BBW: Anomaly Points Book 1

23. Showtime.

I used the outboard motor to move closer to the Anomaly. I would need to check with the maps, but I am sure where I detected the Essenance Sphere would be reaching the shore on the other side of it. It was also stronger. I stopped the boat well back from where I had waited when Carla was on the rocks. I wasn’t close to being overwhelmed, but I was under pressure.

I dropped anchor. I spent some time looking at the clear water for hazards. I think the shark had shaken me more than I thought. The tide was about mid-way in.

I took off my T-shirt and put on the flippers. I strapped the diver's knife to my leg. Before taking the plunge, I grabbed the rope on the edge of the boat and leaned over far enough to stick my head under the water.

I listened. I could hear fish moving around. Nothing large seemed to be around, but the jellyfish wasn’t large either. I let water up my nose for a one-off sniff. I couldn’t smell blood, but there were a lot of smells I could not recognise.

Before I took the plunge, I tried my Electro-receptors. I had been doing this, but there was a lot of interference on a bloody warship. Here, I could sense the Earth's geomagnetic field quite well. I was about 35km from the Bean Rock Lighthouse, but it was westerly. This morning’s swim from the Manawanui was about eight to ten km North of here. From my research, the earth's geomagnetic fields were the strongest at the poles. That makes sense, as that is how compasses work.

The nearest pole to me was the south pole, and I could feel the field being a bit stronger here than this morning, ten km north. I think that with a bit of practice, I will always know where South is. I guess if I were in the Northern Hemisphere, I would be sensing the North Pole. I have no idea why anyone would want to live in the northern hemisphere. I will stick to my little slice of paradise. Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, my little slice of paradise is not going to be exempt from being fucked along with the rest of the world.

Enough delays. Time to fully submerge and see what is around. I slipped over the edge of the boat and floated under the water, looking and sensing. I heard a propeller start up, and soon, a remote underwater drone appeared. I ignored it, but I was annoyed. And it fucked with my hearing. It is a shame the anomalies only seem to affect the living.

I turn my attention to the anomaly itself. I can’t see it, it is too far away. I can’t hear it. I can’t smell it. I take another noseful of water to check, and no, nothing seems to be there. Fuck, I hate doing that.

My essence core knows it is there, and I can sense its direction. I can obviously sense its strength. What else? Its colour or flavour matches mine. Let’s go with colour. We are compatible. That makes sense since it mutated me, but what would happen when I find a colour I am not compatible with? Eventually, I am going to find that out, but not now.

My connection to Carla pulses with the signal that it is time to head back to the barge. Meal package one awaits, I assume. It is not an emergency, or that would be a different signal.

I have a connection to Carla. Do I have a connection to the anomaly? That is a good question. Is its destruction going to hurt us or cut us off or something? I spent some time trying to sense any connection. I couldn’t find any. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It just means I couldn’t find one. The destruction of the anomaly will be the test there.

This is why I need time on my own to think and process. Fuck being with people and always in communication with people. Give me peace and quiet and time to think. I spent some more time before going back to the radio in the boat. I am going to leave it on the barge next time with my phone.

I surface and head the boat back to the barge, and Carla helps me tie it up and get back aboard. She has stripped down to her bikini, so I admire the view. It is not the string bikini. Her scales were all over her body. I wondered why she was bothering with a bikini.

“You had better eat your meal,” she said, “I had mine half an hour ago at 12:15.”

“Have they been bugging you much?”

“Yeah, but I left you alone.”

“Thanks.”

I am not a good lab rat.

I carefully examined Meal 1, but it looked normal. The apricot looked and tasted like an apricot. The assumption is the resistance against mutating will extend to what we eat as it seems to extend to the microbes that we breathe. This, of course, needs testing. Does food that is alive but not growing mutate? Can we eat mutated animals and plants in the anomaly’s essence sphere without mutating? They are reasonably sure we can. Lunch was an egg sandwich, fruit, an energy bar and lots of water.

“How's the essence?” I asked.

“Good. It is getting stronger, tougher, more compact, and my control is improving.”

“Mine is too, but yours seems to me improving faster. I am not sure if it is because of how much I have or if you are better at this than me.”

“Probably both.”

“Probably both,” I agreed. “Are you going to go for a swim?”

“Yeah, just around the barge. I was waiting until you got back. I want to test the gills more and try different swimming techniques. I will see what works for me in this form.”

I eyed her up and down, “You know you are still looking good.”

Carla laughed, “You have strange tastes, Bob. It probably wouldn’t feel so good if we were to put on a show for the Navy.” She grabbed my hand and ran it up and down her scales.

“Not sure,” I said. “It would need testing.”

She laughed again, “You fucking idiot.”

“Oh, wait. I am not used to thinking about others. What does Soph think about us and …”

“And your teenage sexual innuendos?”

“And the sex,” I said.

“She is OK. Being A-sexual doesn't mean she is anti-sex, it just doesn’t do much for her. She doesn’t feel sexual attraction. It is the emotional attraction that is important to her. We have had sex, but I can tell she is just doing it for me. She is fine with me getting sex elsewhere.”

“So you have your stable of men and women around the city, huh?”

Carla laughed, “Something like that. Soph and I have been serious for a bit over two years, and I have had to cull my stable. People start to want to connect and share lives, go on dates, etc, emotionally. You, Bob, are my emotionally stunted hero.”

“What, even before I saved your life?”

“Yes, even before you saved my life.”

“Twice.”

“Yes, twice. Soph is fine with us having sex. It is your personality that is tough to get used to.”

“I can understand that. So she would be OK with us putting on a show for the Navy, then?”

Carla laughed again, “Soph would be fine, but I am not. I am not used to this form yet, and I need to get used to it. I am going to go for a swim. You might need to cool off a bit as well. When we have a chance to slow down, you can help me back into my human skin, and then we can experiment.”

“Fair enough. If we mess it up and you end up in your shark form, you are not coming near me with those teeth!”