The space on top of the makeshift wooden structure was large enough to give a clear view of the surrounding area. Mostly ocean but with various shades of blues and greens in waters around. The structure rocked slightly beneath her feet, not entirely stable but not enough to make her stumble. She had grown up on a houseboat after all.

A place of refuge in an ocean populated by a total of three people that Carissa had met, one was Sherry, a younger woman than her who liked to talk about herself, a man called Chas wearing a Hawaiian shirt with matching shorts and bare feet who was laid back and said cryptic comments to her that made little sense and the final one was the leader of their small community.

Mike. He stood in front of her with a wooden club and asking her to take action, to fight. In barefoot, she had a clearer understanding of why Mike, Sherry and Chas all went around without anything on their feet. It enabled them a better grip on the surface.

Her own suit covered her feet though and had done since she had been pulled out of the water by Sherry. The grip that she felt on the wooden surface was decent besides the dampness.

‘I wanted answers and all of you keep giving me nonsense. Who designed this experiment and how do we leave this place?’ asked Carissa.

She had prepared her own stance and taken several steps backward from Mike while keeping her own hands out. She willed the suit to cover her bare hands and face once more.

Her weakness inside her was apparent, she still felt hollowed out and removed.

‘Good, you’re learning. You know how to use the basics of the suit. Not enough though, not enough at all.’ said Mike.

Mike rushed towards her with the club, without any weapons of her own, Carissa decided to get in close to him and stepped in close grabbing onto his arm to try and block any attacks.

She immediately regretted it when Mike simply took a single step backwards and smashed the wooden club straight into her ribs on her right. The pain was diminished by the suit but not entirely eliminated.

Mike reversed his grip on the wooden club and swept under her leg making Carissa stumble and fall to the ground.

‘Second lesson. Stop ignoring system messages. They’re real and can save your life. When was the last time you saw words made of water appear in front of your eyes?’ said Mike.

Pushing herself back onto her feet Carissa settled into a wrestler’s stance, boxing wasn’t going to work when the man could smash the club into her balled up fist. She needed to get close and take him onto the ground, then she could use fists against him.

‘You’ve had some training, not military but likely private. I don’t recognise the style but I can see the confidence in your posture. If you don’t try and fight then I need to come to you. Which would you prefer Lady Carrisa?’ said Mike.

Holding the club and patting it lightly in one hand Mike kept his distance from Carissa before he moved forward and slashed the club in her direction making her back off.

‘Getting in close, a good plan but you’re too focused on me and not your environment. This is my main boat. Do you think that I call it that out of a sense of privilege or to indulge my ego?’ said Mike.

Taking the wooden club Mike slammed it on the floor and stared at Carissa. One of the floor planks from the wooden structure of the lookout tower next to them bent as it loosened, broke off and wrapped itself around Carissa’s ankle. Her movement immediately became restricted in her leg and she resisted the temptation to try and pull it off.

She remained crouched; hands up ready to charge in. Mike lifted up the wooden club and his posture slacked slightly as he rested the weapon on a shoulder. He took in a deep breath and released it, sighing.

‘Carissa. Do you think you’re in your own reality? You’re not even worth fighting, not because of your physical abilities, or rather the lack of them, but to be honest everything about you is screaming prey to my senses. What’s left of them after arriving to this place.’ said Mike.

‘I keep hearing various hints and pieces. What is this place? This experiment? Why were we taken here? Why was I taken here?’ questioned Carissa.

She still circled Mike, keeping a healthy gap beneath herself and him, with one eye on the central lookout tower that lay in the middle of the roof. The wooden plank wrapped around her leg made it difficult to move but she was more concerned about exactly how he did it.

‘That trick with the wood, this whole structure, Sherry, you, it’s all designed to test me, is it? You know who I am and this is some kind of sick game to make me suffer. Did Liam convince you to do this? HOW MUCH WERE YOU PAID FOR THIS? I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!’ shouted out Carissa.

Mike stopped in his tracks and placed his wooden club back into his belt.

