The Penny Drops (Sea the Depths Book 1)

by Karmon Kuhn

  “I’m not sure,” I told her, “but . . . I think I’m in danger. It’s possible that we may both be in danger.”

  “We?” she asked, waking up suddenly.

  “Yes.” I said calmly, “There are some bad people I used to work with, and I found out that they are doing some unethical work. They may be looking for me now, and I know that they have been watching me for a few days.”

  As soon as she heard those words, she sprung to her feet, locked and closed all of the windows, and turned all of the locks in the door. Once she’d secured the living space, she put some distance between us.

  “Did you call the police?” There was a quiver in her voice.

  “I know that this is a very scary situation for you.” I said, trying to stall, “To answer your question, I do not have hard evidence to provide to the police.”

  Sheer panic began to tighten her arched eyebrows and open her mouth to gaping. “It’s like I don’t know you. I mean, I thought I did, but after last night, I mean . . . You were just so . . .”

  I suddenly regretted coming here without a plan. I had to think quickly to get this under control. Humans were intelligent creatures, and they could pose an incredible threat to themselves and others when backed into a corner.

  I held up my hands in a submissive gesture and spoke slowly, “What can I do to make you feel more at ease? Would you like me to remove my satchel? You can search my things. I didn’t come here to hurt you. I’m simply scared and confused myself, and I thought of you because . . .”

  I paused then, unsure of why she’d truly come to mind. Was this an attempt at comfort? Was it that I felt responsible for her? For introducing her to this world? If she was any other tsùges̈ss, would I have come here under the same circumstances? Or, was it only because it was her?

  “Because . . . ?” She broke into my thoughts.

  “Because I am here alone, and you have been kind to me. I wanted comfort, and I wanted to be sure too that nothing had happened to you,” I answered, trying to determine how much of this was truth versus a story to de-escalate the situation.

  Some of the tension left her body and face. “What happened that’s made you so scared? Are these people really that dangerous?”

  I hesitated, unsure of what she could handle and then settled on caution, “The information that I uncovered could compromise some important researchers’ work and authority. I believe that they would go to great lengths to cover this up.”

  “You can put your hands down. Put your bag and jacket over there. I don’t think you’re a psycho, but I don’t have a great track record with that . . .” she said, and I complied.

  We just stood there for a moment, and then she went over to my things and inspected them. Her brows crinkled up as she saw the things in my pack, but she didn’t say anything. After a few minutes, she seemed satisfied and came back over to sit on the sofa.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know yet. I just don’t want to be alone.” I said. “I didn’t want either of us to be alone.”

  I could see her chest heaving under her night shirt as she ran her fingers through her hair. A tear ran down her cheek. Guilt raised up in my throat for coming here and disturbing her like this.

  “I think you should go,” she said, her lip quivering slightly.

  “I . . . I don’t know if you’ll be safe on your own.”

  “I just need some time to think this through, but I need to do it alone. I‘ll meet you at the cafe later,” she said with finality.

  Rather than argue, I grabbed my things and left. I wonder now if there’s something that I could have said that might have changed her mind. Changed how things turned out.

  ***

  I went to the cafe and hoped that being in a public place would provide some semblance of safety. I didn’t know what to do next. I had nowhere to go and no one to go to. I could only wait.

  I ordered a chocolate croissant and cappuccino as Penny and I had on our first date, but they didn’t taste as grand and exciting now. The flavor of failure was in everything.

  There were two possibilities here: escape and take Penny with me or face the researchers in the tsez̈ø and get answers. Penny walked into the front door and stared at me in the middle of my inner debate. She was stiff and hesitated to walk closer, but her eyes were gentler now. She came to me at the table and sat down. Then, she took my hands.

  “I want to understand this better. Please tell me more of what’s going on,” she said.

  I couldn’t be totally honest with her. She would dismiss everything and might even run away. I had to be tactful but somewhat truthful.

  So, I began, “I transferred here from another school. I was part of the linguistics program there. I went back because there were some problems with the . . . transfer process.”

  “That’s annoying.” she responded. “But, what does that have to do with this big secret?”

  “While I was there, I was mistaken for an intern and taken to another department,” I said hesitantly.

  “But why did you go?”

  “Something seemed strange. There were new security provisions that I’d never seen before, so I wanted to investigate why the human studies lab would need clearance for entry.”

  “The what?” she asked, confused and suspicious.

  “Human evolution.” I corrected, hoping that I hadn’t put her off too much.

  “Oh. And, what did you actually find?”

  I scanned the cafe for onlookers and then leaned in close to her. “I found a specimen, a . . . primate . . . that had been operated on, but was still living. It was trying to escape the laboratory until one of the lab assistants stunned it and dragged it back to the testing room.”

  Her eyes widened and she scooted back from me, looking wildly around the room. “What the hell?! Can they even do that?!”

  “I don’t think so. That department is supposed to be a social sciences department, not a biology or medical department.” I said, trying to shush her.

  “That’s plenty of proof for the police! You’re an eyewitness!” she whispered loudly.

