Chapter 1: Blade Swimmer

German Chan was a prawn. He was the middle child of a spawn of 500. He kept to himself and secretly wished for adventure. His wish came true.

*

German Chan had an inauspicious start to life. When his mother released her eggs into the Chan Family’s traditional mating waters, his father fertilised them and was never seen again. Some of the older prawns challenged the widely held notion that he left to avoid his fatherly responsibilities, after all 500 offspring was unusually high, even for prawns. They claimed he left the water to pursue interests on the land, but as such a thing was looked down upon German and his siblings generally claimed he was mortally wounded fending off a Great White.

When German was 15, in prawn years, his life changed dramatically when his entire family was eaten by a Great White in one gulp. He, his mother and his 499 brothers and sisters were on a family holiday at Plankton Land. German, not wanting to wait in line for Pirates of the Crabibean, had gone off on his own. He had heard on the Finternet that the people inside the character suits, especially Mickey Mollusc, were not the crabs that most assumed they were, but instead foreigners from the land. Creatures from the land were not allowed in the water world. The government of the water was very strict about illegal immigrants and if found, would soon be “lost”. Therefore, German had never laid eyes on a creature from the land. His best friend Christian had claimed that Plankton Land hired what was known as Scarpins as, in a pinch, they could be mistaken for crabs. Especially in Mickey Mollusc suit.

German’s plan was simple. He decided to stake out Octopus in Boots, a particularly shady character. He hid himself nonchalantly behind a hot sponge stand and waited. Before long Octopus in Boots headed for a break. German followed close behind, trying his best not to look like he was in pursuit. German decided to call him OiB, seeing as it was imperative to assign a code name to the target in a situation like this one. He also decided the task deserved an official sounding, military type name, like they had on all the news channels on Crable TV, so he called it Operation Pursuing Octo Limb. He immediately decided to dispense with silly names and realised he was so busy making up names that he had lost his “mark”. German was about to head back to the line where his family was still presumably waiting when a deep, husky voice whispered behind him, “Whataya following me for?”

German was startled but managed to blurt out, “I wasn’t. Really.” He turned around and found him self face to tentacle with OiB.

“I knows you was following me, cause youse were mumbling to yerself about following me. I could hear youse”, the voice inside the suit said.

German realised he could have gotten himself into some serious trouble and started to get nervous. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to”, he blurted out, “It’s just that my friend Christian said that you guys weren’t crabs, that you were from the land and I’ve never seen anyone from the land and the old folk all say that’s where my dad went and Christian said you were Scarpins pretending to be crabs, but I didn’t believe him and I won’t say nuthin, I swear!”. German started to cry.

To German’s shock the creature in front of him took off the Octopus suit’s head revealing something that definitely wasn’t a crab. It had the same kind of shell as a crab and the same kind of beady eyes, but had strange pincers where it’s nose should have been. German stopped crying and figured that his end had come. The Scarpin was going to eat him to stop him telling the police. He wondered if his mother and siblings would even notice he was gone.

The Scarpin winked his eye and said, “Don’t worry, kid. I aint gunna hurt youse. The name’s Sandy and I’m a scorpion. Just don’t tell anyone, OK?”

German felt relief wash through him and couldn’t wait to tell Christian that he had actually seen a scorpion. He felt like the luckiest prawn in the world and said, “Thanks Sandy, I promise I won’t tell anyone”. Christian didn’t count.

Sandy put his suit’s head back on and was about to leave when a loud wail started to sound through the water. The shark raid siren! German started to panic. Every prawn was taught to head indoors when they heard that siren, but German had never heard it before for real and thought of only one thing: he had to get back to his family. He started swimming back in the direction of the ride his family were at when Sandy grabbed him by the tail.

“Quick, this way. The staff quarters are just around the corner”, Sandy shouted.

“No, wait, let me go”, German replied, “I have to get to my family”.

“It’s too dangerous. When the siren sounds, the shark is already at the outer perimeter, you’ll never make it. Your family will head indoors, don’t worry.”

German wasn’t so sure. Perhaps they had already made it inside the ride. He hoped so and decided to go with Sandy.

A few minutes later the siren stopped, indicating it was safe to return outdoors. German rushed as fast as he could swim to where his family had been. There was no one there. He started calling out names. His mother’s and all of the sibling’s whose name he could remember. A few people came out of the ride and from other buildings near by but there was no sign of his family anywhere. He then realised that the ride itself wasn’t there. In its place was a gaping hole in the sea floor.

