The Human Fish 6

Chapter 6: The Woman in the Bubble, and the Baby Sisters



  Many of us Mers had adapted to our changes and forged new lives so well we sometimes forget how devastaing the Change was for so many other conventioneers, not just the reluctant Darth Vaders. When Diane and I landed back in Orlando two days later and picked up my car, which Marlon had left at the airport for us, we had a day to kill before my appointment with Stephanie. Janice had earlier told us she would be out of state on business (the client was not put off by her change into a mermaid at all), and Marlon would be away as well. Debbie though, was in town and accepted our invitation to spend the day with us. Half an hour after leaving the airport, we arrived at the home of the friend where she had been staying. Brooke, the friend, was now a green-skinned twi'lek and was wearing a yellow dress with short puffy sleeves, an abundance of ruffles around the neck, and a short flouncy skirt that stuck almost straight out thanks to the crinolines beneath. Debbie wore a dress that was red in color but otherwise identical.

  "Going to a party so early in the day?" Diane asked them with some bemusement.

  "Actually, yes" Brooke answered. "I'm going to a birthday party for twin sisters. You know how female twi'leks are supposed to be great dancers, right?"

  "We do, we have heard the stories!"

  "Well, that is kind of what happened to me after the change. I had always liked dancing, even though I was a bit klutzy whenever I tried something new. Now I don't have that problem, and dancing just feels so natural for me now. I've even been doing it professionally for a couple months already. I love it!"

  "Are you able to make a living dancing?" Diane asked after a few more questions and answers.

  "Pretty good, believe it or not. Well, there are not all that many dancing twi'leks, at least on Earth, so we are something of a novelty. Some other twi'leks and I are forming our own dance company, so maybe late this year or early next year we will start putting on our own shows, maybe even tour someday."

  "Any ideas what you might do yet?"

  "Yes, we do have some ideas already."

  "Anything with a Star Wars theme?" I asked for some odd reason.

  "Oh yes, that was the first thing some of us thought of" Brooke now answered.

  [A Star Wars version of 'A Christmas Carol' with Darth Vader in the Ebenezer Scrooge role, perhaps?] I thought to Diane.

  [That would be something to see!] she silently thought back.

  "If you want to book any of us for something in the summer" Brooke went on "You had better do it soon, our dates are starting to get filled up!"

  "It does sound like you are keeping yourselves busy" Diane said.

  "Yes, I have been keeping pretty busy thesepast few months. Sometimes it is good to stay busy."

  Shortly thereafter, we arrived at Brooke's destination. She practically bounded out of her seat behind me, grabbed her carry-on bag, then moved my wheelchair to the seat behind me where I could grab it more easily. Before she went inside she leaned inside the window and whispered into Debbie's ear for a few moments. Debbie said nothing then but did nod her head a couple times in response.



  We stopped at a drive-through for lunch soon after dropping Brooke off, and then ate in my car at a nearby park. We watched the antics of the birds (Canada geese were not the glut they are in parts of New Jersey!) and watched some Hobbits playing frisbee, and surprising us with their skill.

  Mostly though, we talked among ourselves, and it was then that we got some jarring news from Debbie.

  "It is probably good for Brooke that she has been as busy as she has been. She has had a pretty tough time the last several months, since the change."

  "How?" Diane asked, concern in her voice.

  "Her parents were also caught up in the events of the change...now she has essentially lost both of them." Debbie answered.

  "Did their memories get changed" I asked, thinking of the conventioneers who had been so greatly changed mentally they no longer remembered who they legally were. Instead they now thought they were Mr Spock, Blackbeard, Frodo Baggins, or any number of other characters from history, fantasy, or whatever.

  "No" Debbie shuddered as she answered "In some ways, it was worse."

  "What do you mean by that?" Diane wondered. If Brooke's parents didn't die because of the Xanadu effect, then what did happen that had Debbie shaken as she was?

  It turned out that on that fateful eleventh of November, Brooke's parents had been putting on a little play in one of the side rooms off the main hall. Her mother played a woman trapped inside an unbreakable bubble, and only a certain magician, played by her father, could ultimately free her from her prison. That afternoon they had just returned from a late lunch, and she had changed into a ballerina costume before her husband closed her bubble with her back inside. Unfortunately the wave of magic accidentally unleashed by Eric Winters enveloped them before her husband could change back into his magician's costume. As soon as the chaos outside alerted them that something was VERY wrong, he tried to free her, only to discover that the glass-like bubble in which she had become locked now felt as hard as steel, without even a hint of seam anywhere. Try as he might with the means then at his disposal, he could not even scratch the surface of his wife's prison. Nor did he have any more success when belatedly donned his magician's outfit and tried again. Even a dose of blaster fire from a Boba Fett failed to free her - his shots didn't even smudge the surface of the bubble.

