As the elevator door opened and Carissa stepped out an ocean breeze lapped on her bare skin. Small droplets of rain fell from greying clouds. The water running down her face felt good and she opened her arms outspread to embrace it. The security phone held tight in one hand as her eyes looked over the waters of her world.

‘Beauty in nature, purity through water.’ Carissa murmured lightly to herself touching her modified shark tooth necklace. The sharp edges on her toughened skin made her feel secure, more so than being fully dressed in a storm would.

She allowed her nictating membrane to activate, stopped the rain from obscuring her vision. Part of her recent physical enhancements were active and present, the ones that she had put within her had been trickier to activate but she felt the temperature surrounding her remain constant. She would feel no cold unless she allowed herself to, humans after all, weren’t designed to exist in freezing cold waters. Not with minimal body fat and skin protection, she would try and active the more advanced features when she was in the ocean proper.

The security phone had failed to provide her with another message. Thankful that she didn’t have to worry about more outside attempts to contact her she decided to enjoy the view. Her time had been almost entirely spent locked away either for gene treatments or self-surgery and a degree of pure fresh ocean air.

When Carissa had purchased the property through a series of shell companies, she had been careful not to come into any contact with either the seller or the estate agent. The photos that she had seen didn’t do the view enough justice.

An isolated building, previously a private research facility which had been converted into an ocean view home for the wealthy and those who preferred their own space. Both of which she possessed in equal measure.

‘Money never brought me true happiness, but the tools and materials progressed my great work.’ said Carissa.

If Liam had been standing next to to her, he would have gently reminded her that talking to oneself was a sign of mental instability. The weather in the skies began to change as they did on the coastal regions, clouds shifting as the wind pushed and pulled them and storms began to develop.

Carissa had paid for her own specific changes to the extended sea view platform. A detachable viewing chamber designed to fit several people had been fitted in, a modified version of an underwater experience chamber.

After Carissa's successful technology began to clean and regulate the temperature of the oceans and effective ownership of them had shifted towards those rich and powerful to own the rights to clean waters personal viewing chambers had become somewhat of a trend.

The fact that hers was detachable was nothing special, it was still fixed to the main building structure and was attached by multiple cables. The inside was suitably modified to cope with waters and was largely self-contained, emergency equipment would keep her secure in the case that there was a breakage and water flooded into the interior.

‘The ocean. The place where we all come from and where we should all return.’ said Carissa.

Usually, there were strict limits placed on user safety but Carissa had spent a portion of her time in the dwelling making her own personal alterations. Where she needed her own privacy her own talent kicked in, allowing her to learn how to disable the necessary safeguards and allow the personal viewing chamber to detach and drift in the ocean.

Although she was in a hurry, she needed to verify that her implants and genetic alterations worked perfectly. Live testing was so different to that under controlled conditions in her home laboratory. If Liam had been more amenable or open minded, he could have even joined her, Carissa was certain that while he might have refused, he still would have assisted her regardless but she hadn’t been willing to take that chance.

Despite the beautiful view, Carissa hadn’t purchased the property for location alone. At least not only for its isolated location, the oceans around here were owned through the company that had been built through her breakthroughs and Liam’s connections and efforts.

Unless her location was broadcast to the world, she would have enough privacy here to get far out enough and then ensure that the viewing platform sank deep enough. Carissa considered that Liam would have thought her unstable enough to simply leap off the roof in a fit of madness but true clarity and purpose meant taking all the right steps.

She would become a mermaid, a true one of her own design, but only through the steps that she provided herself. All traces of her presence gone, the alterations to the viewing platform would be considered a tragic accident. Not that she would be missed, perhaps by Liam and several others but not by the general population of her planet who saw her as the figurehead and main reason for monetizing a public resource.

Carissa had allowed herself enough time to appreciate the view afforded to her and the chilled breeze of the salty winds on her flesh when she felt a sensation in her hand. The physical movement of the device came along with a sound that she wasn’t interested in hearing again. Having forgotten to bring the tool from her desk inside her personal office she had little choice but to carry it along with her and drop it in the eventually sunken viewing chamber when it had drifted out enough.

‘Another message. The same surely, repeated over by an automated system until I respond out of futility. The oceans were already fixed by my hand along with a man who stole my heart and designs out of a sense of guilt and opportunity.’ said Carissa.

