"Discrepancies" by Kim Schoonover (FreeBSD/i386 [moose] [ttyv5])

“Hello, Stan,” she said, a mysterious smile playing on her face. “Come, Join our circle.” The rest of the circle turned to peer at him expectantly, the unity of their movements strangely disconcerting among the random flows of the water. They seemed identical, the multicolored fins and swathes of flowing fabric that some had, and even the simple fact that each had a different pattern of their scales, or color, or shape did nothing to disprove that idea.

Unaware that he had even moved, Stan settled down onto the ground next to her, sediment drifting up to glow in the light provided by the light in the center. They smiled. The world turned with forces unfelt in the blackly muted deeps as they sat, content in existing as one. The light provided by the object at their center petered out a few meters from the ring of merfolk, but they did not look out, only in.

Time passed, worlds of it.

Stan was one of them, he stared at the light and whispered the names of the lost with them. The darkness around no longer existed.

As one body, they contented themselves with nothing and all at the same time. Slowly, however, Stan began reclaiming a sense of self once more, aided by the nagging voice inside him, telling him, again and again, this isn't right.

The strange noises, like the howling of a lost soul or the screech of claws, or even, occasionally, the crack of strong jaws and the crunch of bone splintering between them drifted into the circle, but only one noticed, the one who had only joined, the one who heeded his cautionary side. The sense of wrongness greatened, to the point where he could not remain a part of the unanimous body.

But then, the others too drifted out from their stupor and opened their eyes as one. They had closed them sometime while they worked,

(worked on what?)

but now all focused on Stan, and waited.

Then she spoke again, the one with the mysterious smile, no, they all had mysterious smiles now, but Stan was certain this was the same one. “You, the newcomer, must join us in flesh and bone and a state of never ending peace.”

Stan wanted to flee. To escape. It would take so little to turn with one stroke of his powerful tail and swim up, away, out of this terrifying prison. So why couldn't he? Even as he thought this, his fins propelled him toward the light at the center, even as he tried exponentially more so to go in the opposite direction. But his muscles betrayed him to the thing he quickly approached and his arms even began to paddle towards it, although he did not yet know its nature. And... it beckoned to him. The fear he felt should have been enough to stop his movement, but the body he occupied had another, stronger master.

The light pierced him, forcing a total surrender of the mind, but not so quickly that he did not notice the nature of the light-source. It was a squid, no, a woman with the tentacles of a squid that glowed with the light of a star. And when she beckoned to him a second time with a sharply glowing blue arm, that was when the light pieced him. That was when his mind gave up all function whatsoever. That was when the world mercifully, but painfully, blacked out in a swirl of sparks.

“Hello, Stan,” she said, a mysterious smile playing on her face. “Come, Join our circle.” The rest of the perfectly formed circle turned to peer at him expectantly, the unity of their movements strangely disconcerting among the random flows of the water. They seemed identical, the multicolored fins and swathes of flowing fabric that some had, the pieces of fabric floating away from each with different shape and buoyancy, and even the simple fact that each had a different pattern of their scales, or color, or shape did nothing to disprove that idea.

Stan joined them without doing anything; his body moved of its own accord. He was watching a movie, one that he had seen before. He knew what would come next. They would join together, sort through the souls of eternity, and act as the judges for them all.

They would, yes.

But not yet.

The strange noises that reached them through the swirling currents by all but one, the one who had joined. The one who heeded his cautionary side, right?

Stan got up, then, rising from the soft ground of the deep and moved away. None stopped him, none hindered him. He turned and fled, and it felt so good.

So good.

“--of you to join us.” she almost seemed to beam at him. He still rested on the surface of that soft sediment, and had not moved at all. Just the wanderings of a restless mind. He smiled at the irony and settled back to watch the movie.

“You, the newcomer, must join us in flesh and bone

(metal)

and a state of never ending peace,” she continued, no, he, that square jaw and prominent nose belonged to no woman.

Then he realized. This was no movie. He had to escape, before it could get any further.

But his fins propelled him toward the light at the center, even as he tried exponentially more so to go in the opposite direction. But his muscles betrayed him to the glowing squid-woman at the center. And then it beckoned to him. His fear suddenly faded into curiosity. What had she said? Suddenly his body obeyed him and he swam closer. What had she said? It had a gender now that he wasn't so terrified of it.

And this time, the soft whisper reached him. “Heed the discrepancies. Before,” her voice was fading, “it all... falls apart.”

Then an arm swung outward in a brilliant flair and the whiteness cleansed all. Stan fell past the sparkles very quickly and the blackness filled him.

This time, as he stood outside the circle, Stan remembered the previous times completely, but had no control over his body. The black ocean, at this depth the comforting pressurized blackness that drew itself about him, beckoned to his imprisoned mind. But even as his thoughts drifted to the wonderful idea of somehow being free from this--

“Hello, Stan.” He said, that same smile impeccably in place. “Come, join our circle.” Although it no longer was a circle, but a square, Stan joined.

He smiled, a sad, contented smile, and grasped Stan's hand. The skin felt loose, as though it were not properly attached to the bone... or, whatever actually lay beneath. One jerk would reveal it, whatever it was underneath.

But his hand did not jerk, and Stan's other hand reached over to grasp that of the person next to him –whose face sagged, would that fall off first?-- and a ripple shifted around the square. It looked familiar, too. Perhaps he had not remembered everything after all, he realized uneasily.

He closed his eyes, or really, his body closed them.

Time passed, worlds of it.

Stan was one of them, he stared at the light and whispered the names of the lost with them. The darkness around no longer existed.

As one body, they contented themselves with nothing and all at the same time. Then something changed. Stan's eyes snapped open.

Bits of flesh drifted about the water. They floated, weightless among the water's mass. The square of merfolk was falling apart. As Stan watched, a large chunk of skin parted from the arm of a mermaid so lovely only a moment before and revealed metal plating and wires underneath. They all had their frames bared in places, now.

At the center, the squid thing was flickering. Her light came in unsynchronized spurts, and every so often the entire area around was plunged into complete darkness. Then her voice reached him, as discordant as the light. “free—eeee....”

Suddenly, his body once more was his own to control, and he quickly turned to swim away, far away, and paying no heed to the flesh loosening from his bones,

(metal skeleton)

fled.

Or tried. A hand with no flesh, simply exposed circuitry, closed around his tail and ruthlessly dragged him back, even as the ground faded into a pit, which drew them in, together like the most sadly beautiful ending to a romance novel, the light flashing around. The sparks returned and as the merciful blackness closed around him, he heard the discordant voice sigh, “Again?” with the most depressing sort of desperate hopelessness.

“Hello, Stan,” she said, a mysterious smile playing on her face. “Come, Join our circle.” The rest of the circle turned to peer at him expectantly, the unity of their movements strangely disconcerting...

The light at the center almost seemed to quiver. From his position outside the ring of merfolk, he thought he heard the words, “No more...!” drift from it.

Then he pushed the thought aside and settled down onto the ground next to the one who had invited him, unaware of even moving.