Swimming Without a Net Read online

  And God damn it if she wasn’t getting kind of fond of Tennian. Girl wouldn’t have said shit if she had a mouthful when they’d first met, but now…

  That’s all right, Fred said. It’s the elephant in the room. We were bound to trip over it sooner or later. If she’d been speaking out loud, likely none of them would have had the vaguest idea what she was talking about. But they plucked her meaning from her thoughts, and many people were nodding.

  Anyway, I guess that’s all I’ve got to say.

  Before she could pull away, or scream, Tennian had seized her hand and was pulling her over to a large knot of Undersea Folk, all of whom had much friendlier expressions on their faces than they’d had twenty minutes ago.

  Damn, Tennian, remind me to never get on your bad side.

  Small-minded, close-minded, tiny-brained fools, Tennian was muttering, a constant stream of insults that flowed across Fred’s brain. As if we must be judged by the actions of one we had never met! Foolish, foolish…

  All right, calm down. Pay attention. Here comes more testimony.

  The daughter of the surface dweller is right! an obvious Air Breather testified. It is our land, just as it is theirs. Why should we hide? We have done nothing wrong! Why must we languish in brackish pools and never feel the sun?

  The Air Breather—Fred hadn’t caught her name—went on in this vein for some time. Fred was amused to realize that when she’d heard “the daughter of the surface dweller is right!” she’d had no idea what the gal was going to argue until she’d said it. Because Fred hadn’t really advocated either course of action.

  This was made clear when several Traditionals spoke, also backing Fred up: we don’t know how the bipeds will react; we can’t trust them; it’s safer to stay hidden as we have for centuries; we risk nothing and we lose nothing.

  Oh, nuts.

  What? Tennian sent back.

  I don’t think I’ve helped them resolve a damn thing.

  Never mind. You did your job, which is all anyone could ask of you.

  Then why did she feel like she’d let both parties down?

  Thirty-four

  Mekkam had asked Fred to remain after the Pelagic, so it was startling to see hundreds of Undersea Folk swimming off all at once…except for her. Several of them nodded to her, and one or two of the younger ones even waved.

  Finally, they were alone…as alone as a mermaid and a king can be in an ocean teeming with life, anyway.

  What can I do for you, Mekkam?

  Only this. You were wise to commit to neither faction, but would you tell me your true thoughts.

  If they’d been walking they would have fallen into step together; instead, she swam on his left, noticing he set a pace she could easily keep up with. Tactful, and then some.

  That’s just it, Mekkam. I really don’t know what you guys should do. I’d be fine whatever you picked. There’s pros and cons to both.

  Indeed.

  But you must have a preference. Duh, of course you have a preference. In fact, the Traditionals are totally in your corner. You want to keep your people safe and I can respect that.

  But at what cost, Fredrika? To deny them their birthright? Smothering is not protecting, and I would rather not hurt my people while trying to help them.

  Fred swam in silence for a moment. Yeah, well, good luck with all of that.

  Would you really change your life if the Air Breathers swing the vote?

  Sure. If all you guys will, it’s the least I can do. Hell, all I’d have to do is show my boss my tail. It’d be all over Boston in a week.

  That does not surprise me, since you would be changing your life a great deal should you come with us. I am pleased my son has chosen well. Mekkam smiled at her, keeping his sharp teeth well concealed, and Fred almost smiled back. I hope you choose him as well.

  Well, we’ll see what we’ll see, I s’pose.

  That we will, Fredrika.

  They swam back to the beach, both lost in their own thoughts.

  For her own part, Fred was thinking that if her mother hadn’t remarried, she’d have introduced Moon to the king.

  What’s wrong with me? she thought, horrified. Being around Jonas has given me matchmaking on the brain!

  Thirty-five

  “Great,” Fred muttered as she stood up out of the surf, Mekkam beside her. “Here comes my boss.”

