"What about his testes? Will he be able to reproduce?"
"Don’t know. I’m going to have to get this out, try to stop the bleeding."
"Will we need a micro surgeon?"
"I don’t think so. I’ve done some complex work on other sea mammals. I should be able to handle this." Mulder didn’t want to think he was being selfish, not allowing anyone else to touch his prize project, his piscatorial lover. But they couldn’t wait for a specialist to arrive. He had to do something now.
There were a two deep stab wounds, both of which had dragged as Krycek had tried to pull away. Mulder had his work cut out for him as he toiled, removing the knife blade, reconnecting severed veins (thankful no arteries had been nicked), sewing up the soft, delicate tissues. All the time thinking of how he’d taken his pleasure here just a few hours before, how sensitive this flesh had been, how warm and welcoming.
He whispered to the merman, his voice soft and calming, even as the merman looked at him with drugged out, misty eyes. "Didn’t do you any good, did it, coming in contact with humans. Getting mangled by that boat, getting stabbed, this weird thing you have going with me."
"What was that?" his assistant questioned, positioning the tubes to suck out the blood as it pooled.
"Nothing, just talking to him. Maybe we should have knocked him out altogether."
"No way yet of knowing which anaesthetics would work on him. You know how many sample clones we made to test this morphine mix."
"Yeah, I just wonder how freaked-out watching this operation is going to make him."
"He looks happy enough right now. He’s so stoned, he’s flying. Anyway, what can he see at that angle. He feels good, there’s no pain right now, and he can see your face, that’s gotta make him happy."
Mulder paused in his work, searching Langly’s face, wondering what the guy had figured out, but he could read everything and nothing in the cheeky grin given back to him.
"Will he be okay?"
Mulder let the question distract him from his worries, "Yeah, I think so. It really wasn’t that bad. His penis is undamaged and from I can tell everything really important is okay. But it’s gonna hurt like hell for a while."
"Well, I tell you, it wouldn’t matter what they were trying. Someone did that to me, I’d spear them too."
"I just hope..."
"What?"
"I’m worried the police might think he looks human therefore he is culpable like a human. Or, at the other extreme, that they’ll want him destroyed like a rabid dog."
"Hey, when that woman was mauled by a polar bear, and that guy was mauled by the panda, they said it was their fault for going into the cages, not the animals’ fault for attacking them."
"Let’s hope so."
"Yeah, I think you’re being paranoid. They won’t hurt him."
"Your mouth to god’s ear, Langly."
"I thought you didn’t believe in god?"
"Whatever works."
-oo0oo-
"Well, Scully. What’s happening?"
"The police are not going to press charges, although I’ve assured them we will be increasing security again. We have enough insurance to pay those kids’ medical bills."
"It’s us who should be pressing charges against them. They damaged a valuable animal. I’ll release him back into the main tank in a few days, but he’ll be very uncomfortable for a long time."
"How’s he reacting?"
"So far I’ve had him on a very high dose of pain killers. He’s very happy right now. Long term I don’t know. This has to be very traumatic."
"There’s a few other things we need to discuss."
"Such as?"
"The animal liberation organisers are making a lot of noise. They know we are planning on releasing him, but they want to know when."
"When I consider it appropriate."
"I know that, but he’s the only merperson in captivity. They say, and I agree, that he should be with his own kind. And not only that, but after this attack, they are saying he’s too dangerous to be available to the general public."
"Well, as long as they don’t go in there and stab him, they should be fine."
"What if someone gets onto one of the barriers, or any other way, and annoys him? Who’s to say he won’t stab or claw or bite the wrong person some time?"
"Et tu, Scully?" Mulder grinned. He knew she was simply trying out all the arguments that would be used against them.
"It’s not just the normal arguments, Mulder."
"What else?"
"To prove that they provoked the attack, I pulled the security video, and showed the relevant part to the police."
"What security video?" Mulder was puzzled, as far as he knew the only camera in the pool was in the cave.
"About a week ago we had a new set of cameras put in, so we could monitor any night time activity."
