Fragments Fiction

AQUARIUM

July, 12, 2007




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"The Council's decision is final, Don Vincenzo," Basilio DiSica braced himself.

"The bastards hide while I rip my heart out."

"You must guard your position or the death squads will be dispatched. Your son violated the village. He took a risk and lost."

"A boy, barely out of his teens, is there no..." Don Vincenzo had tears in his eyes. "I could banish him to the jungle?"

"The Council demands blood... You have five days," Basilio DiSica turned and walked out of the house. Armed guards let him enter his limousine. For the first time in his life, Basilio DiSica felt shame.

"...our research laboratory," Jordan said, steering the cart along the 6 kilometers of acrylic view ports carved into the rock of the Yucatan peninsula. They could see schools of pompano, Serrano, Mexican bass and shrimp.

"This is magnificent," Caleb gazed in awe.

"You'll introduce new Piscean hybrids into the environment and monitor viability. Consider this your home during your fellowship."

"I look forward to it." At any other aquarium, Caleb would have to wait years to run a research project on his own.

"I've hired the local muscle boys for the hard work. They're good swimmers, not champion swimmers, mind you," Jordan said. He drove to the top of the aquarium. Vitorio, Miguel and Domenic, waited for them in black Speedo swim trunks. Their right biceps bore zodiac sign for Pisces.

"Yo college boy," Domenic, a tall, strapping dark-skinned Mexican pointed at Caleb's trunks and laughed.

"You wanna race?"

"You goin'to wear those baggy surfer shorts?" Vitorio's head came to Caleb's shoulder. Both he and Miguel were light-skinned blonds with scraggly hair and bulging ego's. They had thin hips and slight builds.

"I'll bet he stills listens to Menudo with trunks like that."

"He's hiding a deformity."

"How deep can you dive, Holmes?"

"Bet he can't make it to the barrier."

"Nah, he's a wus."

Caleb stripped off his T-Shirt, kicked his sandals away and dove into the water. The warm Caribbean water would help him warm up and work the stiffness out of his body. The outer barrier was 3 kilometer of open sea away. He swam at a slow pace making sure the three boys could easily match him. They all reached the barrier wall at about the same time. Caleb's arms and shoulders pumped-up red and ready for real race. Caleb didn't grab the barrier.

"So you know not to touch," Vitorio floated.

"Yeah, it's some sort of metal and electric barrier, isn't it? I'm guessing that it keeps the sea out and us inside..." he splashed water at Domenic.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Whatever, I challenge you to a race, a real race, not a warm-up - a balls-to-the-wall, flat out and out race back to the platform. Last one back is a dickless wus," Caleb gave a hard kick and flipped into the water. He beat the Domenic, the most muscular boy back to the platform by 100 yards. Vitorio and Miguel crawled up onto the sandy platform barely able to breath. Their chests pumped hard and heavy.

"You're right guys; these trunks slow me down." Caleb dropped his baggy wet shorts on the deck and thrust his hips forward. He grabbed the pouch of his white jockstrap and shook it at the losers. Vitorio doubled over and puked into the water. Caleb made like he didn't see what happened.

"Your mother was a fish," Domenic jibed. He rolled onto his back and spread his arms and legs. His body radiated heat as he sucked in oxygen for his red-tinged, blood-engorged muscles.

"No, but I am world champion, later this year I try out for the Olympics," Caleb sat next to Domenic.

"We didn't stand a chance, huh?" Vitorio's voice was weak between upheavals of his stomach.

"I wouldn't say that. You three are strong swimmers. Improve your technique and you might actually beat me," Caleb chuckled. Domenic jumped onto Caleb and they grappled until he had Caleb yelling uncle. By the time they finished, Vitorio recovered and enjoyed putting a knee into Caleb's back. The way Domenic shrank away from Vitorio made Caleb pause. They ate lunch and sunbathed the afternoon away.

