Deciding that you can at least see a sneak peek of the new exhibition tank, you climb up the stairwell to your left. It goes straight for a minute before turning onto a landing and doing a 180 to go up straight again. You climb up the crest of the stairs and are amazed at what you see.
The huge tank in the middle is surrounded on all sides by bleachers, rising up to the ceiling. They remind you of sports stadium bleachers. The lights are on in the pool, making the waving blue light reflect onto the walls, illuminating the space. The tank in the middle is almost full, but eight feet of it is not filled. Displacement, you think. Spanning over the huge, wide tank is an iron walkway, probably for feeding whatever the new aquatic animal is. There is a gate installed on either side and a fence runs along the first few feet, so no one can get onto the platform and fall into the tank and become fish food.
You go up to the tank and peer in. The tank is forty feet wide and twenty feet deep. There is no sign of any life in the tank or the bleachers. Looks like you're the first person (besides the construction crew) to see the tank before it opens to the public tomorrow. You look over at the gate (blocking members of the public from walking on the walkway) and notice that it's ajar as well.
Well, you can't let an opportunity like this go to waste. You slip into the gate and begin walking across the platform, careful to keep your balance as there is no railing of any kind. You stop in the middle and look down to see the bottom of the huge tank far below you. You're about to exit the other side when you hear a jangling of keys and the turning of a knob. You whip your head up and notice a doorway high at the top of the bleachers you never noticed before. You frantically look at the deserted walkway for a place to hide. You sprint across the walkway to the other side and duck behind the edge of the tank just as the door high above you across the room opens. You peer over the edge just enough to see what's going on.
A young college student carrying a huge bag that looks like a sack of concrete mix enters from the doorway. He shuts and locks it behind him and starts down the stairway between the seats towards the tank at the bottom of the room. With the sweat that's streaming down his face, you assume the bag to be very heavy, at least fifty pounds. He still hasn't seen you.
He reaches the bottom of the stairs and you can hear him muttering something. "Take away lives... pay me minimum wage... why buy real fish when you can turn people into them for a quarter of the cost?" Your mind races for a moment. All those fish you saw in the tank downstairs... were those humans? You shake your head and go back to watching, assuming it to be a joke.
The student heaves the bag onto the edge of the tank and you can read the label: "BERYL'S TRANSFOMRATION POWDER" it reads. He cuts open the end of the bag with his pocket knife and a crystalline, shimmering blue and white powder pours out of the bag and into the pool. It dissolves in an instant. "Fifth bag this night..." the student mutters. "That's what you do... you call the tank inspector and ask him to jump in... presto, you've got your new exhibit." Horror creeps over your face. The student lets the empty bag fall to the floor and wanders over to the side of the room.
You crawl around the edge of the tank and snatch the empty bag just as the student drops of sight. There is a small handful of the powder left. You cup it in your hands (careful not to ingest any of it) and you examine it. If all those fish downstairs were humans, what about all the other animals in the circus? You gulp and are about to go back into hiding when you hear a voice.
"HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
The college student has seen you. With the powder still in your hands, you sidestep him and rush into the gate. You run across the walkway over the tank and stop in the middle. The student has entered as well and is carrying a long tube-like squirt gun that he apparently had on him. He reaches down into the pool and draws a huge quantity of the transformational water. Then he points it at you, smiling wickedly. "Who knows what you'll become when I shoot you with this? We're running low on tigers... How about a bear? A cat? A blue jay? As long as it has a brain, it's fair game." The student says. You look around frantically for something to defend yourself with.