‘.…We need a drink. I need a drink. Another crazy one, a bit broken but crazy. I can see that trying to beat some sense into you isn’t going to work. Fine, this is going take some explaining to Sherry but…here we go. I’m not trying to hurt you; nobody is trying to hurt you. Well, not here at least. You follow my rules and the rules of the community and we all protect each other.’ said Mike as he rubbed his eyes with both hands.

Carissa ignored the wood wrapped around her ankle and rushed at Mike, her teeth bared and her hands open as she snarled towards him when he dropped both hands to the floor and the wood beneath her feet peeled up and wrapped around her legs and arms causing her to fall to the floor face first.

‘Lady, I really don’t want to have to silence you or restrict you any more than absolutely necessary. We’re going to sit down and I’ll bring Sherry back and everyone else and we can have a peaceful, meaningful conversation. How does that sound?’ said Mike.

Her mind had been stretched to her absolute limits; she had lost track of how much time had passed in this place. Carissa did the only thing she was able to do. She sucked in a breath and began to scream.

‘I see. The hard way it is. This is going to hurt a little for both of us. You need to learn your suit can’t protect you from everything. Don’t worry, it’ll reset quickly enough and you won’t drown. Take a deep breath Carissa. It’ll be fine.’ said Mike. A look flashed through his eyes, perhaps sadness.

The wooden decking beneath Carissa shifted and creaked as it created a hole for her to drop through, taken by surprise her body involuntary took a breath inwards as she went into free-fall and after a few seconds fell into a body of the same sea water in which she had found herself in when she had first arrived with one difference.

Her restricted movements meant that she was unable to turn around and her screaming had left her mouth wide open to swallow water. The water was deep enough for to sink down into but when had body had fallen sufficiently to the bottom, she was able to make out wooden boards beneath here before she began to rise back to the surface.

Her skintight suit only responding to her will when she focused on it. Both the shock of the fall, the restriction and the earlier blow from the wooden club had disorientated her enough that she panicked in the moment.

Carissa involuntary swallowed an amount of the water as a portion went both into her lungs and stomach causing her pain when it combined with the intake of breath she had taken earlier. The grey skin suit refused to respond to her as her mind remained confused, there was a disconnect a part that was refusing to engage.

Part her training, deep down inside her, reacted and she closed her mouth. Fighting through the impulse to spit the water out of her mouth she forced herself to swallow it before she willed her intent on the skintight suit to close over her face and mouth. This time it responded.

Carissa remained bound in her fixed position, her legs and arms still wrapped around with wood from the lookout deck but she was able to breath and her eyes were protected. Her body became buoyant as she floated to the surface and she was turned around onto her back as her bindings shifted and lifted up above the water.

The pool was deep enough that she heard his voice with a slight echo to it, he was above her, high enough up that she couldn’t see him. She didn’t understand how he appeared here so fast but he could have used the same trick as with her.

The voice of the same man who had tried putting her through a combat assessment before he lost patience and she temporarily lost control of her own emotions.

‘I can’t see you. This place…is this a moon pool?’ she asked.

A deep hole in the bottom of a boat or a research vessel designed for divers to make their way into the water directly and which also provided stability to the boat. One this size also explained why the motion of the main structure wasn’t overly affected by the motion of the waves. The rational part of her mind kicking in, trying to analyse to understand, anything to restrict any further outburst of emotion. It fed her information without her understanding, her mind trying to gauge the size and purpose of this one.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

‘Clever guess. Yes, we use it for our essential dives into the ocean. You’ll find out tomorrow when we…well. You appear to have cooled down far faster than I originally anticipated. Interesting.’ said Mike.

‘A moon pool. For trips underneath the surface. But this one is surrounded by wood. Remove my restraints. As relaxing as it is lying on my back, I’d prefer we have a face-to-face conversation. At least let me climb out of here.’ said Carissa.

‘Not my favourite trick to try but you needed to cool down Carissa, badly. I’m not working with many options here. Frankly, we don’t have the facilities or help that you need. You’re either a junkie or something very important to you has been removed. Lying down isn’t helping you. I’ll fix that.’ said Mike.

He left the edge of her sight and her back was pushed up out of the water as the wooden restraints on her body loosened and drifted away from her body and she found herself able to tread water. Putting her face down she saw nothing below her except wooden boards, deep enough for her to swim down, at least several metres but no sign of an open ocean.

