engineer Ahmad, and Dr. Hopkins," reported Captain Muhammad Omar, a veteran of the Royal Saudi Navy, who had retired and found much more lucrative employment making sure royal yachts were maintained and their fool owners didn't sink them. "My people have their gear stowed. Six, including myself, we'll be ready for any pirates dumb enough to come close. Those giant flashbang packs are simple enough, and the sonic projectors are installed too, so we might not even have to kill anybody," he said sardonically. "I've been looking over your personnel list. Are you sure including Miss D'Agostino is a good idea? Will she object to the special personnel our employer will be bringing onboard?" Frederick questioned as he looked over his glasses. "Hailey's a professional. She knows to keep her mouth shut. Don't worry, she won't try to liberate His Highness' slave girls," Sgt. Ben Smythe, British Army (Ret.), assured Fredrick. "Very well. She's your responsibility," Frederick replied. "Yes, she is," Smythe replied, his green eyes narrowing. "Did your people find their gear satisfactory?" Frederick asked him. "Yes. Bloody well can't be disappointed with suppressed H-K UMPs and Glock 19s," Smythe responded. Both the submachine guns and handguns were chambered in 9mm, it made supplying the ammunition easier. Smythe did not have to tell Fredrick about the radios they used to stay in contact. He controlled those frequencies and the encryption. "Excellent. Captain Omar, you seem quiet," Frederick observed. "I have nothing else to report, the Alnasl is a fine ship, and she'll easily make the voyage. I wasn't certain about having so many automated systems, but these new computers are miraculous," The captain ran his hand along the digital control panel that stretched across the front of the bridge. "What does His Highness hope to accomplish?" Smythe asked. "The course is for a blank patch of the South Pacific. If he wants to galavant around a tropical island, he can fly himself to Bora Bora and rent out one of the hotels." "His Highness has a specific goal for this trip. One that I will only be at liberty to share on our last leg from Vuda Marina in Fiji to our destination," Frederick informed them. "I don't like going into a situation I know nothing about," Smythe said testily. "You will know when you need to know. Surely you remember that concept," Frederick insisted. "Fine. Your boss is signing the checks, it's on his head." The retired sergeant went below to check on his people again. "I never understood how noncommissioned officers could be so obnoxious in the west," the ship's captain said. "The arrogance of professional soldiers, and the inexperience of their immediate superiors leads them to think they know better than anyone," Frederick replied. "His question is valid. Why are we going to the middle of nowhere?" Captain Omar asked. "I know that you have captained for His Highness' family for years, but I still cannot tell you any more than I can tell Sergeant Smythe. His Highness' orders," Frederick's tablet pinged with a new notification. The facial recognition pass was complete on the photos from the overflight. There were matches! He forwarded the report to his employer and began to leave. "As you say," the captain said to Fredrick's back as he went below. Ben Smythe took the back stairs away from the living areas of the ship for the owner and guests, through the narrow passages meant for the serving staff, down below decks to the crew quarters. The Alnasl could accommodate up to 40 crew, so his folks had room to breathe. He walked past the cabins for the crew, to the four cabins meant for him and his men. He had his own cabin, Hailey D'Agostino, "Daga", had her own as well, despite her lover, Jim Jackson, being on the job with her. Professionalism demanded they bunk separately. Jim was paired up with Jee-Suk (He went by Jason) Park. Andre Gorymayev and Marco Banullio shared a cabin as well. Further down was the cabin where the four "stewardesses" were to be kept. Two to a bed. He shook his head. It's none of your business. Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd believe it someday. He thought that as a contractor, he'd get to do what he'd done in the Army, but without some bastard lawyer looking over his shoulder to make sure he didn't offend the sons of bitches as he killed them. But no, he was playing bodyguard to some jackass with too much money and not enough sense. "Daga," he said as he knocked on Hailey's door. "Yeah boss?" the striking, six foot tall, lean, red-haired American woman said as she opened the door in her underwear and a tank top. She'd spent enough time in the US Army, and around Ben since she got out, that she didn't care about diving behind the door if it was just him. "No go on the briefing until we're out of Fiji. Also, heads up, that cabin down there," he pointed towards where the serving girls would bunk. "Is going to have some special servants staying in it, so hold your tongue when you're in the company of anyone other than the team." "Fuck," Hailey swore. "Yeah, sure thing boss, you know me." "I do, that's why I'm telling you," Smythe said. "Tell Jim too, while you're at it." "Will do. When are we going to get a job where we're not working for scum?" she asked angrily. "When the scum of the world run out of money," Smythe said. "Yeah," Hailey closed the door and turned back to her bed where Jim lay. They wouldn't get much time together, so they were making the most of it before His Highness arrived. "You hear that?" she asked as she got back into bed, spooning with Jim. She placed her fair-skinned fingers on his ebony hands as he rested them on her abdominal scars, souvenirs from her last tour in the U.S. Army. "Yeah. Unbelievable," Jim said bitterly. He hugged her tightly and kissed her hair. "So we're just in the unknown again, huh?" "We are. But at least it's not a trip to Iraq or Afghanistan," she whispered. "True," he confirmed. Smythe walked and knocked on the door of Jason Park and Jim's room. Jason answered the door. "Yeah boss?" Jason said as he opened the door. He'd gone by "Jason" since his family had immigrated to the US when he was 3. It helped him fit in better. "Client has some servant girls in the cabin at the end of the hall. Tell Jim, Andre, and Marco: no heroics," Smythe gave him a serious look. "Yeah, of course boss," Jason said, hanging his head. Jason knew better than to protest or ask about a briefing. When Smythe had one, he'd give it to the team. "Jim in there?" Smythe asked, knowing the answer. "Nah," Jason said. "Figures," Smythe walked on, and heard Jason knock on the door for his last two operatives to pass on the news. He wouldn't begrudge his lovebird teammates their private time, so long as they kept up professional appearances on the job, he wouldn't interfere in their personal relationship. Next, Ben made his way forward, past the crew mess, to the medical bay. If some dumbass pirate actually shot him, he wanted to know about the guy who would be in charge of sewing him up. He was surprised when he saw a small woman taking inventory and typing into a laptop. She had short brown hair above her shoulder and a mix of Caucasian and Indian features. She looked to be in her 40's. "Excuse me, I'm here to see the doctor. I didn't know we had a nurse too," Ben said. The woman turned and shot him an annoyed look. Her brow furrowed above her brown eyes. "I am the doctor," she said in a London accent. "But what else would I expect from some arse from Yorkshire?" "Sorry ma'am, er, Doctor," Ben stumbled as his face went red. "I'm Ben Smythe, I'm the Yorkshire arse that heads the security team," he said in a conciliatory tone as he held out his hand. "Madhuri Hopkins." The doctor shook his hand. "So you're the mercenary that will be keeping us safe from whatever we find, wherever the hell we're going?" "We prefer 'Private Military Contractor,'" he said with a smile. "I was going to ask if you had any idea of our destination, but I suppose not," he replied. "After we leave Vuda Marina, I have no idea," she confirmed. "I've seen coordinates: 8 degrees, 28 minutes, 54 seconds south, 170 degrees, 0 minutes, 46.1 seconds east. It comes up as a patch of empty ocean northeast of Vanuatu." He threw his hands up in frustration. "Well, if nothing else, we'll get a nice cruise out of the bargain," Dr. Hopkins said. "I'll happily take the second half of my fee after a nice boring trip." "Smart. I thought only us PMCs asked for half the money upfront," Ben observed. "I've been in the concierge physician business for too long to not get at least some money up front," she smiled. Ben turned serious. "You know about the servants he's bringing? I had to tell my people not to make a fuss." "The agency I book through warned me it was a possibility. I hoped that he wouldn't bring them," she said angrily. "Yeah," he stared at her. "I promise I won't make trouble on the trip. I make no promises that someone won't call Interpol and provide an anonymous tip afterwards," Madhuri exhaled. "I'll treat their bruises or whip marks, I'll sew up you and your mens' injuries if need be. I'll be a good little employee." "That's fair," Smythe exhaled. "All I would ask for, really." "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish this. Wouldn't want His Highness' yacht to be at sea without enough ibuprofen." Dr. Hopkins went back to her laptop. "I'll leave you to it then." Ben turned and left the medical bay. He had some free time coming now, unless Mr. Fredrick Hartman needed to bother him again. "Fredrick my friend! I got your message, what did you find?" the prince asked as he strode into the home office. "The facial recognition has met with success. The satellite pictures of the larger group of creatures we saw didn't have sufficient resolution, but the low-level flyover pictures were of a high enough quality to return positive matches," he explained. "To wit, the male matches with a Mr. Josh Abramson, late of Singapore. The pink-tailed female matches Jenna Sawnton of Busan, Republic of Korea, via Mississippi, United States, and the silver-tailed female, interestingly, matched with both Manami Iwamura and Miki Iwamura, sisters from Kobe, Japan," he handed the prince the full report, with ID photos of the mers as they appeared in public records, next to zoomed-in aerial photography identifying 90% matches of their facial features. Well within the margin of error for distance photography. "What about the fourth?" his employer asked. "Only a 50% match, so there are multiple possibilities. Only two were passengers on flight 1138, however," Frederick handed over the report with two pictures. "One is Hannah Rothstein of Hong Kong, and the other Sarah Mendelson of Taipei." "Why would it be so difficult to match her?" "If your theory is correct, and these mers were changed from humans, as it certainly appears, then it stands to reason that more changes than just their legs occured. Ms. Mendelson, at least, was in her late 40s. If she changed, she may now appear younger, at the least," Frederick surmised. "Indeed. Well, this is fascinating. If nothing else, it gives us a little more information about our objective," he thought out loud. "If our theory is correct, then, are all of these other mermaids from the latest pictures former humans, or only the first four crash survivors?" "I believe all of your questions should be answered in a month or so, Your Highness," Frederick said. "Thank you for seeing me. I know you value your time alone after work." "If you are interrupting me, then it is important. You are the soul of discretion," his employer told him. "Thank you, Your Highness." Frederick bowed his head slightly in appreciation. "What if we just ganged up on him and threw him overboard?" Marie Travers' aquiline features were twisted in hate as she conspired with Abbie Monroe as they packed. "If we do it in the middle of the night, no one will be able to see him." "People will hear him yell, and splash into the water. There's going to be at least one person driving the boat, and at least one person on security all the time. Then, when they fish him out, we're fucked!" Abbie whispered through clenched teeth as she packed what little clothes she had. Aluna Mwangi and Indira Dubey packed on the other side of the servant's quarters. They didn't seem to hear them conspiring as they worked. Their fellow captive women were off seeing to cleaning and other serving duties in the household. "Don't you want to be free? To go home?" Marie hissed. "Of course," Abbie said. "I know you think you deserve to be treated badly for letting him lure you here, but that is just not true," Marie pleaded. "I held your hand the night you miscarried. I know how much pain you went through. No one deserves that for the crime of being naive." "I was greedy. I was stupid. I thought he was going to take care of me the way my Dad took care of my Mom," Abbie verbally beat herself up for the thousandth time since the first night after she'd arrived and been beaten, collared like a dog, and raped until she'd understood that she was here to be another plaything, no better than any of the women brought from the third world with promises of childcare or maid work. Marie sighed. She'd been here four years already. Ever since she had been picked up in Dubai on charges of "fornication" after a night of drinking, which non-Muslims were allowed to do in the United Arab Emirates. Only 19 and horribly naive at the time, Marie had signed a document in Arabic that she couldn't read. It had been a confession of her crimes of trying to entice men and women into licentiousness. Her parents had pleaded to the governments of Dubai and the UAE, and the French government had petitioned for her release, but it had all fallen on deaf ears, and she was sentenced to two years in prison. After her first night in prison, a man had come to see her. He said his name was Fredrick, and that his employer had enough pull to get her out of prison so long as she came to work for him for the duration of her sentence as a domestic servant. Faced with the choice of sitting in prison or being a maid to some bigwig for a while, maybe flashing her cleavage, and then going the hell home, she jumped at the offer, and a week later she arrived at her captor's home and hadn't left since. "You think I don't beat myself up every night, especially after I have to go to bed with that monster?" she asked Abbie. "If you're going to try to escape during this trip, we want to go with you." Abbie and Marie turned to see Aluna and Indira looking at them. Aluna spoke again: "Though you do need to learn to speak quietly while plotting." "Our best bet is to escape at a port. We'll have to stop somewhere," Indira said. "We run for it, try to beg for help, maybe get to a consulate or embassy from one of our countries." "Maybe," Abbie said. "Better than throwing him overboard in the middle of the ocean and hoping for the best." The three of them laughed at that. Laughs were few and far between for them. "Do we know where we're going?" Marie asked. "I just heard 'South Pacific.'" Indira shrugged. "If we succeed, do we try to help the other girls?" Aluna asked. "We need to escape first and not die," Marie observed. "After that, we can help the others." "Do we have any idea how we're going to get off the boat?" Abbie asked. "No." Aluna's shoulders sagged. "We haven't even seen the boat yet. We can figure something out. Maybe one of the crew will help us," Marie said, though she knew she was grasping at straws. "Well, we have an early day tomorrow. We even get to wear regular clothes for the car ride to the boat," Abbie said bitterly. It would be a treat to not have to wear her usual attire of a bikini bottom and a diaphanous top that left nothing to the imagination along with the dehumanizing collar. They weren't even allowed to wear shoes usually. They had been given flip flops to wear while riding to the dock in their captor's Rolls Royce while he drove his Aston-Martin. Three of the other girls arrived back at their quarters. They were all Pakistani, and didn't like to mix with the group of four going on the trip. They didn't have to ask where Inaya, the final serving girl, was. Their captor was getting a last chance to enjoy her charms before leaving, which would detain her until the wee hours of the morning, when she could sneak out. He didn't like waking up with the slave he'd used lying next to him. The four girls that were leaving on the boat tomorrow went to their beds. "It'll be okay," Marie said to Abbie as they laid in their neighboring beds. Abbie nodded and closed her eyes as the lights went out. [Do we have to decide a name now?] Sarah asked. [Well, no, we don't have to, but it's never too early to start thinking about it.] Josh responded. He and Sarah were out surveying the rest of the outer reefs on the east side of the atoll. Manami and Jenna had taken the new pods to the reefs to the north to have fun shooting through the gaps with the faster currents. [I found out I'm pregnant a week ago. We have time.] she replied. [I guess I'm just excited.] he sent back. [Sorry.] Sarah was touched, but she didn't want him to be baby crazy for the next 10 months. [I get it that the name for Manami's baby is a given, and that you're excited, but can we be a couple, or quadruple, if that's even a thing, for a while longer?] [Yeah. I'll try.] he could feel that she wasn't trying to be mean. Being tuned into each other's emotions certainly improved communication between pod members. He was still giddy, he couldn't wait to meet his daughters and tell them the stories he'd grown up on, take them hunting, teach them the music and traditions he'd known his whole life, and show them all the little miracles in the world around them. He felt an opening in the reef below him. They were 20 meters down, off the almost directly east-facing island on the atoll. [I'll check it out, if you