I'm starting to get used the environment in the tank. The lab-coat people occasionally walk around to check on us and all of us agree that they don't mean us too much harm. Kidnapping us is one thing, but there's word that each one of us helps the men document something about our species and help save the marine life.
I know many animals in captive life feel wronged and denied of their natural environment, perhaps its because sea slugs don't need much space. But if my folks can live a better life with me as a living example to the people, I wouldn't mind too much.
There are plenty of people out there who sell and buy us and put the wild into even more horrible situations. I've heard that people kidnap fish to sell to pet shops, forcing us to live in glass bowls without corals. Without living substance, we die, very quickly.
Even then, I heard from the sharks (these sharks are fed, and since I've been here, I've discovered that no fish would want to eat a toxic defense slug like me) that they are brutally killed to be served as delicacies. In the chain of things, everyone recognises that everyone is eaten and will die. But the men kill not for their survival, but in excess. They have something unheard of in the animal kingdom, leftover food.
There is always a balance maintained in nature, if it tilts, it levels back out, when given the time. If only everyone kept in their place, there wouldn't be this flux in hazards to the sea. The fittest would survive, but now the fittest can hardly survive. I saw the crabs scuttle when the tide went out, they were dying in the heat. The ocean can destroy toxins and dilute pollution, only problem is, men take more than they give back, unless you count their trash.
I suppose we could go against the men, but its their sheer size. They can trample on insects, small animals, kill the large ones in a single blow. Marine life just needs to be rid of water and we would just die out. If only what we did by letting ourselves be pawns could really benefit us all. But I don't see any of the men making any sacrifices. Sure, they complain about attacks from wild animals, but whatever is done is done out of absolute necessity.
We all dream of the sea, us here in THE TANK. No one can live in a captive life. I'd like to see the humans try it themselves. Late at our presumed night, we feel the waves and currents of the ocean brush against our skin and gills. We hear the dying plankton in the water around us speaking of the world they were taken from.
Even now, I feel myself tiring from captivity, the endless rapping of the boisterous children's fists against the glass, the men coming in and the dolphins and sharks pretending to enjoy their company, only because it relieved the monotony of swimming in the enclosed space.
How did a little sea slug know so much? Knowledge from the little television set the security guard turns on can be very dangerous.
For perhaps the last time,
Etana Chromodoris
