Page 6 of Lagoon

It was lovely here.

“Yes, it’s breathtaking, isn’t it?” said Dr. Greyson in a quiet voice. “This is where he was found. Well, there were two of themat one point. I don’t know if the other one was his brother or son or simply a friend. He mourned the loss of him, though. It was quite tragic. It happened right when I arrived, you see. Before I got here, it was a bit of a shit show, pardon my French. They were treating Bub like, well, like a rabid animal. It was horrific. I put a stop to all of that, but I wasn’t in time to save Bub’s brother’s life.”

She was putting this together, then. The violence, the deaths, the security guards. “So, he’snotrabid?”

“I think he’s incredibly intelligent,” said Dr. Greyson. “We do have some communication, he and I, but he doesn’t trust me. And why should he, after all, after what we have done to him and his family?”

She nodded. “Yes, any intelligent creature retaliates.”

“You published that paper on the chimp wars,” he said.

“It’s extraordinary,” she said. “Chilling, in some ways. They are such loving and caring creatures, forming friendships and relationships that are complex and beautiful. But when they are brutal, they arebrutal.”

“Well, we’re all that way, deep down,” said Dr. Greyson. “Otherwise, we never would have survived in the first place. Civilization, it makes us weak, but that sleeping viciousness is there, waiting to be awakened.”

She was stunned. “I was thinking almost exactly the same thing on my way here,” she said, shaking her head at him.

He smiled. “Yes, well, perhaps you said something like it in your paper, truly. I shouldn’t be parroting back your own thoughts to you as if they are my own. How appalling.” He shook his head, scuffing his toe against a rock. “Just like a man, I suppose. I apologize for that. We’re due here. It’s been a bit of a stag party.”

“No, no,” she said. “I never said anything like that. You’re being a little hard on yourself, doctor.”

“Ah, well, I simply hold myself to high standards,” he said. And then he pointed. “There.”

She watched as something rose up out of the water, something with spines on its back, with gleaming scales, almost like a fish. It dove, down under the water, and she was reminded of sea serpents in paintings, bobbing up and down as they surrounded ships.

A shiver went through her.

Another spine appeared, further off.

Then, on the opposite side of the lagoon, something large and sleek and yet strangely human-shaped hoisted itself up on a rock. It had a head, arms, legs. Its fingers were webbed. So were its toes. Its face was flat and strange, its eyes large and bulbous on either side of its head. It was covered in shimmering, iridescent scales.

It—he—Bub—was beautiful.

She let out a little breath, and she felt the sight of this wash through her. Impossible! “Does he walk upright?” Her voice was barely there.

“Can, if he comes on land. But he mostly swims.”

“How… primates evolved to do that, but nothing else has. He’s shaped like a human. He…How?”

“I know,” said Dr. Greyson, chuckling. “I know. Marvelous, isn’t he? This could revolutionize everything we know about the way we evolved. What if Bub is part of our ancestry? What if there’s some missing link, something that pushed us over the edge?”

“What are you saying? You can’t think there was some sort of intermating between something amphibious and something mammalian. It’s entirely impossible.”

“Bubis impossible,” said Dr. Greyson.

Bub lifted a hand, a greeting?

Dr. Greyson lifted his hand, too.

So, yes, agreeting. Her breath caught in her throat. Carefully, slowly, she raised her hand as well.

Bub gazed across the lagoon at them.

“Did you teach him that?” she whispered.

“I’m hoping you can help me reach him better,” said Dr. Greyson. “I’m not good at communication in general, you see? I much prefer to observe living creatures than to interact with them.”

She laughed.

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