Sighing to herself, the view and the pure sensation of nature being partially ruined. She preferred a simpler environment, one without demands beyond simple survival. The fact that she would have been classified as suffering from several severe psychological disorders was an afterthought. In her mind Carissa was aware that she wanted to fulfil her true dream, to become a beautiful mermaid who lived freely in the ocean.

The viewing platform awaited Carissa, she had stripped most of the luxury items already including the leather seating and left supplies of her own design instead. A bodysuit to allow her recovering form to adapt before it could be removed and abandoned, made from cloned fungus it would dissolve eventually. Not that she was keen on using it, her body although naked and covered in rainwater experienced no inner cold. Her skin had been adapted comparable to a sharks or dolphins with the benefits of protecting her from environmental toxins and pathogens in saltwater.

She would shed it once in the water, allowing her form to have streamlined speed for swimming. A mixture of shark’s denticles within her genetics would further protect her from damage and parasites.

The shark tooth necklace around her neck was a reminder of that.

‘Predators evolved to survive as will I.,’ said Carissa. Pressing the button to allow her direct access and providing both a retinal scan and DNA sample in the form of a drop of blood from her finger.

She had learnt to be paranoid after her project had gone public, the security inside her current home would be enough to deter most intruders for long enough except for Liam.

There was an exception in the system for him and him alone, as the doors opened Carissa let out a breath, she didn’t know she had been holding. A few more steps towards her true freedom and life purpose.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

I’m going to do it Liam.

As she walked inside her stomach ached, Carissa put a single bare hand on her naked stomach feeling the shift of pain within. She had followed a strict medical diet of her own creation and her implants and genetic alterations had worked well under strict, intense testing in her own laboratory and especially well on small mammals. Live testing was a priority.

They had all been euthanised then cremated after being dissected and all mechanical parts removed and then reduced into ash and disposed of in the coastal storms. Given her process of physical enhancements Carissa had taken several bites to see how her changing form handled eating raw, uncooked flesh, her teeth and digestion had done a decent job.

The implants within her were fuelled temporarily but she would need to eat far more in the oceans, luckily life was teeming and food was readily available. Humans didn’t possess the necessary fat under their skin so Carissa had made a few changes to her own liver. She would not compromise her physical form more than necessary. Scars could heal over time.

‘Proteins. I need…food. And water.’ said Carissa.

The viewing platform was stacked and organised with a selection of boxes. Taking one of them she ripped off the plastic top and took out a soft plastic squeezable container of water, it would rapidly degrade into a biodegradable form when submersed into water with a high enough salt percentage.

Pouring the fresh water into her waiting throat, she took hold of a similar stacked box and repeated the process. This time she smelt fresh fish and blood which rapidly vanished into her mouth and splashed a little over her nose and eyes, Carissa made her nictating membrane reset back to normal once she wiped her face off with another water container.

The materials would be found eventually as would the supplies. One of the alterations that Carissa had made to the viewing chamber had been to the connecting tether, it would catch and break when she flipped a switch inside the interior. For now, she pressed the relevant buttons to seal the doors and slowly begin her decent into the ocean. The platform would extend out from the roof before lowering down and far enough off the coast to avoid rocks and other storms, the software within processing the best location.

‘Soon, I’ll be free of the burdens of the surface. A freak mistake and an accident and I’ll be alone. Free to swim the oceans and become a true mermaid.’ said Carissa.

She had dropped the security phone on the surface of another box during her replenishment. The buzzing sound rang out and rather than accept another message, Carissa picked it up and smashed it onto the hard metallic bare floor. The viewing chamber had been designed to drop deep enough into the oceans of her world, it would surely survive a little damage when a mostly unbreakable device was slammed into the floor.

The chamber still shook slightly, her strength and reinforced body stronger than she had originally thought. She’d need to be if she needed to kill sharks with her bare hands.

A pain ached inside her again. Carissa understood the sensation. This time it was her implants. She would need to adapt to living with a degree of pain for a period of time until her body had fully recovered. Still, once they were fully operational within a marine environment, she would be able to affect her immediate environment and beyond.

