Becoming a Marine Biologist

Artificial light glimmers on scales as fish dart in the large aquarium tanks all around me. I wave to the few coworkers still here as they get ready to leave. Bags are packed, areas cleaned up as they head to the door mostly en masse. Heading through doors with a sign that reads employees only, I dress in with a wetsuit and grab my cart with supplies. Double checking that all the tests I would need to run are there, I push my cart back through the doors I'd entered. The keyring jangles as I pick them up to lock up the entrance to the aquarium. I grab a cup and climb up the back of one of the tanks to grab some water. Each cup on my cart is labeled for each tank, so I know what water I'm testing for later. I make my circuit, winding through each exhibit. I smile to myself as I watch the different interactions each species has. Some are loners, but my favorites are the schooling fish. The way the light shimmers and shines as a group flits about their home has always enchanted me. Guess that's why I enjoy working in an aquarium.

I check each tank on my way, looking for anything out of place or algae growing on the glass. Spotting some growing, I grab my scraper and scrub brush and make my way to the top of the tank. It's a shorter tank, but wide and long, meant to showcase a coral garden. I avoid the Euphyllia corals since hammers and torches have a tendency to sting. At least they stopped trying to cultivate fire corals, since those could be really harmful to divers and workers. Pulling down my goggles, I slide beneath the water and get to work. I would need to make sure of this tank's parameters and adjust the dosage of whatever might be causing the algae to grow more. I break the surface to breathe some more air. I dunk back under as I make my way to the ladder, looking over the acans and mushroom corals as I go back. There's zoanthids towards the back, but I try not to mess with those. I check the refugium tank as I dry off a bit. The different algae in there seem fine. I grab some water in the correctly labeled cup and continue on my way.

The last tank is the deepest and biggest of the tanks where I work. It's the predator tank, home to eels and lionfish and small sharks. I'll need my scuba gear to go in there, but I hope I won't need to tonight. I check the glass as I've done with the others when I notice there's something different in the tank. Towards the back it looks like rocks have been moved, creating a cave like entrance. Shaking my head, I don my oxygen tank and check that the line is clear. I make my way into the water, goggles down and ready to figure out if something knocked them over if it's a new arrangement they forgot to tell me about. I sink beneath the surface, floating down to the bottom. Most of the tank inhabitants will hide for a little bit, skittish of disturbances in their home that don't come at feeding time. I approach the rocks, mentally kicking myself that I had forgotten to bring my waterproof light with me.

It's worse than I thought. But the fish in the tank couldn't have built a small cave on their own. Someone built this. I bend down to try to see inside when something bursts from the entrance. I fall over backward, a stream of bubbles floating up from my unheard scream. I right myself, heart thumping as I try to process what had just happened. I look around me, head whipping back and forth as I try to figure out where whatever it is had gone. I force myself to take a deep pull of oxygen and breathe slowly, counting the dozens of bubbles as they float up from my nose. When I turn around, I blink several times, even reaching over to pinch myself.

Was that… a mermaid?

She appeared to be trying to hide herself, but she was almost as big as I. Her tail was long and green where I had legs. Her skin was some dark bluish green color, mottled like shadows filtered through many feet of sea. Her hair made me think of seaweed, long green strands floating around her head. But it was her face that made me stay where I was. Pure terror and panic contorted her pretty features. I stepped backwards, my movement causing her to look at me. I raise my hands and show her they're empty as I take another step back, giving her pause as I gave her more space. A myriad of emotions flit across her features. Doubt and fear, surprise and wonder, curiosity. We simply stare at each other through the water. There's a part of me that asks what I'm doing, but the bigger part of me simply wants to show her I'm safe, that I won't harm her. Instinctively, I don't want anyone to know about her and I'm glad I work alone overnight.

She flicks her tail to move a little closer to me. I remain still, forgetting to breathe for a moment. I give her time to study me before I point up with my finger. She swims back a ways before giving a small nod and we swim to the surface. I pull the mouthpiece out and just look at her for a moment.

"Can you understand me," I whisper as her head bobs near mine. She gives a small nod and I smile in relief. It would be harder to help her if we couldn't communicate. "How did you end up here?" I start to ask, wondering if she could leave the same way she had come.

She gives a small shake of her head, opening her mouth for a strange sound like hissing to come out. She points back under the water and I dunk my head back under. "I can't speak above water," the words seem to float to me in a strange fog-like way. "Once a month, we shed our fins and hide until they return. But I left the safety of our hiding place and did not return in time. When the transformation began, I had to find water and this was where I ended up." She gives another shake of her head. "Now I am stuck here until the next time I shed my fins. I fear that I have exposed my family to danger now that I am discovered."

We rise again above the surface, but I remain quiet for a moment, processing. I couldn't sneak her out. Cameras meant to watch visitors would prevent me from getting her out without someone noticing something fishy, no pun intended. "I can bring you food, and try to keep anyone from noticing that you're here. The tanks aren't rearranged that often, but if I can, I'll convince my supervisor that the cave was an idea I had to make the tank seem more natural for the predators. Will they not harm you?" She shakes her head at me and I grin. "What do you eat?" I duck my head back under as she sinks.

"Fish and seaweed, sometimes clams and oysters. What they dropped in here today suffices." I shake the water off my face as I think.

"Okay then. When you have legs again, I'll help you get out of here and back to the ocean." She gives me a funny look and slides under again.

"Why would you help me? What is it you want in return?" It's my turn to shake my head at her.