  “Hello, Dr. Bimm! Hello…er…” Dr. Barb, clad in a navy blue one-piece and an absurdly floppy straw hat, skidded to a halt in front of Mekkam. “You must be one of Dr. Bimm’s family. I, ah, apologize for intruding…”

  “No need, good lady. I am—”

  “A nudist!” Fred burst out. “We’re all…I mean, my family is all nudists. We like to be nude. All the time. That’s why the private resort.”

  “Of—of course. I understand. I—I’m making you uncomfortable and I apologize. I’ll—”

  “Not at all, good lady. Will you dine with us? I would like to hear more about the New England Aquarium. Fredrika and I will clothe ourselves, of course.”

  “Of course,” Fred added sourly.

  Mekkam gallantly held out an arm. And without so much as a half second of hesitation, Dr. Barb latched on to it.

  No doubt about it, Fred thought, trudging behind him. The old guy’s still got it. Wouldn’t Dr. Barb shit if she knew how old he was, never mind what he really looked like when he was naked?

  “I think it’s wonderful that your whole family can get together like this.”

  Mekkam forked another lobster claw onto Barb’s plate. “Oh, we do not do it very often, good lady. This is a special occasion.”

  “I gathered. Dr. Bimm has never had a vacation in all the years she has worked for me, and then all of a sudden she took all her accumulated time at once!”

  “The islands beckoned,” Fred said sourly, polishing off another biscuit.

  “We have much family business to discuss,” Mekkam continued, refilling Dr. Barb’s iced tea. “Perhaps we will need your help with some of it.”

  “And perhaps not,” Fred said sharply.

  “Oh, I couldn’t presume to interfere,” Dr. Barb said seriously. “It’s bad enough I’m here at all.”

  Jonas kicked Fred under the table before she could form a suitably acidic reply.

  Mekkam smiled, but it was an odd look: distant and almost unfriendly. “You never can tell,” he said. “All things come together in the end, whether we wish it or not. Some might see your arrival here as a portent.”

  “And some might see it as a pain in my—Owwww, Jonas!”

  “Sorry. My foot slipped again.”

  “My fist is going to slip if you don’t cut the shit!”

  “Fredrika,” Mekkam said with absent authority. “Jonas. You have attained maturity; display it for us, if you please.”

  Embarrassed, Fred and Jonas stopped in mid-squabble. Dr. Barb’s eyes went wide and, when Mekkam went out to see Artur, she leaned over and whispered, “He’s the patriarch, isn’t he? Your uncle, maybe?”

  “Patriarch, yeah,” Fred sighed. “Something like that.”

  Thirty-six

  “Oh my God! It’s after me! It’s gonna kill me!” Jonas was frantically thrashing his way back to her. His snorkel was askew and his mask was on crooked as he sputtered and flailed. “Get it away. Get it awaaaaaay!”

  Fred saw the ray, a gorgeous specimen with a four-foot wingspan, and swallowed a sneer of disgust. “Will you calm down? It’s harmless.”

  “Tell that to Steve Irwin,” Jonas retorted. “God, I’m surrounded by living creatures! This sucks!”

  “Well, it is the ocean, Jonas. And stop thrashing. You’re doing a perfect imitation of a nice plump seal in distress.”

  “Aaagggghhh!”

  “Oh, calm down. You’re perfectly safe. We’re not even thirty feet offshore.” Dr. Barb was still sunbathing on her stomach, Fred was relieved to see, and there was no chance she could see Fred’s tail, even if she was facing the right wa
y and staring straight at them.

  “That thing is huge!” Jonas accidentally took a gulp of salt water and coughed for five minutes. “I’m telling you, it’s thinking about how I might taste.”

  The ray couldn’t have given a shit about how Jonas might taste; it was swimming gracefully around them, either curious or looking for food or both.

  She tried to distract him. “Hey, you know what another name for a ray is? Mermaid’s purse!”

  “How fascinating, now will you please kill it so that I may live?”

  “I’m not killing it, Jonas.” She grasped his arm, peeked again at the dozing Dr. Barb, and with a powerful flex of her tail, propelled them twenty feet in the other direction. “There, okay? Now you’re surrounded by just fish and maybe a sea turtle.”