Caleb found a note from Jordan when he went to dress for dinner. Unspecified business required his attention and he hoped Caleb make due with the boys for entertainment. He put on baggy shorts and a white T-Shirt. Domenic showed up in his a Mexican lace shirt, Vitorio and Miguel showed up in only their Speedos. A Mexican woman set out four plates and prepared the meal. Jalapeno laced guacamole, tortillas and spicy meat lit up Caleb. He drank Mexican beer to douse the fire that burnt his stomach and let Domenic help him back to his room. Vitorio and Miguel followed. They brought beer, marijuana and very special drugs. They got Caleb drunk and stoned. He couldn't resist when Vitorio raped his ass and Miguel peeled his foreskin off the head of his dick shoved it into his mouth. His last and vaguest memory was of Vitorio shooting them all with drugs.

Caleb woke in the middle of the night naked, sticky, his face buried in Domenic's crotch and Domenic still sucking his limp dick as he slept. Caleb tried to move his hand but it was stuck between Miguel's butt cheeks. Still wasted, his movements woke Domenic.

"You just as good in bed as you are in the water, college boy," Domenic said. He rested his head on Caleb's stomach and hugged his body close.

"I never did that stuff before." Caleb felt hot and feverish. He shivered.

"Nuthin' you didn't enjoy, Holmes. Vito's special drugs make you hot and horny," Domenic reached up and rubbed Caleb's chest and shoulders.

"Why did you do this me?"

"It's your initiation, Caleb. You one of us, now. Only a brother gives it up like that," Domenic said.

"Domenic, this work... this... it's my research, my future," Caleb pleaded. Domenic shifted and pressed his chest against Caleb's chest. Caleb felt his cock stiffen against Domenic's cool brown muscles.

"Don Vincenzo ordered it. He owns all of this. Vitorio is his son. Miguel's his lover and my cousin, Don Vincenzo says do this and our families live, our town lives," Domenic spoke in soft and guarded tones.

"Why?"

Domenic put a hand over Caleb's mouth. "Don't! ...never ask questions about Don Vincenzo. Just imagine the science you can write from inside the aquarium." Domenic laid his head on Caleb's shoulder and held him close. Caleb wrapped his arms around Domenic's back and held him like a blanket. He fell asleep trying to make sense of it all.

Caleb woke up with Domenic's head on his chest in a puddle of drool. He'd somehow put his arms under Caleb and hugged him like a pillow. He snored and sputtered in his sleep. Vitorio and Miguel had put flowers on Domenic's head. They giggled from the other side of the bed. He brushed the flowers away.

"You two sleep like bambinos," Miguel said in a husky voice as he drank beer and popped pills.

"Bambinos in love," Vitorio held out a beer bottle. Caleb eyes followed his hand. Five or six stitches closed the stub of his little finger.

"Ain't nothing bambino about me, boys." Caleb's voice woke Domenic.

"Yeah, some of us like how you grow, big boy," Domenic mumbled into Caleb's chest.

"...even if they did cut you when you were a baby. We still got that important inch," Vitorio swaggered a little and then swallowed a handful of pills.

"You talk too much. Today we swim. Tonight, we play," Domenic washed the pills down his throat. Vitorio sneered at Domenic and pulled Miguel out of the room.

"Breakfast of champions - beer and drugs," Caleb said.

"Yeah, we gonna be high all day. Just like Vitorio likes it," Domenic grumbled and stood up. He felt cold without Caleb next to him. He took Caleb's hand, pulled him up and hugged him. Caleb could feel his heart racing.

"What's all this?" Caleb whispered in his ear.

"My bothers, their children and their grandchildren thank you for staying," Domenic broke the embrace and pulled Caleb into the shower stall. They washed the night away in the hot water. They showed up for breakfast with towels around their waists, wet hair and bare chests. The old woman who cooked for them clucked her disapproval and wagged a finger at them. Her helper, a young Mexican girl watched their reflections in the windows and when they caught her glance, she smiled at their broad chests and big biceps. Flirting, Caleb stood and let the towel fall from his back. The girl giggled and blushed. The old woman saw his bare butt and dragged her out of the kitchen.

