"Wake up. Hey wake up!" A slap in the face jolts Baxter upright. "Huh what?" He looks around. He's still in the tank and looks like he fell asleep on the sand. He looks at the mermaid laying down next to him. "Why'd you hit me?" "Well I'm sorry. I'm just a little scared here! I was turned into a fish yesterday! A girl fish! And now I can't remember anything else that happened last night. Can you?"
"Well of course I remember. I came into the tank. I met you and then we... swam?" They both sit and ponder, trying to scrape up details. The screeching of a PA system disrupts their chains of thought. The voices sound muffled underwater so the two swim to the unbroken surface to listen. As soon as they poke their heads out of the water for the first time, they are greeted by a clapping crowd of maybe about twenty people standing on a walkway that surrounds the tank. Baxter turns in place checking out the rest of the area. They're completely sealed inside under a large concrete dome with large lights at its peak simulating sunlight. The dome only has two steel doors: one small enough for one person to fit through and the other is about 15 feet wide and is held closed by chains and a huge lock and keypad. The crowd is standing near the door near an extended platform that ramps into the water. "I guess that's where we fell in." One man comes forward and is holding a microphone in his hand. He taps on the head of the mic, making it squeel. "Oh sorry about that. Out in the water, there, can you hear me? Can you understand me?"
Baxter replies "Uh, yeah we can. But who's asking?" The crowd claps behind the labcoat man and he turns to address them. He doesn't use the megaphone but the pair can still hear him. "As you can see, the subjects have retained their ability to understand and speak the English language."
This time, the mermaid yells at the guy. "And we can still hear you." The crowd goes silent and the labcoat man turns back to the pair. "You could hear me? I was barely speaking at all. And you're a quarter of a mile out, in the center of the tank." Baxter yells out. "We'll we're guessing you're the ones who did this to us. You tell us buddy." The old man stammers. Baxter turns to the mermaid. "All of this yelling is ridiculous. Let's just get closer and talk like regular people." Baxter almost dives down when the mermaid grabs his arm. "But not too close. I don't want them trying to touch me." Baxter nods and the two dive down into the water. They resurface about ten feet away from the platform, the combined force of their speed making a small wave crash into the platform. The old man steps back and almost drops his mic. "You certainly are fast, aren't you? Terrance, log their speed at around 20 mph." A young man next to him scribbles onto his clipboard. "Now, Mr. Scientist, who are you guys and why did you do this to us?" The mermaid adds in "And why am I a girl?" The old man readjusts his glasses. "Yes, of course. I am Dr. Robert Ferris and I work for a secret government organization that is interested in... well, you two. About fifteen years ago, a dead mermaid washed up on the Gulf Shore. The government, needless to say, was fascinated and founded this organization to find more like her and to research them. Fifteen years of hard work, led by yours truly, lead us to create, essentially, a 'potion' that could turn ordinary humans into merpeople. All we needed were test subjects. You two were the first to sign up." Baxter speaks up "Well I didn't sign up for this" and splashes his tail on the surface.
Dr. Ferris kneels down. "Sorry about that. But we needed test subjects and you wouldn't have volunteered if you had known. But you will be compensated." She speaks "How are we supposed to spend it? Will you be turning us back into humans after your little game is done?" "Er, no we won't. Creating the serum requires the whole body's tissue and it would be unethical to extract it from a cadaver." "But not from a mermaid?" "They're not people." Both of them swim back in shock. "So we're not people anymore? We don't matter?" The girl starts to cry. "No you two are exceptions. You two are humans who have been turned, you weren't born that way. I know it sounds suspect, but it's the best we can do regarding the red tape." Baxter rubs his forehead. "Okay, well I guess that's it then. See you guys for the Shamu show or whatever." The girl, however, is not done.
"What? No I'm not done here. You never answered me Bob. Why am I a girl?" "Oh yes, I forgot. And it's Dr. Ferris." She crosses her arms over her chest squishing her large brests together. "You made me a girl, I can call you whatever I want." "Fair enough." "Now talk."
"Well the process to create the serum is quite costly. And trying to find more salvageable corpses takes a fortune and a half and takes time. We don't know where they will turn up so we have to watch all shorelines and scope out the oceans with even more expensive expeditions. We decided it would be best to... create our own in house." Her face goes pale. "You mean you want me and him to?... Oh no! That's ridiculous! We would never! Right?" She turns to Baxter for confirmation, but he was too busy staring at her enhancements. "Huh what? Yeah, that would be the worst." She shakes her head but turns back to Dr. Ferris. "See Ferris? You can't make us." "Oh my dear, we already did."
"YOU WHAT?"
"Think about it. Last night what happened?"
"I... I don't remember."
Baxter replies "Me neither. I just remember a smell. What did you do?"
"Well that smell was a chemical that we released into your tank last night. It basically puts subjects in heat and makes the instinct to breed unresistable. We had only used it one cattle and endangered species before, but it worked like magic on you two."
The fog surrounding last night in their minds lifts. All of the memories come flooding back and they don'don't like what they see. "You rufied me? To get me knocked up? You guys are sick! That's got to be sexual assault! On both of us! You said we had rights!"
"I did. But you guys are part animal now and will be treated as such for our research here. What we did to you regular citizens do all the time to their dogs or livestock."
"That's sick. You are all monsters!" she says crying, throwing herself into Baxter's arms for comfort. "It's going to be okay. You've got me. We're in this together." He looks up to Dr. Ferris. "Look, we will do what we have to. Just don't use that stuff on us again. I think it's still messing with our heads a bit. You owe us." Ferris turns back to the crowd and whispers to his assistant, Terrnace. "We have super hearing, remember?" "Right." Ferris turns back around. "Very well. We'll stop using the chemical on you. As long as you do what I tell you."
"Whatever Ferris. Come on, let's go back down." The girl nods and still holding her, the two slip back under the surface.