She had no idea how long she had been there but the humans were always around. She was trapped, with no ocean below or sky above. Just one large hard room. It was decorated with rocks, and some plants but it was a prison nonetheless, just a pretty one.
The humans had been waiting when she breached the surface with their nets. She had been too tired to fight as they wrapped her up. Too tired to try and escape when a loud flying machine carried her away. Most of it was a blurry terrifying memory. When her body began to work again she was in this place.
The light was harsh and unnatural, the water tasted like poison, and sounds echoed around her deafening her. The walls were solid and rough, coloured a blue to make the room seem bigger than it was. Even the rock walls felt wrong though she could not explain why.
She glared towards the other wall where a see-through barrier revealed several humans behind it at the bottom of her tank. She no longer bothered throwing herself through it, it was too sturdy. She blew bubbles as she swam in small circles. She could only hope her pod had escaped, that her sacrifice wasn't for nothing.
The humans had done nothing but watch her. They hadn’t even tried to communicate with her, something she knew they were smart enough to do. She rubbed at her arm where a chunk of her skin had been cut away while she was helpless.
A sound from above drew her attention and she hesitantly swam towards the surface. The large room was bigger above. There was a beach area with a small overhang of the strange rock. Above that was a metallic pathway the humans had access to but she could not reach. On the other side was a shallow platform just submerged with some kind of strange gate. They could watch her all they pleased and she was entirely helpless… or so they thought.
Several humans wearing white emerged onto the higher platform and walked around the enclosure barking at each other in the strange way humans did. She had spoken their language once but she had been young and it was forgotten to time.
The door on the lower platform opened and out walked another human, this one wearing different clothing and carrying a bucket. She did not like being so surrounded and swam back down. At the very least she was safe in the water, humans were bad swimmers. They could not get here below, though if determined they could wait for her to surface to breathe.
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Something splashed the surface and began to sink towards her. A small fish. She tentatively swam over and grabbed it. It did not move it was very cold to the touch. Like ice. She was hungry but she was hesitant to eat, especially a cold tough fish like this. She did not like it.
The sound of something sharp pierced the air. A mechanical whistle before several more fish were tossed in the water. The cold fish hit the water and sank. After a short amount of time, the whistle pierced the air again and more fish were thrown in. They were feeding her like she was a calf incapable of hunting for herself.
She swam to the surface and breached before throwing a fish at the human with the whistle. The fish did not come close to hitting him but he still ducked in alarm which brought her some satisfaction. She began to regret it after the man hurried out of the room and the door closed. If they stopped giving her food she would starve. She could try and escape her cage when they came to feed her next but humans lived on land and she didn't know where the ocean was.
She sank back to the bottom of her tank. Was this what humans had done to the rest of her kin, locking them away in tanks? What did humans have to gain from such things? If they hunted for food she could understand that but why keep her alive?
As if things could not get worse, loud thunks vibrated through the water as the light dimmed and faded leaving her in darkness. The humans were gone from the glass window and also from above. She could not hear their movement. Now that she was alone, exhaustion tugged at her and hunger coiled in her stomach.
She clicked, finding the fish and forcing herself to eat a little. It wasn't as cold now but had the same bitter taste the water around her had. It tasted dull and flavourless and she hoped they would give her living fish. Cold dead fish tasted wrong.
She swam upwards, floating on the surface on her back. With the humans gone, she felt safe enough to rest. She needed her strength. She closed an eye and let herself drift into semiconsciousness, only alert enough to keep herself close to the surface to breathe and watch for danger.
She just wanted to go home. She missed her pod, her brother and sister. Nieces and nephews. She was already lonely, locked in this cage far too small for her to truly swim.
Mother had said that not all humans were bad, she wondered where they were. What of the pod she had heard, the pod she had been spotted approaching, where were they? Were they prisoners like she was? She didn’t know what Mother would want her to do, Mother was long gone and for once she was truly alone.
She already hated it here, it wasn't anything like the ocean. It was dark, too dark to see. The ambient humming of machines never stopped dulling her senses. It was suffocating without light or sound to guide her. There was no ocean to listen to, no waves or currents to follow. No stars or moon to marvel at. Just a dark suffocating cell. She just wanted to go home.