"Man, we should ditch Vitorio and take her back to our room. She'll suck your eyeballs out of your head and she's so tight... a hot piece of ass, as you Americans so crudely put it," Domenic poked Caleb.

"You had her?"

"Everyway a man has a hot-blooded woman. If her brother's found out, I'd have been standing before the padre so fast," Domenic chuckled.

"You sly dog," Caleb said as they walked up to the main platform.

Pairs of neon-colored swim fins and mitts littered the deck. Vitorio and Miguel already wore matched pairs of orange, red and yellow neon-striped flippers.

"You done flittering with the hired help lover boy?" Vitorio's blue eyes hardened betraying his mean streak. Caleb shrugged.

"Nothing more than a tease."

"You want that girl, I make her come here right now and do whatever you want, blowjob, fuck. You can even have her up the ass. We'll take sloppy seconds," Vitorio crudeness surprised Caleb.

"Stop it Vitorio," Domenic drew himself to his full height. He outweighed Vitorio.

"You know I had your sister, she screamed my name over and over. That's why they picked you. I wanted her brother to scream my name with my dick up his ass." Domenic lunged at Vitorio. Caleb grabbed him and held him back. He pushed once at Caleb and then relented. Without a sound, they chose the blue and green neon-stripe flippers and mitts. They swam effortlessly and didn't stop until the sun rose to its zenith.

Hungry, Caleb rested his waist on the edge of the platform half in and half out of the water preparing to twist around and sit on the edge of the platform. Vitorio grabbed his waist with a gloved hand.

"I don't want to get out of the water and if I don't want to get out of the water neither do you. We'll eat some fish paste, dude. You goin' to eat fish paste today," Vitorio demanded. Miguel surfaced on Caleb's other side and spouted water out of his mouth.

"Good stuff, good buzz," Miguel added. He opened a hatch at the water line and pulled out a plastic tubes filled with pinkish paste. He sucked down the contents and threw the empty plastic casing on the deck. Vitorio did the same. Caleb tasted the paste.

"Tastes like crab or lobster," Caleb's hunger took over and he sucked several tubes empty. He threw a tube at Domenic who caught it in the webbing of his hands.

"Formal lunch with gloves," Domenic laughed. Caleb twirled a tube in his fingers without Vitorio or Miguel seeing. Domenic pointed to his forearm. The scaly texture on the gloves had spread up his arm to his elbow.

"I guess Vitorio is the cause of this?" Caleb said to Domenic as they ate more fish paste. Domenic picked up a handful off tubes and swam away from the platform.

"You got to understand, we're farmers and they make us grow drugs. A year ago, Vitorio come to my town and demand sex every night. In two months, he gets six girls pregnant. His father come to town screaming and yelling. So Vitorio, he start on the boys. We do whatever he wants but we big almost men. We understand. Vitorio, he not satisfied. He demand the little boys and when one is take to the hospital, spies for the other drug lords tell Don Vincenzo to fix his problem son," Domenic motioned a snip-snip like a scissors. "Vitorio and Miguel run away to a whore house in Cancun and start fooling around with rich tourists," Domenic tried to pull off a glove. The material of the glove stuck tight to his skin.

"I guess his father tracked him down and brought him back?" Caleb asked.

"No, the drug lords bring him back. The say that the town must pay for not castrating Vitorio, that they will castrate all the boys in the town so that we only have only girls... I have five younger brothers..." Domenic turned away not wanting to go on.

"So you volunteered and sacrificed yourself," Caleb interrupted.

"...and somehow I drag you into this."

"Show me your feet." Domenic swam a bit away from Caleb and did as he asked. Domenic's feet were three-foot long fins and covered with scales.

"All I can say is that I'm going to have interesting journal articles to write. We're changing but I don't know what we're becoming," Caleb said. Vitorio noticed their absence.

"What the hell are you two doing? I never met two guys who like to gossip like putas," Vitorio splashed at them.

"Here, put on these goggles. We're going to use the air hoses to swim deep." Vitorio barked an order. The goggles hugged their heads and looked like fish eyes. He caught their strange looks.