  Jonas coughed for another ten minutes. “You want to warn me before you turn the motor on?” he gasped after a long while.

  “All you’ve done since we’ve gotten to this island is bitch. Well, that and have sex with Dr. Barb. What’s the matter?”

  “Are you kidding? You don’t think it’s a little stressful, spending all day on the beach wondering what you guys are talking about? Then worrying your girlfriend will figure out your best friend’s biggest secret?”

  “Lame,” Fred decided.

  “Drinking rum and Cokes all by yourself because your girlfriend is a scientist who just has to go poking around the local flora and fauna? She spent three hours feeding grapes to the iguanas yesterday—”

  “Poor baby. Even when she’s here, you’re feeling ignored.”

  “—wondering if today’s the day you’re going to decide to beach yourselves all at once, preferably in front of CNN cameras? Do you know how stressful that is?”

  “You’re stressed? I’ve been freaking out ever since I found out my testimony might actually have an impact on the decision!”

  A long, dark shape glided past Jonas, and Fred couldn’t help it; her eyes widened. Unfortunately Jonas saw and spun around. “What? What? Oh my God, it’s a great white, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

  “Could be,” Fred said cautiously. “I don’t think I can take one on by myself. Just…sit…still…” I’m going to hell, she reminded herself with an internal grin.

  “Oh my God!” Jonas screamed in a whisper.

  The dark shape surfaced…and blew a stream of water between Jonas’s eyes. “Good evening, Jonas. Little Rika.”

  “You scared the hell out of me!” Jonas roared. “Don’t ever do that again unless you want to be chopped into a hundred Filet-O-Fish sandwiches! I know the VP of marketing at McDonald’s; I could make it happen!”

  “Jonas is feeling a little hysterical this evening,” Fred explained. “I think he’s having his period.”

  “I did not know such things were normal for the males of your kind.”

  “They aren’t,” Jonas huffed. “I’m out of here. You two will have to find some other biped to torture.” He began laboriously paddling toward shore. “And you both have split ends!” was his parting shot as a wave closed over his head, swallowing the rest of his insults.

  “I didn’t really think about it like that,” Fred said, watching him go.

  “Like what, Little Rika?”

  “He said it’s really nerve-racking, waiting to see what we decide.”

  “For us no less than him.”

  “Right, right. What’s up?”

  “Nothing is up.” He pulled her into his embrace and nuzzled the top of her head. “I only wished to see you.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s nice. Careful, Dr. Barb’s onshore.”

  “I see her. Though I seriously doubt she sees me…or you, for that matter.” He dismissed Dr. Barb with a shrug. “You did well today. I expected nothing less, of course.”

  “Of course. Well, it was definitely interesting. Never thought I’d see Tennian riding to the rescue, that’s for sure.”

  “Yes, she is something of—you would call her a rebel.”

  “Tennian?”

  “Oh, yes. She was the despair of her family for many years.”

  Fred started giggling and was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop. “Oh, right. I can see it now. They must have wept over her antics for days. Months!”

  “Are you quite well, Little Rika? You seem in…unusually high spirits.”

  “I’m probably light-headed,” she admitted. “Haven’t had a chance to eat today.”

  “Then come along.”

  “Oh, more seaweed grazing?” she asked hopefully.

  “If you wish.”

  “I really liked that place.”

  “As did I, and not only because you were pleased to join me.”

  “Artur, what if I have to tell you no?”

  The smile slipped from his face. “I will have to devoutly hope you do not.”

  “But what will you do? Find someone else?”

  “Ah, Little Rika. Were you not listening to your own testimony? There is no one else like you.”

  “How horrifying,” she joked.

  “But singularly comforting,” he said, and leaned forward, and kissed her softly.

  She kissed him back, and the waves rocked them, pushing them farther into each other’s embrace.

  “Rika, my Rika…”

  “Not your Rika,” she mumbled against his mouth. “Don’t spoil this.”

