When I joined NASA at the Kennedy Space Station, I really thought it was a dream come true. I’d spent my whole childhood wanting to be the one talking to the aliens whenever they wanted to have a conference with humanity. Of course, I got older and realized that’d be someone else’s job, if that even did happen. However, I still wanted to be a researcher at that great space program. I loved the vastness of space with all the planets and galaxies and nebulas and how little we knew about anything beyond our planet. With Earth being about a couple centuries or less from totally annihilating everyone in existence, it was a good idea to figure out if there was anywhere out in space we could use as a new home. Hopefully one that we wouldn’t fuck up as much too.
But then I learned what NASA really stood for and suddenly I was no longer living the dream.
I was living a nightmare.
It happened on the night I went out for drinks with my boss. Delores Campell was her name. She had worked at NASA for twenty-three years and had a thing for new researchers. She had a tradition where after they survived their first day, she’d take them to The Lounge for a few rounds. She said it was a great way to make them feel welcome and to get to know them. Especially if the newbie drank a few glasses. That always opened them up.
She said there was never a question you should be afraid to ask her. You could ask something really stupid like if there really were aliens on Mars or if the moon was made of cheese. You could ask anything and she’d blame any stupidity on the alcohol.
Well apparently I asked her the one question nobody was ever supposed to consider.
“Why don’t you guys ever just use all your technology to explore more of the ocean?” I asked with a wry smile. “You know they say that we know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the ocean. I bet you guys would find some really neat stuff if you went down there.”
I don’t even know why I asked that question. I could blame it on the three beers, but knowing me, I probably would have asked it even without all the alcohol in my system. It was just one of those things you couldn’t help but think about.
Delores’s face paled. Then before I could ask her if she was alright, she leaned closer to me and said in a whisper, “We have. Why do you think we want to leave the planet so badly?"
I couldn’t help but laugh. That was definitely the alcohol’s fault.
“What, are you saying that Cthulhu or some shit like that is sleeping at the bottom of the ocean?” I asked with a stupid grin.
“I can explain it, but not here,” Delores said grimly. “Come on, follow me.”
I followed her out of the bar and we both got into her car. She drove us out to the ocean and took me to a specific part that NASA had blocked off completely from public view and contained in a massive building. You couldn’t even get in without proper authorization.
“You know you could have just told me what’s so bad about the ocean,” I said, trying not to grumble as we entered the building. “We didn’t have to come all the way here.”
“It’s better that I show you,” she said simply. “It’ll explain everything better than I ever could with words.”
For whatever reason, NASA had turned this part of an ocean into a giant aquarium with multiple hundred gallon tanks. There wasn’t anything special in any of the tanks, just the usual seaweed, jellyfish, crabs, rays, and fish of all sizes. I didn’t recognize some of the fish, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. There were thousands of kinds of fish. Of course I wouldn’t know every single fish in existence. It didn’t help that I didn’t care much about the ocean. It never really fascinated me for some reason.
I was just about to ask Delores why she had taken me to a giant aquarium when I saw something odd swim nearby in one of the tanks. I glanced over to find a weird fish that had anatomy very similar to a bird, but with fins instead of wings. Its scales and eyes were a sickly, opaque white that seemed to absorb light instead of reflect it. Then I noticed another fish resting in a reef that had reminded me of a squirrel, except it had fins running all the way down its spine. And again, it had those ghoulish eyes just like the other fish did.
“Got some creepy looking fish in here,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“Those aren’t fish,” Delores said solemnly. “At least, they weren’t always.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, still with a smile on my face.
“It means that they were land animals before they were changed,” she answered.
I stopped smiling. I looked back at the bird-like fish and stared at it a little longer. The more I looked at it, the more I started to see the familiar features of a seagull now corrupted into whatever monstrosity it was now.
Delores explained to me that many years ago, NASA thought it would be beneficial to explore the Mariana Trench. As it was the deepest part of the ocean, some hoped that there would be valuable resources at the very bottom, perhaps a new form of fuel or undiscovered creatures that could make way for medical advancements.
What they found instead was an entire ecosystem of sea organisms that bore an uncanny resemblance to many land-dwelling creatures. At first, NASA thought it was a sign of parallel evolution in the fish. However, then they found these same kinds of creatures in shallower parts of the ocean all over the world. They seemed to be just about everywhere, all of the fish resembling the wildlife of the nearby land region. This already unnerved NASA, but it was what they discovered only twenty years ago that really shook them to their core.
Delores took me to it. It was in a very special tank in the back of the building behind a number of tightly locked doors. I couldn’t see anything at first because the water was so dark. I had to get right up to the glass and squint my eyes.
Then I saw it.
It was a humanoid fish-abomination. Sharp fins ran all the way down its spine and limbs. Its mouth had been contorted into a gaping maw filled with teeth fitting for a barracuda. Its fingers and toes had become long and sharp with thick membrane in between. And just like those other monsters, it had the same sickly white eyes.
It swam right up to me, smacking into the tank as I fell backwards. It clawed ravenously at the glass and screeched an awful, inhuman sound. I could only look up at it, too petrified to even get up.
“We found him right off the coast of Barcelona,” Delores told me. “Thank god we found him at night. Would have been a nightmare to make a cover up with a few hundred witnesses saying otherwise. Now if only it had been the same way with the others.”
“You mean… there’s more of these things?” I asked weakly.
“Yes, and the number of sightings is only growing every year,” Delores said with a nod. “We don’t know how, but it seems that something in the ocean is transfiguring land animals into whatever these are. It’s only a matter of time before the whole planet is full of fish.”
“But why?” I asked. “You guys really don’t know what’s doing this?”
“If we knew, we wouldn’t be putting all our efforts into leaving Earth,” Delores answered. “But if you were to ask for my opinion… I would say it’s because life was never meant to leave the ocean. Every living thing had been content to remain there for millions of years, until one day they weren’t. Now after so long, something in the ocean has missed us dearly.
“And it’s making all of life come back home.”
