This was another cruel joke. Liam used his rough grasp on her psychology to shock her instead, she was tired.
Her eyes fixed on the message she spoke mostly to herself. âNo. I did; all you need to do is pay for it. Sign your life away. Stupid Liamâ
The wording was odd, Carrisa experienced a deep itch at the back of her mind, her custom alterations to her own genetic structure had enabled her to become more of a predator and hone her survival instincts.
She had needed to remove certain ethical constraints from her brain in order to be able to process proteins and fats. Cannibalism might have to be a necessity if she found a drowning sailor in the future.
All sea faring creatures living in the water would maximise energy usage, the deeper you went below the surface the less life-giving sunshine touched.
Protein was protein. Best to plan for an emergency. Her own teeth would find it hard to get any purchase on her changing flesh. A buzzing sound rang out this time as one of the security measures on the modified phone warned her an outside source had contacted her.
She recalled the tool security to dismantle it was inside the desk. A simple one-use mechanism designed to disable the phone and render it inoperable as all contents were wiped.
âAgain. One is a joke, twice is an annoyance, three times is a threat to be removed.â said Carissa.
Her eyes flickered to the screen once more as the same message repeated word for word.
âTime is running out. I need to move.â said Carissa to herself.
She had experienced enough threats to her life previously to take it seriously enough. The words Player Candidate meant she had been marked, or targeted. Fixing the oceans indicated whomever had contacted her was familiar with her research. The alternative was she was being recruited by a company or organisation she was unaware of.
In order to break through the private connection to her modified phone which had cost her roughly the yearly entire food budget of the population of a small country they would need to be specialised. Threat or offer. She had no inclination for either. The phone would be making the trip with her, ideally, she would be deep enough for it to be lost.
âIf the person who sent this message wanted me dead or living in fear theyâll regret their attempt.â said Carissa.
Carissa needed to prepare earlier originally planned. Reaching inside the desk her finger hurt, blood swiftly coagulating to avoid loss as her impanted technological mount responded to her will and drew any excess moisture from the air around her.
An old necklace with a single shark tooth on it, a reminder of the times when she had found it so hard to process her own emotions. The scars had healed and been cut over and over until she had first met Liam. She had made many modifications to the tooth over the years, the shape remaining the same but repaired over time to keep as she grew older.
âOne last item for good luck. The pain, the pain helped but as with so many other things I no longer need it. It can sink to the depths of the world or return to nature.â Said Carissa.
Still entirely nude except for the necklace around her neck, the modified security phone on one hand and a gold ring on her finger she headed for the one place which offered her a quick exit, a place for prayer and the entry into her new reality.
The open top roof with the extended sea view platform, it would provide the means for her to enter the ocean without having to leap off. There was a difference between entering water on purpose and throwing herself into the oceans according to her planned schedule of transformation
Sheâd need to make sure her implants and physical modifications worked fully, usually through a series of tests but as the message on her secure phone had shown her, time was not on her side.
Carissa hadnât much time left she had until her final bastion, Last Refuge would be found and she would be under pressure from either those who wanted her hidden secrets or individuals who would throw off her the edge, prepared or otherwise.
With bare feet, Carissa walked into the lift to take her to the roof. The camera above scanned her identity before confirming and opening with a light chime. The skin on her chest and abdomen tingled with soreness after her various treatments. As the lift doors closed, she finally bid her old life farewell with a sad smile on her face.
âNone will find me. Never again, Iâll find my own true freedom. Good bye Liam. I still love you. May you be brave enough to follow in my shadow and weâll meet once more.â said Carissa.
Her sharpened, enhanced teeth glistened in her nude reflection in the polished metal of the doors as she took the gold ring off her finger and let it slip through the gaps as they closed. Her reaction speed was faster than compared to normal baseline humans as her body reacted instinctively against the minor danger. The fingers on her hand retracted faster as she arched her back and threw her head back.
Carissa had always let her emotions be flexible, the experiments and physical changes she had wrought on her body, mind and genetic structures had the rest.