The security phone buzzed out again. The screen doubtfully even cracked, it had been designed to withstand high pressures, temperatures and other extreme situations. The view outside the viewing chamber shifted from the edge of the roof to the open oceans as it began to extend outwards in preparation for its final descent.

‘Liam. Stop trying to contact me.’ said Carissa.

She was about to hit the switch to lower the platform when a sharp pain hit her eyes hard enough to force her to drop to the ground. The security device continued to buzz without stopping, a sign of an incoming call but Carissa was in sufficient pain that she was unable to consider answering.

Her necklace. The way to stop pain was through pain. She wasn’t clear on why her eyes hurt but she needed clarity of mind to work it out. Grabbing on tight enough to rip the necklace from her throat Carissa pulled the shark tooth directly into her shoulder, pushing it hard enough to draw blood and dig through. Her hands strong enough to pierce through the outer layers of skin and sinew of her reinforced body.

‘Pain. Cancels. Pain.’ said Carissa with her hands fully clenched tightly.

Carissa struggled to breath but she felt the sharpness on her eyes lessen. The platform had been prepared to lower into the waiting ocean below and she had yet to change into the body suit purpose built for her body. She hadn’t even noticed that during her movements she had knocked several of the boxes stacked up to the ground, including the one with the security phone.

It continued to buzz until her foot touched it. Despite the pain she wouldn’t have been surprised if Liam had directly contacted the company that produced it to locate an override signal in order to get in contact with her.

The signal from the device had been overridden to incapacitate her and likely he would be on the way, even inside the building, to stop her from entering the viewing platform. Carissa wanted to curse herself for her stupidity, her act of vanity in showing off to him, in having a single observer of her life work.

An audience. And he saw her new form, her body transforming into a true mermaid. No, he would have felt pride then pity and love for her, the type which meant that he would want her to recover, to be treated both physically and mentally.

Thankfully, the lack of buzzing sound meant that Carissa had a brief period of respite. Carissa felt dampness on her face and touched her cheeks with her fingers. Wet but fresh with a copper like smell. Blood. Her blood.

Her other senses remained keen and despite it being her own blood the coppery smell made her mouth water slightly. Shaking her head Carissa saw a box that was opened and full of water packs, grabbing one she tore it open roughly with two hands and poured it over her face before taking several more and repeating the process until she was clean and fresh again.

‘Liam knew. He knew my location. He’s here. Here to take me to a hospital again for treatment. Not this time. Not this close to my day of transformation.’ said Carissa.

The interior of the viewing chamber was becoming a messier one that she had originally planned. Crates and broken food and water packets scattered around and worse he had hurt her. He had tampered with her belongings without her permission and hurt her.

The button. Carissa knew she would have a severely limited time before the security team that Liam had hired would reach her location. They may not be willing to fly in the storm this close to the edge but if he knew then so would others. The ones who blamed and hated her equally.

She had two choices before her, she could either hit the button and disable the tether which would drop her into the ocean and risk direct injury or hit another which would lower the platform deep into the ocean. The second option meant that the platform could in theory still be overridden. The structure would be able to handle the impact, it would just mean that she would have less time to prepare herself for entering the freezing waters.

In her case it was going to be a true case of sink or swim.

‘I’m not paranoid. I’m not.’ said Carissa aloud to the air.

As she forced herself steady and her hand outreached a red warning light on the wall warned her that an override was in place. Slamming her open palm onto the emergency stop release Carissa managed to stop the retraction of the viewing platform.

The small structure was dangling over the edge of the cliff now, deep ocean, rocks and waves far below her. The walls and floor including transparent features for better views.

Her senses were beginning to adjust and she heard the low-level frequency before the security phone began to buzz at higher audible levels. She might not be able to break it and once she had hit the emergency stop the platform was in total lock down.

Before she hit the switch to cut the tether and release her free-fall into the waiting stormy waters below, she grabbed the phone with both hands and screamed her frustration at Liam, at the world, at everyone who hated her before the message confused her and a darkness slammed into her brain, cutting off all conscious thought.

[Direct Player-Candidate Override Initiated. Suitability Match 96%. Ocean Gateway Protocol began. Warning: Illegal Modifications detected – Deactivation in Process. No cheats permitted. Penalty. Enabled. Welcome Carissa.]