  “No, no. You don’t understand,” I answered, shaking my head.

  “What don’t I understand about it? If these people are dangerous, you need protection, and they can’t keep doing what they’re doing! Why are they even doing it in the first place?”

  My spine tingled. I had no idea. I sniffed the air as I might have in my old body, trying to sense territory lines or aggressive pheromones. I was overwhelmed by cold and confusion.

  “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But, I’ve been staying in an inn, and I found . . .” I trailed off.

  “You found what?” She asked, but I didn’t answer. She asked again, more insistently, “You found what?!”

  “I found blood in my room.” I said quietly and lowered my eyes. “I’m afraid, Penny.”

  She was silent for a moment and then asked, “What are you gonna do then?”

  “I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think it’s safe here.”

  She considered this with her eyes closed in a pained expression and then pursed her lips as she exhaled slowly.

  “Do you have somewhere to go?” she asked.

  “No,” I answered.

  “What about a hotel?”

  “No!” I yelled, drawing attention to us again, “No, I know that I have been followed before. A hotel full of people would be a perfect place for someone to follow again, undetected.”

  “I’ll call my cousin. The family has a beach house a few hours up north. It’s pretty secluded. Maybe we can stay there for a few days and figure this out.”

  Chapter 11

  D

  uring the walk back to the apartment, Penny tapped away at her device and said, “I hope Delilah doesn’t finally text me back about this. She’s left me on read for days. It’d be annoying if she only replied t
o me telling her that I’m gonna be gone.”

  “Delilah?” I hunched my shoulders.

  “Yeah. You met her at the park. This is silly to admit, but I think she was a little jealous of you. I knew that she had a crush on me, but I didn’t think she’d ghost me for talking to someone.”

  “Oh, I see. Are you and Delilah close?”

  “Yeah, kinda. She’s been one of my closest friends since I got here. I wish she hadn’t disappeared. Maybe it’s for the best, though. She’d be salty about all of . . .” Penny gestured around her and tried to encapsulate the whole situation in a wave of her hands. “This.”

  “I’m very sorry, Penny.” I wished she knew just how sorry and for what, but I couldn’t possibly tell her.

  She looked up from her device and walked slowly as if she didn’t want to reach our destination. I tried to catch her eye, but I couldn’t. She was too deep in her mind to notice that I shared her concern.

  ***

  When we arrived at her apartment, the door was slightly ajar just as my room at the inn had been. I motioned for her to be silent and stay behind me. She nodded her head up and down in comprehension. I slid between the doors and saw that, again like at the inn, things had been thrown across the room and broken. This time, however, rather than signs of a struggle, it appeared to be rage.

  A board in the floor creaked behind me, and the hair on my neck stood up straight. As I swiveled to look at Penny, I saw a familiar face in the doorway of the bathroom. It was Darius, but just barely. He’d begun a modification!

  All of the color drained from Penny’s face as she backed up flat against the wall. She hid behind me, completely unaware of what she was seeing. Darius fought the transformation process and tried to crawl toward us. As his body tore and wriggled on the floor, blood and tissues littered the carpet behind him, and the squish and suction of his body changing was audible at each stage.

  I couldn’t think. Why would he modify here? It made no sense until his natural coloring began to develop. Rather than a yellow belly and black back like mine, the forming scales along his body were ruddy, earthy tones with dark stripes just like the ebony bands of his human body. He was not part of my community at all.

  If he was of another race, his scales could grip land surfaces. That would leave only the benefit of his true body’s strength without the handicap of slow movement.

  “Find a weapon! Anything!” I screamed at Penny, “And, stay away from him!”

  As she ran for the other side of the sitting area and then disappeared into her bedroom, I approached Darius. He was still reeling in pain, but he’d almost completely transformed back to his original body. I landed a swift kick to his head, trying to knock him out before he regained his full strength.

  He let out a garbled hiss and fell to the ground. I struck him again with my foot into his ribs and grabbed the coat tree by the door. I pulled it swiftly up and behind me to swing down on him as his head lifted to look at me. I only had a few moments to determine the outcome of this altercation.

  I swung down with all of my might and hit his shoulder as he tried to swivel out of the way. The wood splintered and left a long gash in his flesh, but he began to rise from the floor regardless. The majesty of his broad chest and enormous, scaled tail stunned me.

  He bared his fangs and placed his clawed fingers over the gash. His forked tongue parted the grimace on his face, and he sensed my fear through my body’s chemistry. He darted toward me, and I swung again, hitting his side. He swiftly darted his tail forward and whipped it against my back so that I stumbled closer to him. He swiped clawed fingers at me and missed me by millimeters as I ducked away, tearing my shirt with his claws.

  I backed up, but he advanced again. Unlike my own born body, his gripped the floor here effortlessly. He was clearly a river or lake species unlike the sea species of my home.

  Penny appeared in my peripheral vision and shuddered again. She held up a long, smooth piece of wood that I later learned was a ‘baseball bat’. She inched toward him, lifted the bat, and then froze as he turned on her. He whipped his tail at her, grasped the bat, and threw it across the room into a cushioned chair that nearly broke on impact.