  Her situation get no better after she was finally removed from the convention center a few days later. At about seven feet in diameter, her imprisoning bubble was too large to fit through any doors, so first one wall of the room in which she had been, and then part of one of the outer glass walls, had too be torn out so she could be rolled to a truck that had been brought in the move her. Because their home could not accomodate her bubble, she was taken to a vacant office building being used to provide housing for some of the more drastically changed Xanadu survovors. Over the next few weeks numerous more efforts were made to free her from the bubble. Saws, lightsabers, sledgehammers, other magicians, even titanium-tipped drills were among the methods tried - and all of them failed.

  "How does she get food and water, and how does she go to the bathroom?" Diane asked at one point "And how doe she get fresh air to breathe?"

  "They still do not understand how it happens" Debbie answered "But somehow all her basic needs are met, even though nothing solid or liquid can get in or out..."

  Events took on an even more chilling turn when those who had been trying to free Brooke's mother were forced to tell them there was nothing more they could do. Her father, holding himself responsible for his wife's predicament, returned to their home where he then took his own life. When Brooke and others broke the new to her, she went berserk. Rolling furiously in her bubble, she tried to run down everyone else in the room, forcing a hasty evacuation. She then slammed repeatedly against the walls, breaking down one of them and causing another large room to be cleared of its occupants. The rampage went on for all day and all night, but despite the damage to the building, her bubble still did not have even a single scratch on its exterior.

  Realizing the failure of her efforts to free herself, Brooke's mother broke down and cried inconsolably for two days straight, paying no heed to those who now dared approach and speak to her.

  "Now she just stands in her bubble, staring off into space, and doesn't say anything at all" Debbie said.

  "Is she alive? She didn't turn into some sort of statue, did she?" Diane asked.

  "No, she is alive, all sensor readings they have taken of her say so...It is like she is catatonic..."



  To try to take Debbie's mind somewhat away from Brooke's parents we asked if she would like to go swimming.

  "Yes, please" she immediately answered, to our relief.

  It didn't take us long to decide where swim, then Diane asked Debbie "Why are you wearing that dress?" I assumed it was the sort of question only a woman would ask another woman, but when Debbie answered, she was clearly speaking to both of us.

  "It was kind of a joke. We have the same height and build and look so much alike from the neck down we sometimes joke if we dressed the same and wore masks no one would be able to tell us apart!" She went on to say after picking Brooke up from her second gig and returning home with us, the two of them would add animegao masks to their outfits, then walk over to the home of another friend for his birthday.

  "They shouldn't be able to tell who is who!" she said.

  Debbie then showed us a photo of herself on her phone, taken at another Con in April last year. Between her mask, dress (bright pink, with skirt and sleeves even more voluminous than those on the dress she now was wearing), and pale pink zentai underneath it all, she was totally unrecognizable.

  "That's the idea" Debbie said "And when you are in costume you don't speak either. I did not say a word all day that day, even when I was on break."

  That dovetailed with what Janice and others of our group had told me before the convention opened. During the Kubla Con itself I had never really tried to photograph animegao cosplayers, although quite a few did show up in the backgrounds of some of my shots. In the aftermath of the Change more than a few found themselves rendered permanently speechless, though many others still could talk, either in their pre-change voices or in the voices the characters they had been portraying might have spoken.

  I was just about to start my car again when Debbie's phone went off and she answered. Almost immediately her voice took on a concerned tone.

  "Hello...hi...we're about to go for a swim, what's up?...who?...she was?!...oh no!...how are they doing?...she would like to see me sometime?...Yes, we are in town, maybe they will come too..."

  The conversation went on for some minutes, until Debbie eventually hung up and leaned forward so Diane and me could hear her better over the noise of a truck on a nearby street.

  "Might you two be willing to change your plans for this afternoon?"

  "What's up?" Diane wondered.

  The catalyst behind the possible change of plans turned out to be another old friend of Debbie's, Tina. They had gone to school together for years and had graduated in the same class, but thereafter lost touch as Tina had gone to college and Debbie had gone to sea. Tina had joined a sorority and she and her 'sisters' would occasionally go to events together. Most often it was various athletic events at her college, but sometimes other events as well.

  The Kubla Con was one such event, and on the same day I had started out as a merman with the intention of later becoming a Vulcan, Tina and eleven other Sisters had gone as a group of babies, in adult-sized onsie dresses or rompers, with diaper-like padding between their legs that was so bulky they could only stand up in a bow-legged stance, and toddle about with a somewhat wobbly gait. They also locked pacifier-style gags over their mouths so they could not speak intelligably, and even left the keys in their room so no one could suddenly change their minds. Three of them even attended in adult-sized versions of baby walkers, as if they could not yet walk at all or stand up without holding onto something for support.

