It was time, I would go out accompanying two scouts, holding strings made of an unknown material. Well, some strings So I could pull to communicate with the others and be made aware if I am going too far from the hive. I would lead with the giant eye-thing, really it's a complicated seeing device that I don't fully understand. And we would leave as soon as I got used to the water flows and could see with it again there would be another one by the eye, he is called Rish, to accelerate communications.
Okay, so I'm ready I twist the string signaling to the others, and we're off.
Wellbeing off takes some time, as I can't swim. But I crawl across the net's scanning my surroundings, The water currents are somewhat consistent, there are smaller fish going back and forth, and I wish I had more detail, but my "eye" isn't really built for that. I look back on the hive, a huge structure covered in various coral farms, built into the side of an underwater mountain.
Wait, yup that's an underwater mountain alright, how deep are we?
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Ur-I'm was acting strange, his attentions were not on the path he was swaying off of it. I reached out to him and tugged.
Pain, guilt. He sent back.
Better.
Hish, inquiry? I'll permit it.
What is he saying, there's a giant hole in the net?
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I came across the hole it looked to be ripped.
Inquiry, detail. Hish asked.
Okay, so it looks to be cut, and in a few places torn, is that a tendril? Yes, one of the previous scouts tendrils is there trying to hold on to it.
Inquiry, not understanding.
Let me get a better look, I'll think as I see.
Before me sits a huge tear in the net, the waters quiet except for the constant flows the net looks to be cut in a few places like and there are torn off tendrils of what must have been our scout hanging from some floating bits of torn net. In fact, there are two different tendrils holding on, it's as if...
Attention, DANGER.
Wait... a stream of water is displaced and I get a glimpse of a beast I, jaws open, a long thin body no, a humped back, rings of teeth Pain! Hish is torn off me.
I see the scouts rush to the bottom of the ocean and it swims past again catching one of them in its jaws, he is shaken apart and the last one, Prip, catches the net and holds tight slows shimmying down as it moves. I see the shark, and it can only be a shark skulking around, it seems not to be able to see us if we don't move. I slowly pull the seeing device down as it sways with the water. I don't want the shark catching on to it.
Wait the shark turns around and tears at the net again. What is that on its back, I would try and skulk back to the hive, but I'm not confident in my movement or my stealth. How does it see us?
It rushes toward the scout, he rotates, around the net avoiding its teeth as he tries to pull it together to tangle the beast, the lump on its back moves untangling reaching pulling a piece of sharpened, something. And it stabs down into the scout.
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The foreign one stabs me, but I survive I reach around the beast trying to hold it down, there is a reason I am scout, I wrestle at him trying to disarm him, winning, until the beast breaks three and I'm shook off, spinning injured floating trying to stay awake, but most of all, the worst thing for a scout to be. Lost.
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I see the scout in the distance, lost, I see the one on the shark's back, but I can't tell what it is.
I...
I can't stay here. I try and tie the seeing device to the net, if that thing truly is a shark, he would target it first. I should escape.
No, I can see how fast it moves, there is no escape, I try and tangle the seeing device with the net further, I see the beast circling as if it is trying to find if there is anyone else here. It doesn't see me, I'm not swimming, but with the rate, it is moving at it is only a matter of time.
Should I leave the seeing device alone, it is the only advantage a I have over the rider, it is what makes me ME.
No, my memories are what makes me, my life, my form, as it has adjusted to be separate from the others. I shall not let this be the end of all those. I remove the notebook shard from my portable shell, I put onto it, the most painful memories I have, the confusing sensory data, what I see and what I can't see. And I watch and I prepare.
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The beast circles, it is anxious like there is another one here. The waters are calm, I am not getting any traces of a third, but I should be careful, the scout might have survived, and while there is little chance of it getting back on its own if there is another one here we'll find it.
Again we circle, looking for traces of others, did they have backup were there others on the way? Wait there is a bit of trying here the scout had been holding it, connected to their base, there is a tug. I've been getting overconfident, but I tug back, we are fine there is one here nothing to worry about. Now to get at the last one. A net scout, shouldn't all of those be in stupor at this time? Well, one isn't back to the net.
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The shark attacks the net, tearing another hole. This damage must serve a purpose, but who would want to cause the hive harm?
There must be history to this, there must be a He Who Remembers The Past.
Focus. There is a shark, there is a rider, he has sharp tools, he's looking for me. Let's hope shard reading is as instinctual as I think it is.
The shark tears another part of the net, closer, it doesn't want to get caught, but I'm not going to be able to escape it,
I pull the seeing thing down trying to tangle it with more of the net. The shark circles, I grab a piece of cut net and jumped away. It bites into the seeing device ripping into the net pulling me and the loose string towards it, and I lunge.
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It's tearing into something here, it I move to separate it from the net and I feel the scout striking me with a hard object, I recoil ripping the object from the scouts tendrils, and I see.
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The shark rider spasms, I pull the sharp object from his tendrils, he pauses thinking through this new information and I stab, and I stab, and I stab again. He stops moving. I stab once more, the shark spasms, almost shaking me off I grab tighter it and I grab what I can of the net and pull it towards me. If you are going to destroy our source of food, the least you can do is serve as food while you replace it. She shark shakes, caught in the net. I stab into its fins. It spasms again knocking me off.
I pull myself towards the net climbing back towards the shark, its demise the only thing in my mind.
I stab at it and the spear gets caught, I pull myself up the spear trapping into its injury, fluid, blood flows out of it. I pull out the spear and stab again. It slows, I stab again, it thrashes one last time. But this time I have a better grip, I stab one last time, and it stops moving.
One count
Two counts
...
6 count later and I'm sure it's dead I crawl off of it, feeling the broken piece of me seeing device. That was expensive costly to the hive. I feel guilty. No, I have killed a shark and its aggressive rider I have defended the hive, I have achieved a great victory. And yet the scouts are dead, and I cannot see.
No one of them might have survived, I should get him back, if he goes into stupor out here he is as good as lost. I tug the nets, seeing if any is caught up in it seeing if there is a response, doing what I can to call for help, and I then rest.
Careful not to fall into stupor, but I must preserve energy, I must stay awake.
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We feel the net tugged and torn, there is must be damage in the net, bigger fish, something needing repair, another tug, this one at a communication resonance. Danger, safety. Help.
I reach out towards the others but there are no scouts to spare, I cannot go into danger, yet. She Who Knows Where things are reaches back. It will be fine, she knows where they went she'll find them, just come along, at a distance, if help is needed... No, I shall not let a she be injured that way, we shall go.