"Don't worry, my father will take care of everything," Vitorio told them. Saddened by the deception, Caleb fit the glasses over his eyes to protect them while underwater.

"How long?" Caleb realized that once he dove, he might never walk on land again.

"All day, all night, I myself may never get out of theater again. Why do you worry? My father promised he save my life," Vitorio shrugged. He dove under the surface.

"I guess we make like fishes, don't we," Caleb tickled Domenic.

"More truth than fiction, my brother," Domenic adjusted his goggles and slid into the water not waiting for an answer.

Miguel and Vitorio waited at the first air station about 10 meters below the surface. There were multiple mouthpieces for easy access. An average swimmer could hold his breath for three or four minutes before returning to the station. Because the drugs lowered their metabolisms, the four young men could hold their breath eight to ten minutes. Vitorio started a new contest; see which one would wait longest to return to the air hose. He led them from station to station, deeper below the surface and into the kelp forest where they lost all track of time. Down here, everything looked blue, green, white or black. Red, yellows and oranges only appeared in the shallower water. As the day passed into night, artificial lights illuminated the depths of the aquarium and the kelp forest.

Physically bigger and stronger, Caleb consistently beat the three younger men. Eventually, hunger got the better of him. He rubbed his stomach and pointed up to the surface. Domenic grabbed him and pointed to the depth indicator on the wall. Caleb realized that he had to decompress before surfacing. He chewed at the mouthpiece to satisfy his hunger. Domenic retrieved food tubes and diving weights from the base of the pylon. The sat on the sandy floor of the kelp forest and ate fish paste.

Caleb pointed to the scales growing up his biceps and thighs. He tried to adjust the goggles but they stuck to his skin. The goggles gave their heads a fishy appearance. Caleb entertained thoughts of returning to the surface.

Vitorio alone seemed to understand the progression of the transformation. Soon, their thighs and calves would merge, their ankles would become thin and their feet turn into gossamer, wavy tails. He pulled straps from a locker at the base of the main pylon and wound one around his knees and another on his ankles. He indicated that the other three men should do likewise.

The bindings forced their bodies to use a powerful, breaststroke style kick to propel them forward. Caleb showed Domenic the proper kick and they took off through the water. As they swam to the barrier wall, the air stations got farther and farther apart. The transformation made their bodies more efficient and they required less air for the same amount of effort.

Day and night didn't matter in the aquarium. The artificial lights cast bizarre and outlandish shadows on the shadows on the barrier wall. Miguel pretended to rub his eyes and rest his head on folded hands. He wanted to surface and sleep. Vitorio shook his head in anger. He had them weight their bodies with diving belts and sink onto the sand at one of the air stations. Vitorio turned off the illumination in that portion of the aquarium.

Caleb slept fitfully as his body transformed. His hip and spine shifted as the bones of his legs merged. His new tail grew longer than his human legs. His calf muscles strengthened to provide a powerful flip of his fins. His thighs and hips grew stronger to bend and straighten his body as it moved through the water. Blue green scales spread over his legs and hips while tough, silvery scales grew over his stomach, buttocks and chest. Heavy muscles grew on his back and shoulders. The muscles of his arms bulged. His hands thickened and became fin-like, more fit for pulling him through the water than handling tools. In contrast to his fish-like legs, his human genitals remained hanging from the depression where his human legs once met announcing to the world that he was once a human, once a man.

Domenic woke entwined in Caleb's arms. His hands and feet blazed neon green and blue. He felt stone cold sober. The happy drugs had worn off as they slept.

He woke Caleb. The plastic mouthpiece startled Caleb. He'd been underwater nearly twenty-four hours and now realized the extent of the changes in his body.

He struck out at Domenic and began an involved sign language diatribe. In anger, he pulled the mouthpiece out of his mouth and smashed it into the pylon. He swam slowly away from Domenic and acted out his anger for several minutes. Finally, in a fit of anger and rage, he opened his mouth and forced all the air out of his lungs to hasten his death. The salt water triggered the final transformation. .