like.] he sent Sarah. [No, I'll come with.] Sarah sent back. The opening was only about a meter and a half wide. Josh was able to squeeze in, but the cavern wasn't very large, and had no air pocket. [Well, a couple of us would fit in here, but the tunnel that goes farther back is only about the size of a softball.] A moray eel poked its head out of said tunnel, and in the dim light, it stared at the merman who disturbed it. [I'm on my way back out. I'm bothering the tennant.] Josh emerged to find Sarah waiting for him. [What was living there?] [Just a moray eel. A pretty big one though. I thought it best to leave him be.] he answered. [Well, this has been a bust, hasn't it?] Sarah sighed as she sent the thought. [Can we go find a beach and relax?] [Sure.] he answered with a smile. [At least we know what's out here.] [This is an extinct volcano, I thought there would be tubes and chambers all over the place.] Sarah complained as they swam towards the southeastern gap. [It's a really old extinct volcano. Who knows what time and erosion collapsed and covered up?] Josh speculated. [In millions of years, Tahiti and Bora Bora will look like this.] [I know. I just wish we could find a bit more room than our one cave. Other pods might come to stay with us, more people might want to change when the world learns about mers.That's our cave, and it's only just barely big enough for the pods that are here now.] she worried. They made the right-hand turn into the lagoon, then exited the water and lay together on the beach. Sarah rested her head on Josh's shoulder and smiled, her mate's arm around her back as she lay in the sun, the water lapping at their flukes. "Do you remember this beach?" she asked. "I do." Josh sighed at the memory. "This is where we came the day I agreed to be your wife," she said. "I know I say it over and over, but I love you," Josh said as he planted a kiss on her hair. "And you can keep saying it over and over," Sarah replied jokingly. "If you'd seen me at, say, a bar or something, would you have come over and talked to me?" "Probably not, but not because of anything about you," he sighed. "I wouldn't have been in a bar in the first place. Too noisy, too many people. I would have been overwhelmed," he admitted. "Really?" Sarah asked. "Yeah. My head, before the change, my mind was like having three televisions going at once, one of which was usually on the actual world. Bars just made that worse," he said. "What about you? Would you have come up and talked to me?" he asked back. "Not if it looked like you were watching TV only you could see!" she teased him. "What's it like now?" "I have multiple TVs, still, but I have all the remotes too. I can turn them on or off, and I can set them to whatever channel I like, most of the time," he smiled. "Except when you think we're in trouble or when you're play-fighting other mermen," she observed. "Yeah," he said quietly."I'm working on that." "I have a confession to make," Sarah said as she laid her hand on his smooth chest. "Even though I was really pissed at you, for the most part, I was also kind of proud. Like, on a primal level of 'My mate is so big and bad that it takes two of their mates to beat him up. Grr! Cavewoman smash!'" she finished in a mockingly low-pitched voice. "HA!" he laughed at her impression. "Boy will everyone else be confused when I refer to you as 'Cavewoman' from now on." "Don't you dare!" she pressed herself to his side further and sighed as their laughter died down. There was no sound but their breathing, the light breeze through the palm trees, the distant roar of the ocean surf on the outside of the atoll, and the gentle lapping of the lagoon. "I love you," he said, but she was already asleep. He joined her a few minutes later. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kate let out a combination of a laugh and a scream as she rocketed through a curving channel in the coral, pushed by the strong current. It switched directions and she banked along with it. She saw the exit ahead and dipped below the small arch. She shot out of the gap and let herself coast along until she stopped in front of her parents and aunt. "Moms! Aunt Julie! You have got to try this!" "That looks a little too exciting for old folks like us," Jaclyn said as Ann shot past, exiting another channel and turning to head to the entrance of the run Kate had just come from. "Come on ladies! I get Rose and Manami not doing it, but you don't have to hang back! Y'all got younger like Sarah did!" Jenna said as Trevor and Brian raced each other through a channel. Rose and Manami hung out in the eddy overhang Jenna and Sarah had used for their tryst when they'd tested their telepathy weeks before. "It's okay. We're just enjoying watching you all play," Janice said as she bobbed with her sister wives in calmer currents. "Hey, why did it take you a week to mention you guys have an underwater roller coaster?" Kate turned her attention to Jenna. "Easy," Jaclyn said. "We've been teaching them more about surviving and being a mer." The new pods had been helping Jenna's pod with salting fish, identifying even more edible species, and generally filling them in on everything Pat and John had figured out to survive long-term on a tropical island. "This is like a reward for all the teaching you've done this week." "We haven't taken advantage of it often. There's just been so much to figure out, and we've had other ways to have fun," Jenna cocked an eyebrow and turned her eyes to Manami, who was talking with Rose. "So, we won't really begin to show until there's a month or two left in the pregnancy?" Manami asked. "That's what happened with most of the mermaids. Again, Liga was an outlier, but she is tiny. Maybe a foot shorter than you are," Rose responded. "We will feel the weights of our babies though. Even when they weren't showing, the other pregnant mermaids became very ungainly and felt very uncomfortable out of the water. They stopped coming out of the water altogether in their last month, as well." "That makes sense. But, why won't we show? Human, er, normal, um, women with legs, show in the 3rd or 4th month, I thought?" she asked. Rose laughed. "Now there's a fraught conversation: Do we call ourselves humans? Are we 'normal'? To answer your question: Human babies develop in the fetal position, curled up in the womb. Mer babies are stretched out lengthwise in our larger mer womb. We won't get the one big round bump in the middle, it'll be more of a bulge that runs from just below our rib cages almost to our vent." "So our babies won't turn?" "No. Mermaids have pretty much all been breech births, like dolphins," Rose answered. "It sounds scary, but it's been fine. And no, we don't have pain medication. We're doing this the way our great, great, grandmothers did. Well, aside from the obvious," she finished, her eyes wide thinking about the implications of that. "Probably not what you thought you'd be doing now back when you graduated from college, huh?" Manami smiled. "No. Definitely not," Rose laughed. "But I can't imagine having it any other way. My parents were recruiting a pod for me to be a merman for, but I'd rather be with Trevor and my sisters than anyone else." "It's strange, I still miss Miki, but I can't imagine her replacing Jenna or Sarah in our pod." Manami remembered her more boisterous younger sister, and wondered what they would have done had she survived. More practical questions arose in her mind as well. "Will our children be mates? How do we know we will have all girls? I know I have so many questions..." "It's alright. You didn't have the benefit of 40 mers teaching you Mermaid 101. We always knew you'd have a ton of questions, and I'm happy to answer." Rose put her arm around Manami's shoulder. "Thank you." Manami smiled and hugged Rose back. The other mermaids swam over as Brian and Trevor headed away from the reef, back toward the opening into the lagoon. "The guys are heading back to race around the lagoon." Jenna rolled her eyes. "I think the off-kilter number of mermaids was starting to make them a little goofy, so we told them to take off. Hey Rose, are you moving in on my girl?" Jenna cocked an eyebrow. "Not a chance. We were just commiserating about expectant motherhood," Rose answered. "Good," Jenna said as she kissed Manami on the cheek. "Because she's all mine." "And Sarah's, and Josh's," Manami reminded her. "I don't see them around, do you?" Jenna made a show of looking around for their pod mates. "Uh uh. Let's head for the lagoon before that starts. I'm hungry anway," Janice said. The mermaids turned and headed towards the lagoon, the play session over, at least for a while. The Alnasl powered east through the Indian Ocean into the rising sun. She had left the Maldives with the high tide, and now set sail for Jakarta, Indonesia. Her steel hull sliced through the waves, her crewmen performing their daily cleaning of the exterior to keep the salt spray from building up. She was right on schedule. They had taken on fuel and emptied the wastewater tanks, along with replenishing what little perishable food stores they had gone through on the way to the Maldives. It reduced wear and tear on the water treatment plant to empty the tanks at the port. On the private balcony off his enormous stateroom, her owner took breakfast. The prince's breakfast consisted of coffee croissant, and sliced melon. Aluna stood discreetly in a corner. It was her turn to shadow him for the day, catering to his whims, unless he said otherwise. This was a new routine, for just on the boat. "Girl," he beckoned her. He never used their names in front of them, it reminded them that they were on the same level as the furniture. She stepped forward. The air was warming already, so her outfit, the same bikini bottom and translucent top she wore around his house, was comfortable. The top was especially revealing on her, with her dark, chocolate skin showing through the off-white translucent top. She stepped forward and stood next to him, silently dreading what he'd want. "Yes, Your Highness?" she said with as much sweetness as he could muster. She hated him. Only the hope of possible escape and her fear of rape and beatings kept her from fouling his food or drink, or even stabbing him with a steak knife. He reached up and put his hand on her shapely backside in a proprietary manner. "It's beautiful out here, isn't it?" he asked. "Yes, Your Highness." She didn't like where this was going. "Do you know where we just were?" he asked blithely. "No, Your Highness." He'd had the deck crew, not the mercenaries, she noticed, they might actually have honor, lock the girls in their quarters and stand guard outside once they were an hour outside of port. "We just left our first port. It would have been a wonderful opportunity for you to escape," he said. Dammit! Aluna thought. Does he know what we were planning, or is he just being his usual hateful self? "We'll make three more stops before we reach our destination. Three more opportunities for my property to attempt escape. You're not going anywhere, though," he said quietly as he squeezed one of her buttocks, digging in his fingernails until it started to hurt. "Do remind the others." "Yes, Your Highness." She wanted to cry, but wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "Now that that's clear," he said as he released her and stood. "I'm off to inspect the ship. Help out in the galley until lunch," he walked into his suite. "Yes, Your Highness." She quickly left the room, rushing down the servant's stairs to the main galley to report to the chef. She managed to keep from crying until she was out of his earshot. She went into a bathroom, or head, she'd heard the captain call it, and let herself have a moment to let out her emotions. Once that was done, she cleaned herself up and headed for the galley. At least the chef, Pierro, seemed like a decent man. He always looked at her with a sad face every time she saw him. The prince heard Aluna leave, then scoffed. Those bimbos. Clearly, from her reaction, they'd intended to escape at a port. If they weren't all so pretty, he'd throw them overboard for even thinking it. He thought he'd gotten the message across. He was already dressed, except for his shoes and gun. His normal carry weapon was a Walther PPK. He figured that he already had James Bond's car in his Aston-Martin, so he should have James Bond's gun, as well. For this trip though, he wanted to add something more substantial. After he tucked the Walther away in its concealed waist holster, he picked up a second belt holster. It carried an absolutely enormous revolver. It was a Smith and Wesson 500 Magnum. A follow-up to the legendary .44 Magnum of "Dirty Harry" fame, the 500 Magnum fired the largest handgun round in the world. Its .50 caliber round was even more massive than the rounds in the famous Israeli Desert Eagle, and those were designed for special forces troops to use to crack truck engine blocks, but he wouldn't be caught dead using a "Jewish" handgun. He strapped the Magnum onto his hip, the barrel (He hadn't bothered with the snub nose version), went down to within a few inches of his knee. It was truly ludicrous to carry the thing around at all, never mind at sea, but he didn't seem to notice the looks of amusement and mild derision from the security team. He walked forward along the starboard side, one of the security guards, the pretty one, stood watch in a swimsuit and wrap meant to disguise her. He ogled her as she looked out over the water, her UMP hung on a single point sling off her shoulder. She pointedly ignored him, and he continued on. Hailey rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. He was clearly compensating for something with that sidearm. Still, hanging around in a bathing suit watching the water was far from the worst way she'd ever gotten paid. Then she remembered the serving girls, slaves, really, that she'd seen walking around. It boiled her blood that this was still allowed. Thankfully, she was only on lookout duty until lunch. Andre and Jim would relieve her and Marco on each side of the boat, while Jason and Ben slept, having taken late evening until 4AM watch. She'd see if she could corner one and find out their story below decks. She might have promised Ben that she would keep her mouth shut, but that didn't mean that she couldn't gather information to pass on once this job was over. The owner of the boat walked into the bridge to find Captain Omar and one other crew member monitoring the Alnasl's systems. "How's she looking, Captain?" he said in a cheerful voice. "If only I'd had technology like this in the Navy," the captain mused. "I could have slept the patrols away. Except when the Iranians were shooting at us, of course. She sails like a dream, Your Highness." "Excellent!" the prince said. "Carry on," He exited the bridge and headed down to the storage spaces below decks. He met one of his crewmen, all reliable men from his country's intelligence agency. The security team might be willing and able to fight off pirates, but if the mermaids wouldn't come quietly, he had a backup plan using what amounted to little more than hired muscle. "Ibrahim, are we ready?" he asked. "Yes, Your Highness," the man said. "We can hold five people down in the scuba storage area with the restraints and other ropes down there. Are you looking to acquire some islander servants on this trip?" he asked with a lecherous smile. "In a manner of speaking," he answered cryptically as they entered the storage room. This room had a drainage system for wet equipment, along with running fresh water from the desalination system for removing salt water. It was lockable, and located below decks. If the mermaids wouldn't ride back with him in the hot tub on deck, they would be held down here until they arrived at their new home in Abu Dhabi. The restraints were similar to those used in hospitals on disturbed or otherwise uncooperative patients. He had custom ordered a single cuff for what otherwise would have been dual leg cuffs. "Well done, my friend," he said. He turned and left. He headed back to the balcony back in his private cabin to read emails and sunbathe until lunch. Ibrahim walked back to the galley, where Pierro, the cook, and one of the serving girls were chopping up vegetables for lunch. He walked up and grabbed Aluna's rear, making her jump, while he stole a piece of the tomato she'd been cutting up. "Leave my helper alone and get out!" Pierro all but yelled at him. Ibrahim responded by pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun and miming firing a shot at the chef before leaving. "I'm sorry," Pierro Regio said to Aluna with a sad look on his face. "I'm sorry for everything. He should know better than to abuse someone with a knife in their hand anyway." "He knows we won't do anything. We're all just totally helpless," she said bitterly as she moved to chopping parsley for the tabouli salad that would go with the hummus, grilled chicken, and pita bread the chef would prepare for lunch. "Are the tomatoes okay?" "Perfect, miss. Thank you," the fifty year-old chef said as he went back to the marinade for the chicken. "What do the other three girls do when you're not looking after the prince?" "Cleaning, making his bed, things like that. Though Abbie is asleep since she was on duty with him last night," she said. "And what would you want to do, if you could?" he asked. "Besides driving this knife into his gut?" she asked with a wicked smile. "Be careful talking like that. The walls can have ears," he warned her. She thought for a moment. "I would be in school, or finishing school, so I could become a game warden or work for one of the wildlife trusts back in Kenya. I thought if I could work out of the country for a few years, save up money for school, and get a degree in animal husbandry, I would have an advantage. Now though..." She stopped to wipe a tear away. "Take