Selected Assistant

by Robin Roseau

  It wasn’t until later that I realized they were all intentionally keeping me distracted.

  Yvette and I were looking at a small school of cute fish when suddenly something grabbed me. I immediately panicked, and it got worse when legs wrapped around my waist and arms around my neck and chest. The breather was knocked from my mouth. I tried crawling for the surface, but we sank to the bottom instead, and I was in too much panic to remember to ditch the small weight belt. Instead, I tried peeling my assailant from my back, now screaming into the water.

  I didn’t dislodge her. Instead she managed to net my hair, pulling the net down partly over my head. It stuck there, and then she pressed something against my neck. There was a bite, and a moment later, a breather was pushed into my mouth. I sucked deeply as she held me, and then over the next ten or fifteen seconds, I felt a lassitude settle over me.

  Then Yvette was there. She caressed my cheek before moving to my feet and stealing my swim fins. I didn’t struggle with her.

  And then my assailant began swimming away with me.

  Color

  My mind was slow, but it wasn’t off. I figured out it was Carolina. And I figured out she had captured me.

  I got stuck on that for a while, knowing my life had just permanently changed.

  My mermaid had selected me after all. Yvette had been right.

  I wasn’t going to be living in my tiny apartment ever again.

  My mermaid had claimed me, and I would be hers. I would be hers.

  We left the cove and swam deeper and deeper. I clutched at Carolina’s arm and tried to think, but I had a hard time getting past the idea that a mermaid had caught me.

  It grew darker, and I knew we were deep, but I didn’t know how deep, and I still don’t. And then we turned right, and there was a tunnel in the rocks. It grew dark, and I might have panicked, but I realized Carolina had drugged me, and it was keeping me calm.

  I didn’t fight her, and she took us through a long, long tunnel, until finally we turned upward and into the light. I wasn’t with it to describe it properly, so I’ll save that. It was a grotto. We reached air, and then Carolina held me at the surface.

  Finally, she spoke. “Taisha Saint-heart, you will be my mate.”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “My mermaid.”

  She pulled me to the edge, and then she had to help me up. I sat down as she took the breather and visor from me. Then she looked into my eyes. “You will behave.”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “You will stay here, right here. I am going to be gone for three minutes. You will not disobey.”

  “I’ll stay right here.”

  She slipped back into the water and disappeared. My heart ached. But she wasn’t gone long, not at all long, and when she returned, her hands were empty. She had taken the breather and visor away.

  “The tunnel is the only entrance.” I said, realizing what she had done.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “A new cage.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  That response was probably the drug talking, but she climbed from the water. She looked into my eyes. “Do you understand?”

  “You drugged me.”

  “Yes, so that you would react as a Komodo whose air is limited.”

  “Strong,” I said. “Is this real, Carolina?”

  “Yes.”

  I started to cry. Immediately she pulled me into her arms. “What is wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I whispered. “I think I love you.”

  She held me tightly.

  * * * *

  She had to help me, the rest of that first day. “If you were Komodo, this would be your entire cage, but this would be very unhealthy for a human.” And so, she led me up a set of stairs to a door. On the other side, it could have been a human apartment, although there were no exterior doors or windows.

  She led me to a bathroom and into a shower. She bathed me. I stood somewhat numbly. She took my suit, and I don’t know what she did with it, but I wouldn’t see it again for some time.

  She used a tool to remove the thing from my head. She washed my hair, and then she led me from the shower. She dried me, and dried my hair, and then as I sat still, she netted my hair again. Then she ordered me to open my mouth. Kneeling in front of me, she did… something. I didn’t understand what, but then she took my hands and brought me to a bed. We both climbed in, and she held me.

  “You’re going to sleep,” she said. “Once you do, I will go catch our dinner. If I am not here when you wake, do not panic. I won’t be long. You will stay here, and you will not go to the grotto.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  She held me, and then I slept.

  * * * *

  She had to wake me. She had a plate with two fillets upon it. She helped me to sit. “Do you still feel like you are drugged?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “I do not trust this drug. We will talk now, but we will talk again tomorrow.” Then she talked about my teeth, how she had put caps over them, and I wouldn’t be able to chew. Then she tore fish for me, giving me the smallest of pieces, feeding me slowly. She placed each piece in my mouth, and I tried to chew, but I couldn’t, and so I swallowed when she ordered me to, over and over.

  We ate the whole fish, and I thought I had my share. Then she praised me, and said, “You will be my mate, Taisha Saint-heart.”

  “Yes, my mermaid.”

  And that, over time, would become a small ritual for us.

  “I will see to this plate,” she said. “Stay here. I will be gone only two minutes.”

  I said nothing, but she was only gone briefly before she was kneeling before me again. I smiled at her. “Mermaid,” I whispered. “Please hold me.”

  We curled up together on the bed. She murmured to me.

