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\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cAmazing,\u201d sneered Dr. Parsons. He leaned closer to the tiny screen. The black and white image flickered, disrupting the view like an old illusion. Duck. Rabbit. Duck. Rabbit. Human. Fish. Human. Fish. \u201cThe discovery of a lifetime. Well done, Dr. Omari.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari sighed at Parson\u2019s half-hearted congratulations. \u201cThanks,\u201d he said, voice flat. Discoveries weren\u2019t so useful anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia could barely see between the shoulders of the two senior scientists. But it was enough. The mermaid was like an enormous statue, longer than any whale she\u2019d seen on the old Nautilus expeditions. She had a wide caudal fin to propel her forward, and smaller fins were placed periodically along her tail, all the way up to the longer pectoral fins where arms might have been in another evolutionary route. A harpoon pierced her chest.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 She wasn\u2019t pretty. She was missing the curves of a human woman, which made Amelia feel better about the two men scrutinizing her. The mermaid\u2019s face was dominated by a shadowed jawbone that suggested a wide mouth filled with teeth. But there were also delicate tentacles that flowed up and around her head, now immobilized in the iceberg, that gave her a Medusa-like presence. Her intense stare bored through the screen at Amelia. Parsons was right. It was the discovery of a lifetime. Amelia had to remind herself that the mermaid was the frozen one, not her.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari spoke again, rubbing his temple. \u201cI was tracking a break in the ice shelf last year when I found her. My, uh, colleagues wanted to keep her a secret, but\u2026\u201d He trailed off in the way most people did these days, as if to say, <\/span>Who\u2019s left to stop me?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dr. Omari cleared his throat. \u201cI wanted a marine researcher to look at her, someone with a bit more biological knowledge than me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cSorry I didn\u2019t make it sooner,\u201d said Parsons, squinting at the image.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He didn\u2019t explain why. Omari was likely in a similar situation. No more funding meant Parsons and Amelia had to run the lab at URI themselves, feeding and monitoring the remaining experimental subjects, the fish and mollusks Parsons deemed too important to eat. Yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dr. Parsons considered the hazy image. \u201cWell, it\u2019s definitely mammalian. Likely pelagic. She\u2019s got thin tentacles, almost like a cuttlefish, off the back of her neck. You see, Amelia?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia nodded, not moving closer to the screen. She knew that he mostly wanted a body to talk at, to confirm what he was thinking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHow old is the ice?\u201d Parsons asked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI dated the closest ice core to about 2,000 years old. Not uncommon for the icebergs around Greenland,\u201d lectured Omari. \u201cI found her next to an old island settlement called Innaarsuit. A different glacier destroyed the town decades ago when half of it calved off in their bay. According to reports, this berg is on its way south now. Though it keeps shedding pieces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons nodded absently. \u201cI need a closer look to determine age, genus, more anatomical details. Even with that thin nose, I bet she has a blowhole. Perhaps the back of the neck, protected under those tentacles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari interrupted his scientific process. \u201cI designed a submersible, but this was the only footage it took before failing. I thought with your resources at the University of Rhode Island, the expeditions, you might be able to take a clearer picture, maybe even a video.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cYou want the Nautilus,\u201d growled Parsons. \u201cYou\u2019re working for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari opened his mouth, but Parsons stepped forward, getting in his face. \u201cWe already told the Crisis Committee no. Even if we did know where the Nautilus was, we wouldn\u2019t just offer the most valuable research vessel in the country to some rich asshole who claims he\u2019s trying to fix the world when he\u2019s the one who fucked it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t understand-\u201d started Omari.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHow much are they paying you to abandon your principles?\u201d Parsons continued, low. \u201cA couple of NIH grants worth? Did they promise to take you with them?\u201d He bumped against Omari\u2019s chest, making him stumble back against his desk. \u201cDid they promise to save you too?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari averted his eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons spat at his feet and turned, stalking out of the office.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia followed, glancing back once at the screen. From a greater distance, the mermaid looked more lonely than threatening. Her eyes calling out. Omari wore a similar expression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 She paused. \u201cThey don\u2019t know about her, do they?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Omari shook his head, miserable. Amelia left them both behind.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In the parking lot, Parsons swore. \u201cThose bastards.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cAt least we know the Committee doesn\u2019t have the Nautilus,\u201d said Amelia, trying to keep pace with him.