"I thought that was just in the public areas, in case of break-ins?"
"No, it was in the tanks as well."
Mulder could feel the blood training from his face.
"You’re very lucky it was only me that ran that tape, Mulder. What did you think you were doing?"
He had no answer. For once in his life, Mulder was speechless.
"I know you’ve always been obsessed with these creatures," Scully continued, her voice strained with the effort of keeping control, "but to have sex with one?"
The one thing Mulder could think to say: ‘he started it’, stuck in his throat.
"It’s bonded to you, hasn’t he? That’s what all those displays were about. It’s a sexual thing. How many times have you done this?"
"That was the first."
"And it will be the last, Mulder. Once it’s well enough to be released back into the main tank and we’re sure there’ll be no health repercussions I think you should take some time off."
"You’re firing me?" he squeaked.
"If I do there will be questions asked. I want you to take a few weeks vacation. We’ll still pay you during that time. And I want you to see a psychiatrist. Then you can leave in your own time. You can retire, saying you have reached the pinnacle of your career or whatever bullshit you need to dish out. I’ll even give you a good reference. If this got out, if anyone found out what you’ve done, we’d be closed down faster than Skinner going after a dime. I want to hush this up, a complete whitewash, sweep it under the carpet," her hands chopped the air as she tried to hide her absolute horror with the stream of words.
"And also, Mulder," she continued, "at no time are you to be alone with the animal. There will be security cameras all day and night. I’m going to have a security guard posted in the medical centre. I’ll tell people it’s to stop any more break-ins or attacks, but I want you to know it’s to make sure you don’t... interfere with the animal again. Do you understand?"
Mulder just nodded, not looking her in the eye. He knew he was looking at the effective end of his career. Once Krycek was released, he wouldn’t be invited to head another project like this.
-oo0oo-
Mulder could raise no pity for the boys injured and killed by the merman. He watched Krycek in the main tank. He’d been put back after only a few days, his injuries not so severe that he needed a long term of recuperation like last time. But the behaviour was obviously wrong. Instead of playing with the audience as previously, Krycek kept mostly to the back wall of the enclosure, still swimming awkwardly, tail curled up. In fact, he seemed to be trying to use his arms to swim, or haul himself along by the rocks. Obviously not a natural form of movement.
The only animation Krycek showed was if he saw someone coming to him with food or a needle. It hadn’t taken long for the merman to realise that the needles meant relief from pain. Mulder worried he was becoming dependent on the drugs. He tapped out the recognised rhythm on the platform, watching Krycek painfully pull himself up to get the next injection.
Mulder fed him first, cutting open various crustaceans so Krycek wouldn’t do anything strenuous. He could hear the audience making pitying noises. Some of them had seen the merman in his full glory and knew what a contrast this dull-finned creature was now. They all could tell he was in pain. Mulder and the announcer both played it up for all it was worth. People would pay to come and see the poor injured merman far more readily than the violent killer fish-man.
So far careful PR had made sure the public were on the merman’s side. Certainly, the type of attack perpetrated on Krycek had every man’s sympathy, and his obvious pain and distress had every woman’s ‘awwwww’ factor on full. If possible, gate takings were even higher.
He gave Krycek a shove, and the merman obediently rolled over to get the injection. Mulder made sure the inspection – checking on the stitches, signs of infection, disinfecting the site of the injection etc – was as impersonal as he could make it, just in case someone was watching. As yet, Krycek hadn’t tried to instigate any kind of affection or contact, which in itself worried Mulder, but at least it kept any more questions from Scully to a minimum.
"What are we going to do?" he asked quietly, "What have I done? I’ve ruined my career, I’ve... well, I don’t know what impact this is going to have on you. I’m guessing you’re already a widower, what’s it going to do to you to lose another mate?"
"Good boy," Krycek whispered again, dopey with drugs, floating on his back, looking at Mulder with what he could only interpret as trust. Big green eyes totally accepting everything Mulder was saying with complete incomprehension.
"Yeah, you’re a good boy. Or are you saying I am? Do you know what that means?"
Krycek just floated. "Good boy."