heart. You may have more friends than you think," he said cryptically. She turned to the kind man with a look of surprise and a genuine smile on her face. Pierro was always perfectly groomed, with slicked-back hair and a tiny line of a moustache across his upper lip. He only looked at her and winked, and she went back to chopping parsley. Indira was cleaning the main deck hot tub's chrome and glass, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see a woman dressed in a light button-down shirt, skirt, and flats looking down at her. "You have a scar that looks infected. Come with me," Dr. Hopkins said. Indira, confused, followed the woman down below to the medical bay. She was surprised to see Ben Smythe standing there, appraising her intensely. She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling modest. "Come here, dear," Dr. Hopkins said as she put on her long white doctor's coat. "My name's Madhuri, what's yours?" "Indira," the serving girl said quietly as she stood in front of the doctor, who turned her around and began slathering something on the scar on her back from one of the first times the prince had whipped her. He hadn't been careful, and had left marks. "Do you want to go home, Indira?" the doctor asked as she worked on another mark. Indira shivered. The mercenary in front of her had moved his head to follow her, but was otherwise still as a statue. "Yes," she said, barely louder than a whisper. "Please." A tear fell down her cheek. Smythe's eyes narrowed. "Good. Now, I want you to tell the other girls nothing. As far as you're concerned, this conversation never happened. I just applied some antiseptic ointment. Do you understand?" the doctor said as she stopped her treatment and turned Indira around to look her in the eyes. "Of course, Doctor," she said quietly, eyes turned down towards the floor. "Good. Now continue your duties, and remember, I never said a word." Madhuri smiled at the young woman. Indira walked out of the medical bay, closing the door behind her. "That girl has been whipped. Whipped! And worse," Dr. Hopkins said as she took her rubber gloves off and threw them away. "Does that seem right to you? Are you going to do something about it?" "Yes," Smythe said quietly. His voice choked with anger. "Saw enough of that shit in Afghanistan. Give me time to think of a plan. It will probably have to be on the return trip." "I'll hold you to that," Madhuri said as she hung up her lab coat and walked out. Ben Smythe clicked off the anti-eavesdropping electronic device and left the room. He wasn't due back on watch until after dinner, but he didn't think he was going to sleep either. It was an all sex, all the time kind of day on the atoll, apparently. Everywhere Josh focused his mer senses, he felt the telltale signals of mers strengthening their bonds in pairs. That included the signals of two of his mates, who were down in the grotto they'd changed in having at each other. There wasn't any fishing, preserving, or anything else approximating work getting done. He floated on his back at the surface of the lagoon, letting the gentle flow of the water take him where it would as he soaked up the sun. The sky darkened for a moment, and he opened his eyes to see a single tiny little cloud perfectly placed to momentarily block the light. How does that happen? He decided to let the mystery go unsolved as he bent his tail to stretch the swimming muscles. Man that felt good. He moved to stretch his torso as he raised his hands above his head, then moved his neck side to side. He didn't really have kinks in his neck, in truth, he had more flexibility and smoother- working joints than at any time in his life, including his teenage years. It just felt good to do it. Relaxing again, he felt a signal approaching from directly beneath him. He knew what was coming, and decided to let the approaching mermaid play her game. A pair of slim, feminine arms and hands erupted from the water and wrapped around his waist. They hugged tight and pulled him under the surface. He went limp as his captor switched grips to dive down deep into the lagoon. His arms and tail dragged behind him from the force of the water, and he saw a silver tail with purple fringes undulating next to his body. [Oh no. I'm being dragged under by a mermaid. Golly, I hope she's friendly so I don't drown.] he sent just to her with a sarcastically nonchalant tone of mental "voice". [You are mine, little man, but the only thing I shall drown you in is kisses!] Manami sent back playfully. She stopped as they approached the bottom of the lagoon, released Josh's waist momentarily to switch positions and locked her lips with his. "Little?" Josh said aloud with a cocked eyebrow once they broke their kiss. "Only a figure of speech," she said mischievously. "Well, you do have a lovely figure," he said and kissed her neck, down along her collarbone. She cooed as he worked his way down her chest, nibbling on her nipples, kissing her strong abdominal swimming muscles, occasionally licking her and hearing her giggle and squirm ticklishly, down to the line of transition between skin and scales, above the womb where their baby was even now developing. He kissed her there reverently, before continuing his journey to her vent, which was swollen with her desire. He ravished her, serviced her, loved her, bringing her to a keening peak, her fluke fully spread out and quivering as her milk sprayed into the water and she sang her pleasure. "Get up here," she ordered as he stopped and she quieted down. He kissed his way back up her body and opened his vent. He lined himself up and thrust into her. She had gone limp from her previous orgasms, so he took the lead, wrapping his tail around hers and slowly thrusting away. Manami closed her eyes and clutched herself to him, feeling the love of their bonds as they climbed to another peak. She had a final, shattering climax as he erupted into her, then collapsed into his chest. Staying inside her, he unwrapped his tail and swam the short distance to the sea grass plain, where he found an especially thick patch. He sank down, turning onto his side as they landed. She'd never opened her eyes. Manami smiled and luxuriated in the feeling of her mate inside her. Josh held her, watching the sun dapple though the water, listening to the ambient sounds of the lagoon. He felt the rest of their pod coming their way from the grotto. He was content to let them come to him. Eventually they arrived, and without saying a word verbally or over their links, lay down on either side of Josh and Manami, and the four of them fell asleep in the seagrass plain, their senses reporting the ongoing sexual activities of the other eight mers on their atoll. Abbie, Marie, Aluna, and Indira stared at each other over their lunch in the cabin they shared. It was really meant for two people, but the four of them were stuffed in by their captor to make them easier to control. In reality, it just gave them a space to plan. The yacht was currently sitting in port in Vuda Marina, taking on fuel and extra supplies for the last, mystery leg of the cruise. The stops in Jakarta and Port Moresby had been much the same as their stop in the Maldives: Ibrahim and some other member of the deck crew had escorted them to their cabin and locked them in with some sort of bar across the door. Pierro had brought them lunch, though Ibrahim had only opened the door after significant amounts of arguing.. "So if we wind up on some island with nothing on it, do we individually jump off and swim for it?" Marie asked in a hushed voice. "Depends on how big the island is," Abbie replied. "Will we even be able to leave this cabin when we get there?" "How do we even know we're going to a deserted island?" Aluna said. "We could end up in the Philippines or anywhere else!" "We have no way of knowing," Abbie admitted. "We can't let this opportunity pass by though." They sat silently, then started eating again. There were no answers. "At least the pasta salad is good," Abbie said. "So that's what this is called," Indira joked. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Jim Jackson exclaimed the next day, The Alnasl had departed Fiji at high tide, about 3:00 AM, sailing northwest. "Fucking mermaids? That's what we're going to the ass end of nowhere for?" "Pictures are right there Jim," Ben said. "They could be fake, but Fredrick told me they are straight off the satellite. Why would His Highness mount this little expedition if it was rubbish? I've been to his house. They were building a huge aquarium in his damn living room." Jim and Hailey looked down at the image again. Twelve figures laid on a beach, clear as day, on an atoll that was apparently too small to show up on most maps. They picked up another photo, this one from a lower altitude. It showed only four figures this time, but the extra detail made them far more believable. Their tails bent in ways costumed humans just couldn't. Why would anyone go to such lengths to fake this in the middle of nowhere? "They're beautiful," Hailey breathed. "So what's our employer's goal?" Andre asked. "He wants to invite them, at least some of them, probably the females, to live at his house," Ben said. "What if they don't want to live in a fish tank? I wouldn't want to live in a zoo," Jason asked. "His Highness claims that he will leave them alone if they refuse, for what that's worth," Ben sighed. "The fact that he has slave girls says that he doesn't really care about consent," Madhuri pointed out. "So what's our role boss?" Marco asked. "Same as before. We protect our client's life and property. That's our job, that's what we'll do, but that's all we'll do," Ben declared. "Does this change our plans about the girls?" Dr. Hopkins asked. She'd slipped into the crew mess as the photos had been passed around. "We don't have plans about anyone yet," Ben said. "We haven't figured out how to neutralize those thugs he calls deckhands without shooting up the yacht. I'm a soldier, not a murderer." "They do scream 'hired muscle'," Jason said. "I'll bet me mum's pension they aren't here because they can polish chrome or handle dock lines," Ben said. "We have a week before we get to this atoll, assuming the weather holds," Dr. Hopkins added. "Surely we can come up with a plan before then." "Who's to say these mermaids will even show their faces?" Hailey asked. "Why would they? There's a mention here of an advanced team who didn't see another living soul on this atoll, why would they show themselves to our prince?" "Well, here's the tricky bit," Ben said. "Fredrick told me that the prince wants one of us to go down into the water with a scuba tank and deliver an invitation to meet. Seeing as how Jim is the only scuba- certified member of the team..." "Oh hell no," Jim objected. "How does he even know that they understand English? They're freaking fish people!" "His Highness and Fredrick say they know the mermaids will be able to communicate," Ben assured them. "You get to make first contact with mermaids Jim." Hailey nudged him. "Fine. Better be a damn bonus," he complained. "Fredrick said His Highness would show his gratitude appropriately, to all of us, once we're back in Abu Dhabi. I know he's a wanker, but he's kept his promises for years." "All this time and all this money to get fancy pets." Marco shook his head. "It pays the bills." Ben shrugged. "We keep the same duty roster until we hit the atoll, so I'm going to get some sleep. See you all later." Madhuri Hopkins kept looking at the image of the four mers on the beach. Like Hailey had said, they were beautiful. How could the world have not seen them until now? It looked like there was a raft on the beach as well. What did that mean? She stood up and left, putting the printouts back in their folder and handed it to Jason. "Everything okay doc?" he asked as they walked down the corridor. "Sure. Think next trip we go on we'll find unicorns?" she said as she opened the door to her cabin. "Maybe. The world is crazy enough that it just might happen," he said with a smile. Madhuri closed the door to her quarters, leaving Jason standing in the hallway. One of the cremen, Rahman, he thought his name was, shouldered past him, a cocky look on his face. "Are you hoping the doctor bitch will make you ah, happy?" he said over his shoulder in badly accented English, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Your mother already took care of me, thanks." Jason scowled and turned to face in Rahman's direction. Rahman's smile dropped instantly. He turned towards Jason and puffed out his chest. He felt challenged, so like most insecure men, he had to respond physically or his pride would be shattered. Jason thought for a moment that Rahman might actually throw a punch. "Everything okay Jason?" Jim was right behind Rahman. Rahman turned around and saw the six feet four inch, muscled African-American man looking down at him, daring him to try something. "I don't know. Everything okay Rahman?" Jason asked. "It's okay for now," Rahman said, then shouldered past Jim to be on his way to whatever he was up to. "I could've taken him," Jason said. "I know you could, but why kick his ass before it's absolutely necessary?" Jim replied. "It's going to be necessary, isn't it?" Jason said. "Maybe." Jim shrugged. "I'm going to hit the rack," Jason said. He'd been up all night on duty with Ben. "Sounds good." Jim continued on to the galley, looking for a quick snack. He entered the galley space, Pierro was taking a break before starting lunch prep. When did that guy sleep? Jim wondered. Cooking pretty much by himself for all these people, and the food was always good. The short Italian man had some serious skills in the kitchen. "Ah, Jim is it?" Jim damn near hit the low ceiling as he was startled by Pierro re-entering the kitchen. "Yes chef. Sorry to poke around when you're not here," Jim said, embarrassed at being surprised like that. Getting soft, Jackson. "Please. Call me Pierro. We already have to bow and scrape to His Highness." He dropped the volume of his voice for the last sentence. "What can I do for you?" "Just looking to see if there were any leftovers. Got a snack craving," Jim admitted. "I think I have a little lamb from last night that I can shred up, and some rice and yogurt. Do you like all this Middle Eastern food?" Pierro asked. "Oh yeah, good stuff. Though I miss my Mom's cooking," Jim admitted. "I haven't been home in a few years." "Food is always better when it's your mamma's," the chef agreed. "I've been all over the world, and the best food is always made by someone's mother. Let me put it together for you." "You don't have to do that, sir, I can-" "It's no problem! Sit down in the mess and I'll bring it to you," Pierro insisted. Jim left and sat in one of the secured chairs at the table in the small mess. Like most yachts with crews, the design was such that the owner and guests never had to see the crew living their lives between working shifts, and that included taking meals. "Here we are," Pierro set down two bowls of a lamb and rice dish with a side of yogurt sauce to mix in, and sat down across from the military contractor. "Man, even your leftovers smell amazing," JIm remarked after he inhaled the steam from the bowl and forked the thick yogurt sauce onto the shredded lamb and mixed it together with the jasmine rice. "Keep a secret? I'm better at cooking French food than anything else," Pierro said conspiratorially. "But, you're like, 110% Italian," Jim said confused. "Ha!" Pierro said. "I know! Crazy world!" He took a bite of his own food. They ate together for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. "So you and Hailey, I hear you two are ah..." he hinted. "Yeah. We try to keep it quiet on the job, but we've been together for years. I've been saving money to buy her a ring," Jim admitted. "Don't spend so much money on the ring. Save it for a house. She'll remember what you do in that home far more than how many carats are in the ring," he advised the younger man. "How about you? Do you have anyone special?" Jim asked. "My Angela is long gone. Cancer, about 15 years ago. That's when I started signing on to these big yachts as a chef," he said with a sad look in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Jim felt like an ass. "It was a long time ago, and we had many happy memories. Anyway, I'd better get back in the galley. You bring the dishes back and I'll take care of them," Pierro patted the younger man on the shoulder as he passed by with his own empty bowl. Pierro stopped at the door to the kitchen. "Your Hailey, she seems very sad sometimes." "She took shrapnel in her last tour in the army in Afghanistan. She can't have children. We're still working through it," Jim said, his face crestfallen. "I'm sorry," Pierro said quietly. "It's alright. We have each other, at least." "This is remarkable!" Captain Omar said as they sat in his quarters looking over copies of the reconnaissance photos. "Your Highness, I have never seen the like!" "No one that I know of outside of the American CIA has either," the prince responded. "Creatures out of myth, and so beautiful. They put my current girls to shame," he mused. "Do you really think they'll agree to come live with you?" the captain asked. "I can offer them protection, food for the asking, and all the adoration they could want! Why wouldn't they want to live in my home?" the prince asked. "Indeed Your Highness. To turn down your generosity would be foolhardy." Omar knew that the prince's ego required stroking, despite his own misgivings regarding such wild creatures giving up their freedom. "The crew is ready with the contingency plan, should it be necessary. Ibrahim says the men will be able to facilitate capture," Frederick reported. Omar's smile fell. The slave girls were bad enough, but kidnapping mythical creatures? The prince saw his captain's mood darken. "It will be fine, my friend. I'm sure