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI already knew that,\u201d Parsons muttered. \u201cThey won\u2019t stop emailing me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He unlocked his car, an old silver Prius with crumbs and glass between the seats in equal measure. He got in and shut the door, pressing his fingers against his eyes. \u201cNo respect for the scientific process. Did you hear about the Saturn mission?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d Amelia buckled her seatbelt. She had stopped listening to the news after hundreds of scientists died in a Crisis project called Atlantis. They were crushed under the water pressure before they could even drown. All she knew about the Saturn mission was that ten experts had been hired by a Crisis billionaire to launch a rocket headed for Titan, one of Saturn\u2019s moons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThey exploded,\u201d said Parsons, starting the car. His eyes were ringed in red. \u201cThat\u2019s what no test runs get you. Maybe if those assholes had started trying to fix the planet a little earlier, they wouldn\u2019t have to leave it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Ten more dead, Amelia thought as Parsons began to navigate the disaster that was Boston. She, too, wasn\u2019t about to put her life on the line for some rich idiots who couldn\u2019t see the so-called Crisis until it affected them. <\/span>So, she had opted to continue her assistantship at URI with Dr. Parsons. There were no more actual diplomas to be had, but she liked the science\u2014the repetition of testing and retesting, playing with the data\u2014and she had nowhere else to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHow big do you think she was?\u201d asked Amelia. \u201cIt was hard to tell on that screen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons swerved to avoid a crumbling brewery, the smell of yeasty desperation in the air. Surely, he was considering the implications on the oceanic ecosystems, the studies that could be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cOmari\u2019s an idiot,\u201d Parsons grumbled as he sped up past a homeless encampment. \u201cThey\u2019ll feed him and house him, but they won\u2019t save him.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Someone was wailing, a baby or a dog, it was hard to tell by sound alone, but Amelia had learned not to look. Neither she nor Parsons had anything to offer them anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cShe was beautiful,\u201d said Amelia as they drove, fantasizing about road trip snacks and her mother teaching her how to navigate the Denver grid plan. Amelia hadn\u2019t been home in three years. Before her stipend ran out, before the Crisis. It would be snowing there, and here too, she supposed, if the climate wasn\u2019t ruined. It was more than snow in Colorado now. Ice storms. Electrical grids down. Her whole family freezing in their home at the \u201cofficial\u201d beginning of the Crisis. While she looked at shellfish.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cAt least we left when we did.\u201d She closed her eyes, trying her best to block out the sounds of the dying city. \u201cYou were about to hit him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have hit him.\u201d Parsons scoffed. \u201cI have some self-control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia made an involuntary sound in the back of her throat. He didn\u2019t look at her, but he did blush. Good.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Less than a week after Amelia\u2019s family died, their names on an online found bodies list, Parsons\u2019s hand settled on her thigh.\u00a0<\/span>She almost let him. Amelia had been analyzing data, staring at a computer screen for hours. She was tired. So tired. Students in her cohort were either dropping the program or committing suicide at an exponential rate. She\u2019d calculated it. <\/span>His hand was warm on her thigh, and she couldn\u2019t think of the last time someone had touched her. <\/span>Amelia rubbed her eyes, blurring the rows of numbers on the screen, and then slapped his hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d she said. Her palm stung.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons liked to pretend he hadn\u2019t done it, but she remembered, even as she continued working with him.\u00a0<\/span>At least he was ashamed. <\/span>Back on campus, they entered the sea-weathered building that housed the School of Oceanography, and Amelia greeted the familiar standing banner of a six-foot-tall lobster in the foyer. Parsons locked the door behind them. <\/span>In the lab, a dozen dead bivalves floated near the top of the large tank. Amelia plucked each one out of the water while Parsons tinkered with the faulty feeder. <\/span>They ate the mussels and oysters at his desk, sharing an ancient bottle of hot sauce to cover the taste. Amelia knew mollusks should be consumed fresh, not half a day after their death. And these were gritty, being tested to the limit of their filtering abilities. But there wasn\u2019t anything else to eat, other than chalky nutrition rations the government had distributed to pretend they had control over the situation. <\/span>As he ate, Parsons stared down the automatic feeder still half apart beside his plate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI have a plan,\u201d he began. \u201cFor when we\u2019re out of subjects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia drowned an oyster in hot sauce, filling the shell. \u201cWhat plan?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cFor when we\u2019re out of food completely.\u201d Parsons shifted his eyes to hers. \u201cI just wanted to warn you. Not encourage you\u2013\u201d he stammered. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t go along with it. But I\u2019m done. I have no desire to leave the lab, and I won\u2019t work for Crisis money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia understood, shook her head. \u201cI\u2019m not\u2026I won\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons nodded once. \u201cGood. That\u2019s good, Amelia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia wondered if she was supposed to argue with him, to convince him not to do it, that they would find some other way to live, but she didn\u2019t have many arguments left in her. Who was she to stop him?