Everybody looked at Sophia.

“You want to go through pain, mutation and risk death and permanent deformity?” Lewis asked.

I responded, “Commander, there are reasons that we can go through with you, and once we do, you may even be providing additional volunteers to go through this. Before we do that, do we have an agreement so far?”

“You are holding back information, but it will come to light. This is happening worldwide.” Lewis said.

“Yes, but not in time for this anomaly. There will be more anomalies, but there are reasons we want to use this one,” I said.

“Commander,” Carla said, “I realise Bob is being difficult, and his basic makeup is to be a selfish bastard. I know you have contingency plans that will make our lives miserable, but they won’t work in time for this anomaly, and this is an opportunity for you as well as us. Trust me, the more you push Bob, the more stubborn he gets. But we can move forward together, and I believe we can do it well.”

“Bob is not the only one I can push,” Lewis said.

Sophia spoke up, “You can certainly push us, but you are not the only one with contingency plans, and ours will also make your life miserable.” It was unsaid, but understood that secrets would come to light.

“Let’s work together, Commander. Do we have an agreement?” Carla said.

“It won’t hold up in court,” Lewis said.

“No, but if we end up in court, everything is bust.” Carla said, “We are willing to move ahead with trust and general agreement. Are you?”

Lewis thought for a bit, then nodded, “Very well, I accept the agreement in principle and will do my best to honour the spirit of it.”

“Thank you, commander. We also accept and will endeavour to abide by the spirit of it,” Carla said, and Soph and I also agreed verbally for the recordings.

Carla nodded to me.

“There are several reasons why we want to use this anomaly. You are aware different anomalies have different colours?”

Lewis and Amanda nodded.

I believe they give off a different energy. I have been calling it essence, so we will stick to that. I believe some of the different essences will clash with each other; it may be related to the colour, or it may be something completely unknown.”

I took a breath, “Something happened in this last mutation that created a link or a connection between Carla and my essences. That is how I was able to save her. I pumped my essence down the link, and it was enough to pull her through and the mutation to complete. If I hadn’t, she would be dead. As it is, she doesn't have enough essence to change between her forms without me sharing essence with her.”

“He has a fuck ton of essence, like maybe five or six times what I have,” Carla said.

“And it took everything to keep her alive, Maybe not everything; I was only half refilled from the first time.”

“So it refills,” Amanda said.

“Yes, but rates and stuff we will have to experiment with.”

“Why do you have so much more than Carla?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It could be personal differences. My working theory is that the number of mutations you go through is the main factor. We are off-topic. What Carla and Sophia want to try is to recreate the link between themselves. Therefore, compatibility between the essences is an essential starter.”

“I understood mutations were random,” Lewis said.

“I don’t believe they are totally random. I believe they can be guided. I get that theory from my mutations. The first time I found I was in the essence Sphere of this anomaly, I was stung by a mutated Jellyfish. What changed is my skin.”

Amanda perked up even more if that was possible.

“I believe my skin became like the membrane of a jellyfish and can absorb oxygen from the water because I no longer need to breathe when underwater. It works on land as well, but I think the humidity of the atmosphere plays a part there. More testing required.”

“I can focus our current cellular testing now we know what to look for,” Amanda said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“That is a very useful skill to have,” Lewis said. I could tell his mind had made the connections, and he was thinking about how mutations could benefit the Navy.

“The risk of death is real. I think the 50/50 chances are the random mutations. I think with directed mutations, the chances of living are better, and with medical intervention, they improve again. Between Carla and I, we have four mutations. Without medical intervention, the survival rate was three out of four. With medical intervention, it is four out of four.”

“Medical intervention alone was not enough,” Amanda pointed out.

“No, but it made the difference that mattered, and I have no doubt you will get better as you know more,” Carla said.

“Think about the benefits if we can guide the mutations,” I said. “Carla has gills, and I can breathe underwater. Her body is tougher and pressure-resistant. Scales protect her, and who knows what else is in her other forms? She is essentially a shape changer. Can she enable other forms in the future? There is a good indication she can.”

“You are avoiding telling us your other mutations,” Lewis said.