"It can talk?"
Mulder span on his heels, nearly falling into the tank. "I didn’t hear you coming, Scully."
She didn’t bother to say she didn’t trust him, not with an entire audience of people. "How long has it been talking?"
"That’s all he says. Just ‘good boy’. He did it the first time the night of the attack."
"The night you... did that to it?"
"I didn’t ‘do’ anything to him. If you saw the video you’ll see I didn’t instigate anything."
"Oh, yeah, and you really put up a struggle. But that’s irrelevant. Does it understand what it’s saying?"
"I don’t think so... I’m not sure. It’s just that’s what I say to him. I guess he just hears that phrase a lot, especially at feeding times."
"Well, we know he can make words, that’s pretty good."
Mulder felt a small glimmer of hope. If her curiosity was engaged, maybe she’d forgive... or perhaps, delay any decisions regarding his future. But he could see her point of view, do you forgive the orang-utan keeper who falls for her furry face?
"Can you make him say it again?" she asked.
"I don’t know, maybe," he leaned in, come on, Krycek, co-operate with me. "Hey, Krycek, good boy?"
Huge ingenue eyes gazed up at him.
"Hey you," Mulder held out the leg of a lobster like it was a stick of candy, moving it faster than Krycek cared to chase it, "good boy."
"Good boy," and Krycek took the goodie to munch on, before sinking down to float idly past the observation windows.
"My guess," Mulder mused, "is that his voice box is different to ours. He’s got the idea of using his mouth to make words, but he doesn’t have the right vocal chords to actually create sound. Which doesn’t explain that... singing thing he does."
"That did not sound like any human noise I’ve ever heard, Mulder."
"No. Maybe it’s like cat’s purring, we’ll never know exactly how he does it. But that whispering, we both knew what he said. Even if he was just emulating something he’d heard rather than attempting conversation, it’s an interesting start."
The two humans sat in silence for a little while, Mulder not willing to disturb whatever thoughts Scully was having, in case they were positive towards him.
"Why did you have to screw this up, Mulder?"
So much for that theory.
"It wasn’t deliberate," he replied sadly.
She shook her head, not understanding his depth of obsession.
-oo0oo-
Like a criminal, Mulder checked the positioning and view points of every one of the new security cameras, until he knew exactly what they covered, and what they didn’t. He had every blind spot memorised, even though he swore to himself he wouldn’t use that information. But he knew himself well enough to know when he was lying.
They’d started weaning Krycek off the pain killers, wanting to catch that before he developed a dependency. So now Mulder found himself swimming nearly all day with the merman, just round and round the tank, with Krycek plastered to his side, still confused and unhappy, obviously seeking comfort from Mulder.
Entertaining fantasies of just going out to sea with the merman, living with him or his pod, Mulder held slender fingers in his hand, making sure Krycek got some exercises rather than just curling up on the floor again. He would coat his fingers with an anaesthetic cream and coat the inside of the genital pouch with that every couple of hours. Again, Krycek had healed without complications, but he wasn’t too enthusiastic about moving under his own steam. Mulder used the cream to dull any lingering discomfort, but he got the distinct impression the merman was sulking, rather than in pain.
A couple of times Krycek would try to put his arms around Mulder, and Mulder found it harder and harder to keep squirming away. He felt like he was brushing off a lover... which he was. Just because Krycek wasn’t human didn’t mean he didn’t have feelings... did it? Mulder couldn’t be certain. It sure felt like he was acting like a complete jerk.
He made a big obvious set of gestures like he was leaving to go home for the night. Making sure the camera saw the most final looking of goodbyes, but he hoped that Krycek would, as usual, pay no attention. Contrary fish.
He hauled himself out of the water onto the platform, and it wasn’t long before he heard the scrabbling as Krycek awkwardly pulled his body out of the water. Too large and clumsy on land, he simply dragged himself across the platform by his hands, the long tail trailing along behind him. At least he wasn’t favouring the injury site any more, not even while it was in direct contact with the surface of the platform, so Mulder guessed he wasn’t in any physical pain now.