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Early the next morning, Amelia threw up off the side of the grad lounge sofa.\u00a0<\/span>Instead of cleaning the sick off the carpet, Amelia moved her things to the classroom next door, dragging the sofa with her. She wrote DO NOT DISTURB on the chalkboard and fell back asleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cGet up.\u201d Parsons was standing over her, sweat dripping down his forehead. \u201cWe found it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia made no effort to move, her stomach still untrustworthy. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThe Nautilus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 She took in Parsons and his stubble, the manic glint in his eye. \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re leaving in ten minutes,\u201d he said, not explaining further.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cTo find the mermaid?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He was already out the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Slowly, Amelia rose from the couch and gathered her few belongings\u2014a duffle bag of clothes, her passport, and an old letter from her mother. She met Parsons in his office, and they walked from Bay Campus proper out to the docks. The E\/V Nautilus was bobbing smoothly in the harbor. There was a pirate on board. <\/span>The man was portly, and a heavy beard hid his grin. He had lost a leg. Recently. There wasn\u2019t a wooden peg in its place\u2014he leaned on a crutch instead\u2014but the stitches at the end of his thigh were fresh and awkwardly done. The wound, still inflamed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cJames!\u201d the man shouted, hugging Dr. Parsons.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He, surprisingly, hugged him back tightly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThis is Amelia,\u201d Parsons said, pulling away. \u201cAmelia, this is my college roommate, Captain Phineas Honey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Captain Honey shook Amelia\u2019s hand with both of his own, balancing adeptly between her and his crutch. \u201cLovely to meet you, girl.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cNice to meet you.\u201d Amelia smiled back at him as Parsons leaned over the side of the ship to puke.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 As the skeleton crew prepared for launch, Honey regaled Amelia with the tale of how he\u2019d found the Nautilus in a dock up north. After Honey\u2019s own boat had been stolen and sold for parts a few months back \u2013 a fate much more tragic than simply being stolen and sailed away \u2013 Parsons had mentioned the Nautilus to him, its mysterious disappearance. The university must have been maintaining the docks before the area was taken over by locals, but Honey and his crew managed to smuggle the Nautilus out. Despite Honey\u2019s big gestures and loud voice, more than a few details were missing. Amelia was left wondering what exactly he had to do to steal the ship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Once they set off, leaving URI and the shore behind, Parsons and Amelia inspected the ROVs. Argus and Hercules were untouched \u2013 sitting like boulders on the ship\u2019s bow. They needed people to pilot them. Amelia had focused on data analysis during her previous missions, but Parsons had a conceptual knowledge of how they worked. They would have to learn how to operate the remote vehicles before they reached the icecaps of Greenland, more than 2,000 nautical miles and three weeks away. But at least they had the lead from Dr. Omari \u2013 the island of Innaarsuit. Not that they told him about their expedition.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Time dragged over the ocean. Amelia trained with the ROVs, communicating via radio between Parsons on the bridge and the rest of the crew. Honey taught her how to fish, though he insisted on instructing her while switching between the various languages he\u2019d picked up in his travels\u2014Japanese and Russian and Portuguese\u2014with the crew chuckling from their respective posts. There weren\u2019t many fish to be caught anyway. Later, he taught her different ways of navigating\u2014the ship\u2019s ENC software, a coffee-stained map, the stars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Honey was a better companion than Parsons, still in possession of a sense of humor. And much better than Amelia at restraining Parsons when he wanted to punch someone in the face. Occasionally, Honey volunteered to be that face, causing Parsons to back down and go lie in his bunk for the rest of the day.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Scanning underwater with the ROVs was depressing. If the world was dying, the oceans were dead. It had been less than two years since URI stopped the research trips, but the seas had transformed. No more marine greenery, and the few fish they saw were dull, as though their scales had given up on reflecting sunlight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 On the crew\u2019s last practice run before approaching Greenland, there was a pod of dolphins laid out on the seafloor, their pale, curved bodies fallen in a row. At least they had died quickly, all sunk together. Amelia looked away.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Innaarsuit was halfway up the west coast of Greenland, but Captain Honey looked troubled by the time they reached the southern tip.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia was on deck, having gotten her sea legs, closely watching Honey tie and retie knots before trying it herself.\u00a0<\/span>He made a complex knot as thick as his fist before untying it and dropping the rope back into Amelia\u2019s hands with a grunt.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHow long ago did you say your Dr. Omari found the mermaid?