He grabbed his throat as gills formed. Pain filled his chest for a moment and then water rushed in and out of his new lungs when his diaphragm flexed. He opened his mouth and more water rushed into his mouth and out his gills flooding his body with oxygen. Exhilarated, he swam to Domenic and yanked his mouthpiece out of his mouth. He held Domenic as his body formed gills and adapted to living underwater.

Free from artificial devices, Caleb pulled Domenic against his new body and they kissed. What used to be their human legs, now their fish-like tails, entwined. Overwhelmed, Domenic embraced Caleb. Their still human cocks stiffened and throbbed. The two young mermen ground their hips together in young lust, sucking and humping, oblivious to their surroundings. The hormones flooding their bodies forced the transformation to completion. The ultraviolet lights lit up their bodily fluids as they spurted into the water. Caleb and Domenic chased the glowing fluids down and swallowed them. Even though their hands resembled huge flippers, both Caleb and Domenic could still grasp and hold each other hips as they humped silver-scaled buttocks. The fish-like extension of their legs stretched longer than their former human legs and terminated in huge fins that flowed smoothly in the gentle currents. Their muscular torsos appeared human from their hips upward. Above them, the low angles of the rising sun cast odd rays into the base of the aquariums.

Sexually sated and completely transformed into mermen, they grabbed food tubes and ate. Caleb grabbed a passing fish and bit into it. Domenic almost jumped out of his new skin. Caleb offered him a bite and Domenic cautiously tasted the fish. A broad smile filled his face as he ate. Caleb grabbed a small lobster, crunched through the shell and sucked out the meat. He wanted melted butter but the lobster tasted like gourmet food after the fish paste.

Domenic pointed to the sleeping forms of Miguel and Vitorio, bubbles floating from their mouthpieces. They snuck up on the sleepers, cut the air supply at the pylon and pulled the mouthpieces out of their mouths. Miguel and Vitorio woke coughing and gurgling. Water filled their lungs. Within minutes, gills formed permitting them to breathe water. Vitorio and Miguel swam free, puzzled and disoriented but free. The four men laughed at each other as they swam around. Flushed with oxygen and oversexed by the massive doses of hormones and steroids, Vitorio yanked Miguel's head into his crotch and pumped his head up and down his rock-hard erection. Domenic and Caleb swam away from the pair. They found Jordan sitting in the window watching the aquarium.

Jordan recognized Caleb. The mermen's faces looked human but the rest of their bodies were definitely Piscean. The mermen were frisky, graceful and fluidity as they moved through the aquarium. They swam to the window and banged large, webbed hands against it. Jordan pointed to a touchpad for Caleb to use. On it was outlines of possible research and methods for presenting the research. Caleb swam around the touchpad as he typed various comments on the research proposals. He stopped typing when he realized that Domenic floated off to one side. Caleb explained to Domenic that he could use another person in his research. Even if he only took observations and measurements, he would be helpful and in time, he would learn enough oceanography to be a major asset. In contrast, Vitorio ignored the viewing ports and mocked the other two mermen for interacting with humans. He used Miguel as his personal sperm bank and kept him from any contact with the outside world.

Two days passed and Jordan shooed Domenic and Caleb away from the glass wall. Don't be seen by the dinner guests under any circumstances. They hid in the kelp forest.

"What am I to tell the council?" Basilio DiSica admired the exquisite meal set before him.

"Here is my son's little finger, blood stained clothing, a death certificate and witnesses who will swear he is dead. That should satisfy the council..."

"So you solved your dilemma," Basilio DiSica sat amazed as two mermen appeared in the water. He recognized Vitorio's face. The merman displayed his ass to the window and floated a loaf out. He smeared it on the portal glass. Basilio DiSica dropped his fork at the vulgarity.

"I'm a religious man but the Council is not the Divine. They were wrong to ask me to execute my son. Only God can ask that sacrifice, Don Vincenzo had his back to the window and couldn't see his son engaged in oral sex with Miguel. Basilio DiSica knocked over a glass of wine.

