Mermaids and the Mercenary

By Jack Nelson

The book includes links to original color illustrations by the author.
Warren Keck is an ex-mercenary commando, retired after his career of enforcing order for one of the corporate financial hegemons running the planet.
Keck's unplanned involvement with four entirely different gene-spliced mermaids is the key to revolutionary change for the transgenics. His fundamental decency, and his love with a special mermaid, show the way.
Decades after teetering on environmental collapse, the world of 2199 adapts to new realities of economy, society, and individual rights. Giant corporations maintain peace, order and production for 11 billion people.
Tremendous advances in bio-engineering lead to the creation of human-animal combinations for entertainment and specialized labor. The manufactured halflings are not legally human, and only as slaves can they participate fully in the socio-economic complex. Those left out are on the margins of starvation.
Against this harsh background,Keck becomes a willing pawn for a mysterious but benign group maneuvering for the human rights of the transgenics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Nelson
• Release date: May 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476033624

Jack Nelson

Jack Nelson was born in upstate New York, raised in California, and lives mostly in the Galápagos Islands since 1967, the same year he hitch-hiked from Panama to California. He was the first guide for scheduled tours in Galápagos. He now is a partner in Scubaiguana.com dive shop in the Galápagos Islands. Jack writes social commentary and legal analysis in Spanish. When in California, he drives a hot rod 1962 Chevy Nova, and writes about that too. His other expensive hobby is fishing.

Book preview

MERMAIDS AND THE MERCENARY

Jack R. Nelson

Copyright 2011 Jack R. Nelson

Smashwords Edition

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This book includes links to original full color artwork by the author. The smaller black & white pictures included in this download are formatted for ebook reader uses. Please use the links to open and enjoy the much more complete illustrations on your computer monitor. Depending on your computer’s configuration, you may need to right-click the link and then click on open hyperlink. Viewing online, you can see the complete file. Downloaded images will be smaller, unless you purchase separtely through Deviantart.com These illustrations are also protected by copyright.

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A glossary follows the main text.

MERMAIDS AND THE MERCENARY

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TEKA

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I never knew my birth mother. She was, in effect, leased space. From her I went straight to the crèche. I was too valuable to be entrusted to amateurs.

My baby name was Susa, but now I am Teka. That is all the names I will ever have, though like all licensed numans I am chipped, scanned and of course logoed. So it isn’t like I don’t have a real Identity. Out in the islands I meet others who are evasive about their work and provenance. I know they are golem. That is one of the kinder names for them on the grey market. Unlicensed numans usually are less than perfect, maybe coarse features, clumsy proportions or compromised health or just old. Or not very bright. But that doesn’t make me any better than them. Just luckier.

The Blue Diamond Entertainment conglomerate in Shanghai owns my Name License. My ticket. When I was a little tadpole, one of the first things I learned was that my Sponsor, BDE, would expect a profit on the costs of production and raising me to licensing age. To recover investment the company disposes of chattel in many ways, few of them as pleasant as ticketing. And so I knew from a very young age who I am and what my life would be. I would earn a ticket.

I was born in 2177 in the Thai Empire, Cambodia Province. I am the fifth Mermaid on the Teka ticket, a Name License with a long tradition of excellence. At twenty two years old, I am a fully qualified Tour Hostess, with eight years experience serving the guests of BDE. I expect to pass the rest of my life among the islands of South Burma Mergui Marine Park. It’s a good life, protected by the Imperial Thai Navy and BDE.

Being ticketed allows me on the Tax, so I am far more secure than the golem, the mermaids out there with the fishermen and smugglers. They say they are free, but we all know it means nothing but a short hard life. With the Tax register, I have access to the Cred, Med, Com, and Web. I have education. I am literate in English and Cantonese, and can get along in Thai, Spanish and Khmer. My advanced degrees are in Popular Marine Biology, Asian Culture, Water Touring, and Social Relations.

Today started like most, greeting a family at the dock, this time Colombians. I watch for the guests’ arrival from a little distance, hidden among boats and buoys in the anchorage. Then I zigzag under the clear water and surface in their view, adding some drama to their first impression of the Mermaid. I wave and call to them. It’s fun to hear the kids’ excited clamor, to see the adults’ eyes widen in surprise at my reality. I am big, near two hundred fifty kilos. And quite naked. They have seen the holos, but even so they are often shocked in person.

I like Colombians, a clever and amiable people. The Alvarado family was quick to clamber down to the catamaran where they could talk with me close up. I held on to the edge of the deck, still in the water, giving them time to get used to me. Apart from nude bulk and the tail, subtly different anatomy in the nominal human part disturbs some people.

I chatted until after the kids all made easy eye contact, then with a tail thrust I vaulted onto the deck, sliding on my side and finishing in a classic mermaid pose. It never fails, the boat rocks under my weight, and again I see my guests blinking in surprise. They do not expect grace and power. This is fun, being me. I give them a demure Mona Lisa smile. Especially around children I avoid showing too many teeth. They are big and thick, and can be scary, with no incisors in the front. The disconcerting gap is part of my manatee heritage.

The Burmese crew disconnect the shore power, cast off the mooring lines, and we are away on a sparkling blue sea. Soon the sails are pulling and even the low electric hum of the motors is silenced. Isolation and quiet is a big part of our attraction here. Mergui Park is convenient and legal without the crowding and clatter of the world’s billions.

The Alvarado children are introduced as Amanda, Esteban and Juan Carlos. The Alvarados are wealthy indeed, to have three licensed children. Señor Alvarado is Tony, and the lady is Gloria. I try to engage her first to make her comfortable with me. I think my educated speech and knowledge do much to allay the guests’ doubts, although a garrulous American group recently gave me a new insight. They said their ancestors would call me uppity meaning acting above my station.

I can see Tony is trying to not stare at my ample bare self, and surely Gloria can see the same. She is very pretty, like a holostar. But too thin. Juan Carlos, who must be about six, chooses