\u201d Honey stared out onto the flat sea.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cLast year,\u201d said Amelia. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI saw icebergs here last year.\u201d Honey tapped a finger against the wood railing. \u201cBig ones. Now, the water barely looks cold.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Fifty miles south of Innaarsuit, they saw the very tip of an iceberg above the water. Parsons ordered the two ROVs deployed, and the crew hustled to place them in the water with the Nautilus\u2019s small crane. They were connected via cable with the larger Hercules ROV taking on the ship\u2019s movement underwater so that Argus\u2014with its better camera\u2014could remain steady and go deeper.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Captain Honey piloted Hercules while Amelia navigated Argus. They had determined early on that she had steadier hands, and more patience, than Parsons. But the ice revealed nothing. Parsons suggested searching the seafloor instead.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThere!\u201d he shouted after a few minutes. \u201cBridge to Nav, hold position. Video push in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia zoomed Argus\u2019s camera, aiming its lights at a large shape on the seabed. The entire crew began talking at the sight of the mermaid\u2019s corpse on Argus\u2019s video screen. Again, Amelia was reminded of a whale. A dead giant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 There had been a whale fall on a previous Nautilus trip, the fallen skeleton supporting an entire ecosystem. Octopuses pulling themselves along its cartilage and sharks keeping guard above, swimming down to tear off large bites and scare off lesser fish. The URI research team revisited it the next year. They found its bones picked over and polychaete \u201cbone-eating\u201d worms covering large swaths of the skeleton-like dark orange moss. Biological debris around the body still fed deep-sea scavengers. <\/span>They hadn\u2019t been able to return the year after.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Out of the ice, the fallen mermaid\u2019s carcass was enormous, and its body was mostly untouched. Bones only showed where the flesh had decayed. Its tail followed the same structure as the whale\u2019s, but its upper body was a confusing mix of dull scales up to her neck, human-like ribs peeking out of her sunken chest, and a thick layer of blubber waving in the current where a few visitors \u2013 come and gone \u2013 had nibbled. They had to be dead now, to have given up such a feast. The harpoon was gone, pulled away by the current. Her eyes still stared, but she was less menacing. Petrified. Alone. Amelia felt something give way under her sternum. This will be all of us, she thought, soon.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The crew was getting rowdy. Captain Honey told a few of them to pay up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons interrupted their transactions with a serious tone. \u201cBridge to Navigation, move five meters to the east and hold.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia flinched at his voice but obeyed, circling the body of the fallen mermaid. They should get a sample, see how old she was, how she lived, what she ate. But for once, Amelia felt no need to follow any line of scientific questioning. She simply obeyed. And then she saw movement. <\/span>Very faint. On the other side of the mermaid\u2019s massive body, something was feeding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cVideo push in,\u201d said Parsons.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 It clung to the torso of the mermaid, mouth lowered. Teeth, long and sharp, tearing at soft flesh. Its tail was long and muscled, but its upper body was more delicate and had the same thin tentacles on the back of its head. A young mermaid. Eyes huge and flashing red in the ROV\u2019s light. <\/span>The entire crew was yelling. Captain Honey laughed incredulously. Amelia kept quiet, not understanding. It wasn\u2019t fleeing from the ROV as any normal creature would. It hung on the corpse, staring down Argus. <\/span>And then, the juvenile mermaid stopped moving. She began drifting up, away from the large carcass. Eyes wider than before. Shocked. Dead.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons made himself heard above the crew\u2019s uproar. \u201cGet. The. Body.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia did not want to get the body. It felt too much like a prize. Like they had set out on a hunt and here was their kill. <\/span>But she followed orders. She deployed Argus\u2019s arms and scooped up the body of the young mermaid. It was limp, head and tail hanging off the sides of each mechanical arm. She paused for a moment before bringing it to the surface. It was not alive, but she gave it a chance to change its mind \u2013 to flash her fins and leave them, denying proof of existence\u2014<\/span>before she moved Argus back towards the ship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 It felt wrong to leave the adult mermaid, but the Nautilus wouldn\u2019t be able to support her. And her body looked like it might disintegrate if exposed to air. <\/span>After Hercules and Argus were plucked from the water by the crane and set back on the Nautilus, Amelia joined the rest of the crew on deck.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The body was larger than she expected. Of course, the first one had been the size of a whale, but whales were rarely laid out on ship decks. The young mermaid was still wrapped in a net the crew had used to haul her aboard. She looked vaguely human but less developed than a grown woman and more like a fish in her scales and gills. Her eyes were open. <\/span>The crew kept trying to touch her, to feel if she was real. If she was slippery or firm. If her scales were sharp or smooth. One man snatched back his hand from her scales, his fingers bleeding. Razor-sharp. Amelia\u2019s mouth twisted into a smirk.