"My sympathy and condolences on the death of your son, I will remember him as the loving son you so deserved." His face turned pale. Don Vincenzo turned to see his son's disrespectful behavior. Vitorio flipped off his father and let Miguel begin a slow, languorous butt fuck. Basilio DiSica turned his back. He could never admit he saw Vitorio's actions; not only that, he didn't want to embarrass Don Vincenzo any further.

"You are an honorable man, Basilio. As we both can see, my son and his lover are ungrateful bastards. I own four mermen in that tank. Within the hour, I will instruct the doctor to reduce that number by two. In a few days, he will cease to be human. I saved his life; you'd think he'd be grateful for that."

"Perhaps you can invite me back. These mermen fascinate me," Basilio said. Don Vincenzo agreed.

Shortly after the dinner, Jordan used the PA system to summon the mermen to the platform. Vitorio and Miguel arrived first and caught the medical intern floating in the water waiting for them. They succeeded in removing the intern's scuba tank and after nearly drowning him, replaced it with an air mask. Always ready for sex, they stripped off his trunks and Miguel pushed his cock between the Intern's legs trying to spear him. Disgusted, Jordan used the underwater PA system and ordered Vitorio and Miguel to stop. Caleb and Domenic swam underneath the trio and pulled Vitorio off the intern. They helped the Intern surface. Caleb stuck his torso out of the water. He couldn't breathe air anymore but he could stay half-out of the water for a few minutes by working his tailfins.

Angry, the intern explained that they required an additional injection to stabilize their new bodies and prevent a fatal reversion to human form. Still faster than anyone, Caleb swam to the retrieve the case form the sandy bottom. He checked it for breakage and read the markings on the hypodermics. His and Domenic's shots were saline solution while Vitorio and Miguel's shots were additional doses of the transformation drugs. Caleb closed the case and kept the secret to himself. He brought the case to the intern and helped administer the shots. The intern finished his work without drowning or losing his virginity. He swam for a while with Caleb and Domenic studying the functions of their new bodies.

That night while Vitorio and Miguel slept, Caleb took Domenic to the touchpad. Fearing a keystrokes logging program, he merely pointed to the keys and explained what he saw on the hypodermics. As the days passed, Vitorio and Miguel's bodies continued to change, first in subtle ways and then in dramatic and radical ways. Caleb noticed it first. Vitorio's legs and torso lost their flatness and grew thicker and rounder. The scales that originally covered only the legs and hips began growing up over his back. Vitorio and Miguel's stomachs and chests remained pink and silvery but their backs grew dark and scaly. Their tail fins grew thinner, tighter and pointy.

Miguel sought out Caleb and Domenic trying to determine if their bodies were changing like his. Caleb and Domenic professed ignorance. The third day, Vitorio and Miguel's arms grew shorter and flattened out. Caleb saw Vitorio attempting to contact Jordan and his father. The human side of the aquarium remained dark. AS the day progressed, Vitorio and Miguel's bodies became more bullet-shaped. Caleb recognized the characteristic shape of tuna. That night, their genitals retreated inside their bodies. The two men ceased looking like mermen and took on the appearance of fish. Vitorio and Miguel made life miserable for Caleb and Domenic but eventually, they lost interest and swam away. Caleb and Domenic, the only two mermen in the world, remained in the aquarium. They lacked nothing for the rest of their long lives.

Epilogue

A year later, the two mermen floated next to the typepad. Their tails had grown into elaborate, filmy structures of neon green and blue. Their forearms and biceps grew thin and wavy decorative fins. Both mermen retained their webbed and thick hands along with human abdomen, chests and backs. Their head and necks altered to accommodate horizontal movement and gills. They remained two very handsome and sexy mermen. Caleb had more research than he could handle and six young Mexican interns acted as his land-based identity. His insights from inside the aquarium gave him an edge over other researchers.

Domenic's family visited once and only one of his younger brothers returned fascinated with his Uncle's body. Jordan let him swim with the mermen for an hour on each visit. The boy was just entering puberty and Caleb wondered if swimming with two well-endowed mermen was his coming of age. The boy liked to touch and feel their muscles and every time he swam, he always bumped their genitals.

