‘Liam. Welcome to Last Refuge. A place where I have been reborn. Don’t you love me now? I have taken a new form. I’m doing it. I’m realising my dream. I’ll become a true mermaid.’ said Carissa.

A young man standing in a doorway paused as a mixture of bile and disgust rose and his eyes took in the abdominal scars on the body of the woman who had once been his wife and his first true love.

She had been a widely regarded as a brilliant woman once, a famous or most despised woman on their entire planet depending on your viewpoint.

She’d called him and he answered, organised a private jet to this isolated lighthouse next to a coastal region. He walked through unlocked security gates and past barbed wire fences to an entrance where she’d been waiting for him in a pristine light blue dressing gown.

He was close to throwing up when she’d let her gown drop to the floor and showed her transformed body. Liam struggled to come up with exact words to speak which he had practised over and over.

‘’My ‘Rissa. My love..Carissa… We’ve have zero contact for months. Society outside considers you as dead, forgotten or in hiding and you call me out to this isolated lighthouse to show me extreme self-mutilation? Last Refuge? This isn’t funny. Please, at least tell me you’ve been taking your medication. We can fix your body. Cutting yourself doesn’t help anyone. Please. Don’t be like this. Please. I’ve received an invitation from the main Park of Gaia. You always wanted nature, but we can both experience it without this….transformation.’ said Liam.

Carissa was a tall woman, her hair naturally brown and red with a rare beauty. She remained attractive to him when first meeting back in university.

Liam recognised raw enthusiasm on her face when she had finished working on her scientific research projects. Raw scars on her body weren’t for show but she hadn’t even given them enough time to heal before calling him was reason enough for him to be concerned. Especially with her previous history of self-harm.

‘…Liam. You want to visit a massive botanical garden built inside an irradiated once desert. While I would have welcomed the chance once I’ve succeeded in my plans. I’ve done it. Genetically wise, I’m within a zero point two range of my control parameters but the real benefit is the technology incorporation. I managed to self-implant with a complete working success rate. Don’t you understand? Why the self-regulation alone, I can control the flow and temperature of water within two metres of my person. I don’t need the necessary body fat to survive. Granted the minor power drain means I need to consume a suitable amount of calories but still aren’t you happy for me? I have become more. Medication? I was successfully treated Liam. Don’t you dare turn on me. I am refreshed. Reborn. You succeeded in your plans, and I had mine. This is my dream Liam. Don’t you dare make this about my…personal issues. Research! I have the documents prepared! This could even be replicated. You could join me!’ said Carissa.

‘A beautiful, intelligent woman who was once brilliant. When we first met at the Belphus National University, I got us both in trouble with old lady guest Professor Alexa from the Facility of Myth Reduction for trying to talk to you. Our first academic research assignment. We were told to discuss about the nature of an abomination. Your early research papers submitted before you had even applied for the entrance exam. Pure brilliance. You assumed I was interested in you for your appearance alone and I discovered you had hurt yourself. I made a decision for us, for both of us to have the necessary capital to change the world. And you hated the attention it gave you, hated the publicity surrounding us and the blame which ensued. The hate, the arguments. I’m still listening, please talk with me about this in my car at least. Please. Step away from your..Last Refuge for a little while at least. To view one of the Parks of Gaia is a once in a lifetime opportunity.’ said Liam.

Carissa observed the expression on his face and for a moment pitied him. She had grown up largely home schooled by her oceanography research parents and an array of impromptu tutors who were close friends or once colleagues of theirs. She had learnt more growing up more through practical lessons and research papers. Liam had his own limited and filtered form living inside his private family mansion and private education.

Second hand experiences don’t create miracles. Only those brave enough to dare to risk change can truly experience the world. Our planet is full of so many hidden secrets and horrors which nobody believes. I want to experience the oceans of Belphus first hand, without limits.

A scientist who changed the face of our planet and enabled an environmental change will enable us to carry on as a species. The woman I loved, married, shared my life, mutilates her own body through surgery out of some delusional sense of purpose. You need help Carissa. Serious treatment. I can help you. You called me for a reason…’ the man replied.

Liam felt bile rise up from his stomach. The scars were mostly healed but still fresh enough she must have cut herself a few days ago at most. She had obviously been through serious physical surgery. The sutures rose from her lower pelvic region up to her breasts.

All he wanted was to throw up the meagre contents of his breakfast, he’d eaten before he arrived but not that much due to the stress and anxiety of being able meet Carissa in person. She’d called him but he wished he’d never picked up her call, or at least not at this moment, he should have asked his private security team outside to accompany him.

‘Liam. Beloved. You listened to me before I made you money, and now you’re famous, rich and successful beyond your wildest dreams. Well, I don’t need you now. I’ll get my dream. Further alteration will have to wait until I’ve healed but I’ll do it Liam. Truly become a mermaid. I’ve had to work for it, the sacrifices I’ve made. The experiments. Cloning my own flesh into twisted forms, killing it and throwing the broken remains into the incinerator.’ said Carissa.

She gazed at the man with a fierce intensity in her eyes, Liam understood her open smile, with teeth sharper and whiter beyond baseline humans.

Her self-improvement on her body had not only been related to surgery and technology. A little genetic altering had made further changes.

‘…Carrisa. If you ever truly loved me, come back with me. You have so much more brilliance to offer the world. Please. You’re not alone. What have you done to your beautiful body? Are those scars even healed? We can find a private and secure medical ward to take you into, even for a week. A second opinion from a classified doctor. Please. We can keep this private, between us. I’m going to enter the door. Please. Let me come in and take care of you. This isn’t too late to fix. Please Carissa.’ responded Liam.