they'll be reasonable." "How do you know they can even communicate with us?" the captain asked. The prince nodded to Fredrick, who removed the facial recognition report for the four identified mers and handed it to Omar. The captain's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the confirmation that at least four of the mers had been ordinary humans. "Impossible," he whispered. "They somehow changed? Are they the only people who survived this plane crash?" "We have no idea," Frederick admitted. "The answer, either way, will be fascinating. Note that we did omit this information from the report we gave to Ben Smythe." "Fascinating, to say the least," Omar agreed. The prince and Fredrick bid Omar good night. The captain would have loved to be on the bridge all day, every day, but he wasn't superhuman, and needed his sleep. One of Ibrahim's crew could mind the computers and sensors on the bridge and call for help if need be. The crew also had the night watch in the engine bay, where the mechanical and electrical heart of the ship lay. The Alnasl was so advanced, minding was about all that was needed in the open ocean. When Hailey came off duty the next day, she borrowed the report from Ben and knocked on the door of the serving girls' room. Indira answered the door. She had a black eye and had clearly been crying. Hailey took her to the shower and helped her clean up, then held her as she cried. "I don't even know why. He's taken me before, but he was so excited and rough I asked him to stop. He punched me." Sobs racked her slight shoulders. "Either way, he's going to die," Hailey vowed. "Don't promise that! Don't promise things you can't do," Indira admonished her. Hailey didn't respond. She changed her mind about telling the girls about the mermaids. She, and they, needed to focus on supporting Indira and any of the other girls Prince Douchebag decided to rape because he couldn't hold back his mermaid fever. "Alright, transition from water to beach. GO!" Brian yelled. The three mermen sped from the bottom of the lagoon towards the beach on the eastern side of the lagoon. They zipped through the channels between coral, then emerged at top speed to streak across the sea grass plain. Just before the water became too shallow, they leapt from the water and tucked their heads underneath their tails, rolled, then unfurled, facing in three separate directions. "Good. You've got that down," Trevor said to Josh. "Once I figured out how to not faceplant into the damn sand on that roll, yeah," Josh answered as they turned over to face each other. "We may not be as formidable as the whole group of mermen together, but the three of us can handle a squad of most infantry in the water," Brian said. "Really?" Josh asked. "Don't the guns kind of cancel out our strength advantage?" "Not in the water, they don't. There aren't many guns that fire underwater," Brian noted. "Modern, supersonic bullets don't travel more than a couple of feet at most, either. We are so much stronger and better adapted to the water that normal humans don't stand a chance." "How about hand to hand on land?" Josh asked. "You've seen it as we've been working, or even before that figuring things out yourself. We do better staying low and mobile. Standing up to fight a human gives them the ability to flank you, though it's harder to trip us, because our tails are thicker and more muscular than a leg," Trevor explained. "Let's grab lunch," Brian suggested. "We can see if the girls want anything too." The mermen salamandered back into the water. Josh contacted the mermaids [Anyone hungry? Want us to catch some fresh fish?] [Can we send out for pizza?] Jenna asked. [Sure, just no anchovies.] Josh replied sarcastically. [Please, catch something and meet us at the cave.] Sarah answered with a mental sigh at her mate's humor. Josh shook his head and the other mermen chuckled at Jenna's joke. [Someday. Mer Pizza. Mark it down.] Jenna's mental voice continued. [You going to get the milk for the cheese from sea cows?] Trevor asked as they cruised out of the lagoon towards where the bigger fish lived on the reefs on the outer rim of the atoll's dropoff. Trevor was wearing a stripped-down survival belt with the knife, so they didn't have to head back to their cave for a tool to clean their catch. They quickly picked out, and killed, a 50-pound cod. Trevor cleaned it while Brian and Josh watched his back to keep predators away. Above them, they saw a formation of all nine mermaids swim by, with two of them carrying the collection bags full of seagrass to go with the fish. Each merman could pick out the silhouettes of his mates, even without the bright light of their signals coming through their mer senses. The mermaids continued on around the curve of the atoll to head for the cave. Brian looked at Josh and shook his head. Josh would still get a goofy smile or a look of wonder when he saw his wives go by. "Yeah, we know, you love your pod mates and it's amazing to see mermaids," he elbowed Josh. "You can't tell me you don't feel the same way," Josh replied. "I'm better at hiding it," Brian said. "You've gotta let them think they have to work for your attention a little bit." "They can read our emotions! How in the hell am I supposed to do that?" Josh asked. "They don't have to work for my attention, I'm literally bonded to them." "Yeah, I have to hear this," Trevor agreed. "I learned in the Air Force, before I met Julie, if you just act confident, and hang back, they'll go crazy for your attention. They want you just as much as you want them. Why not drive them nuts the way they drive us nuts?" he said. "I call bullshit," Josh said. "I have never seen you 'hang back'. That might work for human Air Force pilots in some bar off base," Josh rolled his eyes. "But I don't think we have that kind of control, or any incentive to have that kind of control. Like you said, they want us as much as we want them." "I'm just saying, it works. If I just hang back, they will eventually come to me," Brian smiled a cocky smile. "Jaclyn was a guy. She knows all the tricks," Trevor interjected. "Please. Hank literally ran into Janice one day at college, and she had to pull him along by his nose because he was a nerd who didn't have the first clue about dating women," Brian scoffed. "I'm not saying your 'technique' doesn't work on a regular human, I just think it's unnecessary, given how pods function," Josh replied. "You go your way, and I'll go mine." Brian shrugged. "I've got just as many mermaids as you do. I'm doing fine," Josh said. "That's because there's a limit." Brian seemed very sure of himself. [Are you trying to starve us to death?] Janice's mental voice hit their heads. [We'll be there in a minute. Hold your horses.] Brian returned. [Actually, I'm done cleaning this fish. We're on our way.] Trevor sent. The mermen kicked to get moving, Brian and Josh setting a slower pace so Trevor could keep up with the extra 50 pounds he was dragging with him. Holding the fish by the tail with both hands, he kicked hard, but kept up. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the tunnel entrance, and they soon surfaced in the cave. "Hold your horses?" Julie sat with her arms crossed, looking down at Brian in the pool. "We were just talking about guy stuff," Brian shrugged. Julie rolled her eyes as Trevor found space on the smaller shelf to butcher the fish and distribute the meat. He gave one slice to Rose first, then Josh took the next two to his pregnant mates. "Can I get you anything else?" he asked Manami. "No, thank you, I'm fine," she beamed at him. "I'm fine too, thank you," Sarah said as he turned and looked at her. He went and got food for Jenna as well. "You okay honey?" Trevor said as he sat with his arm around Rose's waist once the food had been distributed. 'Uh huh," Rose murmured through a mouth full of fish. She swallowed before speaking again. "I've been feeling, I don't know, heavier, lately. I guess that just means things are moving along," she smiled nervously. "It's natural to be nervous. Just remember your whole family is here for you," Janice reassured her. "Thanks Mom." The mers ate quietly, the sound of the water in the pool moving as the mermen adjusted their position occasionally and the occasional quiet murmur of requests to pass over more seagrass or fish echoed around the small cave. Feeling satisfied, Josh leaned back against a stretch of wall along the side of the pool, closing his eyes and doing a bit of meditating with both his mer and human senses. The smell of salt, fish, and mer pheromones in the cave, the signals of the other mers, including his mates and unborn children. They all seemed to be content and happy. Using the receptors in his flukes and fins, he focused his senses through the tunnels, out into the ocean beyond. It really was amazing what the little jewels near the base of his spine had done to extend their range. He sank down a bit further, submerging his dorsal ridge and increasing the number of receptors in the water for his enhanced senses. No. No no no no no no no. Not now! Everything is perfect! The thought raced through his mind, his eyes shot open and a thrill of fear and a flash of anger swirled within him. Everyone else in the cave felt his emotional state change and stopped to stare at him. "Do you feel that too, guys?" he asked the mermen in the pool with him, since they were the only other mers in the water, their senses were able to reach farther through the medium. Trevor and Brian both concentrated for a moment. Trevor's eyes went wide, while Brian sighed and shook his head. "What?" Janice asked. "Are we expecting anyone else? A research ship or some of the kind of friends that dropped by Mermaid Island?" Trevor asked Rose. "No," she said quietly. "A boat?" Sarah asked. "I think so. A pretty big one too," Trevor replied. "I'll go confirm it," Josh said. "Not alone. Trevor, go with him. You two stay out of sight. Just confirm that it's a ship and that it's headed in this direction," Janice instructed. Sarah, Jaclyn, and Rose nodded in agreement. "Brian, circle outside the cave, keep your senses focused in case this is some kind of distraction." "You got it." Josh gave each of his wives a glance as Trevor flipped around in the pool, not easy for a merman in such tight quarters, and headed down the tunnel, Brian followed. Josh's eyes stayed on the faces of his mermaids as he backed up. They weren't fearful, they were sure in their abilities. A surge of confidence went through him. No matter what this threat was, they could handle it together. He broke eye contact to perform his own flip in the water and head out through the passage. The mermen regrouped at the entrance. "You two be careful. Don't go within ten feet of the surface within a 100 feet of that boat. There's no telling whether they're searching the surface of the water with binoculars, and Trevor's hair tends to stick out," he warned, referring to Trevor's blonde mane. "Keep them safe," Josh said. "With my life, if I have to," Brian nodded. Josh nodded, and turned to Trevor, whose only response was to turn and swim southeast, toward the signal that got stronger and clearer the more time went by. Josh followed him. Company was on the way, and they had to know what they were up against. Captain Omar looked through his binoculars from the flying bridge of the Alnasl. The enclosed main bridge one level below was comfortable and air-conditioned, but it also isolated him from the feedback of the wind and sea that not even the most precise instruments could provide. Their final destination lay ahead. From miles away, the little atoll was barely a bump on the horizon without his high-powered binoculars. It was so small, it didn't appear on most maps, but there it was. It was a jewel, actually. He knew that what poked out of the water in this part of the world was only the very top of a huge underwater mountain, and that there was likely an entire world of coral and animals beneath the surface, taking advantage of this oasis in a vast desert of ocean. Indeed, his own culture was rife with metaphors comparing the desert to the sea.They were both tractless, hostile environments with no landmarks and only small, isolated outposts of life-giving resources. He remembered an army friend who had fought the Iraqis, and his marveling at the American GPS systems that let them simply look at a screen to see where they were, then set a course and drive off of established routes and always find their destination. The technology he commanded now was even more impressive, but it did take away some of the old romanticism. "There you are captain!" the prince greeted him jovially. "Can you see it?" "Yes Your Highness, here." Omar handed the binoculars over. The prince scanned the atoll on the horizon. "Doesn't look like much. But it's the perfect place to hide treasures such as the ones we are searching for." "I will watch the depth gauge, Your Highness, but I doubt we'll be able to pass into the lagoon with the Alnasl. We'll have to launch the tender to get to the beach the mermaids were photographed on," Omar warned. "I have a plan to attract their attention," the prince said. He handed a laminated sheet of paper containing writing over to the captain. "Who is this addressed to?" Omar was truly puzzled. "Don't worry. It will all work out. Just anchor outside of this entrance, and we'll take the tender in. Mr. Jackson will be our bait," his employer assured him. Josh and Trevor swam 20 feet below the boat, keeping pace at it traveled inexorably toward their atoll. [What do you figure, about 250 feet long?] Josh asked. [At least. Hull shape doesn't look military though. Let's let it go past and we'll pop up and look at it from behind., see if we can get a name and registry.] The mermen slowed and dropped down to make sure they weren't hit by the rudders or propellers, then stopped while the boat opened up the distance. Once it was two boat lengths away, they floated up and stuck their heads above the surface. "'Alnasl', Abu Dhabi," Trevor said. "There's someone on the back deck." Josh saw a tall, feminine shape, with very dark skin, moving around. She looked to be wearing a swimsuit of some sort. He couldn't make out any more than that as what was now, obviously, a huge luxury yacht motored towards their atoll. "Nice yacht!" Trevor exclaimed. "Let's report in." He ducked back down underwater, Josh followed and they accelerated under the yacht, passing it and heading towards the atoll at their best underwater speed. [It's a yacht. The Alnasl from Abu Dhabi.] Josh sent back to the other mers. [She's heading right for the atoll. The only person we saw clearly was a woman in a bikini. She looked African, but other than that, there weren't many people on deck.] [How large of a yacht are we talking about?] Jaclyn asked. [At least 250 feet, and super modern. The hull shape indicates she's built for long distance travel over rough seas, but she also had what looked like two hot tubs.] Trevor answered. [So she's meant to travel in style, for a long time. Sure seems like someone planned a trip out here. Maybe whoever hired those people on the fishing boat has come to see for themselves.] Sarah surmised. [Well, whoever it is, they'll be here about an hour after we get back.] Trevor figured. [Guess it's back to hiding in the damn cave.] Sarah thought bitterly. [Is Rose in the water?] Josh asked. [I'm here, why?] she answered with trepidation. [The process you used to make our headbands, could you make weapons or armor?] Josh asked. [I've never tried to make anything that big. I don't know that I feel comfortable doing it anyway.] Rose replied. [Okay. I'm sorry, I felt like I had to ask.] Josh sent. He could feel Trevor's discomfort as he swam alongside the other merman. [I'm sorry for upsetting Rose.] he sent to Trevor. [It could be an advantage against people with guns if it's harder to shoot us or if we could fight with something besides our fists and barbs.] [I know.] Trevor "sounded" annoyed. Josh thought it better that he not communicate anymore until they reached the atoll. When they returned, Trevor and Josh met Brian, Sarah, Rose, Janice, and Jaclyn at the mouth of the cave. "Do you think they'll try to enter the lagoon?" Sarah asked. "Not with the yacht itself. It might be able to fit through the opening, but I wouldn't risk it if it were my ship," Trevor said. "Something that big will have a tender," Jaclyn added. "They'll anchor on the shelf above the dropoff and take the tender in." "So, what do we do?" Trevor asked. "We don't have anything that could sink it," Brian offered. "Let's not go straight to all-out war," Janice suggested. "Let's just see what they do, stay out of sight, and evaluate. Maybe we'll get lucky and it's just some rich guy cruising around and he spotted this atoll and got curious." "You don't really believe that, do you?" Jaclyn asked. "No," Janice answered worriedly. Ibrahim hit the anchor release control at the front of the Alnasl, and the large chain fed out as the anchor headed for the bottom. The readout indicated the anchor had hid bottom, so he pressed the "set" button. Up in the bridge, Captain Omar used the wheel and throttles to set the forward anchor. The yacht stopped moving, her anchor set. The captain picked up his radio. "We're anchored, Your Highness. Rahman will pilot the tender and take you to the beach in the lagoon." "Thank you, captain," Frederick replied for his employer. The mermen and four "lead" mermaids watched the 35 foot launch motor away from its mothership and head straight into their lagoon with a zodiac in tow. They floated on the bottom, of the shelf, just before the dropoff. Josh struggled. He felt the anger build. Everything in his mind screamed that they were dangerous! His mates were under threat! The other mers could feel it rolling off of him. "Damn," Trevor said. "Dude, it's okay." Josh closed his eyes. "I know," he