As the lift door opened and Carissa stepped out an ocean breeze lapped on her bare skin. Small droplets of rain fell from greying clouds. Cold waters flowing across her face and body as she opened her arms outspread to embrace it. The security phone held tight in one hand as her eyes roamed over the rippling waters far below.
âBeauty in nature, purity through water.â Carissa murmured lightly to herself touching her modified shark tooth necklace. The sharp edges on her toughened skin made her secure, more so than being fully dressed in a storm would.
She allowed her nictating membrane to activate, stopped the rain from obscuring her vision. Part of her recent physical enhancements were active and present, the ones she within her had been trickier to activate but she felt the temperature surrounding her remain constant. She would experience no cold unless she allowed herself to, humans after all, werenât designed to exist in freezing cold waters. Not with minimal body fat and skin protection, she would try and active the more advanced features when she was in the ocean proper.
The security phone had failed to provide her with another message. Thankful she didnât have to worry about more outside attempts to contact her she enjoyed the view. Her time had been entirely spent locked away either for viral genetic treatments or self-surgery and a degree of pure fresh ocean air.
When Carissa had purchased the property through a series of shell companies, she had been careful not to come into any contact with either the seller or the corporate estate agent.
An isolated building, previously a private research environmental research which had been converted into an ocean view home for the wealthy and those who preferred their own space. Both of which she possessed in equal measure.
âMoney never brought me true happiness, but the tools and materials progressed my great work.â said Carissa.
If Liam had been standing next to to her, he would have gently reminded her talking to oneself was a sign of mental instability. The weather in the skies began to change as they did on the coastal regions, clouds shifting as the wind pushed and pulled them and storms began to develop.
Carissa had paid for her own specific changes to the extended sea view platform. A detachable viewing chamber designed to fit several people had been fitted in, a modified version of an underwater experience chamber.
After Carissa's successful technology began to clean and regulate the temperature of the oceans and effective ownership of them had shifted towards those rich and powerful to own the rights to clean waters personal viewing chambers had become a social trend.
Liamâs family had been one of the early adopters, making profit and maximising their established influence. Not that they had wanted to give Carissa too much credit and instead focused on the achievements of their biological son, not their daughter in law.
Her version was detachable and adjacent to the main roof building structure and detachable with multiple cables. The inside was suitably modified to cope with waters and was largely self-contained, emergency equipment would keep her secure in the case there was a breakage and water flooded into the interior.
âThe ocean. The place where we all come from and where we should all return.â said Carissa.
Usually, there were strict limits placed on user safety but Carissa had spent a portion of her time in the dwelling making her own personal alterations. Where she needed her own privacy her own talent kicked in, allowing her to learn how to disable the necessary safeguards and allow the personal viewing chamber to detach and drift in the ocean.
Although she was in a hurry, she needed to verify her implants and genetic alterations worked perfectly. Live testing was so different under controlled conditions in her home laboratory. If Liam had been more amenable or open minded, he could have even joined her, Carissa was certain while he might have refused, he still would have assisted her regardless but she hadnât been willing to take chance.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Despite the beautiful view, Carissa hadnât purchased the property for location alone. At least not only for its isolated location, the oceans around here were owned through the company had been built through her breakthroughs and Liamâs connections and efforts.
Unless her location was broadcast openly, she would have enough privacy here to get far out enough and ensure the modified viewing platform sank deep enough. Carissa considered Liam would have classified her as unstable enough to simply leap off the roof in a fit of madness but true clarity and purpose meant taking all the right steps.
She would become a mermaid, a true one of her own design, but only through the steps she provided herself. All traces of her presence gone, the alterations to the viewing platform would be considered a tragic accident. She would be missed, perhaps by Liam and several others but not by the general population of her planet who had painted her as the figurehead and main reason for monetising a public resource.
Carissa had allowed herself enough time to appreciate the view afforded to her and the chilled breeze of the salty winds on her flesh when she felt a sensation in her hand. The physical movement of the device came along with a low frequency sound she wasnât interested in. Having forgotten to bring the tool from her desk inside her personal office she had little choice but to carry it along with her and drop it in the eventually sunken viewing chamber when it had drifted out enough.