  The twelve had returned to their room for refreshments and some group photos, before returning for the awards ceremony in the main hall. They were there when the Change swept through with a strange vibration. In the blink of an eye their room seemed to become as enormous as an aircraft hangar, and the photographer herself a giant. It was some time before they realized what had actually happened...

  At this point in her answer Debbie's phone went off again. After speaking with her caller for a few minutes she turned back to us and asked "Would you to meet with them at that indoor pool we passed a little while back?"

  Diane and I still had not yet heard why the 'Baby Sisters' wanted to see us Mers, but we did immediately agree to Debbie's proposal.



  The pool staff had already applied the chlorine neutralizer by the time we three arrived. Diane and I immediately plunged in and were very satisfied with its effectiveness. There was not even a hint of irritation in our gills. Debbie had not brought a hair dryer, so she didn't join us in the water. She didn't totally dismiss the possibility however.

  "I'd like to see some time what kind of a tail this dress might give me" she said.

  The twelve Baby Sisters and their chaperones arrived about half an hour after we did. All looked to be about sixteen to eighteen months old, it was hard to believe they were really in their late teens to early twenties. All wore one piece swimsuits over what looked like rather bulky diapers. The life preservers they also wore made them look even bulkier than they actually were. Nine of the Sisters toddled in on their feet, while three rolled in in baby walkers. All wore pacifiers in their mouths.

  "Hi!" Diane and I called out together.

  "Mmmf! Mgmmf! Mbmf!" the Sisters all answered back. None tried to take out their pacifiers, which had us a little puzzled.

  "They literally can never take their gags off, except at feeding time" one of the chaperones said. "You'll see what we do then later."

  Once everyone was in place poolside, another chaperone asked the Sisters "Would you like to see a water show now?" She tried to speak as though talking to a group of adults, but by her own admission still had difficulty doing so.

  No matter. Another round of "Mgmf! Mmmf! Mmmmf!" burst forth from our already rapt audience. I dove, then breached moments later in the deep end before falling back with a huge splash. Despite her pregnancy, Diane was just as enthusiastic, though she did take care to land on her back in deference to the babies growing within her belly. Next we treated the Sisters to a display of tail dancing (more applause), then put on a demonstration of how fast we could swim, both on and below the surface. Diane didn't try to swim at full speed this time, but had our watchers wide-eyed nonetheless. Finally, we slapped the surface with our tailfins, sending up splashes that sometimes reached the ceiling.

  At that time some of the Sisters began pointing toward our tails, then toward themselves, before mumbling something unintelligable to our ears.

  "What would you like us to do?" I asked.

  "They want you to splash them!" a chaperone answered.

  Diane and I were most happy to oblige them, and sent several splashes their way that soon had everyone in range soaked and squealing with delight (Debbie had moved off to one side in order to stay dry and avoid an accidental and perhaps ill timed transformation). Once our audience looked sufficiently wet we swam to the edge of the pool and asked "Would you like to go swimming with us?"

  Without waiting for their chaperones to answer, the nine Sisters who could walk jumped into the water, and the three in their wheeled walkers joined us as soon as they could be lifted out and gently dropped in. Because of their already limited mobility, compounded by their life vests, they could do little more than splash in place. Diane and I each pulled one Sister on to our chests, and invited another to hold onto each of our arms. It thus was not long before all twelve got to do a lap around the pool. Diane and I later learned all had been avid swimmers or divers, and some had been on the college swim team.

  We would have swum even longer, but the Sisters were getting hungry, so we reluctantly left the pool. The chaperones and Debbie had already laid out blankets and pillows for the Sisters to lie on, and a stack of warm towells to dry them off with.

  "Every moment they are awake, there is a pacifier gag in their mouths" Debbie told Diane and me as we watched the Sisters suckle from their bottles "And the ONLY way to remove them is to have a full bottle at the ready. Then you have two seconds to make the switch or it's 'pop' and the pacifier is back in their mouths."

  "Can't they spit their pacifiers out when they want to?" Diane asked.

  "No, they can't even do that."

  "So, they can't talk at all?"

  "Unfortunately, no. 'Mmmf' is about the best they can do. They seem to understand each other somehow, but their caretakers still cannot understand anything they say."

  How do they communicate without telepathy?" I now asked.

  "For a long time, they couldn't. They lack the coordination to write at all. They finally got a setup where they type what they have to say on a keyboard and it shows up on a monitor."

  "Is Tina here?" Diane asked, thinking of the old friend Debbie had mentioned earlier.

