She was idly curling a lock of her luscious auburn hair when she heard an urgent buzzing ring from her tablet on the desk. With a practiced flick of her silvery blue tail, the mermaid propelled up from the small pool of salted water in her office and sat at the edge of her floor height desk, straightening out her lab coat as she did. Doctor Amanda Rose was one of the first patients of the mermaid virus, fortunately for her and for the remaining humans interested in keeping their legs, her case had an uncommonly low infection rate. Only direct physical contact seemed to spread her strain of the virus, something that only occurred once with her wife three years ago. Since contracting the illness, she had managed to adapt to her new condition, becoming one of the international community’s foremost experts on the Mermaid Virus, and central to the global containment effort.
It was a stressful job, new outbreaks only seemed to be rising in frequency year after year, and behind the scenes, her and her colleagues were quietly laying plans to introduce recommendations for transitioning global society to an entirely ocean-based economy and infrastructure within the next decade. By the year 2035, her analysts estimated that over fifty percent of the human population would have been turned into merfolk if an effective means of inoculation wasn’t found. In several major metropolitan areas, people were willingly getting the infection en masse. Legislation in a few countries had already formally legitimized such willing transformations, with facilities opened to provide such transitions in a controlled, safe environment. In others, such activities were harshly punished, and carried steep fines and prison time for anyone found to be purposefully seeking out infection.
Dr. Rose pressed the accept call button, on the other side of the screen, the face of one of her colleagues came into view. “Doctor Rose here, what’s the situation.”
“Doctor Reyes calling.” The man on the call responded. From the background on the screen, his face was partially obscured by bright sunlight shining through the windows. “We’ve got a new outbreak to report in the Medd. Category Four, looks like it’ll be a big one.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s in the Mediterranean now? So much for the Suez and Gibraltar blockades. Where’s it happening.”
“The Aegean, Doctor. First cases were reported on Mikonos and Tinos. No indication that it came from the mainland, so it’s high probability this strain is in the water.”
“Alright.” She nodded, diligently making notes on a pad to her side. “I need details doctor, what are the reported symptoms?”
“This one’s got a record high rate sex change, for one. Out of a hundred and fifty confirmed cases, one hundred percent of male patients have become mermaids. Female to male changes remain within usual parameters, we haven’t seen one yet, but the sample size isn’t large enough to draw conclusions yet. This one’s got a very high libido influence on adult subjects twenty to forty also. Plus, it’s very fast acting. Transformations are complete within minutes of touching an infected individuals, and within twenty four hours of indirect exposure or contact with infected water.”
He cleared his throat. “Because it’s happened in Greece, and it’s made a thus far all-female subject batch, agents on the ground are calling it ‘the Sappho strain.’”
“Hmm, I’d like you to nip that in the bud. This isn’t magic, best we remind our people of that. And is the strain effecting the surrounding areas?” She questioned.
“Other outbreaks remain within parameters of the control strain. It looks like this is not a stable mutation.” The doctor answered. “We also have a first hand account of one of the first infections, it seems like she was a prolific journal writer. With her permission, I’m forwarding the digital scans to you now.”
“Smart thinking, and who is this first subject?” Dr Rose asked…