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?

tap. . . Tap. . . TAP. . .

The cold metal of the boat chilled her bones as she stood in the captains quarters. The ocean chill beckoned her and she could feel the eyes on her from the outside of the porthole. Opal shine caught her gaze and she turned quickly from the waters. Away from the accusation as she folded the fabric of her military tunic away. The mirror bit back at her from the corner of the room and her formidable stance looked back.

The tapping on the window grew louder as the creature tried so hard to gain her attention. The base had called again and again but their beckon had never been so convincing, so beautiful. Not like the pearl of the sea staring at her. Jason had almost seen. His call echoed in her mind from the days before. His following, his desperation. She remembers her words back, her assurance of his worries.

What a farce, she thought. The base wanted evidence of earth being habitable again, the land free for the pillaging again. They pulled at her strings, demanded answers from her, demanded results.

Another softer tap echoed from the window and she met its gaze with weary eyes. The creature's hair shone clear and luminescent in the moonlight of the late night in swaths of glowing white. What she wouldn't give to study it. It held out a pearl to the window, but its shine could not rival that of the being herself. The powder skin and red rimmed eyes cut into her. A foil of her own. Opposite in every way. The creature looked back with bright eyes. It knew not what she was thinking. It raised its hand to her, beckoned with a finger out into the water, called to her with a small note of song as she- it set the pearl on the desk. When had she opened the window for it? When had she let it in? When had she stepped closer?

It could not speak but it need not say words to her to call her over. She reached the window in two strides, in only her inner shirt and underwear. The creature reached out to her once more. Pale scales and almost gem-like fingertips into the claws that had marred her left side. Those claws now traced the harsh lines of her face, over her lips and the mound of her nose, standing out against her skin. Gentle caress pulled her closer as the claws chased down her neck. It scratched against the skin there, and despite the feeling crawling beneath her skin she pulled away.

The creature crooned at her as she pulled away and tried to pull her-No, itself up into the window. Drag her back.

It struggled for a moment. It looked at her, pulled again before sinking back down into the water beneath the window. Resting just before it and watching as she closed the window and walked out.