Chapter 05

"Another interesting aspect of writing is emotions," said Jack, as he pulled out a cracker.

A dormouse lay sprawled on a small hammock on the table next to the chair; Jack carefully placed the cracker in the dormouse's paws.

"Emotions, in real-life, can sometimes be a reflection of a person's true character or a simple response to discomfort," said Jack, as he leaned into the dormouse.

The dormouse carefully smelled the cracker, lifted it to his mouth, and nibbled delicately.

"For characters, they're simply another layer; but, they offer the most direct means of helping the reader identify with them," said Jack.

Jack pulled a small brush from his jacket pocket and brushed the dormouse's whiskers clean; the dormouse nestled into the hammock with a small, relaxed smile.

"With the right turn of phrase," said Jack, as he placed another cracker in the dormouse's paws, "even the most despicable of characters can be interesting."

...


Martha sat at the end of the pier with her legs swinging lightly in the breeze. Smiling to herself, Martha began to hum a mirthful, tuneless melody.

Colorful fish below her feet swam in circles. As her feet moved in small clockwise circles, so too did the fish.

As Martha's song drew louder hums, more fish gathered beneath her feet. Some swam in complementary circles beneath one foot, some under the other, and some under both in small watery eights.

Looking down, Martha saw the small schools. "Wow!" said Martha, as she began to move her legs in synchronization with her humming.  "They're beautiful," said Martha.

As Martha played with the fish, Beschdel walked up slowly behind Martha and sat heavily on the pier.  Beschdel leg's crossed and she lay forward with elbows on knees, looking down.

"That's a lot of fish," said Beschdel, as she continued looking down. "I wish they would swim under my feet."

"Well," said Martha, as she giggled. "If you would hang your feet off the pier like I'm doing, they might."

Beschdel looked down again; below the first several layers of fish she saw larger, darker fish.

"Um, I can't do that," said Beschdel, "they might eat me."

"Silly, they won't eat you," said Martha, as she lightly drummed her pen on the pier.  "I promise you that you'll be fine."

"But how do you know," asked Beschdel, as she continued looking down at the larger fish. "They scare me a little."

"Well, I don't know," said Martha. Accidentally dropping her pen, Martha tried reaching for it and hit the water with a loud splash.

'Oh no!' thought Beschdel to herself, as she took off her shoes and dived in, "she can't swim!"

Diving in after Martha, Beschdel hit the water near where she saw her friend break the surface; she swam in ever widening circles as she dove under.

"Where could she be?" ask Beschdel, as she swam toward the colorful fish; the darker fish looked closer and scarier than they had before.


The moment Martha hit the water, she felt calm. "Why aren't I freaking out," asked Martha, as she slowly dropped deeper into the water.

The warm water gently lapped against her mouth as Martha looked around. The brightly colored fish that had been swimming underneath hear feet were now surrounding her.

Lit by the fish, Martha could see underwater well. 'Oh my,' thought Martha as her mouth opened up slightly, "the dock has something under it!"

At that moment the gently lapping water slowly opened Martha's mouth a bit wider. "What?!" gurgled Martha as the water slowly seeped into her throat.

Floundering, Martha tried swimming up and out of the water; bubbles slowly left Martha's mouth as she struggled to swim upwards.

As the last bubble left her mouth, Martha dived down under the bottom of the pier; Martha's eyes bulged intensely white as held her breath and tried drumming against the wood under the last few boards of the pier.

As Marta closed her eyes, she began to float down.

Ten dark yellow fish swam towards the surface; on either side of Martha five fish swam close and gently pulled Matha further under the dock.


'Nooo!' thought Beschdel loudly as she watched the dark fish escort Martha under the dock.

Following closely, the colorful fish swam between Martha and Beschdel

Beschdel swam just out of sight of the fish.

'That is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," thought Beschdel, as she followed the dark fish. 'And why are they swimming under the pier?'

As Beschdel followed the dark fish, the colorful fish swam around and then followed Beschdel.


Beschdel blinked her eyes as neared the beginning of the pier; as Beschdel approached the dirt, she thought, "Where did she go?'