‘No. This doesn’t make any sense. The air pressure means that the moon pool needs to be exposes openly to the water below your boat, not covered with bare wood. This space needs to be an open shaft. You did this?’ questioned Carissa as she treads water and swam her way around the space.

Several metres wide and far down enough that she could see the ceiling several metres above her head, no signs of any ladders or chains to lower any equipment to the pool from what she could see.

‘Your suit has basic functionality but it’s not designed to protect you in combat between players or much else in this place. In other words, you won’t drown as long it maintains enough cohesive material, take enough treads though and sploosh!’ said Mike as he gestured a mock explosion with his fingers.

‘As for the wet porch, or moon pool as you call it, we don’t want any unwelcome visitors making their way through it and up into the main structure. I told you; this place is more dangerous than you think. As for the air pressure, you’ll find that the water in this place is special. The gods essentially control it. Magic, science or nonsense. Regardless, it works. You had enough of treading water?’ said Mike.

Carissa looked up while treading water and saw his face appear over the edge, arms crossed. He looked down at her, a pitying expression on his face before he ran a hand over the stubble on his head and gestured as a wooden ladder appeared from the sides of the walls.

‘Here you go. Climb up and I promise, no more tricks. I’ll even step back and give you some distance, even make a few chairs so we can have a nice, polite and civil chat.’ said Mike.

Carissa heard his footsteps as she gently pushed herself to the ladder, water rapidly drying on her body as she climbed up, one hand and foot on each rung. None were slippery as her covered feet made good purchase on each one.

Only when she had climbed to the top of the ladder, she could see exactly how far she had dropped and the hole in the ceiling which had vanished as though it had never been there.

A long drop, at least fifteen metres from the top down into the bottom of the pool. She had been lucky not to have hurt herself on the sides or Mike had planned well for it. Her hands reached onto the ledge and she clambered up and over to see two beautifully decorated chairs further away from the edge.

Mike pushed one chair away from the other and backed off, both hands up in a universal sign of peace. He gestured towards one chair while taking a seat in the other, crossing a leg over and sitting up straight.

Carissa took a seat on the other chair. Wary if this was going to be another trick, she managed to shift her own chair further away from the edge of the moon pool, closer towards the wall. The lightness of the wood surprised her but when she took a seat it was more comfortable than she had been anticipating.

‘Chas, you can bring the drinks in now. Take it out of my personal ration allowance this time. She won’t see you as a threat and this young lady needs a calm voice. Chas!’

Carissa hadn’t noticed the movement, her eyes fixed on the main threat to her, as Chas walked in the room, his movements slow and calm. His previous Hawaiian shirt changed into a brighter yellow one, the expression on his face disinterested.

Chas plopped himself down on the floor between both chairs and crossed his legs, each hand holding a grey medium sized opaque container.

He gave Carissa an awkward smile and hand wave. He rocked side to side as though riding a wave.

She willed the mouth and nose on her suit to peel backwards, but kept her brown-reddish hair covered. Her beautiful hair would remain clean. A comb, she was in desperate need or a comb.

‘Gods will you find your way pretty lady. This place isn’t yours. No peace for you until you find your path. Beauty and power.’ said Chas.

Shaking his head side to side slowly his messy black hair shook and he settled down both containers to his side before closing his eyes.

‘Great, you know what I don’t need to hear at this moment? More of your cryptic junk. Either let me go or throw me back into the water. I’m done with you, done with this place, done with…all this.’ said Carissa.

She’d met the man before and all he offered her was nonsense. All everyone was offering her was nonsense. No clear answers, no explanations that made sense. All this talk of candidates and players and even gods. Nonsense the lot of it.

‘The gods demand but they give. Transformation is available to those with the power. Beauty and power. You can demand both. Or you can choose the one with the sharpened teeth.’ said Chas.

‘Chas, settle down. You made your point but given that everyone is due to be back here soon we need to resolve this issue before we make a final choice. You know why I built this place and what we stand for. Everything would be a whole lot easier if the tutorial was still functioning but the gods love their little tricks. Mm, Carissa, let me ask you a single question.’

Mike paused for a moment, he crossed his legs and folded his arms before tilting his head to the side.