said through clenched teeth. Sarah put her hand on his shoulder, and it was like a stone thrown into a still pond inside his head. Waves of calm rippled through his consciousness. He still felt the utter rage, but he could control it. "We'll head into the atoll, see what they do," Brian said. "Josh, why don't you stay here on guard duty?" "No, it's okay, I can handle it," Josh insisted. "We can take care of watching them and make contact with them if we think it's okay," Trevor said. "When you left us here, you said this was our atoll, and I had to defend it," Josh said, as calmly as he could. "I'm going." "Alright, go," Janice said. She looked at Sarah, who nodded in approval. The three mermen swam into the lagoon, hugging the bottom, until they found the tender's anchor line about 150 feet from the beach on the western side. Marie stood next to Pierro, watching Hailey assist Jim with his scuba gear. She wanted to ask what was going on but didn't dare speak in front of the prince, Frederick, or Rahman. "Here you are." The prince handed Jim the laminated sheet. "Just hand it over when you see them." "Yes, sir," Jim said. He sat on the gunwale of the tender, gave a thumbs up and a smile to Hailey before putting his regulator in his mouth. He tipped backwards over the side and plunged into the water. The water was clear and about 25 feet deep in this part of the lagoon. He was weighed down, giving him a neutral buoyancy, and swam down through the blue water. Fish swam by as he approached the bottom. He maneuvered into an open, sandy area between two coral boulders and waited. Jim listened to the flow of the water, looked at the beauty of where he was. It was the perfect place to find mermaids. There was plenty of food, and it was certainly isolated. He felt like an invader, sticking out like a sore thumb with his loud scuba gear and awkward swim fins. "Look." Hailey pointed east, three shapes, visible in the clear water, were moving toward Jim's position. Jim's instincts were on edge. Something had changed. He'd been in combat enough to know when he was being watched. He began turning in circles. He saw a flash of blue, a hint of black, red, or grey moving among the coral boulders surrounding him. He suddenly felt the water moving behind him and turned around. Floating in front of him was an honest to goodness merman. He had dark brown hair, a blue tail, and a very unhappy look on his face. His arms were folded as he looked down on Jim. The merman tilted his head and narrowed his jewel-like blue eyes, as if Jim was a blemish on a work of art and the merman was considering the best way to remove him from existence. Jim felt the water move to either side of him and turned to see a grey- tailed merman on one side, and on his other side, a merman with a black and red striped tail. These two mermen didn't look quite as angry, but they weren't pleased to see him either. "You are trespassing," the first, largest merman said menacingly. Jim started. He noticed that no bubbles came from the merman's mouth. The merman's eyes glanced down to the laminated paper Jim held. Remembering his task, he handed the sheet over. Josh took the letter this man, this intruder, offered. It read: Greetings Mr. Abramson, I trust you, Ms. Swanton, Ms. Iwamura, and Ms. Mendelson/Rothstein are well. I have a proposition for you and the other mer-people. Please meet me on the beach with the liferaft a few minutes after receiving this. If you are not Mr. Abramson, or he is not available, please send a representative to the aforementioned beach. Josh paused as a zodiac raft the tender had towed in headed towards the campsite. He went back to the letter. Should you or another representative not appear, I assure you your little atoll will become quite famous. The photos of you and your fetching compatriots are quite compelling. I can only imagine the inconvenience it would cause you should your existence become public knowledge. Don't bother to bring any food, I shall provide coffee and a light snack while you hear out what I have to say. I look forward to meeting you. Oh, and do come alone. Josh's heart pounded in his chest. How the hell did this guy know their names? He handed the letter to Brian, whose eyes bugged out, Trevor read the letter and said "What the hell?" [Everything okay?] Sarah asked. [I've been personally invited to a meeting at our campsite via hand- delivered letter.] he sent back. He kept his face still so as not to give anything away to the diver in front of him. [Personally? As in...] [By name. My last name. The invitation mentions you, Jenna, and Manami too. If I don't show, he's threatening to expose us to the world.] he answered. [Holy shit.] Sarah was dumbfounded. [You should go. Brian, Trevor, please cover him from the water.] Janice said. [Okay. We'd better talk to this poor diver before he has a heart attack.] Trevor acknowledged Janice. Trevor handed the letter back to Jim, who was trying not to make any moves that could be interpreted as threatening by the mermen surrounding him. "Tell your boss that I'll be there in a few minutes," Josh said to the diver. Jim nodded, then swam up toward the rear of the tender, where Rahman waited to help him out. Hailey, Marie, Prince Mahmoud, and Pierro had set off in the zodiac to set up and prepare coffee and food. "Did they speak?" Frederick asked. "Yeah, in English, the big one said he'd be on the beach in a little bit," Jim shook his head. "They're incredible. I didn't know they were there until they were right on top of me, and they can talk underwater like I'm talking to you now, no bubbles or anything came out of their mouths." "Interesting," Frederick said. He picked up a walkie-talkie and clicked the transmit button twice, the signal to his employer that the merman had agreed to meet. The mermen watched the diver swim away until they were sure he was back on board the tender. [He has a 'proposition'.] Trevor said, sending to the mermaids as well. [What could they possibly offer us?] [If he wants to play the role of a Bond villain, we should play along. He might be dangerous if we don't play this right.] Brian offered. [Don't make any commitments, and don't give him a definitive "no" at this meeting.] Sarah advised. [Don't insult him or provoke him. Just listen and be noncommittal.] [I agree. This person gets nothing.] Josh replied. [Please be careful. Stay calm.] Sarah pleaded. [I will, my love.] Josh sent back. [We've got his back Sarah. Nothing is happening to him.] Brian assured her. [I guess I better go.] Josh sent. The three mermen turned towards the campsite, Trevor and Brian stayed with Josh until the water was too shallow for them to stay submerged, Josh kept going, transitioning to salamandering along as he exited the water. The Prince was sitting in the folding chair Marie had set next to a small table for the coffee and snack service and looking out across the lagoon. Pierro was tending to a camp stove and unpacking a cooler. Hailey was watching the tender and saw Jim exit the water. She breathed a sigh of relief. Neither of them were armed. She didn't like being in this type of situation without a weapon. If things turned hostile, she wanted that advantage. She was also nervous. She'd seen the shapes approach Jim in the water. These mers seemed absolutely real. Comparing notes with Jim later would certainly be interesting. Her employer was armed. He'd left the S&W 500 Magnum on the Alnasl, but he still had with Walther PPK tucked into his waistband holster, hidden behind his back. He hadn't promised to be unarmed, but his security being visibly armed might make the mermen nervous. It was also why he'd wanted D'Agostino with him: In her bathing suit with a wrap around her hips, she seemed less threatening. So women were good for something other than birthing his children and serving his meals, he mused. Three dark shapes approached the beach. The calm lagoon waters didn't obscure them from vision. Two stopped, and one continued forward. He seemed to bend back, impossibly, at the waist as he hit water too shallow to swim through, and his head of long brown hair broke the surface. As his tail emerged, the prince saw that he was actually supporting his whole body and even "walking", on the pairs of fins at his hips, where his knees would have been, and his flukes. His body was muscular and hairless below the neck. His hair fell halfway down his back, but strangely, he had no facial hair. "Mon dieu!" Marie said, trembling. What the hell was this? This is what they were out here for? He was magnificent, but why would the prince bring them out here to bother what appeared to be a very angry merman? Pierro stood in shock. The photos didn't do these creatures justice. His tail was blue with black on the fringes of his fins, but it also refracted light in a myriad of colors as he moved, and even his skin seemed a little off from a human's. Hailey had to force herself to stand tall and not be intimidated. The merman looked right at her, his eyes boring into hers, as he ambled up the beach to the small table. It was a good thing she was wearing large sunglasses, since they kept the merman from seeing her saucer-sized eyes. The prince sat on his camping chair like a king on his throne. He'd made a creature of myth come when he called. That headband he wore was most interesting too. Plenty of time to learn about those when he'd gotten the mermaids back to their new home. He smiled as he watched the merman approach. Who the hell does this guy think he is? Josh thought as he settled down and saw the shit-eating grin on his "host's" face, along with his aviator sunglasses like he was a pilot or something. To his right, he saw a man tending a camp stove, and the woman whose stance screamed "security," He also saw another young woman wearing what looked like a bathing suit bottom and a top that left her breasts totally visible. She also had a collar around her neck. A slave girl? This motherfucker has a slave girl?! She was obviously terrified, her heartbeat was racing. Josh took a deep breath to settle the rage and bile that rose in his throat. This fucker gets nothing. "Mr. Abramson I presume?" the man in the chair said jovially. Bond villain indeed. Fine, I'll play. Josh thought. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Mr...?" "How rude of me. I am His Royal Highness, Prince Mahmoud bin Farook Al Falahi of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi," the man said. "The coffee will be ready momentarily. My apologies that we won't be roasting the beans here, I thought that would take a bit too much of your time. I took the liberty of having my chef prepare a light repast that you may not see out here very often Mr. Abramson." "Oh please, call me 'Josh'," he played along. "The proper address for me is 'Your Highness' or 'Sir'," Mahmoud tried to establish dominance immediately as Marie set down plates of baba ganoush and pita bread. It took every bit of Josh's willpower not to scoff at this man being insistent on using his royal title. Don't provoke him. "Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I haven't had good baba ganoush in some time." "I imagine there aren't many places serving it in Singapore, my friend." The Prince smiled as he spooned some onto a piece of bread and ate it to prove to Josh that it wasn't poisoned. He just loves to show how well-informed he is. Josh thought. "Indeed," he spooned some onto a piece of bread and tasted it himself. It was quite good. "This is excellent, thank you," he said to both the girl who had served it and to the man who filled a tall, gold coffee pot from a bottle of freshwater and began grinding roasted coffee beans. "As pleasant as all this is, Your Highness, I fear my friends in the water might become nervous if I tarry too long," Josh continued. "Oh I think you'll like what I have to offer, and I've never met a male mermaid before." "We use the term 'merman'," Josh corrected before popping another piece of pita into his mouth. "Ah yes, more accurate," Mahmoud acknowledged. The man at the stove finished grinding the beans and added them to the coffee pot, which he set to boil, and changed to grinding cinnamon and cardamom. "I have my suspicions, but I am curious as to how you found and identified us," Josh asked. Might as well get all of the information I can out of him. "I am an official in the United Arab Emirates' intelligence agency. We get frequent updates from the United States. Lovely, generous people," he said sarcastically. "They didn't give us much, just a little about strange creatures in the South Pacific and a few artificially degraded satellite photos. Most laughed, I laughed myself, but I thought that if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained. Yes my friend?" "A wise saying, Your Highness," Josh agreed. The coffee preparer added the ground spices to the heating pot. "At any rate, I became curious, so I took this on as a personal project." He smiled another smile that made Josh feel like he was buying a used car and there was oil leaking from the engine. "I hired a private company, the same one that employs my current security," he waved at Hailey. "They flew a search pattern with the Solomons, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and American Samoa as the landmarks at the edges," he explained. "I take it they used some sort of long range Gulfstream?" Josh asked. "Yes! You must have seen the plane go over! That picture it took of you and the three mermaids really got my blood pumping, and it allowed us to run a facial recognition comparison. The follow-up team narrowed things down with the serial number from that raft over there," Mahmoud was positively giddy. At that point, the slave girl set two handleless cups down for the coffee. "Those three mermaids in particular pump my blood too," Josh said suggestively. Yeah, that's right, all three of them. Suck on that. "All three?" Mahmoud was surprised. Hailey and Marie gave each other a look. "Yes." Josh folded his arms, giving his own shit-eating grin. Mine's bigger than yours too, scumbag. "So, if you wouldn't mind telling me, which of the Iwamura sisters became that silver-tailed mermaid?" he tried to reassert control of the conversation by saying something that just might upset Josh. Josh took a breath before answering. "Does it really matter?" he said as the slave girl poured a cup of coffee for him and Prince Mahmoud. As she bent down, Josh saw faint scars along her back. "Thank you," he said gently. Marie heard the merman thank her and turned to look him in the eyes. The anger and suspicion in them had been replaced with compassion and sorrow. She wanted to cry right there, to beg him for help to escape. To grab her and take her down into the water. Anything to leave this hell she lived in. She tried to convey these feelings, hoping he'd understand. "Get away girl!" her captor ordered, leaning forward and swatting her backside. Marie squeaked and backed away from the table. "I'm sorry for the unpleasantness, my friend. Please, try the coffee, I get it from Jamaica," Mahmoud's jovial demeanor returned as he took a sip, again to prove that the coffee wasn't poisoned. It took every ounce of control he had to not flip the table over and strangle the bastard right there. Josh sipped the coffee himself. It wasn't bitter at all. Bold and rich with a mixture of earthy, nutty flavors. It was everything he'd heard "Blue Mountain" coffee was supposed to be. "It is excellent. If all coffee tasted like this, I would have drunk more when I had legs," he said, again looking at Marie and Pierro. "I wonder, why haven't you introduced me to your companions?" he waved his hand around at the assembled group. "They work for me. Men such as us have larger concerns, my friend," Mahmoud smiled. "Such as?" Josh asked back. "The future safety of mer-people," the prince answered in a voice of concern. "I wish to guarantee that your kind will always exist, no matter what happens on these remote islands, no matter what great powers do." "Those are weighty concerns, sir," Josh agreed, taking another sip of coffee. "How would you address them?" "I would like to bring you back to Abu Dhabi. I am in the final stages of constructing a one million gallon tank, filled with fish and coral, at my home. I've even designed areas out of the water so that you can sun yourselves at your leisure. I am willing to commit my family to caring for and preserving mer-people for all time, my friend." The prince made sweeping gestures of his hands for emphasis. "What do you get in return?" Josh asked. "A legacy," the prince responded. "The mer-people of Abu Dhabi will survive as long as the emirate does, probably longer. People will marvel at your kind long after you and I are gone, and if I can safeguard that, then so much the better, my friend." "You'd take the mermen as well as the mermaids?" Josh asked. "Of course! How else will there be more of you if you do not reproduce!" "I will take your proposal to the others. I cannot make such a momentous decision for everyone here and now," Josh said. "Very wise, my friend. We have supplies to stay here for two weeks. I do hope you'll agree sooner than that though. We'll transport all of you back in the guest quarters on my ship," the prince promised. "Your every comfort will be seen to, I give you my word." "You make a generous offer, Your Highness. But, what if we decline? Will you follow through with what you said in your letter? Will you expose us?" Josh asked. "Pffft. Of course not. I wanted to ensure that you came to speak with me. If your people all decline, I will leave you in peace and you will have nothing to fear from me, I swear," Mahmoud lied. "I appreciate that," Josh nodded, then emptied his cup."Thank you for the coffee, and the food, but I really must be going." He set the empty cup down, nodded to the other people on the beach, and turned to amble down to the water. "You didn't