  I think I dozed, but she stayed with me. Then I said, “Carolina?”

  “Yes, Taisha?”

  “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome.”

  “I don’t want to be alone.”

  “I am not going anywhere.”

  “Where are my clothes?”

  “No clothes. If you grow cold, you may use the blankets.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  * * * *

  I slept. The few times I woke, she was still there with me. And then I woke, and she was gone.

  I curled up into a ball for a while. I wasn’t fully thinking clearly, but the drug had worn off, and with it, the calm feelings it had brought.

  I started to think about things, really think. I was her prisoner here, and I had no illusions about that. Nor did I have a problem with it, not a single problem.

  I didn’t worry about my job, although I thought about it. I’d worry about it another time. But I had questions, and I had concerns.

  I finally got up. I explored. I found the bathroom. There wasn’t a mirror. But I felt the weight of whatever she had put over my head. I explored with my fingers. There was some sort of band across my forehead, along the side of my head, then behind my ears and down to the back of my neck. It was sticky, and attempts to pry it away didn’t work. It was attached to some sort of bag, and I could feel my hair through the bag, but the material felt thick. I didn’t find a single loose strand.

  I felt my teeth as well. She’d put something over them, all of them. It seemed rubbery and smooth, and it was thick enough in back I couldn’t quite close them.

  More questions.

  And then Carolina was there. “Good morning.” I turned. “Are you angry?”

  “No,” I said.

  “I have breakfast for us. We will have one meal each day that is entirely Komodo in style, but the other meals will combine more of your needs.” I nodded understanding. “You are not the first human to mate with a Komodo, but you are only the second. We learned from that experience. I am doing most things the same way they did, but adjusting for mistakes. I will make more mistakes. You will be generous in forgive
ness.”

  “Yes. I have questions. Is explaining part of your plan?”

  “You may ask anything you want. The first time, the human didn’t understand as much as she should have. I believe that is a mistake. I will answer any questions I am allowed to answer. Come and eat.”

  “I want to know what you’ve done to my mouth.”

  “I will explain, but you will behave. Come and eat.”

  I followed her. There wasn’t a kitchen area, but there was a sofa with a coffee table. We sat there, beside each other, and she fed me a meal of raw fish.

  “This is a portion of our biology,” she explained. “It is more complicated than human mating needs. I am able to engage in recreational sex, like you are, but it is very difficult to become mated once I do so. Knowing that is the only reason we haven’t been sharing a bed, assuming I would have been welcome.”

  “You would have.”

  “My biology needs to recognize you as utterly dependent upon me, and to not only accept the reality, but actually rejoice in it. The net over your hair and the material over your teeth are important parts.”

  “I cannot believe you evolved with these nets.”

  “No. In earliest times, we believe I would have bitten your hair off. In later times, before we had these nets, I would cut it, not off, but short.”

  “Does it grow back?”

  “Eventually, but it is very slow. That is now considered barbaric, although some people still do that. Most of us do this.”

  “I couldn’t get it off.”

  “It is bonded to your skin, not like tape, but actually bonded. It is possible to rip it lose, but you would take most of the layers of your skin to do so.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I’d rather you not try. It is not the Komodo way to accept what I am doing to you,” she added. “Even if you were male, and willing, you would not be entirely willing. You would attempt to free yourself from me.”

  “I don’t want to free myself. Do you need me to try?”

  “No. But I need to see these things. The net does nothing to prevent you leaving.”

  “The lack of breather and fins, on the other hand.”

  “Yes. The net… you could call it social evolution. Intellectually, I know it does nothing, but to me, it makes you helpless.”

  “You don’t bind me.”

  “If you were Komodo, we would always remain near the water. We are unable to hold our breath, and so if you turned violent, I could easily escape to the water.”

  “I won’t turn violent, Carolina.”

  “I know.”

  “And my teeth?”

  “When a male Komodo is ready for the mating process, his teeth become brittle. I would have broken them off.” I stared, shocked. “It is not as barbaric as it sounds. There is no pain as there would be for you. And only male Komodo do this. Female Komodo do not.”

  “And so, you do this.” I gestured to my mouth.

  “Yes. You have no access to any tools, none at all. You cannot swim. You cannot hunt. If I hand you a flopping fish, you have no way to dismember it. You can barely chew the smallest of pieces, but only those I give you.”

  “I am utterly dependent upon you.”

  “Yes. As a Komodo, you would at first resent this, but over time, you grow to accept, and then to rejoice. And that is when I begin to feel mated.”

  “How long does that take.”

  “This was hard for the first human,” she replied. “She accepted, but she didn’t entirely give herself over to it, and she didn’t rejoice. She struggled, but Komodo often struggle, too. A short period might be a week. A month might be long, but not unusual. She took longer.”

  Carolina gestured. “You have nothing to do when I am not here, except to think. That is also intentional.”