Feeling around for a hole in the dark earth, Beschdel's hand pressed deeper near a small branch.

Touching the depression, Beschdel dropped several inches into where the shadow of the pier lay over the earth.

Not feeling any dirt, Beschdel placed both hands into the shadow and the remembered she needed to breathe.

Pushing away from the wall, Beschdel swam away from the shadowed earth and slowly headed to the end of the pier.

Halfway back, the colorful fish swam in front of Beschdel's face.

'What the..." said Beschdel, as she tried swimming and pushing the color fish away.

"I ... need ... air," said Beschdel as she slowly stopped moving her arms.  "I ... need.."

As Beschdels eyes closed, dozens colorful fish swam about her and carried her into the pier shadow.


Martha awoke in darkness; opening and shutting her eyes bore no difference in what she could see.

Trying to feel out where she was, Martha tried inhaling through her nose; pain and water hit Martha in shock-waves.

'What ..,' thought Martha, 'I must somehow be breathing in water.  I never realized how much I took smell for granted."

As several minutes passed, Martha was able to make out several different shapes.

Dark shapes with small white bits floated five feet away.

'I wonder if they know what is going on,' thought Martha, as she tried scratching her nose.  Her hands did not move.

Turning toward her right hand, Martha could make out dark green ... something against her light skin; moving her right hand helped give contrast to whatever constricted her wrist.

Out of the corner of her eye, one of the dark shapes swam up to her face; Martha binked as the fish swam onto her forehead and some sort of think liquid slowly fell from her forehead and followed the curve of her face.

'What," said Martha, as she tried to shake her head quickly. The strange, sticky liquid continued its path past her eyebrows and into her eyes.

"Yeerrrach .. what," said Martha as she realized the goop didn't hurt.

Blinking her eyes, she realized she could far better under the water than before the goop.

'Huh,' thought Martha, "I wonder what that stuff was."

"It is my excretion"

'WHat<!" said Martha, and quickly regretted it. Huge gulps of water hit her lungs and brain and she panicked.

After she had calmed down, Martha thought to herself, "I keep forgetting; how am I breathing under water?"

"That is the nature of this room."

'Um ... with whom am I speaking,' thought Martha, as she looked around the room.

One of the fish that had floated several feet away swam up to Martha's face; Martha realized that several ridges on the fish's face were brighter than the others.

'If I may introduce myself, I am Memphis,' came the sound from the fish. 'I see you've found my feel-fins. They are only visible in what I believe you call ultra-violet light.'

'But ... where am I? Why am I here," asked Martha, "And why did you tie me up? Are you going to hurt me?'

"OF course not, my lady,' said Memphis, "We did not know if your body would adapt to this room quickly enough and were concerned you would lash out and harm our young."

"But why bring me here? What could I possibly do to help you," asked Martha, as she glanced around the room. "And did you hurt Beschdel?"


Beschdel awoke to completely black room; blinking afforded no additional illumination.

Touching rock behind her head, Beschdel tried to step forward. 'Why can't I move my legs?' thought Beschdel.

Reaching down, small outlets of rock gently wrapped around Beschdel's ankles.

'Wha ...?' thought Beschdel 'How did I even get in those?'

'Maybe I can lean forward and pop myself out,' thought Beschdel.

Bracing her feet, Beschdel leaned forward as hard as she could; beaded sweat floated from her forehead as the pain in her ankles grew.

'I ... must ... do ... this ...' thought Beschdel as quietly ignored the growing pain in her ankles. 'I must save Martha.'

Leaning forward as far as the rock would allow, Beschdel wiggled her ankle; small droplets of blood dripped from where her ankles touched the rock.

As Beschdel finally worked her first ankle free, she paused to rest.

'How am I not drowning?' she thought as she forced her second ankle out of the rocky grasp.

With a muted popping, Beschdel pulled out her second foot; blood flowed gently from each of the ankles as she tried to look around.

Darkness lay as far as Beschdel could see.

'I must save Martha,' thought Beschdel, as she swam slowly forward.  Pain shot through both legs as she tried using them to swim.

Beschdel gritted her teeth, and kicked, swimming forward and fighting to block anything that might hit her head.