Hours later he was led to the manager of Plankton Land’s office and sat on a shell. He only half listened, his mind numb, as the manager explained that they had watched the surveillance video of the shark attack and seen the shark make off with the whole Pirates of the Crabbean ride in one big bite. German was in shock, got up to leave and when the manager asked him where he was going, German didn’t bother to answer.

*

German spent the next 3 years wandering the water world, doing odd jobs for people to earn a living. He always had the family home to return to, but seldom went there as the memories were too hard to bear. Eventually, he got a reputation for being skilled in Information Swimology. He would go around and help people connect to the Finternet and would troubleshoot problems with their computer’s shell. He specialised in Seahorse Maneframes and would get a call whenever Coral Draw crashed. He worked with a lot of schools.

One of his favourite clients was an old crab lady named Beatrice. She would always call German up as she was having problems with her Crable. German would arrive, find nothing wrong with her TV or the signal. She would claim the picture was all fuzzy, German would help her find her glasses and the problem would be solved. German suspected she really only called him up for the company, especially as her only son was away a lot. She would offer to pay for his time, but German always refused. He appreciated the company as well. He also liked her cooking and she always laid on a meal for German.

It was during one of these lovely meals that Beatrice’s son arrived home one day. German had never run into him before. He was a well built, tough looking crab named Deckard. German didn’t know what line of work he was in that kept him away for so long, so he asked him.

“I’m a Blade Swimmer”, Deckard explained. “I track down illegal immigrants from the land and arrest them”.

“What happens to them then?”, German asked, wondering whether Sandy, who had probably saved his life, had ever been caught. Deckard didn’t reply. There was a moment of awkward silence before Beatrice spoke up and said,

“German is in Information Swimology. He helps me fix my Crable when it goes all fuzzy”. She winked at German.

“Really?”, Deckard asked German, “That’s great. Listen, I have thing electronic thingy that the government gives us.”, He handed German a small pad like computer. “It seems to be on the fritz and damned if I know anything about these things. Can you take a look at it?”

“Sure thing”, German replied, taking a look at the thing. He got out his tool box and started pulling it apart. He quickly found the source of the problem, a loose wire. “I don’t have anything with me to fix this permanently”, German explained to Deckard,” But I can get it working for a while. If you like, I could take this home and fix it with some solder”. As he said this, he reconnected the wire and the computer sprung to life. It started beeping. Deckard snatched it off him.

“That’ll have to wait, German. I’ve got a job waiting for me. Will this thing keep working for a while?”, Deckard asked.

“Not for very long. If you bump it around too much the wire will come loose again”, German replied.

“Look, this job is urgent. I’ve been tracking this guy for months and it looks like there’s a solid lead on him. You’ll have to come with me. Is that OK?”

German didn’t like the idea of helping someone who had it in for land creatures, but decided that it would probably be interesting to tag along, so he agreed.

*

Not long after leaving Beatrice’s house, German and Deckard arrived at New Prawn City, the capital of the water world. It was a sprawling metropolis nestled inside a large coral reef. Deckard immediately headed for the red glow worm district. Upon arriving, he made some enquiries with an old lady running a store in the middle of a large, bustling street. There were all kinds of sea creatures here and German’s senses will filled to the top. There were seedy looking anemones, some dangerous looking squids arguing with some even more dangerous manta rays and the ubiquitous army of street sea urchins asking for spare change.

Before long, Deckard had them heading for the Oyster district. Oysters were known for keeping to themselves and being wary of outsiders. German thought it unlikely that they would find an illegal immigrant from the land there. If the general inhabitants of the water world were insular and prejudiced, the Oysters were ten times more so. Still, this would be the only chance German would probably ever get to visit the Oysters as they would allow Deckard and him to go about their business, even if they were outsiders.

Once in the main part of Oyster Town, as it was known, Deckard started making enquiries. German was impressed by Deckard’s ability to get answers out of the people he questioned. He guessed they were scared of him. Sure, Deckard was a big tough crab, but it seemed to German that there was something more. He realised how naïve he was and felt that there was a whole world inside the water world that had until now been closed to him.

After a lot of persuasion and finger pointing, they arrived outside a small, inconspicuous apartment block.

“The guy I am looking for is in here somewhere.”, Deckard said to German. “I want you to stay here. Here take this.” He pulled two urchin spine guns out of his backpack and handed one to German.

“What the hell is this for?”, German asked, outraged. “I don’t want a gun!”

“German, there is something I have to tell you. Something that you cannot repeat to anybody. Do you understand?”