‘Weakness and fear, I never expected anything else from you. Leave Liam. I…I don’t need a companion who’s too scared of his own failings to join me. You were barely anything before you met me. A research assistant at most with a keen eye for business. But you can get out right now. I’m going to rearm the security protocols in case you get any funny ideas about trying to force me out. The automated defences are going to be active, and I’ll be reborn into the embrace of the mother of our species. The ocean.’ said Carissa.

‘Carissa…I have no clue of what you’re talking about. You disappear from my life and the world for a year and all traces of you evaporated. In the world outside according to all reports you died. This brilliant, beautiful scientist who came up with the method of cleaning the waters of the world, free of pollution and human degradation. Granted, a portion of the population hates you but they’re poor. This…self-mutilation of your body. You don’t need to do it out of guilt. You forget Carissa, we were married once. This is wrong. Deep inside you’re only hurting yourself out of anger.’ said Liam.

The woman turned away from the man. Her nude body slightly glistening in the light of the room.

‘You’ll find it doesn’t matter soon enough. I’ve been working on a book including all my post-research notes on the ocean cleaning technology. Enough to keep you in the public eye for a few more decades and with as many women as you want to sleep with.’ said Carrisa.

‘Carrisa…I didn’t want anyone else. You were my first and last. I’ll leave but others will find you, they’ll have traced my movements. You can’t hide forever. Please let me come inside and we can discuss this. Please.’ said Liam.

‘Too late. I need a few more treatments and I’ll be ready. This prototype form can withstand far more compared to any baseline human. Even you. Field testing is my priority. Besides, you came here because you loved me once. I was prepared to share a new life with you. Nobody will find me. Unless….you wanted to transform yourself as well. Become more. Live with me forever in the waters of our world.’ said Carissa

‘Goodbye Carrisa. You’ve obviously made up your brilliant mind about this. If anyone on the planet could be successful it’d be you. You are truly unique and literally transformed Belphus. Changed mine. You always did have an amazing talent but not like this. Not with your body. Your…transformation. I’ll leave but you can call me. No. I’m going to call you. One last attempt to change your mind. I’ll call. Please, no testing. No. I changed my mind. Wait for me. I’ll join you but it’s going to take time to prepare. Will you wait for me Carissa?’

‘Goodbye Liam. I loved you. You always were a terrible liar. Goodbye my handsome man.’ said Carissa.

Not turning around to watch her ex-husband and once business partner depart as she hit a button on the wall with the palm of her hand setting the main door to close and reactivating the security systems. Other devices reactivated but they had all been largely set to automatic function only, she was mostly past caring as this point.

Thank you Liam, for coming for me one last time. I hope you can become brave enough to follow after me so we can finally be together forever. All you have to do is let go of your family’s expectations of you. Let it all go.

The doors would self-lock behind him and he’d never try to approach her without direct permission. He was weak in her mind.

There was a chance she had been affected by the gene therapy which had sharpened her teeth and mind but she was familiar with Liam’s behaviour both inside and out. He’d be rational first before he took any final action. He had always been the hesitant one. Once.

A book title rose in her mind as soon as Liam had left the entrance of Last Refuge. She observed him leave through a screen on the wall, hidden cameras tracking his movements as the security protection systems rearmed themselves once he walked past them.

How much do you love the oceans?

A fitting title for her last span of time living as a human being living on the land. She picked up her fallen bathrobe and wrapped it around her nude form, tying it up as she walked. Her body still needed a little more time to securely bond with her implants and technological mount.

She’d need to work on the book to get it finished and a copy left behind when the hate groups finally came to the gates of her Last Refuge. Carissa would make sure Liam got a copy of the book as well, the unabridged version, she may not have loved him now but she’d keep her promise.

After all, without his intervention she would never have experienced an extreme push to finally transform herself into a true mermaid.

The ocean was waiting for her entrance, all she needed was a little more time and the final test of a lifetime. A transformation into a being of higher beauty which could survive any challenge in the depths.

Her body though would need a little more time to recover from the surgery as she had pushed herself a little bit when she’d sent the message to Liam to come to her hidden place. Her Last Refuge against an uncaring world.

Carissa put out a hand to the smooth wall on her house. In order to survive under colder waters, she’d had to find a compromise for the lack of body fat humans possessed and her sense of touch had worsened as a side effect.

She passed her way through the structure she had purchased, corridors and rooms empty and bare. Furniture removed and belongings casually tossed away without care nor concern. The emptiness of the house reflected her mind, minimal and uncaring.

The purchase of the property had been a good choice, she had made sure it was done privately without alerting those actively hostile to her for her supposed sins against the environment and the sanctity of the oceans. There had been those who had supported her works though but they had been as extreme in truth.

‘Protest groups, insane cultists worshipping an imaginary goddess of water. I’m not a goddess. Science kills gods. We made them mundane to reveal the truth of the universe. A single drop of water holds the power of creation but faith in a deity achieved nothing.’ said Carissa aloud.

For a strange moment she expected a reply, months of near complete isolation had made her talk to herself far more, she’d kept to a strict schedule of research, application, testing and implementation which had largely kept her social isolation at bay.

When nothing happened she rechecked the security systems she had reinstated and chose to set them all to automatic. Liam would return, or he might even be prepared to enter the house when she left.

An aching pain within her nearly caused Carissa to double over as she finished her remote checks and threw the control on the floor before breaking it underneath her hardened foot.

Her white dressing grown loosened a little as she tightened the soft belt and went to source herself a painkiller from one of her many bathrooms. She had them all fully stocked in case.

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