“My other mutations all revolve around senses. My sense of hearing and smell are off the charts. I mean, off the charts, it is hard for me to control and concentrate. I can hear your heartbeats. I can hear the heartbeat of the guard at the door. The smell is a pain. I can smell your deodorant and what you had for lunch. I can fucking smell you are on your period,” I said to the Navy flunky, “If you are here to seduce me, that is not a good start.”

“Bob,” growled Carla, accompanied by a strong long pulse. “I apologise for Bob. He is blunt, rude and doesn’t care what others think of him. She is not here to seduce you, Bob.”

“What else am I to think? She is pretty and sitting there with a pen and fucking paper even though the meeting is being recorded. What else is she here for?”

“She is with the Navy legal department,” Sophia said, “You can tell by that badge on her shoulder.”

“Did you not see her give the Commander permission to accept our agreement?” Carla said. “Now you have pissed off a lawyer. You are so fucked.”

“My life is so fucked anyway. Maybe I should go for another mutation.”

“No!” said Carla and Soph together.

Carla continued, “I can’t change form without you, and I don’t want to be called Fishface for the rest of my life.”

“Bugger!” I said, frustrated, “I was saving that one for an opportune time.”

“Perhaps,” said Commander Lewis in commander mode, “We can put down the previous comments as a simple example of the power of his mutation.”

“Yes, sir,” said the Lieutenant flunky.

“Oh, don’t suck up to him…”

“Bob!” Carla and Soph said together.

“Shut up.” continued Carla.

“Is there anything else we should know about your mutations, Mr. Wilkinson?” Lewis said.

“Actually, yes. There is one more I need help with. I think it is from the shark and is called electroreceptors or electromagnetism. I sense electrical fields that are close to me, like within two meters. I turned to Amanda, sitting next to me, “I can sense the electrical fields in your arm, but there is more. It is like a huge electrical field we are swimming in. I did some research on sharks, and there is a lot of data to indicate sharks can sense the earth's geomagnetic field, and that is how they navigate.”

“That is fascinating,” Amanda said, “I look forward to helping you with that.”

“That is a lot of mutations for only three times,” Lewis said.

“I am special. I don’t know why some get one, and some get more. Look at her,” I said, pointing to Carla, “She went crazy and got at least two massive ones on her first try.”

“I want a clarification,” Amanda said, “You, Carla, want to recreate the essence link but with Sophia. What you haven’t said is what you think would help direct that mutation?”

“This is all speculation, but there was a lot of blood in the water when we were fighting the shark,” Carla said, “Mine, his, the sharks. That is what we think might direct the mutation.”

“Mutation seems to be directed by being affected by a mutated creature in the essence Sphere of an Anomaly Point,” I said. “I was mutated already, as was the shark. She has a link with me, but not the shark. The shark may have died, or maybe it was random, I don’t know. Maybe it is something else entirely.”

“That seems pretty flimsy to risk your life over,” Amanda said to Sophia.

“The main thing is having the same essence,” Sophia said. “If we don’t create the link, we don't. I am committed to Carla. I need to be able to be there to stop her from doing more crazy things. Bob is not a good influence. If she hadn’t been in hospital on New Year's Eve, we would have been in Rotorua in the hot pools, and I would have proposed to her.”

“Would you?” Carla said excitedly, “I accept. All we need now are the hot pools.”

“No, we don’t,” said Sophia, leaning over and kissing her.

“Congratulations on your engagement,” said Amanda.

They both smiled back at her.

“Do you think the method you described for directing the mutation is reliable?” Lewis asked me.

“I don’t fucking know, but that is what happened to me,” I said.

“But we can only test it with people,” he said.

“Are you thinking of getting some volunteers?” I asked.

“Yes, and I am thinking we could get an aquarium of sea creatures and leave them to mutate close to the anomaly, and then the volunteers could kill, cut, eat, whatever is needed to direct the mutation.”

“Death or bad mutations are a real option.”

“We are the Navy. Death is always a possibility. We put our lives on the line for our country.”

“Well, don’t just think about sea creatures. I bet those gulls are mutating, and Auckland does have a zoo.”