Martha looked left and saw Beschdel swim out from behind a rock wall.

"Beschdel!' cried out Martha, as she swam to her.

Beschdel turned left and right. 'Martha, is that you,' called out Beschdel and immediately shook and coughed.

'Beschdel, I will meet you. Don't try talking again until I get there!' cried out Martha, as she continued making her way to Beschdel.

As Martha arrived, she saw Beschdel's ankles. 'What did you do to her?' thought Martha to Memphis

'We secured her as we did you,' said Memphis, as he swam to Beschdel and Martha. 'She was ... less patient. She can breathe here as well; she survived the transition.'

"Beschdel!" said Martha, as she hugged her. "I am so glad you're safe!  I have so much to tell you.  But you need to calm down."

"Calm down?!" screamed Beschdel - and immediately began shaking and coughing.

'I have seen this before in others,' said Memphis, as he swam behind Martha. 'If she does not focus, she will die.'


"Beschdel, stop!" screamed Martha, as she grabbed Beschdel.

Beschdel slowly stopped shaking and turned her face towards Martha's voice.

"Okay, now just listen to the sound of my voice," said Martha, as she held Beschdel tightly. "I'm going to count down from ten."

Beschdel nodded slowly.

"Ten ... nine ... eight" said Martha, as she lightly nodded her head to Memphis.

'Memphis, can you help her see,' though Martha to Memphis.

Memphis flexed his feel-fin and swam to right above Beschdel's head; when Memphis arrived, small black fluid floated from Memphis to Beschdel's forehead.

As Martha watched, the dark liquid gently adhered to Beschdel's face, toucher her eyebrows, then covering her eyes, and then slowly dripping and dissipating into the water.

A light film covered Beschdel's eyes; when Beschdel looked up, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Woah!" said Beschdel quietly and coughed gently. "This place is beautiful"

"Yes, and I'm so glad you're okay," said Martha, as she hugged her friend.

"And may I introduce Memphis?" said Martha as she motioned to the fish.

Reaching out, Beschdel tried shaking one of fins of the fish; Memphis backed away slowly.

"Um, he can hear what you are thinking," said Martha. "I don't think a handshake is necessary."

'Quite not,' said Memphis.

'But ... how are you doing that?' asked Beschdel.

'I know not,' replied Memphis. 'It is just something I've always been able to do.'

'Hmmm perhaps it is this room,' said Martha. 'Have you ever communicated in this way outside of this room?'

'Of course not - fish use instinct and positional clues to communicate,' said Memphis. 'Language is quite foreign to us.'


'So, why are we here,' asked Beschdel, as she looked around. 'This cave is amazing, but I think we need to get back.'

Nodding slightly, Memphis responded. "That is true; about once a decade we introduce a carefully selected human and show them this room.'

'Why?' asked Martha. 'You said you bound us so we would not hurt your young - and that we might adapt quickly enough. Could we have died?'

'Yes,' said Memphis. 'You are not the first we've brought. You are only the third and fourth human to have survived the transition.'

"But why,' said Beschdel. 'If we might have died, why would you bring us here?'

'Because we are dying.' said Memphis. Nodding his head with a quick set of complicated motions, Memphis said 'And you can save us.'

'How can we do that?' said Martha.

From the other side of the room, hundreds of small fish swam into sight.

'Because,' said Memphis 'according to the ancients, we must allow our children the option of leaving our school.'

'And the balance of our food supply, nurture pods, and the logistics of ensuring we are harmonious,' said Memphis. 'This ensures that our children only want to leave when one of our mothers is about to give birth.'

When Memphis had uttered the word 'birth', another fish swam from the small wall of fish.

'My name is Ziphora,' explained the fish. 'I am due to give birth before the next full moon. Will you escort one of our young females to the surface?'


'But,' thought Beschdel, 'won't she die? I do not understand how the death of one of your healthy youth will somehow allow you all to live.'

'We do not know that she will die,' said Ziphora, 'We only know that our babies will live if one of our healthy mature young voluntarily leave.'