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Eventually, Honey got everyone under control, swearing for the first time in Amelia\u2019s earshot. Parsons whispered with Honey for a few moments, and then the captain began shouting orders. Several of the most enthusiastic crew members were sent to double-check the ROVs were cleaned and put away properly. The rest of the men hefted the young mermaid\u2019s body upon their shoulders and followed Parsons to the ship\u2019s wet lab. <\/span>The space felt cold and sterile. Amelia helped line up three of the large, stainless-steel tables. The men set the mermaid down and stood around, staring. Her torso took up the whole of the first table, and her tail covered the other two, heavy caudal fin hanging off the very end. Captain Honey shooed the crew out.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cLet\u2019s determine the cause of death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cBut,\u201d Amelia began, watching seawater drip off the metal tables. \u201cIt\u2019s shock. We shocked her.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons talked over her. \u201cWe need to do an autopsy. Shock wouldn\u2019t be enough to kill a healthy creature.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia cringed at the word \u2018creature\u2019 but didn\u2019t argue. Who was she to stop him?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Captain Honey led the dissection. He leaned over the body, chatting about his first and only year of med school and his more recent experience sewing up his own severed leg. Keeping a casual tone, he marked where he would open the body, following the midline from the base of her throat to her lower abdomen, where her tail began. Amelia couldn\u2019t chat back, sickness rising in her throat. Honey fell into silence too. <\/span>He wore heavy gloves as he hacked through the scales and a thick layer of blubber<\/span>\u2014pulling a serrated blade out of his boot when the scalpel refused to cut<\/span>\u2014but eventually revealed her body cavity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The mermaid\u2019s belly was full of confetti. <\/span>Stained with blood and slimy bits of membrane but still shimmering gold and silver in places, the squares of plastic were packed in between her organs, some resembling human anatomy, some distinctly fish-like. <\/span>After the initial shock, Honey sliced open her stomach and found bits of rotting flesh she had chewed off the adult mermaid. And more confetti. Amelia recalled her last New Year\u2019s Eve party, several years ago now. Felt sick. Refused to be sick.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons and Honey began discussing the mermaid\u2019s anatomy, pulling at her with their gloved hands. Parsons turned her head to the side and roughly brushed her tentacles out of the way, searching the back of her neck for the blowhole he had predicted. He found it, a small one between her shoulders. He pointed it out to Honey, who was digging around her torso, both men ecstatic. No one left to stop them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia tried to feel nothing, but her body was thawing, warmth spreading from her chest up her throat to her nose and eyes. She was crying. <\/span>Amelia did as she had learned to do at the end of the world. She excused herself to the bathroom, wiped her tears, and splashed water on her face. When she returned, she helped take samples and studied them under a microscope. There were microplastics in every piece of flesh.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what killed her,\u201d said Parsons. \u201cThe confetti wasn\u2019t helping, but \u2013\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cOr the shock,\u201d Amelia asserted.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons nodded, once. \u201cOr that. But the microplastics and fibers got into every millimeter of her. That did it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Amelia didn\u2019t trust herself to speak. She wondered if her own body was full of the same tiny pollutions. It must be.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 They sailed back with the mermaid\u2019s body on ice, safe in the Nautilus\u2019s walk-in freezer, so they could study it further at their own lab. During the last weeks at sea, Amelia developed a heartache for the adult mermaid, alone again with a different kind of hole in her chest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Captain Honey, in exchange for finding the Nautilus, bartered with Parsons to keep the ship. Once they made it back to Rhode Island, he handed over a good portion of his food supply and promised to visit soon. He\u2019d radio once he was within range of campus. After his men moved the mermaid\u2019s body into URI\u2019s freezer, he gave Amelia a length of rope to practice with.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Parsons and Amelia took notes and formed them into papers, though no journals were publishing anymore. Parsons was proud of their work, but Amelia couldn\u2019t feel the same. She barely visited the mermaid in their walk-in freezer. And never by herself. <\/span>This was different than the bivalves. She couldn\u2019t help feeling they were studying themselves, crouched over a dead body, trying to fill their bellies with something other than sparkling poison.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Two weeks after they returned, Parsons touched Amelia\u2019s elbow with his plastic gloved hands and held it. She shook him off, not meeting his eyes, and continued editing their paper on the mermaid\u2019s reproductive system. Three days after that, Amelia found his suicide note.<\/span><\/p>\n Dear Amelia,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n We could study her further, but we know what happened. We humans are arrogant creatures, panicking too late, unsatisfied with a lonely downfall. We\u2019ll all die with plastic in our guts. Don\u2019t take the money if you can help it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Behind the glass of the iceberg, the mermaid\u2019s eyes were open.<\/span><\/p>\n