âAnother message. The same surely, repeated over by an automated system until I respond out of futility. The oceans were fixed by my hand along with a man who stole my heart and designs out of a sense of guilt and opportunity.â said Carissa.
Sighing to herself, the view and the pure sensation of nature being partially ruined. She preferred a simpler environment, one without demands beyond simple survival. She would have been classified as suffering from several severe psychological disorders was the failure of Belphus medical treatment services. In her mind Carissa was aware she wanted to fulfil her true dream, to become a beautiful mermaid who lived freely in the ocean.
The viewing platform awaited Carissa, she had stripped most of the luxury items including the leather seating and left supplies of her own design instead. A bodysuit to allow her recovering form to adapt before it could be removed and abandoned, made from cloned fungus which would eventually dissolve. Not entirely necessary given her body covered in rainwater experienced no inner cold. Her skin had been adapted comparable to a sharks or dolphins with the benefits of protecting her from environmental toxins and pathogens in saltwater.
She would shed it once in the water, allowing her form to have streamlined speed for swimming. A mixture of sharkâs denticles within her genetics would further protect her from damage and parasites.
The shark tooth necklace around her neck was a reminder.
âPredators evolved to survive as will I.,â said Carissa. Pressing the button to allow her direct access and providing both a retinal scan and DNA sample in the form of a drop of blood from her finger.
She had learnt to be paranoid after her project had gone public, the security inside her current home would be enough to deter most intruders for long enough except for Liam.
There was an exception in the system for him and him alone, as the doors opened Carissa let out a breath she had been holding. A few more steps towards her true freedom and life purpose.
Iâm going to do it Liam.
As she walked inside her stomach ached, Carissa put a single bare hand on her healing abdomen. She had followed a strict medical diet of her own creation and her implants and genetic alterations had worked well under strict, intense testing in her own laboratory and especially well on small mammals. Live testing was a priority.
They had all been euthanised and cremated after being dissected and all mechanical parts removed, reduced into ash and disposed of in a chute leading to the coastal waters. Given her physical enhancements Carissa had taken several bites to test how her changing form handled eating raw, uncooked flesh, her teeth and digestive system had done a decent job.
The implants within her were fuelled temporarily but she would need to eat far more in the oceans. Luckily life was teeming and food was readily available. Humans didnât possess the necessary fat under their skin so Carissa had made a few changes to her own liver. She would not compromise her physical form but wanted to remain inside a humanoid body. Scars could heal over time, risks of hypothermia could not.
âProteins. I needâ¦food. And water.â said Carissa.
The viewing platform was stacked and organised with a selection of boxes. Taking one of them she ripped off the plastic top and took out a soft plastic squeezable container of water, it would rapidly degrade into a biodegradable form when submersed into water with a high enough salt percentage.
Pouring the fresh water into her waiting throat, she took hold of a similar stacked box and repeated the process. This time she smelt fresh fish and blood which rapidly vanished into her mouth and splashed a little over her nose and eyes, Carissa made her nictating membrane reset back to normal once she wiped her face off with another water container.
The materials would be found eventually as would the supplies. One of the alterations Carissa had made to the viewing chamber had been to the connecting tether, it would catch and break when she flipped a switch inside the interior. For now, she pressed the relevant buttons to seal the doors and activated her final decent into the oceans of Belphus. The platform would extend out from the roof before lowering far enough off the coast to avoid rocks and the cliff, the software within processing the best location for her final drop off point.
âSoon, Iâll be free of the burdens of the surface. A freak mistake and an accident and Iâll be alone. Free to swim the oceans and become a true mermaid.â said Carissa.
She had dropped the security phone on the surface of another box during her replenishment. The buzzing sound rang out and refusing to accept another message false message she picked it up and smashed it onto the hard metallic bare floor.
The viewing chamber had been designed to drop deep enough into the oceans of her world, it would surely survive a little damage when a mostly unbreakable device was slammed into the floor.
The chamber still shook slightly, her strength and reinforced body were strong. Sheâd need to be if she needed to kill sharks with her bare hands.