‘You can choose to answer me or not but if you answer me honestly, we’re going to sit here, I’m going to drink, you’re welcome to have some if you like and I’ll answer all of your questions. We can even give you some food for your empty stomach. You may not feel it with the suit on but your body is going to need sustenance soon. It’s an aid not a life support device, we know this from experience.’ said Mike.

‘Food. Give me something to eat and I’ll answer. You bring me here, question me, beat me and then you try to torture and shock me? Food first. Fresh. Protein.’ growled Carissa.

‘We’re getting somewhere. Chas, bring me that bucket back there with the fresh squid. It was caught earlier, dead but relatively fresh. Also, you’re going be the one feeding her and don’t give me that look, you could have had the decency to offer her anything to eat or drink. Carissa, don’t try to hurt Chas, he’s harmless if a little mad. He turned up here after a few ordeals more than you did. Also, we have chum water or plain water. Do you have a preference?’ said Mike.

‘Food and water first. No more talking.’ said Carissa.

‘Chas, just get the bucket and take the chum water bottle. I think the lady here prefers the taste of blood given how she bit into my hand earlier. Doesn’t hurt by the way, all healed up.’ said Mike.

Opening his eyes slowly, Chas uncrossed his legs and went back into the doorway with a small metal bucket which exuded a strong smell, Carissa knew it well, squid.

He took one of the grey opaque containers and walked over to her keeping himself at a distance as he pulled out part of a chopped squid and held it close to her mouth.

Carissa bit into it and let the rest slide deep into her stomach, the water from earlier was still there and she wanted to throw it up and kept biting as she was fed from the bucket by hand until it was finished.

‘Drink.’ said Carissa.

‘The water, it changes and limits. Don’t stay in the water. Your drink.’ said Chas.

He opened the seal and held it gingerly to her mouth, allowing Carissa to take small gulps of the liquid within. As promised it was a mixture of diluted fish blood and water.

She hadn’t known how much her body needed the food and drink until her limbs began to ache less and her mood immediately settled down.

‘There we go. Peace, gods be willing that you find your way. This is the start. A full stomach soothes savage tempers.’ said Chas as he recapped the container and picked up the now empty bucket before walking back through the doorway.

‘Stick it back in storage to be cleaned by another member of the group Chas and see if the others have arrived back yet. I need Sherry to stay with them until we’re ready to introduce Carissa to our little clan. But this all depends on her decision; we’re not going to keep her here if she doesn’t want to.’ said Mike.’

‘Empty words from a man who keeps a woman bound against her will after dropping her into a pool of water face first.’ said Carissa.

As an afterthought she called after Chas as he walked through the same door that he entered.

‘Thank you for the food and drink Chas. That was sweet of you.’ she softly spoke.

Mike smiled and relaxed in his chair stretching out.

‘You do have manners. And now for my question, it’s really simple and you don’t even have to tell me everything about yourself. A one-word answer. I promise I’ll loosen your restraints and we can have a civilised conversation as long as you don’t try to attack me. Even answer your questions and give you answers that you never knew you wanted. Good deal, right?’ said Mike.

Carissa hardened her features. Her stomach and thirst were quenched and while the mixture of the ocean water was causing her stomach some discomfort, she was sure it would pass.

‘I have my own question first.’ she asked.

Mike nodded his head.

‘Always the same, every single candidate who wears that suit and turns up here asks me the same question after we feed them. Your waste and urine are processed by the suit and released as the same ocean water surrounding us. A good way to avoid detection by predators, I don’t know how it works only that it does. Some of us prefer the old-fashioned ways though, best way to secure decent fertilizer and…we’re wasting time. I’m going to cut to it and ask you outright. What’s the name of the planet where you came from?’

Carissa was confused. Out of all the questions that she had anticipated, this wasn’t one of them. Her hands tightened their grip on the chair handles beneath her.

‘Excuse me?’ she asked.

‘.…Carissa, what is the name of the planet you came from?’ asked Mike. He rested a hand on his head as though he was tired and he squeezed his eyelids tightly for a second.

‘Terrus. I’m from Terrus. Why, what planet are you from?’ replied Carissa.

‘...Earth.’ said Mike.

His features saddened slightly.