  "Yes, she is here. Tina?" At once a Sister with surprisingly long black hair crawled over, her bottle scraping on the floor. Debbie then scooped her up and sat her in her lap.

  "Dmpf?" Tina then seemed to say.

  "Yes, Tina. I'm Debbie. You remember me, right?"

  "Mmpf" Tina answered as she nodded her head. Her bottle was still half full and rather heavy for her, so Debbie held it up as she cradled her old friend in her arms.

  One of the caretakers suggested we sit in a rough circle so we could use my contact telepathy to 'talk' more easily. That proved to be a most popular idea because the Sisters had a LOT they wanted to say. Their story of the early weeks after the Change was a particularly complicated one, but eventually everyone went along with their insistance on living together as they had been. Despite their drastic physical changes their minds were not affected, and they impressed us as a remarkably intelligent group of young women, quite capable, and determined, to make their own decisions. Indeed, once a suitable home had been found and their computers set up, they lost little time resuming their studies online. Various issues were still being worked out even now, but the seniors thought they might be able to graduate and receive their diplomas only a couple semesters late. One who had once hoped to become an attorney and argue cases in a courtroom was already discovering to her surprise that doing research 'behind the scenes' could be just as rewarding in its own way. Also, their unchanged Sisters visited regularly, and a few now lived with them and took care of them, as well as accompanying them on outings such as this one at the pool.

  "Please, don't call us chaperones" one of them said. "They don't need us to make their decisions for them, we just need to take care of them physically."

  Despite such positive support, the Baby Sisters also faced plenty of frustration in their post-change lives. Normally seventeen-month-olds grow quite rapaidly, but the Sisters had not grown at all, and now it appeared they would be as they now were for the rest of their lives, and subject to the 'clothing curse' to boot. Fifty or more years of always having diaper-like padding between their legs and being barely able to walk, or having to crawl or use a baby walker to get anywhere under their own power. Likewise of being unable to speak intelligably and of not taking nourishment by any means except a bottle.

  [At least we have as much control going to the bathroom as normal healthy adults, but really, who is going to take us seriously when it comes to getting jobs we can do? To those who don't already know us, we just look like a bunch of babies or toddlers from a day care center] Tina said with noticable frustration in her mind's voice.

  Neither Debbie, nor Diane, nor me could offer a satisfactory solution to her complaint.

  The occasion that raised the greatest ire from the Sisters however, was when a phsychiatrist arrived unannounced one day and said she was beginning a long term study of them, particularly since their physical changes meant they would never be able to bear children. For the Sisters that was akin to rubbing salt in an open wound. They immediately voiced their displeasure in no uncertain (albeit unintelligable) terms, but their visitor was unswayed.

  The Baby Sisters were heavily dependent on others for their care, but they were also far from helpless. At least one appearently had magic of her own, for in the blink of an eye the uninvited guest went from being a woman standing about five-foot-six, to looking like a one-year-old lying on the floor trying futilely to remove a feeding bottle from her own mouth.

  "What eventually happened to her?" Debbie wondered.

  [She's alright now] was the answer. [She changed back to normal a week later. We have been told she won't even drive down this street anymore. I guess we made an impression on her.]



  We arrived back at Brooke's place about six that evening, having picked her up at her second gig on the way. The carpeting indoors slowed Diane and me a bit, but we didn't mind. Debbie did appreciate it though. Shortly after she waddled inside, she lost her balance and landed on her rear end with an audible thud.

  "Are you alright?" Diane asked her.

  "I'm fine" Debbie answered "I'm well padded back there right now."

  That padding had come courtesy of the Baby Sisters. Upon hearing Debbie say that despite being on break for the next week, she was having difficulty getting herself to slow down and relax more, the magical Sister decided to do that for her. With an audible whoosh she suddenly found herself wearing a red adult sized onsie baby dress similar to the ones some of the Sisters been wearing before the Change, complete with 'padding' between her legs bulky enough she could only stand with a bow legged stance.

  [Welcome to our sorority, you're one of us now!] Tina had told her. [Don't worry, your clothing spell will only last a week. We might do this with all our new members!] Tina's mind giggled. Everyone else giggled audibly, even Debbie.

  "Sometimes, if you don't laugh, you cry. Laughing is more fun" Debbie said.

 

  "I know it sounds kinda crazy, but this thing really feels quite comfortable, much better than some of the costumes I have worn" Debbie said as she lifted the skirt of the blue dress she now was wearing to contemplate her 'padding.' "I didn't believe them at first when they said some of their sisters actually volunteered for that spell. Maybe this is one reason why."

  Diane was about to say something in response, but my phone went off just then, so she held back while I answered.