'This feels wrong,' said Martha, as she looked at Memphis. 'And it was wrong of you to include us in this. As I said, we might have died.'

'Yes, I'm sorry about that,' said Memphis. 'But my entire school would have died; I could not take the chance.  Will you help us?'

'Yes, of course we will help you," thought Beschdel. 'Which of them have chosen to come with us?'


Every fish swam silently in place.

Slowly, one of the fish swam forward. The fish that had been to her left and right had gently folded over their feel-fins.

'I have asked the elders to allow me this choice.' said the fish. 'I am Mallory.'

'Please to meet you Mallory,' said Martha. 'Um ... how quickly do we need to go?'

'Well, the full moon will be here soon.' said Memphis. 'So please leave as soon as you are able.'

'Then how about now?' asked Beschdel, as she looked around. 'And how do we get out?'

'I know the way, father,' said Mallory. 'I have been practicing in preparation for this moment.' Mallory's feel-fin lay tightly curled.

'Yes dear, I know," said Memphis. 'I love you dearly. Go quickly!'. His feel-fin stuck straight out of above his forehead.


Martha and Beschdel followed Mallory as the fish swam quickly; after several turns, Mallory stopped in front of a small black circle.

'Okay, just take a deep breath and follow me!' said Mallory as she swam quickly at the black circle.

Giving the chamber one last look, Martha took a deep breathe, followed quickly, and hit the circle at roughly the same time as Mallory.

Beschdel followed suit; the instant all three of them were through the circle, Beschdel saw that they were moving rapidly through a tunnel.

Martha saw the other end of the tunnel and reached out for Beschdel; hand in hand, the two followed Mallory.


A light popping sound introduced Beschdel and Martha back under the pier.

As Mallory left the tunnel, she began to elongate and flopping about, waving her now-small fins.

Cupping Mallory, Martha helped bring her closer to the pier.

'Perhaps we can help once we can breathe.' thought Martha as she and Beschdel made it to the end of the pier.

Reaching and breaking through the water, Martha gasped loudly. She looked down to see Mallory had grown quickly and was completely encased in a moderately large glass penguin.

As Mallory appeared to be gasping for air, Martha yelled "Beschdel, help me bring this out of the water!"


Working together, they dragged the penguin-shaped glass container up the ladder and onto the pier.

Beschdel threw Martha a rock. "Use this," said Beschdel, as she tried holding down the penguin.

Exhausted, Martha hit the glass penguin as hard as she could.

A small dent appeared where Martha had contacted the penguin.


Mallory's hand wrapped around her through as her looked panicked.

Beschdel grabbed the rock and yelled, "Not today!".

Hitting the glass as hard as she could at the same spot Martha hit caused a series of cracks to spider through the penguin.

Once more and the glass penguin split into three large pieces and slid slowly away from Mallory.

As Mallory gasped loudly, Martha and Beschdel held her tightly.

As Mallory cycled between breathing and choking, Martha explained "I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain how to breathe."

Mallory looked up at Martha and looked confused.

"I'm so used to the delicate nuance of my feel-fins. How do I show gratitude?" asked Mallory.

"You smile," said Martha, as she smiled at Mallory; Mallory smiled back.


The three sat in the warm afternoon sun at the end of the pier, legs dangling.

...

"The other interesting thing about emotions is how to convey them." said Jack, as she lifted up the tucked in the sleeping dormouse.

A contented snore quietly came from the dormouse.

"You have the obvious facial expressions, dialog, and mannerisms," said Jack, as she kissed the dormouse.

Reaching up, Jack turned off the lamp which sat table holding the dormouse's small bed.

"It can be challenging to accurately convey emotions," said Jack, as he cracked open the window. "And to do so in a way that is internally consistent and is true for the character."

The smell of humid air and freshly-awakened flowers wafted into the cottage.

"This is especially true for objects and entities which lack a traditional anthropomorphic expression," said Jack, as he pulled small dormouse hairs from off his tongue.

Dropped them into the trash, Jack shivered a little.

"And that is one of the reasons why aliens are frightening." said Jack. "But I think that's enough for now. Good night!"

"Goodnight," said the dormouse.