  “Oh, never! Tell me, Rika, are you fertile?”

  “You mean, right this second? No. But in general? Yeah. I’m pretty sure.” She menstruated, which had to count for something. She assumed she was fertile because she had not had occasion to think otherwise. Funny how her own biology was of no interest to her at all.

  But maybe that was just another way to hide.

  “Oh, excellent.”

  “If your plan is to knock me up and force a shotgun marriage,” she warned him, “it won’t work.”

  “The thought,” he assured her, nibbling an earlobe, “never crossed my mind.”

  Thirty-seven

  Good morning.

  Hi.

  Hello.

  Morning.

  Good morning, Fredrika.

  Hi, Tennian.

  This is my friend, Bettan—I believe you met?

  Sure. Fred shook hands with the lean, red-haired mermaid.

  I hope you will not judge me by the company I keep, Bettan teased, no doubt referring to Meerna’s anti-half-breed diatribe from yesterday.

  Gosh, that would be terrible! Being judged by the people you’re with instead of, you know…who you are.

  An awkward silence followed that, and Fred had a rare twinge of conscience: had she gone too far?

  But then Tennian, as usual, saved the day. You are wise, Fredrika, as well as fearless. And yes, that would be terrible.

  I found your testimony quite interesting, a strange merman she’d never met spoke up in her mind.

  As did I, a merman named Linnen added.

  They chatted for a few minutes, Fred well aware she had Tennian’s outburst the day before to thank for everyone’s friendliness. And Artur, of course.

  When the group broke up, Tennian whispered in her brain, What’s amazing is, Linnen is a Traditional and Coykinda is an Air Breather! And yet they both found something to take away from your testimony.

  In other words, I didn’t help at all: things are exactly the way they were two days ago.

  Someone with a grim view of things might see it that way, Tennian admitted.

  That’s me, baby. Grim View is my middle name. Well, names. Say, Tennian, can I ask you something?

  Ask.

  Which are you?

  Oh, I’m an Air Breather! I do not wish to hide!

  Fred snickered. Why am I not surprised?

  But my family is Traditional. They think it is dangerous to expose themselves to the bipeds. And they side with the royal family in all things.

  Not you, though, huh?

  Artur understands, Tennian thought confidently. We were babies together. />
  Well, your family’s not entirely wrong. It might be dangerous.

  So is swimming alone in strange water; so is hunting in killer whale territory. Life is dangerous, and I do not care! It would be worth it to walk on the grass and not be afraid all the time.

  If you break out into a rendition of “Part of Your World” I’m going to beat you to death.

  Eh? Oh, see! It starts.

  She was right; it did.

  They will lock us up in their aquariums! Fredrika is right: they will use their knives on us to explore our bodies, and never once think they are hurting people who are as they are.

  And:

  Fredrika is right! The planet belongs no more to them than it does to us; we have as much right to a beach house as a—a—

  Hollywood film producer, Fred added helpfully.

  And:

  The traitor’s daughter is right! Her people foul the water; they will not respect our rights. Better to stay hidden.

  That is not what the traitor’s daughter is saying!

  Uh, guys? The name’s Fred, okay?

  And:

  We will never agree; I do not understand why King Mekkam has not called the question.

  It has not been so very long; do you imply we are as the surface dwellers, never agreeing on anything?

  Ask Fredrika; she would know. I do not. I only know I will not change my mind.

  Nor will I!

  Very well, then!

  Yes, very well!

  Fred rubbed her temples. Around her, testimony went on while minor arguments broke out on all sides. Mekkam called the place to order again and again, but chaos lurked. She wished for an Advil. She wished for a bottle of Advil.

  Finally, the day’s testimony was over. But this time, she was followed—chased, really—back to shore by several Traditionals and Air Breathers, all interrupting each other to be heard on the issue, all waiting for her to validate their opinions.

  Guys—

  Surely you can agree that the history of your mother’s people speaks for itself.

  Guys, I’m really—

  Data does not speak for itself! Fredrika would tell you that her mother’s people have goodness in them, too.