The aroma so overwhelmed Dan that he began to feel less anxious about finding himself marooned beneath the surface of the waters off a rocky Maine beach. Four small antennae on the front of Dan's head waved to and fro in the water. These scent-detected organs were assisted by a network of tiny sensing hairs that covered his hard, spiky lobster body.
He hadn't really given a great deal of thought about what else might change once he completely transformed into the body of a plump Maine lobster, but he was learning fast that his body responded quickly and powerfully to different stimuli, including the powerful odor that he continued to detect. His legs scuttled along the rocky seafloor. His body seemed to know where it wanted to go, and he felt his tail give an occasional contraction to help speed him on his way.
The scent grew stronger as Dan made his way around a large boulder. The smell practically slapped him in the face as he rounded the large rock and stumbled upon a decaying carcass of a large fish. His claws, out of a reflex, raised and clacked as his instincts drove him closer to the dead fish.
For human Dan, the long-dead fish would have been repulsive from the stench of decay. For lobster Dan, the smell of all that easily accessibly protein was a delight. He used his smaller claw to pinch and savage pieces of the fish, but it was much smaller pinchers on his forward set of walking legs that began snatching flakes of fish from the water and moving them toward his mouth.
Dan, who had been taught impeccable table manners befitting a civilized human being, should have been horrified by the egregiously messy eating techniques of a lobster. As he moved bits of fish down his gullet, three stomachs kicked into action to begin the work of digestion. While his mouth was devoid of teeth, one of the stomachs did come equipped with a set of grinding teeth that further pulverized any food.
"I don't even like sushi!" Dan's human thoughts observed with irony.
"Dan?" His mother's thoughts interrupted the feeding frenzy as Dan used his legs to climb atop the rotting fish carcass. "Dan, sweety? Are you there?"
"Dan, listen. Pick up!" Kat's aggravated thoughts assailed him.
Since he wasn't really talking, he continued to eat as he communicated. "Yes? What is it?"
"Dan, Kat and I have been discussing your situation," his mother said.
The more he ate, the more ravenous he became for the stinking fish. "And?"
"Dan, listen!" Kat said sharply. "I made have made a teeny-tiny mistake, but in my defense how was I to know you'd go and get yourself transported to the ocean!"
The food suddenly looked a little less tempting. "Mom, what did she do?"
"It's about the respawn spell, brother." Kat sounded both irritable and curious. She sensed they had interrupted some lobster thing that had gotten her brother's attention. "I cast the spell to protect you in the eventuality you found yourself boiled, buttered and eaten by humans."
"Yes, and thanks for doing that." Dan felt suddenly fearful that Kat had spilled details about his freakish obsession with getting himself consumed.
"Dan, that's the problem," Mom said quickly. "The spell only protects you from being eaten by humans."
Dan's attention remained divided. "Well, they'd have to catch me first..."
"Dan, stop being so obtuse!" Kat again, sounding angry. "You're in the ocean, just another wild lobster with all that succulent meat. You're going to be a target for predators galore. Codfish, tench, flounder, sculpin, wolf-fish, ocean pout, monkfish, eels, rock gunnels, dogfish, sharks..." She sounded like she was reading a list.
Dan felt a chill pass through all three segments of his body. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Don't get eaten!" Kat exclaimed.
Suddenly, a shadow darkened the area around Dan. His eyestalks swiveled and he took in a huge but familiar shape as another lobster approached the dead fish. "Oh shit! It's huge!"
Dan realized the lobster looked many times his size. In fact, at more than three feet in length and a weight of nearly forty pounds, the ancient lobster was approaching its maximum size.
"What did you say, Dan?" Mom asked.
The huge lobster glided on massive legs across the rocky ocean floor and snapped its massive claws toward him.
"Mom, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment..."
Dan tried to plot his next move when the other lobster raised its biggest claw, a massive crusher claw, high in the water. With shocking speed, the lobster brought the claw toward him, trying to smash his smaller, much more frail, exoskeleton.
"Oh fuck!" Dan cried and fled the vicinity of the dead fish. He hoped surrendering the piscine remains might placate the lobster.
"Dan? What's going on?" Kat asked. She sounded sincerely interested.
"Kat, just asking," he thought at his sister. "Would you happen to know if lobsters eat other lobsters?"
"Hold on," she answered.
The monstrous lobster kept moving with surprising speed for something so big. Dan moved, too, as fast as his much smaller eight walking legs could carry him. He knew that he couldn't outrun the behemoth, so perhaps he should look for some place to hide and take shelter. As he scanned the rocky underwater landscape, Kat returned. "Yes!" She pronounced definitively. "Lobsters are known cannibals."
Dan felt the other crustacean's massive claws getting closer. "Just great." He thought with a good dose of terror. "This is all your fault, Kat!"