Dan was trembling, he was now fully a Maine lobster.
Actually the only thing distinguishing him from the other lobsters in the tank were his unbound claws.
Dan was trying hard to not panic, looking around him in the tank at his fellow lobsters. He then felt a slight tremur in the water.
"Had Kat returned?"
There was a blob outside the glass of the tank, but no answer when he tried to "talk" to his sister.
"Kat was not wearing that shade of grey" Dan thought as yet another blob appeared beside the first.
By the movement Dan concluded that the two persons were having an argument. He was watching them with undivided interest, scared what might happen next. They seemed to come to some sort of agreement, as one figure was shortly a bit more blurry and then seemed to come into focus again then waiving its hands about.
The person then stepped up on something and reached into the tank, suddenly he was grabbed again being lifted out of the water.
Shocked his eyes were withering this way and that in a futile attempt to identify who had picked him up.
"Wha!"
"Who!"
Dan was slowly being swung over the side of the tank and looked at a young woman wearing the uniform of the waiters of the restaurant, he remembered that the restaurant had two lovely female waiters, both not very tall and these must have been who had now picked him out of the tank.
The waiter in front of him was watching him a bit pensive as he was waiving his claws about, not at all happy to be out of the tank.
"Hold it still Shirley" She said with a bit of fear in her voice.
"Hey! Don't blame me that that idiot didn't put the rubberbands tightly enough un this one" Shirley exclaimed through clenched teeth.
She was really holding on to Dan's squirming body, if not for the exoskeleton he would most likely have been hurt by the force.
Shirley stepped down from the stool she had used and held him out in front of her.
"Come on Meg!" She said.
"The poor thing needs to get back in the tank, I don't know how long it will survive out of the water"
Meg visibly pulled herself together and pulled out a new blue rubber band.
"No, please!" Dan tried to stop her, but to no avail. There was no link between any of the two girls and him, so they ignored him and treated him like the other lobsters had been.
And in short order first his left claw, then his right one was tightly wrapped with the strong blue rubber bands.
Stepping back with a satisfied smile on her face Meg announced
"There! Lets see you try to squirm out of that!"
Dan did just that, but quickly discovered that the bands were so tight and strong that he could not move his claws even the slightest.
Shirley then stepped up onto the stool and gently lowered him into the tank once again.
As the blur of the two diminished, Dan looked at his claws. The rubber band encircled each one about three times, exactly like the other lobsters in the tank.
"Now there really is no telling me apart from the rest of the lobsters" he thought.