“No, but I hopefully you will make it a bit clearer”. German was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach and he was getting angry.

“People who come here from the land almost always have come here because they are running from the law. Our society does not accept them here and they can’t go back. We don’t have the resources to keep them in gaol so people like me are hired to take care of them. Now, do you understand?”

“Not really. What are you saying?”

“German, it is fact that life can be hard. My mother tells me you haven’t had the sweetest run of it, so I am confident you can take what I am about to tell you. My job is to kill intruders into our society. I am going to go inside that building, find the man I have been looking for, the man who should not be here, a fugitive and I am going to shoot him.” He pointed his gun at German, “And no one can find out about that. OK?”

German was dumbfounded. He simply nodded.

“Now, there is a chance he might make a run for it. That’s why I want you to stay here and if he comes through that door, I want YOU to shoot him”

“No, I couldn’t”

“Shut up. He won’t get away from me anyway. You know what you have to do. If you let him go, I’ll shoot you. No more argument”.

With that, Deckard stormed into the building. German didn’t know what to do. He knew he couldn’t kill someone, especially a land creature. This situation was impossible. He knew he couldn’t cut and run, as Deckard knew where he lived. He briefly courted the idea that he could leave for the land and see where it took him, but he gave that thought up. He didn’t have it in him.

German didn’t get time to think much more about it as, after a large ruckus was heard inside the apartment block, a baby oyster came running out of the building. German reflexively raised the gun in his hand.

“No, please don’t shoot me. I don’t deserve to die. Please!”, the baby oyster cried. But how could it be a baby oyster, German thought, from the size of it ,it was a new born? New borns couldn’t talk! It certainly looked like an oyster, sort of. It had a similar kind of shell, but inside seemed slightly different.

“Who are you?”, German asked.

“Please, I don’t want to die. Yes, I am a fugitive from the land, but I am not a criminal. The land world is cruel. I came here to live life in peace!”, the strange creature said.

“What are you?”

“I am a pistachio. I come from the land of nuts. I have hidden here with the oysters, in peace, as I look a bit like them. Please, I want to live.”

“I am not going to kill you. But we have a problem. The man who came in after you will. He will kill me simply for not killing you when I had the chance. We have to get out of here.”

“This way.”, the pistachio said as he grabbed German and started to run. A loud crash of splinters exploded behind them and German turned around, as if in slow motion, to see Deckard bursting through the broken front door, his face redder than usual. He bellowed something incomprehensible and German saw he was aiming his gun at the innocent pistachio.

German acted on instinct and fired his gun at Deckard, hitting the large crab square between his eyes just as he too got off a shot. The neurotoxin on the urchin spine acted incredibly quickly and after falling straight down, Deckard frothed at the mouth and twitched a bit before dying. German was flabbergasted. He simply could not believe what he had just done. Just minutes before he was telling himself he could never kill someone. Things change, German thought.

He turned to the pistachio, not sure whether to be happy or sad and realised that it was on the floor clutching its side. Deckard’s last shot had hit him in the shell and the very tip of the spine had grazed the pistachio’s flesh. German knew that the neurotoxin would already be in his system, but that with just a scratch it would take the poor creature longer to die than Deckard did. It would be more painful as well. German rushed to his side.

“You tried to save me. Thank you.”, the pistachio said with some difficultly. “It truly seems that there is no where in this existence one can go to avoid hate.” He coughed and some blood left his mouth. ”But it is also true that kindness can be found as well”.

German fought back tears and said, “The toxin in that spine will kill you, there is no doubt. It will be painful.” He lifted the gun in his hand. “I can make it quick”.

The pistachio nodded and a tear rolled down his cheek. German stood up and prepared himself. He told himself he was doing this evil act out of mercy. As he steadied his arm and pointed the gun at the pistachio lying on the ground it said, “I’ve seen things you crustaceans wouldn’t believe. Shrimps on fire on the Barbie of Orion. I’ve seen captive goldfish swim back and forth in the Tanhauser Tank. All these moments will be lost, like tears in the sea.” He paused. “Time to die.”

German started spluttering as tears ran down his cheeks. He could barely see to aim, so closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. When he opened them, the pistachio was dead. German didn’t even know his name.

German made up his mind quickly. If things could change so quickly that in the space of 10 minutes he had killed 2 people, then he was ready to leave the water world and head for the land. Like his father had. Besides, they would surely kill him if he stayed.

He grabbed Deckard’s bag, threw the two guns in with the vast array of junk inside, hefted it onto his back and started swimming.