  “More dependency.”

  “Utterly. Because you are human, we have this space, and we have blankets. However, after this morning, I would prefer you to wait in the grotto for me.”

  “I’ll get cold, and it is too damp for the blankets.”

  “There are cushions. I want you to do your best, but if you cannot, then you cannot. It is just that I would really like you to be there when I return.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “There is one more thing. The first human grew sullen about this, and it took time for her to find joy, but the first Komodo was hesitant to explain. I am going to dispose of this, and then I’ll be back.”

  “I’m going to clean up a little. Is that okay?”

  “Come to the grotto when you’re ready, but stay out of the water.”

  “Is that a permanent rule?”

  “No.”

  “All right.”

  She went one way, I went the other. I didn’t need long in the bathroom. I found the grotto, and I found the cushions. I sat down.

  I think she was waiting, because it was only a few more seconds before her head rose from the water. She was brightly colored, more so than earlier, and absolutely lovely. I gestured to her. “I do this to you, these colors you wear.”

  “Yes. Over time, you’ll be able to judge my mood at a glance.”

  “I think I like that idea.”

  She climbed from the water then came to me. I stood and caressed her cheek. “Does the no sex rule mean no kissing?”

  “No.” She brought us together, and then she captured my tongue. It was, as always, weird but terribly, terribly sexy, and I found myself clutching at her.

  But she was also holding me, just as tightly.

  It turned into a hug. “I have more questions, and some concerns.”

  “I know. Are they critical?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then let us do this next part.” We separated, and she led me back upstairs.

  * * * *

  “There is something else I need,” she said. “The first human was not happy about this. I know her, but not well, and it’s not something I talked to her about.”

  “You weren’t expecting this when you came to Earth.”

  “No. None of us were expecting anything that has happened. Taisha, if you don’t let me do this, it is unlikely I will feel mated.”

  “Is it something horrible?”

  “No. I will show you. Be patient.”

  She disappeared into the next room. When she came back, she had several things in her arms. I had no idea where they had come from, as I had explored carefully. I eyed her. “I am unconvinced there are no other doors.”

  “There are storage cabinets you cannot open. There are no other doors. If there were, I would recognize them as a means you could use to escape, and this would be far more difficult for me.”

  She set down her bundles. The bottom was a simple plastic tarp. She set it out on the floor. “Stand in the middle.”

  She then had a large jar of grey sand, a simple cake pan, and several painter’s brushes. She opened the jar, shook out some of the dust into the cake pan, then stood up, holding the brushes. “This is similar technology to the net,” she said. “This dust binds to your skin.”

  “It’s ugly.”

  “It’s magic dust.”

  “It’s not magic dust!”

  “It changes colors.”

  “Okay, and?”

  “The dust monitors various biological signals. It transmits that data to a central computer, and the computer does it’s best to judge your mood based on the available data, some from the dust, some from body language and other signals.”

  I began laughing. “You intend to paint my entire body, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about you?”

  “I already change colors based on my moods.”

  “This will make me look more like a Komodo.”

  “And, in spite of inaccuracies, it will help me to judge your moods. Taisha, I need that.”

  “You don't have to beg. But I’ve seen your resting color, thankfully not often. I do not want to be mottled green.”

&n
bsp; “This is something the other human also disliked.”

  “I want a prettier resting color.”

  “I need to recognize it as a neutral mood.”

  “Then I’ve made a request, and you’ll do what you can.”

  “You’re really not going to fight me?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Are you sure you’re not still drugged?”

  I laughed again. “Carolina, you may do whatever you want to me. Please start with this.”

  “Taisha,” she whispered.

  “May I help?”

  “I wish to do this,” she said.

  “For the parts that tickle, we may have to negotiate.”

  “We’ll see. Taisha, this will adhere in exactly the right thickness only where it is supposed to.”

  “I trust you.”

  She lifted a brush, dipped it, and began painting me, beginning with one arm. At first, it was really, really ugly. As she painted, she explained a little more. “This isn’t permanent, in that I can order it to release. But otherwise it is permanent.”

  “Humans shed skin.”

  “This binds deeper,” she said. “It will require no replenishment. You are unable to wash or wear it off.”

  “Does it interfere with my skin in any way?”

  “No. It binds to the skin cells but will not block pores or hair follicles.”

  “What happens when we leave. I assume we eventually leave.”

  “Eventually. I will transfer control to a different computer.”

  “I take it you don’t intend to give me control.”

  “No, but if you ask me to do something, as long as it is consistent with the basic purpose, I will do them for you. There is one health benefit.”

  “Oh?”

  “You will no longer need sunscreen.”

  “I can get along with that idea. Why isn’t this sticking to you?”

  “It’s bound to your DNA,” Carolina explained. “I don’t actually tell it to release. I tell it to forget your DNA.”