Swish, Swish, Swish

The boat rocked underneath her feet, the foggy morning and salt spray clouded her vision as she looked out at the endless blue. The morning chill bit at her ankles as people moved on the ship behind her. Such a small crew, so little time.

What were they going to do when she told them? They had spent so much time scrapping the sea for life. So much time. . .

A tap on the hull alerted her to the presence of the very thing she had been looking for. A face appeared from the deep. Her whitened hair caught her in its snare and dragged her down to meet the other. Evra shivered as the creature reached up to the back of her neck, claws digging gently into the back of her neck. Pinpricks along the skin there.

"Captain Sterling!" The sea was empty where Evra was sitting, Jason could not see anything from where he was but these files needed done immediately before their return to the sky, and the captain had become more and more. . . distant, "Captain! Base is calling!"

Evra sat up from her kneel and as she stood her knees shook lightly. Once she stood tall she took the documents from his hands before walking off on unsteady feet. She would never be free of this burden, but the base had its rules. Who was she to choose? The nature that made them, or the machine that controlled them?