Muhammad watched as they brought the shark to life. His palms were pressed against the ice cold glass, his breath steaming it up. The corridor was a lot warmer than it was in there, and every few seconds he had to use a rag to wipe more of the glass clean. A clipboard lay beside him on the floor, where he was supposed to be taking notes. His photographic memory was good enough for now. He'd fill in the blanks later.

The great white they were using had only been dead for an hour. They had captured it yesterday, but after tests they had realized that it had heart issues. It was now dead but in well enough shape to be brought back to life, if the serum worked. It was strapped down on on its side. If it came back to life and showed signs of aggression, the doctors would be safe.

Though he was only sixteen, Muhammad had already graduated. He had only done one year of university before he was approached by the leaders of this endeavour, and he had been offered a job on the spot. His parents, who were both immigrants, had accepted and let him come. Now he was the youngest member of the team but also one of the leaders in discoveries. It was he who discovered the ingredients to the first mutation serum, and now he had taken things to the next level by coming up with something to regenerate life.

Dr. Harris, the leading wildlife surgeon, looked to the glass. She gave Muhammad a quick smile before flashing a thumbs-up to the control room. The hum of machinery filled the structure, travelling through Muhammad's body from his contact to the window. He pulled back slightly as the room began to sink slowly, the bottom filling with water. It was like an elevator above a water tank, allowing the shark to be in water when it revived, so it wouldn't die again. The lowering took several minutes. When they halted, the water reached over the sharks body. It was a low table, only a few inches up. It was a structure to support the shark, while also allowing the surgeons to reach across its massive body.

The first knife was handed to Dr. Harris. The heart of a shark was located in its head region, along the side by its gills It was a two-chambered heart, which made the procedure more complex than expected. Muhammad watched with growing anticipation. The knife slid into the thick rubbery skin of the shark and pulled out with perfect precision. It left an opening big enough to perform the small surgery.

The assistant doctors pulled the skin apart. The bleeding was minimal, as the heart was not pumping. Dr. Harris moved her arms, careful not to splash water into the open wound, and took the syringe out of its floating compartment. The liquid inside was a dark red so thick it was almost black. She positioned the needle and lightly pricked it into the heart, pushing the serum into it slowly. Once the serum was in and activated it was only supposed to take half an hour to fully regenerate. Quickly the doctors closed the wound and stitched it shut. They backed away to the far wall. A control squad was waiting just outside the door in case something went wrong.

Muhammad passed the minutes by writing in detail what had happened. The people in headquarters would want a report in detail about what the results were. A small beep would emit from his phone when the first ten minutes were up. After that anything could happen.

A shout of fright drew his attention to the tank. The shark was thrashing, its body twisting back and forth. He could see the pure black eye rolling as the shark put its full force against the bonds. The water splashed over the doctors and Harris laughed nervously. She moved closer for a moment but the vicious movement compelled her back to the wall, out of reach of its strong tail.

This went on for six minutes before it stopped moving altogether. The body went limp, the fins drooping, and the eyes stopped moving. For a moment no one moved. They were stunned that it had worked, but also that the shark had died again. Then Harris started clapping. She spoke into the intercom piece on her chest, her words going throughout the entire lab. "Round one of experiments is passed. The shark regained life for six minutes before collapsing again. This could be because the serum doesn't have long term effects yet or just because of the condition of the shark."

The people in the control room started a round of applause and Allison shouted from the deck above, congratulating him on his success.

He allowed himself to grin, but inwardly he kicked himself over and over again.

It had worked, but it wasn't perfect. Yet.

✸✸✸

"Perfectionist alert." Allison's voice came from the doorway behind him. He could hear her approaching. "Come on, Muhammad, lighten up a bit. They're celebrating your success upstairs with a little secret drinking."

"Not now, Alli." He grumbled, staring at the large screen, the words reflecting off his glasses. "Besides, I'm under legal drinking age."

"So is, like, everyone who loves to drink." She laughed, slapping him on the back. "Come on, one drink. It won't kill you. Legal drinking age never stopped anyone."

"Well, it stopped me." He murmured. He could feel her presence behind him, like a stalker peeking over his shoulder. "Now please, just let me to my research. It was only alive for six minutes, Alli. That's not close to enough. I screwed up somewhere major."

She turned his chair around, stopping it with her foot. Her hand went over her shoulder to the back and she leaned in, her breath blowing on his face. "No other sixteen year old could come up with this, much less in this short amount of time. You are better than amazing. Mistakes aren't a sign of weakness, it's how you react to them that matters."

"Yeah, well, this is how I react. I stop the mistakes from happening." He wrenched himself from her grasp and spun back around, typing in some digits onto the screen. He knew she was hurt. He could feel it in the way she walked slowly away, lingering at the door.