answer my question, Josh," Mahmoud said. "Which one?" Josh looked over his shoulder. "Which of the sisters is the mermaid with the silver tail?" "Manami," Josh said. "Miki did not survive the plane crash?" Josh's eyes narrowed. "No, she did not." Mahmoud only smiled an oily smile, and finished his own coffee. Josh salamandered back to the water. He wanted to get away from this stain on their perfect little atoll. His anger bubbled up and an idea to kill this scum now and face the consequences from his servants rolled through his mind. They might even thank him, especially that girl held as a slave. [How'd it go?] Brian asked as he swam by and they fell in alongside him. [You're right about him being a wannabe Bond villain.] he sent back. [I'll explain in the cave. I really need to be around my mates.] [That bad?] Trevor asked. [He has a slave girl, and wants us all to come live at his house as glorified goldfish.] Josh answered. [And whenever someone says 'my friend' to me over and over when we've just met, it means he's trying to screw me.] [What if we say no?] Sarah asked. Josh had included the mermaids in their conversation. [He claims he'll leave us alone. Judging by the fact that he had a mostly-naked girl with a collar around her neck serving coffee and snacks, who he struck in front of me, I don't think he hears 'no' too often. I don't trust him as far as I can throw this atoll.] Josh was disgusted. [We're on our way back.] Brian sent. [Thank goodness. Please hurry.] Sarah replied. "You know, I saw the pictures," Mahmoud said to Fredrick as he boarded the tender and Rahman and Jim secured the zodiac. "But they don't do them justice. Even the male is an amazing sight. The mermaids must be visions of perfection." "Indeed, Your Highness. Do you think they'll accept?" Frederick asked. "Not a chance," the prince said quietly so only Fredrick could hear it. "Tell Ibrahim to get the backup plan ready when we return." Frederick nodded. "You saw the same thing I did, right?" Jim asked Hailey. "Uh huh," Hailey nodded, still dumbfounded. The tender headed back to the Alnasl. "Jim, he was a normal person. He and at least one other person were in a plane crash, and now they have fish tails. This is crazy." "How?" he was even more shocked, if that was possible. "Did he say if the others used to be humans too? There were two more mermen underwater." "No idea." She shrugged. Marie sat, listening to Jim and Hailey talk. She had to tell the girls. This could change everything. If everything she heard was true, there were more mers, and they had been human. Was this how they could escape, becoming mermaids? She was getting ahead of herself, she had to tell the other girls. Jaclyn and Janice floated a couple of hundred feet away from the yacht. They'd loved the Freedom III, even though it had been a smaller, less luxurious vessel than they could have afforded. The Alnasl made the Freedom III look like a bath toy. "It's really nice," Jaclyn said. "I don't see the crane for the tender though. It should come off the stern, but there's just that glass hot tub and the launch for the jet skis." Janice shook her head. "In some ways, you're still a boy with your toys." Brian surfaced next to the two of them. "The tender is on its way back," he reported. "Good, because I want to see how they're going to get it back on the ship," Jaclyn said. "You do realize that thing belongs to someone who will likely try to kidnap us?" Brian said. "Yeah, I know," Jaclyn agreed. "It's not the yacht's fault though." "Here it comes. You girls might want to duck down," Brian said as the tender made its way to the back of the vessel, offloading most of the passengers. "There's the slave girl," Janice said as Marie climbed onboard. "This guy. You would think that he'd realize that if he wanted a bunch of women to voluntarily come home with him, he shouldn't parade a slave girl around." "Holy shit, there's another one," Jaclyn said as Aluna left Prince Mahmoud's suite with a laundry basket and walked down the starboard side of the yacht. The tender finished offloading everyone except Rahman. He sailed the tender and attached zodiac around the starboard side of the yacht. A crane integrated into the gunwale of the yacht emerged, and Rahman hooked the crane to a sling, then moved to the zodiac. The crane lifted the tender into a space that took up a large section of the front of the yacht, then returned empty, where Rahman repeated the hook up procedure and stayed with the zodiac as it was lifted to sit next to the tender on the large ship. "Holy crap!" Brian and Jaclyn said at the same time. "I wonder if it has another crane on the other side. It looked like it was some sort of floating gunwale, but it just came apart with the crane integrated right into it!" Jaclyn was dumbfounded. "So, is Josh going to tell everyone what happened?" Janice smiled as she tried to distract her merman and husband turned sister wife from the shiny toy in front of them. "Yeah, he and Trevor are headed for the cave with Rose and Sarah. I came to get you two," Brian replied. "Let's go then," Janice said. She submerged and headed for the cave, and her pod mates followed. Josh and Sarah surfaced in the cave once Trevor and Rose had cleared the pool by hauling out onto the smaller shelf with Kate and Ann. Josh and Sarah, meanwhile, joined Jenna and Manami on the larger shelf with Julie. He hugged all three of his mermaids to him. That always made him feel better. Once again, they were under threat, but now they had friends, and they'd figure this out. Julie joined her pod mates in the pool when they arrived. "What happened? Who are we dealing with?" Janice asked Josh. He told them about the events of the last hour or so, including the name of their supposed benefactor, the fact that Prince Mahmoud knew his pod's names, and the offer of a new home in Abu Dhabi. He also told them about the slave girl he saw and Mahmoud's propensity for grandiose speech and "having an ego so massive I'm surprised he can lift it to walk around." Back in their room on the Alnasl, Aluna, Indira, and Abbie listened in awe to Marie's account. At least they tried. She was still so overwhelmed that she fell into French as she went along. "You're saying there's a merman?" Aluna asked. "Oui! Yes! A fishtail and everything. He spoke with the prince and I served them coffee and food and he looked at me with kind eyes and I, I, I wanted to ask him to save us but-" "Easy!" Abbie said. "Sit down, take a deep breath." Marie sat on the bed she shared with Abbie. "We're out here because he wants to bring them back to his house. Mahmoud says that he wants to save mer-perople, but he'd leave them alone if they didn't want to go." "That explains the construction in the main part of the house," Indira observed. "Did this merman seem friendly?" "He seemed angry, at least towards the prince. I don't think he's happy that we're here," Marie answered. "But like I said, he looked like he felt sorry for me when I poured coffee for him." "Where did they come from?" Aluna wondered. "I heard Mahmoud ask him about someone surviving a plane crash, and he talked about how he wished he'd had more coffee when he had legs. I think at least some of them used to be humans," Marie's mind wondered what could have brought that about. "But can they help us? Would they help us?" Indira asked. "We need to ask Ben and Madhuri. Maybe they'll figure something out," Abbie suggested. "Or we could do something for ourselves," Aluna countered. "There has to be something we can do to talk to these mer-people." "If you have any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them," Abbie replied. There was silence in the cabin. Do they drop a message in a bottle over the side? Would the mer-people help them, even if they knew of their plight? Jim and Hailey sat with Ben, Jason, and Madhuri Hopkins in the medical bay. They each related what they knew of the mers, and Hailey talked about her best guesses as to what the mers would do. "There is no way they come with us," Hailey said. "The only question is what His Highness does when they refuse." "This does explain why his so-called deck crew is all muscle. He knows our team has lines we won't cross. They don't," Jason commented. "If we can communicate with them, they might help us with the issue with the girls," Madhuri mused. "You think they'd kill the prince for us?" Jason asked quietly. "We have all the guns on this boat. We could do that in 10 minutes." "It would make things easier," Hailey said. "We're not killing anybody we don't have to, especially our client!" Ben said. "We could wait to get back to civilization before we take them off. When the boat hits Fiji, we could grab the girls, split up, and brute force our way to the embassies for each of the girls' home countries. That's it, keeps it simple." "Gee, boss, it took you how long to come up with that plan?" Hailey quipped. "Like I said, I'm keeping it simple Daga. Anything more complicated would have too many moving parts," Ben defended himself. "There are two major issues: First, the embassies are in Suva, clear on the other side of the island. Second, Kenya has no embassy there, or anywhere else we're going. We can't even fly Aluna out because she doesn't have a passport." He sighed. "So we're just waiting?" Jim asked. "We can try to contact the mer-people," Maduri said. "How often do we get this opportunity?" "We can take a jet ski into the lagoon on our off time tomorrow afternoon," Hailey suggested. "Maybe they'll say hello." "Couldn't hurt," Maduri shrugged. "Alright then. We can't really do shit." Jim threw up his hands. "We are waiting on the fish people." "Just in case, set up the home run protocol," Ben ordered. "I'll pass it on," Jason said. "What's that?" Madhuri asked. "I keep a channel on our radios for emergency use. The client isn't supposed to have our radio frequencies, but just in case they do, I have a special, encrypted channel," Ben said. "All I have to do is say the code word, and we all switch to that one, and my team rallies at our cabins." "What code word do you want boss?" Jason asked. "Blackout," Ben said. "You got it." "Now we wait. Enjoy your beach day ladies," With that, Ben ended the meeting. The next morning, the three pods swam along the wall of the dropoff the next morning, headed towards the lagoon. They rose up over the edge to the shallows where the yacht was anchored. [At least we don't have to stay out of the lagoon while they're here.] Jenna said. [Want to give them a show?] [What do you mean?] Sarah said, suspiciously. [Just some jumps and splashes.] Jenna suggested. [I'd rather we stay out of sight. I think the more this guy sees you, the more determined he'll get.] Josh said. [You never let me have any fun.] she pouted. [That is objectively not true, and I'm not in charge anyway.] he replied. [Can we get breakfast please? I'm hungry.] Manami piped up. The mers traveled into the lagoon, harvesting their breakfast. They spent the morning surveying the lagoon, making sure no one from the boat was hanging out on their atoll. Pierro handed the packed lunch to Hailey. "Do you think they'll want to talk with you?" "I honestly have no idea. If they will talk to us, we'll ask about saving the servant girls," Hailey said. "Well, good luck," the chef said. Hailey walked out of the main parlor onto the rear deck. Madhuri was waiting there in her bathing suit, with Rahman tying up the deployed jet ski at the back of the boat. He leered at Hailey's cleavage as she passed by before heading inside without a word. Hailey rolled her eyes. "Put him out of your mind. Let's just go," Madhuri said as they put their lunch, sunscreen, and towels onboard the jet ski and set off into the lagoon. They motored around the perimeter of the lagoon, looking for any signs of the mers. Seeing none, Madhuri stopped the engine 100 yards off of a beach on the southern end of the largest island. "Why did you stop out here?" Hailey asked. "I want to swim in. See you there!" She whipped off her sunglasses and sandals and dove in, freestyling her way towards the beach. "Okay then," Hailey said, rather surprised at the impetuousness of the usually reserved doctor. She moved forward to start the jet ski herself. "No need for that. Besides, it's really loud underwater," said a soft, lilting voice to her left. Hailey jumped, reflexively reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. She looked to her left and saw a pair of identical blonde mermaids floating next to the jet ski. "Who?" she stammered. "I'm Kate, this is my sister Ann. We'll push you in!" The two mermaids moved towards the rear of the jet ski. "We have some questions for you," another female voice said to her right. She turned and saw a blonde merman and brunette mermaid floating on the opposite side of the jet ski. "Okay." Hailey was transfixed. The jet ski lurched into motion as Kate and Ann pushed at the back. Trevor and Rose helped guide the watercraft in from either side. Madhuri swam towards the beach, freestyle stroking the whole way. Looking down occasionally, she could see the coral boulders and fish in the lagoon. She felt the water churn to either side of her. Turning her head, she saw a mermaid swimming to the right. This one had a green tail with gold highlights. She looked left, and saw another mermaid with a red tail with black highlights. She stopped in the water and floated vertically. She was breathing hard and not just from the physical exertion of swimming. Another mermaid and merman surfaced, effectively surrounding her. "Is Josh's pod on their way?" one of the mermaids asked. "They'll be here in a couple of minutes. They're grabbing lunch," the merman reported. "Um, hello?" Madhuri asked, still awestruck. "Hi. We'll make introductions in a bit. Would you like help getting to the beach?" the red-tailed mermaid asked. "Um, I can make it. Probably not as fast as you can, though," the doctor admitted. "Okay then, we'll stay with you. Oh good grief." The mermaid smiled and shook her head as the jet ski, with Hailey onboard, sped by, Rose laughing as she helped guide the manmade conveyance onto the shore. "Kids. What can you do?" the mermaid shrugged. Madhuri resumed swimming towards the shore. She arrived after about 10 minutes to find the jet ski pushed up onto the sand, and Hailey putting on fresh sunscreen while chatting with four of the mer-people. Their towels had been laid out, and their lunch sat between them. Aside from the people with tails, it looked like a perfectly normal scene. "Hi Madhuri. We wanted to see if they'd talk to us, mission accomplished, I guess," Hailey said. "I guess so," the stunned doctor said as the pod that had escorted her in salamandered their way up the beach. She noted the resemblance between members of the two pods. "Yes, we're related," Jaclyn explained. "Sit down, eat your lunch, don't worry about us, ours is on the way." "Thanks," Dr. Hopkins said as she sat on her beach towel. As she bit into the pita bread falafel sandwich Pierro had packed for her, she saw a third group of three mermaids and a merman emerge from the water. They each hauled up collection bags with sea grasses and shellfish. The blue- tailed merman recognized Hailey. "Hello again," he said. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name the last time we met. Prince High and Mighty didn't care to introduce you." "Hi, Josh, was it?" Hailey replied. The merman nodded. "I'm Hailey D'Agostino. 