With an almost-delicate sound, the floor vanished, and Human-Amir plunged straight down with a shout of surprise, only for more water to pour from the ceiling atop him in a torrent.

Humans could swim, but not well enough to withstand hundreds of gallons of water thundering down.

Vree lunged for the water, but two of his crewmates grabbed him before he could actually make it. He struggled against their hold, but they held fast. They were exploring an abandoned base, and the humans both insisted on coming along. When asked, they simply said they were curious. Now one of them might be dead.

“The human is drowning!” he snarled and hissed at his crewmates, ears flat against his skull and teeth bared. “Let me go, damn you!”

“That water is near a hundred meters at least,” Ript told him, panting with the effort of holding him back. He was smaller than Vree, but he had help, and Vree did not. “You will sink like a stone and both of you will die.”

“We will find a way!” Vree struggled harder. “Humans are difficult to kill and swim well!”

“Humans are, but you are not human!” Bitt said from the other side. “and you can barely swim in still water. Perhaps-“

The argument was interrupted by the sound of pounding feet behind them. Vree looked over his shoulder in time to see Human-Nerea shoot past them at a run.

She hardly paused to yank off her light dress and kick off her shoes before she took a running dive into the torrential water.

Fizzt wasn’t quite fast enough to grab the crazy, naked, human, and then she was gone under the surface.

“To the water’s edge,” Vree commanded, and shrugged off the other two who had loosened their grip in shock. As much as he hated to admit it, they were right. He could not swim, and there was no use in dying without a cause. “Find a way to turn off the water.”

The water overflowed its containment and was rising quickly, but their humans had yet to reappear. Ript joined Fizzt at the control panel. Vree tugged Bitt towards the clear tank, and the lower levels to try and see if their humans were still alive in there somewhere.

Clouds of white bubbles obscured their view, but Vree peered through them anxiously nonetheless, his tail lashing with anxiety. He liked both of the crew-humans and did not want to see them dead so soon after meeting them.

“Got it!” Ript called, words heralding the end of the downpour. Just in time, as the water was halfway up Vree’s thighs and would be above waist-height on a human. There was a river flowing out the door, but it didn’t seem to be lowering the water level any. “Can you see them?”

“No,” Vree replied glumly, although he kept looking nonetheless. “How long can humans hold their breath?”

“Four minutes is average,” Fizzt spent the most time talking to the humans. He was younger than much of the crew and found the humans to be more interesting than alarming. “Human-Nerea said more, sometimes but we were interrupted before she could clarify.”

Vree sighed, and stared into the tank, wondering how long they should wait before giving up. As the water cleared, something large flashed red and white though the dark water. It was barely visible through the water-splashed synth-glass, but it flashed again and Vree took a hurried step back.

Scales.

“There is something in there,” he called, and ran up to the surface to try and get a better look. “A large marine creature with scales.”

“Did you see blood?” Ript wanted to know, and Vree shook his head, relieved that he did not. “Or movement? Anything?”

“No, I- wait!” he stared into the water, and then scrambled back when he did indeed see movement, heading quickly for the surface. “Look out!”

Belatedly he realized that, with a meter of water covering the floor, the creature was certainly not contained to just the pit anymore. Whatever the scales were, it would be lose very shortly.

He need not have worried.

“That sucked,” Human-Amir said bitterly when his head broke the surface and he finished coughing up water. Vree immediately hauled him up and away from the potential danger, because the scaled creature was still in there somewhere. “So that pit goes a long way down, for future reference.”

Human-Nerea was next to appear, but she raised a hand to stop Vree when he went to lift her out.

“I’m alright,” she said calmly, but Vree was already moving when he saw the white-and-red just below her. “No, I’m-”

“You… have a tail,” he said dumbly when he had the human suspended over the water by the waist. She flicked her tail, and her fins flared open, dripping water Her markings turned out to be thick bars of red and white, and were decidedly marine in nature. “And scales.”

“I know,” she sighed, and now that he listened, her voice was different as well. As if her vocal cords were producing more frequencies, layered together, than they normally did. “We need to talk about my species classification. Put me back in the water, please, and watch my spines.”

Spines. She did have spines that flared out along her dorsal and sides. Obedient, and somewhat shocked, Vree put her down. She stabilized herself with ease, more at ease in the water than she ever was on dry land.

“Is this really the place?” Human-Amir asked wryly, although he looked much better now despite still being entirely soaked to the skin. “Or the time?”

“We ought to see what’s down there, and now the water is aerated,” Human- human? Nerea said reasonably. “I already have my scales on.”

“Well, okay. Be careful, yeah?” Amir dug in his pocket and tossed a small, waterproof light to her. “Don’t know what else is down there.”

“If it can take me on in the water, I deserve to get eaten.”

Before Vree could say anything, she vanished underwater with the light.

“What…?” Bitt found his voice first, and Vree was sure his muzzle looked just as confused. Humans had scales? That came out in water?