A pain ached inside her again. Carissa understood the sensation. This time it was her implants and technological mount. She would need to adapt to living with a degree of pain for a period of time until her body had fully recovered. Still, once they were fully operational within a marine environment, she would be able to affect her immediate environment and beyond.
The security phone buzzed out again. The screen doubtfully even cracked, it had been designed to withstand high pressures, temperatures and other extreme situations. The view outside the viewing chamber shifted from the edge of the roof to the open oceans as it began to extend outwards in preparation for its final descent.
âLiam. Stop trying to contact me.â said Carissa.
She was about to hit the switch to lower the platform when a sharp pain hit her eyes hard enough to force her to drop to the ground. The security device continued to buzz without stopping, a sign of an incoming call but Carissa was in sufficient pain she was unable to consider answering.
Her necklace. The way to stop pain was through pain. She wasnât clear on why her eyes hurt but she needed clarity of mind to work it out. Grabbing on tight enough to rip the necklace from her throat Carissa pulled the shark tooth directly into her shoulder, pushing it hard enough to draw blood and dig through. Her hands strong enough to pierce through the outer layers of skin and sinew of her reinforced body.
âPain. Cancels. Pain.â said Carissa with her hands fully clenched tightly.
Carissa struggled to breath but she felt the sharpness on her eyes lessen. The platform had been prepared to lower into the waiting ocean below and she had yet to change into the body suit purpose built for her body. She hadnât cared she had knocked several of the boxes stacked up to the ground, including the one with the encrypted security device.
The machine continued to buzz until her foot touched it. Despite the pain she wouldnât have been surprised if Liam had directly contacted the company produced it to locate an override signal in order to get in contact with her.
The signal from the device had been overridden to incapacitate her and he would be on the way, even inside the building, to stop her from entering the viewing platform. Carissa wanted to curse herself for her stupidity, her act of vanity in showing off to him, in having a single observer of her life work.
An audience. And her new form, her body transforming into a true mermaid from ancient myth. No, he would have experienced pity and love for her, the type which meant he would want her to recover, to be treated both physically and mentally.
Thankfully, the lack of buzzing sound meant Carissa had a brief period of respite. Carissa felt dampness on her face and touched her cheeks with her fingers. Wet but fresh with a copper like smell. Blood. Her blood.
Her other senses remained keen and despite it being her own blood the coppery smell made her mouth water slightly. Shaking her head Carissa knocked into an open box full of water packs, grabbing one she tore it open roughly with two hands and poured it over her face before taking several more and repeating the process until she was clean and fresh again.
âLiam was aware of my location. Heâs here. Here to take me to a hospital again for treatment. Not this time. Not this close to my day of transformation.â said Carissa.
The interior of the viewing chamber wasnât as organised. Crates and broken food and water packets scattered around. He had tampered with her belongings without her permission and hurt her.
The button. Carissa would have a severely limited time before the security team Liam had hired would reach her location. They may not be willing to fly in the storm this close to the edge but if he did so would others. The ones who blamed and hated her equally.
She had two choices before her, she could either hit the button and disable the tether which would drop her into the ocean and risk direct injury or hit another which would lower the platform deep into the ocean. The second option meant the platform could in theory still be overridden. The structure would be able to handle the impact, it would mean she would have less time to prepare herself for entering the freezing waters.
In her case it was going to be a true case of sink or swim.
âIâm not paranoid. Iâm not.â said Carissa aloud to the air.
As she forced herself steady and her hand outreached a red warning light on the wall warned her an override was in place. Slamming her open palm onto the emergency stop release Carissa managed to stop the retraction of the viewing platform.
The small structure was dangling over the edge of the cliff now, deep ocean, rocks and waves far below her. The walls and floor including transparent features for better views.
Her senses were reorienting and there was a low-level frequency sensation before the encrypted twinned security device began to buzz at higher audible levels. She might not be able to break it and once she had hit the emergency stop the platform entered security restriction status.
Before she hit the switch to cut the tether and release her free-fall into the waiting stormy waters below, she grabbed the encrypted twinned security device with both hands and screamed her frustration at Liam, at the world, at those who hated her before the message and a darkness slammed into her brain, cutting off consciousness.