"Well, come up when you're ready." She whispered.

He listened carefully to her footsteps going up the ladder. He memorized the way she landed her foot. It was something to remember, like a fragment of her remaining in his mind.

✸✸✸

Allison joined the others on the top deck of the lab. It was the smallest room, just a circular dome on top of the complex glode-like lab beneath them. Metal reinforced the ceiling, but it was mostly glass, allowing them to eat while watching the ocean outside. She loved working here. She had gotten this job through pure luck. It was scientifically proven that younger people reacted better to small spaces and being surrounded by ocean, so they chose younger candidates for this project. She was a young marine biologist with enough knowledge to write a textbook. This was enough to get her here. She was the one who mostly dove out into the ocean and called out what species they could use.

She loved it here, the money was just a side bonus. Of course she would've worked anywhere to get that six digit number into her bank account. For a years work, with more possibly looming on the horizon, she was going to be able to live comfortably when she was done.

"Where's Ham?" Harris asked.

"He's emotionally kicking himself for not getting it perfect. I couldn't pull him away." She dumped herself a glass of wine, downing it in one gulp. "He's going to ruin himself if he keeps up with these sleepless nights."

"He needs a mother's attention. He's only sixteen.' Harris looked guiltily at the doorway.

"No contact with family was a regulation. No one breaks it." Alex commented from across the table, where he was mixing two drinks into a strange brown concoction.

"Loser." Harris punched him on the shoulder. "I don't know why they couldn't have picked a nicer guy to come down here for a year." She complained.

"Because you don't get as far as I have by being nice." He said, waving his fingers mysteriously. "Now I'll let you ladies be, while I go drink this elsewhere." He walked to the ladder and started climbing down.

"The regulations also said that food and drinks were supposed to stay on the top deck!" Allison shouted after him. He paused, gave a fake salute, and completely disappeared.

Harris unclipped her intercom. As the leader of the group in the lab, she was the only one with unlimited access to the intercom. "Watch out for Alex, he's being a real skunk."

Allison covered her mouth. "A skunk?"

"In my defense, once you get older you start forgetting what a good insult is." She chuckled.

Allison took a closer look at her. Dr. Harris acted young, but she could see wispy grey hairs forming around her ears. She didn't act old, but sometimes Allison wondered how old she actually was.

"So, about Muhammad talking to his parents." Harris sighed. "Do you know how to reach them?"

"Wait, what? I thought you were joking."

"No, I wasn't joking." She put the drinks back into the fridge. "He is a young teenager who needs a mother. He can't grow up like this. He's already going to be rich when he's done, but that won't matter if he's emotionally unstable."

"Like the way he's never pleased with his accomplishments? He always has to do better and beats himself up when there's even a tiny flaw."

"Exactly." Harris turned from me for a minute. "Jones and Cherez, meet me in the bottom deck.' She turned back towards Allison with an apologetic grin. "Work calls, we still have much to accomplish. I'd appreciate it if you could scout the surrounding area for some possible test subjects."

"Of course." Allison turned for the ladder.

"And Alli, make sure you keep pushing towards Ham. He needs this support."

She paused at the ladder, tears threatening to spill out. She had been trying for so long to get to him but the rejection hurt. "I'll try."

Dr. Harris followed her down the ladder. "I'll help you get suited up before I go down to meet with my associates."

"Thank you."

They reached the dressing room. It was in a small section all by itself, without the glass walls that most of the lab was made of. Once the door was closed, Allison pulled off her outer layer of clothing. Dr. Harris helped Allison get ready to leave the lab. She had to put on a regular wetsuit but then place special coverings over it as a precaution for the danger out there. The lab was at the edge of a drop-off to the deep, and they had seen several large creatures out there. No one was allowed to leave without being fully suited and weaponized.

"I want you to be careful." Dr. Harris said softly, covering her mic with her hand. "There have been reports of something by the drop-off. Don't go down there, go the opposite way and head for the coral reef. Make sure you don't leave the protected vicinity. We don't want people knowing of our existence."

"I've done this a million times. I could do it with my eyes closed." Allison's voice was muffled by the suit. "I'll bring back good news, I promise."

"God knows we need it." Harris walked Allison to the opening hatch. The door closed, leaving Allison in a small space.

"I'm ready." She said into her radio. There was a second of silence before the doors opened, water rushing in. Allison braced herself, letting the room fill up before she swam out. The hatch closed and water began venting. She swam out a ways and looked around. The wildlife was low, which usually meant there was a predator nearby. She pulled out her small underwater gun and touched the glass walls. Dr. Harris was inside, her warped figure watching the glass anxiously. She gestured something with her hands but Allison couldn't see what she was saying. She waved and headed towards the nearest tube, which came out as a hallway to another level. There were several of these, which were good for holding onto while she got used to the motions of swimming.