  Still stunned and motionless, she waited for his next move. I swung the coat tree before he could strike and hit him in the head. This time, he fell but managed to flick the tree from my hand with his tail as if it weighed as much as paper. I kicked at him again and heard another utterance of pain. That gave me hope that I was doing some sort of damage.

  Frustrated now, he rose up to full height from the ground and puffed out his chest to me. Even with my puny human nose, I could smell the ferocity of the nonverbal cues he was sending. With an open hand, he swung his arm and struck me hard in the face. I flew rightward onto the carpeted floor near the chair, and blood began to pool and drip from my nose and lip.

  “What do you want?” I yelled.

  “I am here to clean up your mess! You have put us all in danger! Your people and the rest of us.”

  “But why come here? Penny didn’t make any mistakes? I have! Let her go!”

  “She knows too much. And now, it is my duty to prove my allegiance to the community and bring you both to the tsez̈ø.”

  He lunged at her, and I lunged for the bat. Before I could land another strike, he had his hands around her waist and was hoisting her up over his shoulder.

  I swung the bat up high and screamed, “Stop!”

  Again, he flung the bat away. “You, human sympathizer! How can you choose one of the filth over your own kind? Do you know who you are?!”

  I batted at him with a closed fist and connected with his jaw. Despite his injuries, he advanced on me and grabbed my shoulders while Penny hung uselessly over his. He shook me violently and then squeezed as if to burst my lungs.

  “The interloper! Your competition. She invaded your personal lodging! When I was sent to assess her risk to the community, I found her among your things! She was a criminal! I took care of that for you, and still, you are not grateful!”

  “Delilah? Why was she in my room? What did you do to her!”

  “I disposed of her as I had to do! She posed a threat to all of us with her snooping!” He spat. “She was exterminated for the greater good, and why not? They all pose a threat to us, and so do the human sympathizers like you, lost one! You do not know who you are!”

  Penny wiggled in response, trying to escape him. He moved one of his hands to my throat as he used the other to hold her in place. I could feel the tips of his claws pinching my skin, primed to dig just beneath it.

  “Yes. Some of the humans are bad, but each of them is unique! And, they deserve to prove themselves. They should not be test subjects! Do you know what is happening to them at the tsez̈ø?”

  “Of course! Only the naive are unaware of the true need for humans to our species. We are nearly destroyed! Driven to near extinction with their ever growing populations and wastefulness! Our numbers dwindle for reasons in the thousands now and all because of these wretches!” His hold on me tightened the longer he spoke.

  “But . . .” I said, “We’re killing them . . .”

  “Only the weak die, and it is to save the strong! Their garbage, the swirls of plastics in the ocean and the swamps and rivers do not cost them what they have cost us. The fertility of my people is almost nothing from their pollution! My community is under one hundred now even with the experimental measures that we have taken! I have come to the oɦiṣod for help, and found that your people have barely discovered the usefulness of the humans to us! These creatures are not innocent! They are . . .”

  He broke off with a roar and dropped Penny onto the ground. As she hit the floor, I saw that red dripped from her mouth. Darius placed a clawed hand on his back and then inspected his blood-covered fingers.

  She kicked up at him as he advanced on her, and I ran for the bat. With his hands around her throat, Penny began to create a hollow gaspin
g noise. I turned on him and with a single swipe, cracked the bat against his skull. He fell to the floor, and I stood above him, primed and ready to strike again if he moved. He writhed for just a moment before his body stiffened, motionless.

  ***

  “What the hell is going on here?” she asked, trying to melt herself into the wall and disappear from sight. “And what does he know about Delilah?”

  I looked down cautiously at Darius, who bled profusely onto the carpet. There was still no movement, so I sat the bat on the floor and kicked it toward her slowly, putting my own hands up. “I can explain,” I said, unaware of how I could do so.

  “So do it! Explain!” she yelled at me, shaking.

  “I really am a researcher. I’ve studied human language my whole life and have specialized in it for the last few years. I’ve reached an age in my community where I have to complete an important task. I believed that it was to show my loyalty and help me understand the wider world. A rite of passage that all of my people complete.”

  “What task?”

  “My task has been to befriend a human and retrieve her for my research center. I was told that the researchers would hypnotize the humans, talk with them, learn from them, and return them home. My research department never worked with humans at all, just human manuscripts.”

  “I don’t understand. You keep saying humans like you aren’t one!” she said, clearly hoping that I would correct her.

  “My current body is human, and I have learned about humans all of my life. But, my born body is not. I was not born this way.” I explained.

  “So, what, you’re one of . . . one of those?!” she stuttered, pointing at Darius, and seeing the mess of a creature on the floor, she leaned over and vomited into the plush gray carpet beneath her feet. She looked up at me then from her tear and vomit smeared face and asked, “What are you going to do with me?”

  “What?” I asked her, alarmed.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” she cried, taking a step toward the bat and squishing the puke in front of her into the carpet.