“Nerea is a mermaid,” Amir said like it explained everything. When he realized how little that meant to them, he explained further. “She can tell you more, but if she gets submerged in water, her tail and gills appear, along with some other stuff. She saw me go under and came down to get me.”

“You were under for six-point-eight minutes,” Ript said dumbly. “You have never beat your time of three-point-two. How…?“

“She kissed me,” Human-Amir was clearly feeling alright, because he moved over to the control panel and began examining it. “Kiss of a mermaid can save a man from drowning.”

“Is… is that a trait of her kind?” Fizzt asked cautiously. “Like the scales?”

“You mean did I know she could do it?” the human asked vaguely and pressed a button. The tank above them shifted away and let light flood into the room. “I mean I knew she was a mermaid. There’s a couple Others around. I’m an Other too, although what I can do is mostly learned, not inherent like hers.”

This was all entirely new to Vree and he stared at their human, who gave him a slightly apologetic shrug.

“Are these… Others… a differing species?” Vree found his voice after several minutes of blank confusion. No one ever mentioned this in the reports! This was completely new information to the Alliance as a whole, as far as he knew.

“Some,” Human-Amir said casually, still focused on the control panel, which he was rapidly taking apart. “Mermaids started out human but got changed into something else and breed true. Fae look human when they feel like it. Vampires are dead, but they were human before they died. Sorcerers- I’m a sorcerer- are human but have magic. It’s complicated.”

“Magic?”

In reply, Human-Amir snapped his fingers together. A flame, orange-red and so hot Vree could almost feel his fur curling away, burst into being in his palm. It danced across his fingertips looking for something to burn. Vree stifled a yell of surprise, but only just. Behind him, Ript started to hiss. “I cast spells. Pretty much fire-exclusive in my case. Nerea’s stuff is mostly just related to what she is. The songs and the kiss and all.”

This was more than Vree could handle. Humans were bad enough, but now they had this… ‘magic’, also? Perfect. Just perfect.

“It just goes straight down,” Human-Nerea reappeared, red hair dripping. “Looks like this is filtration for the ship’s drinking water, but the filter at the bottom is jammed shut.”

She hauled herself out of the water and looked around with a sigh. “My shoes and dress are gone, aren’t they?”

“Will you be okay barefoot?” Human-Amir stripped off his coat and gave it to her. It was long enough to fall to his knees and would cover her completely.

…if she had legs again any time soon.

As if to answer Vree’s thought, the human lifted her tail out of the water. Moments later her scales fell away and vanished, leaving human skin in their place.

In seconds she looked completely human and stood.

“Should be,” she said calmly and smiled up at Vree. He only blinked at her, just about at his limit for human oddity for the day. “Did you explain?”

“Some.”

“How much?”

“The existence of Others. That you’re a mermaid and I’m a pyromancer. About the kiss. Thanks, by the way.”

“Any time, but hopefully not often. Vree, are you alright?”

No, Vree was not alright. Vree was very confused. Explanations could wait until after they got back to their own shop, but…

“Do we reclassify your species?” he asked, because it was the only thing he could think to say.

“Don’t bother,” Nerea seemed pleased by the answer. “Others are almost entirely human-base. Unless someone tells you, just assume we’re all human.”

“Well there’s Blaec…“ Human-Amir started, and Human-Nerea rolled her eyes in the human sign of exasperation.

“Lord Petros doesn’t count,” she said pointedly. “Lord Petros is nearly thirty thousand years old and does whatever he wants.”

“Who… or what… is Lord Petros?” Vree was sure he would regret asking as he ushered his humans out of the water-filled room. “We are going back to the ship.”

“But we aren’t done exploring!” Human-Amir protested, but knew perfectly well that Vree would carry him if he made a fuss. Human-Nerea seemed content to go, but she was missing footwear, which often made humans uncomfortable.

“Lord Petros is a dragon,” she said, and let Vree lift her onto his shoulder when they came to the hallways. There were sharp bits everywhere and her feet would be cut if she walked. “He is very old, very powerful, and none of the rules apply to what he can or cannot do. You probably won’t meet him, but if you do, use his title, not a species moniker.”

“He’s friends with my grandfather,” Human-Amir said casually. “The Empire is very polite when Blaec wants something. Last time I saw him, he was about the size of a destroyer.”

A human destroyer was nineteen human-kilometers or more. The thought of a creature that large was enough to make Vree’s tail flick nervously and his fur bristle

“And this Lord Petros can look human when he cares?” he asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, often enough. It’s not like he can fit inside most ships anymore. And Evelene is human-sized.”

“Who, or what, is Evelene?”

“Oh,” Human Nerea said from his shoulder, using her new vantage point to examine the ceiling more closely. It was covered in half-rotted wiring and she was too curious for anyone’s good. “Evelene is the First Mermaid. Well, technically one of three, but she’s the only one still alive. It’s been a long time, you know?”

No, Vree did not know, thank you very much and he wasn’t at all sure that he wanted to know. But he was a scientist, and the lure of new knowledge was more powerful than his own self-preservation.

“You will have to explain all of this.”