The lab was at the fringe of a large reef, which was one of the main attractions of the resort. One of the rules that they had paid for was that they got a quarter of the reef, which was hidden from the lagoon by a large piece of rock. As long as no one passed over, there would be no issues. Guides always kept a careful eye on their swimmers. They didn't know about the lab, but they were told that the current going past that rock would sweep them away, no matter how strong of a swimmer. That was enough to keep everyone away from them.

She rose over the small barrier around the lab and swam into the heart of their small reef. In order to catch the smaller fish, they came here. Sharks were always a problem. No big sharks came here, just the small sand ones. In order to catch sharks they released a special liquid which drew the sharks directly to the lab. There was no risk of them going to the beach, because it was a directed scent which drew them directly to the lab. Once they arrived, Allison chose the best ones and they were captured in a large glass tank, separated by walls so they wouldn't fight.

"Allison, come in." Harris called over the radio.

"I'm here."

"Our censores are catching something large on the other side of the lab. It's still beneath the drop off, but I want you to return."

Allison rolled her eyes. "I'm fine here. Nothing can get into the reef if it's large. Trust me."

"Don't do thi-"

Allison turned off the radio. It was distracting her, and there was something on the other side of a large coral. It was larger than a normal fish. The grey skin looked like a shark.

"Harris, I may have found a tiger shark."

"You found a what?" Dr. Harris sounded flustered. "Alli, those are known for attacking humans. They have the most recorded number of attacks."

"I know., but only because they swim into shallow waters" She slowly started swimming backwards. "Send out a team with one of our cages. If we can catch this, we can use it. It's small, which means it should react better to some of those serums."

"You're joking, right?"

"No, send them out now!" Allison yelled. "I don't want this to get away from me."

There was no response from the other side but Allison could imagine Dr. Harris yelling at Alex, Terry, and Grayce. They would be here soon. Even Dr Harris understood how important this could be to the labs progress.

✸✸✸

The cage appeared five minutes later. It was a strong mesh box, meant for larger ocean predators. It took the muscles of all three pushers to get it over to Allison. She was still facing the tiger shark, who was ignoring her. Turning her back on the predator would mean a blind attack. As best as she could she directed the cage in front of her. Unseen current pushed their way between the bars, forcing it against the swimmers. They held it steady while Allison opened the door and placed the bait inside, a hunk of bloody meat from her belt. It was injected with the special shark scent, which caught the tiger sharks attention immediately.

"Weapons out." Allison ordered into her radio. Grayce pulled out a gun while the boys both took our rods. Contact into the sharks flesh would inject a painful shock. It wasn't enough to affect the swimmers, who were also in water, but would send the shark back out to sea.

"Are you sure you're qualified?" Alex's voice came over the radio. "Shouldn't you be getting out of the cage before it gets in?"

Allison grinned. "Aren't you a know it all? I'm injecting something to make it drowsy. That way I can do some studying of it before I send it off to the lab."

"Dr. Harris wouldn't want you in there with it." Grayce warned.

"Well she's not here, is she?" Allison snapped. "She doesn't have to know. Now shut up."

The tiger shark was wary of her. She nudged the bloody meat with her toe, pushing it closer to the sharks sensitive nose. It lunged, gulping it down while Allison closed the door. She stabbed the needle into its heart area, praying that the reaction time was good enough. It was the fastest one she had seen.

The shark turned on her. She backed into the corner, pointing her gun at it. "Alex, I want you to stop contradicting me and shock that shark." She said quickly.

"Aye aye.' he stabbed the bar through the cage, sending it into the sharks flesh. The shark rammed into Allison, knocking her to the floor while it raced around in circles. Its fins were beginning to droop, its body slowly sinking further down.

Nobody moved. Each time the water rushed past, the shark reacted, snapping and biting. If they got too close they risked losing limbs.

"Harris, it was a success." Allison choked, her breath still trying to get through her body. "One tiger shark is ready to be served up, after I've done tests on it."

"Hallelujah." Harris yelled. "Is everyone okay?"

Allison chuckled. "Yeah, we're fine."

She helped push the cage back to the lab. It was maneuvered into one of the movable rooms by a side opening. Allison let herself out of the cage and swam over to the control room. She pointed at the vents and held up six fingers, indicating that she wanted six feet of water vented. The controller nodded and pressed a button. As soon as she could stand she ripped off her gear and moved in closer to the cage. The shark was still beneath water, moving slightly so it wouldn't die.

"Could I get Terry in here to help me?" She asked, looking up at the glass hallway above her. Harris was smiling down at her, saying something silently to Terry. Terry ran down the hallway and soon appeared in the side.

Allison rolled up her sleeves and nodded at small machine on the wall. "Bring me that thing. I'm going to need it."