"I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I was okay with slipping between each day and doing the same thing as I coasted through life. Now, I'm not so sure that's how I want my life to be. There's more out there than I ever knew. You're proof of that," I take a deep breath, finally feeling like there was a goal worth setting. "I'll be choosing my major this fall. But don't worry about that. You've given me something I couldn't have asked for anyway, so the least I can do is help you." We smile at each other. She gives a small nod and disappears underwater. I climb out of the tank, drying off the best I could as I plan in my head.

Finishing the tests for calcium, magnesium, ammonia and nitrates and nitrites was difficult, my concentration broken repeatedly by my discovery. I enter my data into the computer system before clocking out and heading home. Less than a month to figure out how to get her out of the aquarium with no one the wiser.

I walk in the same as I normally do, smiling and waving as the others head out. I pace myself, knowing any day now would be the day we'd have to act. It shouldn't be hard. I keep a change of clothes in my locker as a just in case and there's a cart with a cover on it for wheeling out disposables. That should help me hide her from the cameras. I gather my supplies, the anticipation building with each passing day. I make my rounds as normal, dressed in my wetsuit. I hurry through most of my water collection until I pass by the supervisor's office. I don't usually pay attention, but tonight a light glows from under the door. It opens, making me jump. My supervisor Jim is standing there, looking just as surprised to see me.

"Hello, Sam," I blink at him, smiling nervously as I give a little wave. "I'm behind on some monthly paperwork, so I guess we'll be passing by each other for a little while. Good work on that predator tank, by the way. Customers love the aesthetics it adds," he gives me a nod as he walks off down the hall. I shake my head. Surely he wouldn't be here too late, right?

I make my way to the predator tank, goggles propped up on my head. As I make my way to the stairs leading to the top, I stop in my tracks. A green haired, bronze skinned naked girl sat there, staring down at me.

And the supervisor was just down the hall.

I glance behind me, hoping he would stay as far away as possible for the moment and hurry up the stairs. I place a finger to my lips and mouth to her that we're not alone. She gives a small nod, her smile dropping from her face. With only the time remaining until sunrise, it would take some quick thinking to get her out in time. Especially before the end of my shift. I motion her to stay here as I decide I'd have to finish some of my tests before I could use the excuse of disposing of the excess chemicals outside.

I walk back to my cart, looking it over for any excuse to go back to the lab for that change of clothes before returning to the predator tank. Luckily, the back door I'd have to go through was past the tank, so picking her up on my way shouldn't pose much of a problem if the supervisor was elsewhere. I look back at my green haired friend, motioning that I'd be right back.

I hasten back to my lab, passing the supervisor on the way. He gives me a nod and I nod back, but my heart is racing. Would she be able to hide? Not allowing myself to dwell on such thoughts, I grab the clothes and hide them under my scuba gear. Hoping it would be good enough that at a glance Jim wouldn't notice anything amiss, I look over the cart once again. I hustle to check on my friend, worry collecting in the pit of my stomach.

I don't see her immediately as I walk behind the tank. Scenarios of her being found pass through my head until she peeks from behind the stairs. I sigh, taking the clothes to her for her to get dressed. She's smaller than me, but that's okay. She goes back to her hiding place and I finish gathering water for my tests.

Back in my lab, I run my tests. I keep looking at the clock as the time keeps slipping away from me. I finish my last round of tests, jotting down the numbers on a notepad. I grab the covered cart, placing the disposable chemical containers on top. I wheel out of my door, careful not to bump the door too hard. As I pass by the supervisor's office, Jim comes out and locks the door.

"Finally finished. Have a good rest of your night, Sam. I'll see you when I see you."

"Goodnight," I wave as he leaves. I hold in my sigh of relief since my night is far from over. I push on towards the predator tank and the back door. I hug the edge of the wall as I grow closer, pausing for a moment and making it look like I'm just arranging the containers better. The mermaid sneaks under the cover onto the bottom layer and I try to push off like nothing's happened. I unarm the alarm for the back door and slowly push my cart out.

Headlights turn on from the parking lot, causing me to jump. Praying that he wouldn't wait for me to go back inside, I proceed to empty my containers into the special bin that holds them until the disposal company comes to pick them up. Barely able to breathe and hands shaking, I place the last container back on the cart. He finally reverses, his headlights swinging around as he turns the car in the other direction. As he leaves the parking lot, I let out that sigh of relief I've been holding on to. Crouching beside the cart, I pull back the covering to smile at the mermaid. She crawls out, and we make our way off the property.

The moonlight glints off the waves in the distance, our steps a matching cadence as we tread across the field that leads to the beach. We step down the small set of stairs cut into the rock, my shoes sinking into the sand as we grow closer to the water. I taste the salt in the air as I breathe deeply, my relief cut short by the reminder that this would likely be the last time I would see my friend. I stop at the water's edge as she steps further into the tide. She turns around and gives me a strange look.

"I have always been told that humans were our enemies, determined to dissect us and turn us into slaves. But you are proof that not all of humanity is evil. I hope someday I get to see you again. I will carry you in my heart, and you will become part of the song I sing to the sea. May you someday hear my melody," and with that, she walks into the ocean, sinking under the lapping waves.

Many years have passed since that fateful night. I stand on a boat in the swelling of the waves, equipped with the latest technology for studying the ocean. I spent years becoming a marine biologist, and it was possibly the best career choice for me. I mostly work alone, though my work has opened up many group projects that I've participated in. It's getting late, the sun turning the sky a delightful shade of red.

From somewhere far off, I think I hear a beautiful song dancing on the breeze.