'Daga' to my friends." "I'm Madhuri Hopkins. I don't have a nickname at all, much less one as badass as hers," Madhuri joked. The assembled mers introduced themselves as they dug into their lunch. Madhuri marveled at the mers. She tried to keep from staring. The mers noticed, a pink-tailed mermaid met her gaze and smiled. She broke eye contact, embarrassed at being caught. "It's okay. I did the same thing when I met Rose's pod," Jenna explained. "So you were humans," Hailey said. "We all were," Janice explained. "Jaclyn and I are the parents of Rose, Kate, and Ann, though Rose and Trevor changed a few months before the rest of us. Julie is my sister." "You and Jaclyn?" Hailey asked. Janice smiled. "I am, was, their father," Jaclyn said. "Mer pods are always one merman and a maximum of three mermaids. If that ratio doesn't exist among people who bond, and that happens after they drink our milk, it gets created." "Wha..." Madhuri was stunned, as if people changing into mermaids wasn't incredible enough. "Do you mind if we ask you some questions?" Sarah spoke up. "Sure, yeah," Hailey was still processing the switching of genders. "What is with the slave girls?" Sarah asked point blank. Hailey and Madhuri looked at each other. Madhuri decided to explain. "Our employer is a bastard. While we knew that when we took on this job, we only found out about them just before we left. There are four of them on this voyage, from different countries. They were lured into his service, and he considers them his property." "We're trying to figure out a way to free them. We haven't had much luck thinking of a plan other than waiting until we stop in Fiji on the return leg, then having my team force our way off the boat with them and make for the embassies of their home countries. There are issues with that plan though," Hailey admitted. "Like what?" Sarah asked. "The embassies of three of their counties are in Suva, which is a three and a half hour drive clear across the other side of the island. We don't have any transportation assets there, and we won't be able to hang around filling out rental car forms either," Hailey complained. "There's also the fact that Kenya doesn't have a diplomatic presence in any of the ports we are visiting along the way back, so Aluna, one of the girls, would be shit out of luck." "How many are on your team?" Rose asked. "Six, including me. There are eight deckhands, plus the captain, the chef, who is on our side, the engineer, who must live in the engine bay because we hardly see him, and the prince's personal assistant. We think the deckhands are hired muscle," Hailey replied. "Shouldn't be that hard for professionals," Janice commented. "It will cause an international incident. We may be private military contractors, but we're also veterans of our countries' armed forces. We'll all be in Fiji illegally, too. We were hoping you could help us," Hailey said sheepishly. "How?" Sarah jumped in again. "I figure you're not going with him to Abu Dhabi, correct?" Hailey asked. "Hell no!" Sarah said. The rest of the mers shook their heads. "Could you ask for the girls to stay with you? You don't have to work whatever magic you do to make them mermaids, but it would get them out of his grasp," Madhuri proposed. "Why on earth would he do that? He'll be pissed enough that we're not going to live with him," Jaclyn was incredulous. "I, we, are grasping at straws here," Hailey admitted. "We'll think about it," Janice promised, exhaling. Rose, Sarah, and Jaclyn all nodded. "In the meantime, tell us about yourselves," She tried to steer the conversation onto more pleasant topics. "Not much to say about me," Madhuri said. "I've been a concierge physician since I got out of med school. The NHS back home is such an old boys club that I'd be stuck in some backwater distributing pills for my whole career if I stayed home." "I drove HET trucks in the U.S. Army, served two tours in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. We'd get ambushed pretty frequently, so I got good with an M4 to defend myself," Hailey said. "On my last tour, we were transporting Afghan Army troops though Helmand, and the Taliban took a shot at us. I took mortar shrapnel in my gut, and a little in my chest." She rubbed her belly through her one-piece bathing suit. "I lost a couple of feet of small intestine, a kidney, and my..." She trailed off, tears forming. "I can't have children. My boyfriend Jim and I want it so bad, but... Jim joined up with this contractor outfit, and when Ben saw I could handle myself, he hired me too." Brian and Julie held hands recalling their own fertility issues that led them to join the mers. "Do you think you would want to-" "Let's put a pin in that," Janice interrupted. "Why?" Julie asked. "It would work. It's healed worse injuries and illnesses than hers." "What would work?" Madhuri asked. Janice gave Julie a stern look. "Our milk contains special cells we've named 'siren cells.' Among other things, they restore people to perfect health, even regrowing lost or damaged organs and healing scars." "Your milk? How do I get some? Please," Hailey pleaded. "The siren cells start the process of changing you into a mermaid. There's no going back," Sarah said. "After our plane crash, we were fed by Rose's pod while unconscious to heal our injuries and dehydration. A month later, all four of us were mers." "Daga, think this over," Madhuri said. "Could Jim be one of you too?" Hailey asked. "Hailey!" Madhuri practically yelled. "What?!" Hailey actually yelled. "This could solve all our problems." "We haven't offered or decided on anything yet," Janice said emphatically. "Wait, why wouldn't we offer to make Hailey and her boyfriend mers?" Jenna asked, shocked that Janice would think of turning them down. "Everyone calm the hell down!" Rose raised her voice. Janice closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "I'm sorry. You're right, Jenna. There's no reason why we couldn't offer to let Jim and Hailey join us, if that's what they really want. It's just that we've got to be careful with handing out information about our abilities." "I'm sorry. Jim and Hailey not being able to have children brought up old feelings." Julie hugged her sister. Everyone looked around at each other. "We haven't solved anything. We still have to turn down Mahmoud and get him to let these enslaved girls go," Sarah shook her head. "Dammit we're smarter than this. There has to be a way that doesn't jeopardize anyone's safety or freedom." "We could just ask," Rose suggested. "You never know." "I guess we're down to that," Janice said, resigning herself. "We just go and ask Prince Mahmoud bin Whatever to hand over four women he's holding captive, appealing to the better angels of his nature. This is a terrible plan." "We have to offer him something," Sarah interjected, drawing on her experience in corporate negotiations. "He's a filthy rich prince," Ann replied. "What do we have that he wants?" "He wants mermaids," Jenna said. "Let's tell him we'll give him mermaids." Everyone stared at her for a second. "The numbers don't work," Kate noted. "There's four of them, unless one of them is willing to change sex." "We don't have to actually do it," Jenna interrupted. "The prince doesn't know how this works. We tell him we'll take his girls and do our magic before we leave with him. After they're safe, we turn him down." "This is still a terrible plan," Janice repeated. "You can keep a few of you in reserve," Hailey suggested. "Enough to pull you out of trouble, but not so many that there's too small an entourage going to him to offer your deal." "Once the girls are off the boat, we tell him we're not going to swim in his own personal SeaWorld," Rose said. "He can be mad all he wants, but we'll have the girls." "I agree with Janice, this is a terrible plan. We risk angering him, and he can just reveal where we are when he wants to," Sarah warned. "Let's try it. Worse comes to worse, he says 'no' to giving up the girls. We don't even have to give him an answer about going back with him if he refuses," Rose insisted. "That's psychotically optimistic," Jaclyn told her daughter. "So were the original mers when they changed, and they got a bigger miracle out of that than we are asking for here," Rose waved her hand at the assembled mermaids and mermen. Jaclyn smiled at Rose. She hoped she never lost that spark of hope that had made Robbie take the chance of changing sexes to be something magical. "We can tell the prince you'd like to meet tomorrow at midday to negotiate," Hailey offered. "It will give me time to convince Jim," she smiled, almost giddy with the possibilities. "And time for you to really think about what you're asking for," Madhuri counseled her. "What's it like?" Hailey asked. "It's wonderful," Jenna smiled. "But it is a monumental change. Think about it, talk to Jim." "Okay," Hailey said, practically bursting with hope. "So that's the plan. You tell Mahmoud we'd like to meet midday tomorrow. We ask for the girls, then tell him our decision," Sarah said. "Should be fun," she added sardonically. "Thank you, it was wonderful to meet you. I'm sorry we intruded, but hopefully something good can come of it," Madhuri said. "It took courage to reach out, and you're trying to do right for girls who need heroes," Janice smiled. Hailey checked her watch and saw that they'd been gone from the yacht for almost two hours. "Hey, we'd better head back. Ben or Jim might worry if we're away for too long," She stood and picked up her towel and the lunch cooler. Maduri picked up her towel as well. They put everything away on the jet ski and pushed it back into the water. "Good luck. We'll see you tomorrow," Sarah said. They watched the two women board and start the jet ski, then drive it back through the entrance to the lagoon toward the Alnasl. Hailey and Madhuri were met by Ibrahim and Fredrick when they returned to the yacht. Ibrahim took the jet ski and returned it to its storage. Madhuri and Hailey thanked him and stepped up from the back of the yacht to the main sundeck next to the hot tub, where Fredrick stood. "Did you see any of the inhabitants?" he asked them. "As a matter of fact, they contacted us," Madhuri said. "They would like to meet with His Highness tomorrow at midday. They have business they'd like to discuss." "What kind of business?" Frederick narrowed his eyes. "They wouldn't say, they just asked us to relay the message. We talked about them for most of the time, as you'd expect," Madhuri replied. "I'll take it to His Highness. I'm sure he'll be interested. He's only met the one merman, and of course, they're not his primary concern." Frederick turned and walked off without another word. "Oh, of course they're not," Madhuri said once he was out of earshot. "Why thank you Ms. D'Agostino and Dr. Hopkins. You've helped ensure the mermaids don't just ignore us while we sit here for two weeks with our thumbs up our arses," she continued in a mocking imitation of Fredrick's baritone voice. She and Hailey laughed as they headed below decks to shower. They met Jason and Ben, who were just waking up themselves to prepare for the late shift. "How'd it go?" Ben asked. "We met them. All 12 of them Ben," Hailey said. "They are all so beautiful, every single one of them! They can actually heal people who drink their milk! With their help, I could have kids!" "That's great Daga," Ben said, genuinely happy for her, but trying to stay professional. "But what about our plan?" "Tomorrow, noon. They'll come here and offer Mahmoud to make the girls mermaids then take them someplace safe. They're not optimistic, but it's the best they can do right now," Hailey reported. "Alright. We'll keep a low profile so they don't get spooked." His radio beeped, and he stepped away to speak to Fredrick. "Congratulations Hailey. I know you and Jim want to do the whole white picket fence and two point five kids thing," Jason smiled. "Thanks Jason. I need to go talk to Jim after I get the salt and sunscreen off," Hailey said as she headed towards her cabin. Ben met Prince Mahmoud and Fredrick on the upper level sun deck. As he walked up the stairs, Ibrahim passed him by, headed in the opposite direction. For once, Ibrahim wasn't acting like some tough guy wanker, he moved with a purpose. Ben put it out of his mind as he ascended to the sundeck. "How can I help you, Your Highness?" he said when he stepped back out into the sun. "Mr Smythe! Thank you for coming so quickly," Mahmoud said jovially. "Fredrick has a new assignment for you." Frederick spoke for Mahmoud. "His Highness wishes to thank you for your expert, professional protection on this trip. We know there hasn't been any action, but the presence of your team has always provided peace of mind." "I hear a 'but' coming," Ben said. "But," Frederick confirmed his suspicions. "Your services are no longer required. We'd like you to remain in the crew area for the remainder of the trip back to Abu Dhabi." "I don't understand. Have we offended HIs Highness in some way?" Ben acted hurt. In reality, he was more concerned about getting paid than his feelings. "You have not offended me in the slightest. Quite the opposite," the Prince himself spoke up this time. "I simply do not think we will need such, ah, potent security for the trip back. Before you ask, I will pay your rate for the full trip, and honor all of the other provisions of the contract. I will even pay your team members a bonus of ten thousand American dollars each. You can leave the ship at our first port," he smiled. "Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness." Ben nodded. He was more confused than hurt. He'd never had a client just end a job in the middle of nowhere. He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, though. "Very well. My team will remain in the crew areas. I hope we can do business in the future." "As do I, my friend." Mahmoud gave him a toothy smile, then turned away. Taking that as his cue to get lost, Ben nodded to Fredrick and left. Now that he was officially no longer working for Mahmoud, he didn't want to risk him accessing his team's radios. He keyed his mic and said one word: "Blackout." Hailey stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Walking back to her cabin, she saw Jim and Andre jogging down the narrow hallway. "What's wrong Jim?" she asked. "Ben called 'Blackout'," he replied. "We switched frequencies and came to the rendezvous point." "Let me get dressed," Hailey stepped into her cabin and Dr. Hopkins closed her door as well. Jim and Andre turned to cover the hallway, just in case of danger, and Jason and Marco emerged from their cabins armed with their UMPs and Glocks. Ben stepped down the stairs at the end of the hallway on the crew deck and smiled. HIs people were always ready. Hailey then stepped out of her cabin in a T-shirt and shorts, with her weapons at the ready as well. "Well done, but you can stand down. We've been relieved. We are to stay below decks until our next port," he ordered. "But, what about..." Hailey looked crestfallen. "We'll figure out a way to talk to the mermaids before the yacht leaves. I won't let wankery take that from you," Ben said. "Take what?" Jim asked. "We, ah, really need to talk in my cabin," Hailey said, smiling with raised eyebrows and practically bouncing as she looked at Jim. "I thought we were keeping this professional on the job?" Jim whispered. Everyone on the team heard that and laughed. "Not that," she rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe later, but it's big," she assured him. "Do what you want, we're off the job. Gives us time to work out our other plan too," Ben said as he entered his cabin. Hailey grabbed Jim by the collar and practically dragged Jim into her cabin. She didn't care about the smirks from their teammates. Hailey closed the door and kissed Jim full on the lips. "Hailes, let's safe our weapons first," Jim laughed. They removed the magazines and ejected the rounds from the chambers of their submachine guns and took off their sidearm holsters. "So what did you have to tell me, or are you so excited because we haven't done this in a month?" Jim asked. "The milk the mermaids make heals people. It regenerates organs, cures diseases, makes you perfectly healthy!" she gushed. "You mean it would..." Jim considered the possibilities. "It would fix me," Hailey said. "There is just one catch." "Whatever it is, we'll get through it together," Jim assured her. "Drinking their milk starts changing you into a mermaid or merman," she said. "We'd become like them, eventually." "Hailey..." Jim said softly. Become one of them? "But, our families, what about them? My mom, I can't just disappear on her." "I know I'm asking a lot. More than I have any right to, but I love you, and I want to have a family with you, and this is how we can do it," Hailey pleaded. "You saw the mermen, you'd be like that, even bigger and stronger than you already are," she smiled and bit her lower lip as she rubbed his chest through his shirt. "No more scuba gear, you could just breathe underwater, we'd spend all day swimming and making love." "But..." He considered it. Aside from his mother, what was keeping him from doing this? "I saw the mermaids," Hailey said seductively. She pulled her shirt off. She hadn't bothered with a bra. Her pink nipples stood erect on her full breasts as she posed seductively for him. "They are all so perfect. Hair down to their asses, flawless skin, thin waists, some of them have really big boobs. I wonder if I could have bigger boobs," she smoulderd as she lifted her breasts with each hand. "Can you imagine what it's like for them to make love under water?" Jim stripped off his clothes and kissed her. She giggled as he picked her up, and wrapped her long legs around his waist. "I take it, that's a yes?" "Yes. Let's do it. I don't care as long as I'm with you," he said frantically, then he kissed her lips and made his way down her neck to her clavicle. Madhuri dressed and stepped out of her cabin. The deck hands were making their way forward to the crew mess for dinner, along with the engineer, Ahmad. Frederick and Captain Omar dined in their cabins or with Prince Mahmoud, depending on whether he extended an invitation. She stepped back into the doorway as Ibrahim, Rahman, and the other six hands passed. To a man, they all leered at her as they passed. One pursed his lips into a kiss as he passed by, and she rolled her eyes at him. Once they passed, she heard Hailey giggle in her cabin as Jim moaned. She smiled at that, it sounded like Jim said "yes" to being a merman. Ben exited his cabin just then, looking for dinner himself. