Thedude3445
She could have been anything, that Yvanetta Yammoh. If there was a definition of a gifted student, it was Yvanetta. When WASN’T some adult praising her about something, proclaiming for her with great certainty a future in some field they cared about? She was going to be a pianist, a linguist, a volunteer coordinator, a colonial minister, a gender studies professor, a war journalist… And all of that drove her insane. Yvanetta, in the end, chose the profession she thought would suit a typical lifestyle the best. By now she was supposed to have had a child or two, and be working her way up the tenure ladder at Sanders University. But because she chose marine biology… she ended up right here in this little predicament.
Here being underwater, wearing a pressurized anti-toxin suit as a massive squid-like creature lashed out at her and her team, flailing around as she tried not to be crushed by one of its numerous tentacles, swimming eighteen hundred meters below the surface of planet Dexon-C. The ocean, made mostly of ammonia and liquefied borax, were dark and lifeless… besides the monster, that was.
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“What are you doing, Yvanetta?” shouted Commander Makki, turning her own lumbering suit towards hers. “Get your ass over here and paralyze this thing!”
Yvanetta had the electro-harpoon, but for all her gifts in academics, she was an exceptionally-poor shot, and with this monstrous being thrashing about, it was impossible to guarantee she would hit its face and send it out. This frustrated Commander Makki to no end.
“Take the shot!”
“I’m… I’m trying!”
At this moment, a tentacle slammed into her chest, knocking her backwards and sending the harpoon flying wildly into the swirling vortex that this creature had created with its trashing. Gnack everything! The force of the blow sent her reeling, and her mind was fading out of consciousness.
There was a flash of electricity, and then the creature roared, rippling through the liquid like a wave.
By now, Yvanetta’s vision was too blurry to make out anything specific, but its tentacles had finally stopped spinning about. The harpoon had launched after all.
What a lucky shot.
She tried to smile, but instead found the sweet comfort of darkness.