The young Doctor visited once a month to monitor their bodies. He found nothing wrong with them during their fist six months. Apparently, their diet of fish and crustaceans suited their bodies.

Jordan left a message for Caleb and Domenic explaining Don Vincenzo's expansion plans. The next day, divers opened the far end of the aquarium and exposed a new section 12 kilometers long and eight kilometers deep. It took two weeks for divers to insert new plant life and corals, another week for the cloudiness to settle and finally more fish. Caleb's gang of students worked night and day to document the reactions of the fishes to their new environment. Caleb and Domenic hid out in the kelp forest. They didn't want rumors of mermen traveling out with the divers.

One day near the end of coral reef construction, three of the welders adding the steel structure decided to check out the kelp forest and swam into Caleb and Domenic. The five men just gaped at each other for a stunned moment. Caleb and Domenic swam away faster than any mere human could follow. They told Jordan and never expected to hear anything else about the encounter. A month after workers stocked the expansion of the aquarium with fish; Jordan left a message to come to the upper platform. Caleb didn't like to slide out of the water but Jordan's message was so enthusiastic. Caleb took Domenic and they both slid up the waterslide. Jordan, the medical intern and three well-built 30-something men stood waiting. Only Jordan wore clothing.

"Howdy, I'm Travis Shays. These two are Jimmy and Skye Bottoms. We're the welders that bumped into you two a few weeks back," He stuck his hand out to shake and then realized that Caleb had to lean up on his hands. I've been told this is like holding your breath; well I'll keep it short. We live to dive. We live for the sea. Once we saw you two, we decided that we had to find someway to join you. Your benefactor, Don Vincenzo agreed and here we are." Caleb shifted around and sat with his tail curled to one side. He had a typepad sitting next to him. Domenic slid underwater for a breath and came back up the slide with a collar that ran seawater through Caleb's gills. It wasn't perfect but worked.

"All we have to do is wear those swim fins and mitts and let the doc, here shoot us up," Jimmy Bottoms said in a high-pitched twang that made Caleb glad that he would never hear him talk again. He typed with one hand on the keypad.

"Good, you three are going to become mermen. Welcome to the aquarium." A voice synthesizer wheezed.

"There's going to be four new mermen," the intern added. I've always wanted to become a fish. I invented the serum just for myself but didn't get a chance to use it."

"So we were your experiment," Caleb keyed to the intern.

"No, I was ready to inject myself when Vitorio got in trouble. Don Vincenzo insisted on my waiting until after his son was safe. Then Vitorio screwed up the second time and, well, you know the story as well as I do... Don Vincenzo didn't want an odd number of mermen. When these three showed up having found his secret, he couldn't refuse me," the intern prepared four hypodermics.

"There're no women down there," Caleb typed. The three welders laughed at the comment.

"Women? Fish-boy, in our business, women are trouble. I'd rather have a moray eel suck my cock than some of the whores I meet. Why me and mah team have dived, welded and yes, fucked together for fifteen years now. We just can't wait to plug your fishy asses or taste those scaly cocks you got hangin' there." Jimmy and Skye pulled at their dicks in anticipation. Travis set a hand on each of their shoulders. Caleb nearly fell over from the statement.

"Ain't much I can add to that, Doctor, they're all yours," Caleb slid the collar off his head and slipped back into the sea. The intern had a rubber tie around his own arm. He carefully inserted the needle into his vein, released the tie and let the liquid flow into his body.

"Man doc, you know how to shoot up all by yourself?" Skye's comment made Travis turned red from his head to his navel. The intern ignored the comment.

"Arms out, gentlemen, and then pick your colors carefully," the intern said referring to the flippers and gloves. He shot up the three divers and handed the empty syringes to Jordan. The divers sorted through the flippers and gloves. One by one, they dove into the water.

"Thanks for everything, Jordan," the intern said. Those were the last human words he ever spoke.

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