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to stand guard?" she asked. "We've been dismissed. His Highness will still pay us, he just doesn't want us on deck anymore." Ben shrugged. "I'm not going to argue," he heard the noise of the deck crew in the mess and frowned. He and his team liked to eat after the crew left, but he was especially hungry, and had hoped he could eat earlier. "I'm not thrilled with the idea of eating with them either. They give me the creeps." Madhuri furrowed her brow. Pierro emerged from the mess with a tray in his hand. It was piled with shawarma, pickled vegetables, and garlic sauce, along with a bottle of water. "Doctor!" he said. "I was just bringing this to you! It's awful tight in the mess right now." "You're sweet, Pierro. Thank you," she said with a smile. "I'll get a tray for you too, Mr. Smythe," Pierro said, then hurried back into the galley. "I don't want to eat alone. Care to join me in my cabin when your food comes?" Madhuri asked. Ben was taken aback. "Sure. You can tell me about your lunch with the mermaids if you don't mind." "Sure, but we are eating with the door open. Don't get any ideas, I still have to talk to the girls too," she told him as she turned to walk into her cabin. "Of course not," he agreed. "Wouldn't dream of it." "Wouldn't you? Are you saying I'm not attractive?" she teased him. "There is no right answer for that, is there?" he asked. "No, not really," she smiled mischievously as she entered, leaving the door open. He laughed and waited for Pierro to deliver the tray. Back up in the main parlor, Mahmoud dined with Fredrick and Captain Omar. Omar picked at his steak. His Highness had told him about the plan for tomorrow, and he had serious misgivings. "Does the food not agree with you captain?" Mahmoud asked. "The food is excellent, as always, Your Highness," he replied. "Then something is bothering you. You have served the royal family for years, my friend, speak freely," the prince insisted. "I understand your desire to preserve the mermaids, but is kidnapping really the way you want to go about it?" he asked. "They will almost certainly not agree to come with us. To preserve species, zoos and aquariums will often acquire them without the consent of that species. Dolphins and killer whales are quite intelligent, and they are captured all the time," the prince argued. Of course, taking the mermaids wasn't about "preservation", but his honorable captain didn't need to know that. "True, though capturing those species is increasingly frowned upon, and the mermaids are at least half human," Omar retorted. "Sometimes hard decisions must be made, and we must do what's best for people, even if they don't know it at the time," his employer smiled. "You have a keen sense of honor my friend, and I appreciate that. It is one of the reasons you defended the Saudis so well, and why you have served my family with distinction." "Thank you, Your Highness," Omar said. There, he'd said his piece, and let the prince know of his misgivings. Whether that satisfied honor would be between him and Allah upon his death. "Then that's the plan. Trevor hangs back as a tactical reserve, and the pregnant mermaids stay near the mouth of the cave. He gets to see some mermaids and not be insulted, we get to ask for the slave girls," Janice concluded as the mers floated in the grotto together, finishing their own dinner. "I think it's a stupid fucking plan," Brian said. "Well, if we want to try to help these poor girls, and not kill anyone or get killed, it's the best we've got," Jaclyn said. "I guess," he said. "I'm willing to try, but I'm not willing to risk the safety of the mermaids," Josh said. "Let Brian, Trevor, and I go ask him. I don't care if he's 'insulted', I don't want any of you in danger." "So you go into danger every time and we what? Knit socks? No, we face him together," Jenna said forcefully. "With some exceptions," she added, gently. The other mermaids nodded in agreement. Josh's shoulders sagged. He wasn't going to win this argument, but he still had to try. "I can't stand the thought of losing any of you, especially to that garbage pit of a human being." "You also can't put us away," Jenna said, putting her arm around his shoulders and leaning her head against him. "Fine," he said softly, and leaned his head against hers. "Let's get some sleep. Our showdown at high noon awaits," Janice suggested. Each pod nested together, and made slow, quiet love to reassure each other until they fell asleep. That next morning, the mers ate breakfast in the lagoon. Later, Josh excused himself. He swam through the southeast entrance, past the anchored yacht, to the eastern edge of the atoll. Pulling up vertically, above the dropoff, he meditated, listening to the ocean. After a few minutes, he prayed for the safety of the mermaids, his pod, and all of the people involved. Grant me the strength and wisdom to protect what I've been given, and save those held captive. He exhaled his air and let his lungs refill several times, and he was still nervous. "What the hell else am I supposed to do?" he asked aloud. The fish around him on the reef had no answers. They were fish, whatever happened, they just went along doing fish things. [Hey, is it alright if we join you?] Jenna asked. [We need you.] [Of course, my hearts.] he replied. He felt them leave the lagoon and turned to greet them. They curled their tails around him the same way they'd done a hundred times since they'd changed. "Thank you. I know you needed some time alone, but we're nervous too," Manami said. "I know. I shouldn't have left," Josh said. "No, that was fine. Even as bonded as we are, we all need to be alone with our thoughts sometimes. This is..." Sarah trailed off. "I can't help but feel that this is going to end in disaster," Josh said. "I know we're trying to do something good, but we're risking what the four of us have found. I've never been happier than these last few months. I love you, all three of you. I can't..." he stopped and closed his eyes. "It will all be okay," Jenna said. "Even if he says no, even if he wants to capture us, he has to come into the water to get us. I'd like to see him try that." "This guy is a schmuck too. From what you've said, he likes to throw money and his title at things and is used to people bending over backward for him. He might have a temper tantrum, but that's the most he can do to us, immediately anyway," Sarah figured. "I hope you're right," Josh said. "If he attacks us, I'll kill them all," he tensed. "Including the slave girls, or Daga and Madhuri?" Jenna gave him a serious look. "No, of course not," he said, calming down. "Then don't say things like that," Jenna laid her head on his chest. "I'll be right there with you this time. Keep cool, and I know we'll succeed." "You know, Sarah guides us, but you push us forward. It's been like that since we first got here," Josh said quietly. "Yes," Manami said. "Absolutely right," Sarah agreed. They hung in the water for a long time. Sarah and Manami even drifted off to sleep on his shoulders. [Well, they just zonked right out.] Josh observed. [They're pregnant. That's going to get more and more common.] Jenna replied. [When do you want to have a baby?] Josh asked. [Maybe when Sarah and Manami's daughters are two or three. Old enough to not be newborns, but not so old that they can't relate to their sister.] she replied. [How do you know it will be a girl?] he asked. [All of the babies have been girls. Rose and the science mers think a few of them will switch to boys when they're old enough to form pods of their own.] Jenna replied. [Unreal. We say that like it's just an everyday, normal thing.] Josh thought. He stroked Sarah's hair and back. [It's what we are now.] she replied, her eyes closing. [That feels nice.] [Folks, the sun's getting pretty high, it's time.] Janice thought to all of the mers. [We'll be right there.] Jenna thought back. Josh gently nudged both Manami and Sarah awake. He kissed their noses as they awoke. "Did we both pass out?" Sarah asked. "Yep, but that's okay. It's time for you two to meet Rose in front of the cave," Jenna reminded them. "Yes, it is," Sarah replied. "Josh, keep calm, be polite, and both of you come back to us in one piece." "Yes ma'am," he replied. Manami and Sarah kissed him and Jenna, and the four of them swam south towards the yacht. His two pregnant mates peeled off and headed toward the cave, while he and Jenna stopped about 20 feet below the surface, under the stern of the yacht to await the others. Five minutes later, the remaining two pods, with the exception of Rose, met them. "Ready?" Janice asked. Everyone nodded. The remaining mers, except Trevor, swam for the surface. His Royal Highness, Mahmoud bin Farook, stood between Ibrahim and Rahman on the back of his vessel. Two more of the deck hands stood behind them, along with Fredrick, ready to deploy his surprise. It was ten past noon. He would be annoyed, but then he realized that these mer-people probably didn't possess clocks. That was probably why they'd offered "midday" instead of a specific hour. That would leave him standing around in the sun for what could be hours, which would certainly annoy him. He happened to be looking back at the water off the stern of his vessel when he saw a familiar face surface. Another merman's visage appeared next to him as well. He was just about to express his disappointment with the numbers of mer-people who came to see him when a blonde head with strangely pink-highlighted hair surfaced next to Josh. This was the face of the most gorgeous woman he'd ever laid eyes on. More faces, somehow just as beautiful, despite each being slightly different, began to surface around them. Blonde or brunette hair, it didn't matter, all were absolute visions of beauty. They perfectly fit the legends of mermaids. Even a pair of blonde twins, and another who could be their sister! He would definitely want to acquire them! "You show impressive punctuality for a man who does not own a watch, my friend," he called out as he looked at Josh. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, Your Highness. Shall I introduce my friends?" Josh asked him. "Certainly!" Mahmoud hoped this wouldn't take too long. The longer it went on, the higher the probability the security team that he'd confirmed were in their quarters below decks would try to intervene when he sprung his trap. Josh introduced Jenna first, as his mate. Jenna had to suppress a shiver when Mahmoud greeted her with a lecherous, leering smile. Each of the other mers said their names in turn. "Splendid! You are all marvelous. Which of you shall be travelling with me to my home?" Mahmoud answered. "Before we answer that, we have come to make a proposal to you, Your Highness," Josh laid it on thick. "We ask, in your benevolence, that you allow us some time with the four serving girls." Mahmoud looked puzzled for a moment. "If they'd like to become mermaids, we can make that happen. If they like, they can return with you as well." As intrigued as he was, Mahmoud immediately sensed a trap. "My friend, I am disappointed," Mahmoud shook his head slowly. "I offer you so much, and yet you ask more. Is that any way to treat a guest? Or, worse, are you trying to doublecross me?" Stay calm. Josh told himself. "You arrived at our home uninvited, sir, and are asking us to give up the freedom that we have here for only promises. While those promises are most generous, we have shared our home openly. Would a good guest not give a gift in thanks?" "A good host would not ask for such a gift," Mahmoud returned. "Why do you want them, anyway?" "We wish to increase our numbers. Those four girls would make excellent mermaids," Josh said. He was trying to sound just like just as much of a scoundrel as this guy. Was scoundrel the right word? Scoundrels were supposed to have some charm to them, Mahmoud had none. "I will give you to them, if I can have four mermaids of my choosing to come back with me. Here and now," Mahmoud demanded. Shit. Josh thought. Now they were at an impasse. He looked at Brian and Janice. Obviously, four mermaids of his choice going with Mahmoud was a non starter. Down below, Trevor watched the proceedings above. He couldn't quite understand what was being said, but no one's tension had eased one bit. He heard a noise like a winch. Were they pulling up the anchor? "Your Highness," Janice took over. "How can we increase our numbers if four of us go with you in exchange for the four girls?" "You let a woman speak for you?" the prince scoffed at Josh. "Are you threatened by women?" Jenna challenged him. "In my culture, women like you would know to be silent, or else," Mahmoud said. Josh realized the situation was about to get out of hand if he didn't do something, but before he could say anything, Jaclyn spoke. "I've known people from your culture. They treated their wives and daughters with love and respect. You are just a pathetic man who's never accomplished a damn thing in his life and uses the money and title that he didn't earn to abuse people," she angrily accused him. "Insolent bitch!" Mahmoud waved his hand. "Now!" he yelled in Arabic. Ibrahim flipped a switch, and the two rear sonic projectors, designed to non-lethally ward off an attempted boarding, flipped up and engaged over the water at the stern of the yacht. The blasts of directed, high- volume, high-frequency sound would have been painful to a human, to the mers, their enhanced hearing made it absolutely debilitating. Josh grabbed his head. The waves of sound made his whole head excruciatingly vibrate. His ears started bleeding, he couldn't focus, he could only hear the screaming from the mers around him. Manami, Rose, and Sarah could hear the pulses from the sonic weapons, nearly a mile away at the cave. They each looked at each other, unsure if they should intervene. Manami finally took off towards the yacht, Sarah and Rose calling after her. Trevor was frantically trying to think of a way to intervene that wouldn't get him caught in the effect of the sonic weapon. He felt, then saw Manami swimming as hard she could towards the yacht, then he heard the explosions. Ibrahim's two men on the upper deck threw eight packs in amongst the confused, disoriented mers. Once all of them were placed, Ibrahim triggered the remote detonator. Josh felt a splash nearby, then the high-power flashbang pack exploded next to his head. His vision filled with bright white light, then he lost consciousness. Trevor saw the packs splash down, then he swam as fast as he could toward the yacht, passing Manami. Rose and Sarah took off towards the yacht once they heard the explosions. Ibrahim turned off the sonic generators once he was able to open his eyes. The ear protection plugs they'd worn had worked perfectly. His men moved down the stairs to the deck just above the waterline on the back of the yacht and began pulling mermaids from the water. "Get the blondes first!" Mahmoud yelled in Arabic to his crewmen. Josh's mate, the twins, and their insolent sister would be the first they'd take. He could only restrain five with what they'd set up, but he could figure that out later. He saw the pink-tailed blonde brought up onto the main deck laying at his feet. Even sprawled out, unconscious, with her ears bleeding, he could tell she might be the real jewel of his collection of mermaids. Look at those breasts! A blonde merman erupted from the water and pushed one of his men away, attempting to pull one of the mermaids off of the yacht. Mahmoud couldn't allow that, so he drew the 500 Magnum and fired. The kick from the revolver was so strong that it threw off his one-handed aim, and instead of hitting Trevor in the chest, the massive round impacted his left shoulder and took a baseball-sized chunk of it off, including a piece of his collarbone. The hit spun him around and he fell face first back into the water, unmoving. Manami heard the roar of the handgun and saw Trevor fall. She could tell that Rose and Sarah were coming behind her, but could also feel Jenna's signal on the yacht. She had to try to save her pod mate, so she jumped out of the water at one of the crewmen. She impacted his chest and used the barb in her tail to jab him in the thigh as they hit the deck. Jarred from the impact, she tried to recover and look for Jenna, when she was kicked in the temple and knocked out. Frederick was impressed, if not surprised, by the merman's athleticism. That didn't help him against a gun, but he was not prepared for the attack of the silver-tailed mermaid. She tackled one man and jabbed him with some sort of stinger at the end of her tail, but Rahman had stepped forward and ended her rescue attempt with a kick to her head. "Bring her too!" Mahmoud ordered. The other crewmen hauled her up to lay her next to the other four mermaids. He raised a walkie-talkie to his mouth. If there were more mers in reserve, he did not want to get caught by them. "Captain, time to leave." Up on the bridge, Omar checked and saw that the anchor chain had fully retracted, then he started the turbo-diesels and ordered flank speed on the control system, setting a course to the southeast towards Fiji. The yacht roared to life and began churning the water with her twin propellers. Ben and the rest of the security team had heard the sonic projectors start up in their cabins. Thinking they were under attack, they grabbed weapons and opened their doors. Madhuri and Pierro had rushed into the hallway as well. They found the narrow corridor covered by four crewmen, each holding their own UMP submachine guns and wearing ballistic vests. Ben's team was supposed to be the only people on the Alnasl besides the prince with firearms, but apparently that part of the contract had been violated by their employer. They had the team dead to rights. "His Highness would like you to remain in your quarters," One of the men said. Seeing as how they were in an extremely bad position, Ben nodded, then pointed to his ear before entering his cabin. His team and their compatriots retreated back into their quarters, they'd have to find out what happened later. Rose and Sarah's hearts pounded as they rushed towards the yacht. There were fewer shapes in the water than there should have been, and they had seen Trevor splash down, limp as a dishrag. They surfaced, Julie, Brian, Janice, Josh, and Trevor floated motionless. Reddish clouds billowed in the water around Trevor, growing larger by the second as he bled from the gaping wound. Rose grabbed him and began frantically spraying milk on it. Sarah held Josh's head in her arms as she watched the yacht move away, carrying half of her pod with it! "Sarah! Help me!" Rose begged, sobbing as she frantically tried to save Trevor. She moved to spray her milk herself while Rose switched to pouring her milk down Trevor's throat. Rose kept sobbing as she held him, and Sarah started crying too. She felt more helpless than at any time since the plane crash. Her family had been assaulted and half of it kidnapped. She felt Jenna's and Manami's signals getting farther away, but if she left, Trevor would probably die. Sarah looked around at the bloody scene of their horrible failure, how could this have happened? To Be Continued. Duty cycle for mercs: Hailey and Marco: 4AM - Noon Jim and Andre Noon til 8 Jason and Ben 8 to 4AM Serving girls: Aluna (Kenya) Abbie (USA) Marie (France) Indira (India) Madhuri Hopkins - Doctor Pierro Regio - Chef Ahmad - Engineer Muhammad Omar - Captian The yacht is this plus 50 feet, more or less: https://robbreport.com/motors/marine/turquoise-yachts-project-nautilus-2879479/ Atoll coordinates: 8?28'54.0"S 170?00'46.1"E