This is a world you have hardly noticed. No matter how many times you have scubad or peered through a glass bottomed boat, you have never known this before. This world seems so small and humble compared to the whales, sharks and octopus or even the schools of fish that gave you a magical thrill as they swam around, over and under you.
This is the world of small creatures that cling to rocks and depend on coral reefs for habitat. One day Serafina was watching them and saw a greater hurrying and scurrying than ever before. Seahorses and jelly fish arranged themselves in tiers in front of their rocky and seaweed home. Sea porcupines and cohogs roled along the seafloor stirrning up sand and almost blocking rocks and the lower levels of coral.
Between the branching arms of coral, sea anenomes retracted their petals like sad children pulling faces and trying not to cry. Above them massed the sea horses and jelly fish. Starfish clung to rocks and crabs scuttled to fill gaps in the wall of living sea creaturs around the rocks and between the coral growths.
"What is happening?" asked the startled Serafina. "This isn't like you. Why aren't you feeding and playing and resting. I can hardly see the coral there's so many of you here."
Claws and petals waved "Go home Serafina. It is dangerous here..Hide quickly. Something is coming to destroy our reef and our homes. You must hide somewhere."
Serafina swam over the reef as the jelly fish and seahorses made way for her. Some of the smaller anenomes plaited themselves into her hair. "We'll come with you they said. Some of us are too small to really help and the young seahorses are towing the baby starfish and crabs."
"I'll help" said Serafina. "Some of them can ride on my oxygnen cylinder, or hold onto my hair, with the anenomes. No one will know. Which way is home?"
The tiniest creatures fled with their friend. Some hid on her camera, others pretended to be decorations in her hair. Some just clung to her diving equipment. Serafina was swimming for the boat bobbing in the water ahead of her as fast as she could.
Suddenly a huge surf wave drove her downwards to the seabed and she could see the boat bobbing helplessly as the weight of the water pushed her down. Luckily the sea was shallower here, but when she pulled herself up to the surface, her boat was upside down in the water.
"Over there." whispered her sea creature friends. A spit of sand was to her left. The wave was still racing towards it as her boat continued to tumble in the surf. Swimming together she made it with her friends. "I have to find you a salt water pool." she whispered in the sibilant surf sounds she shared with her saltwater friends. "What is best for you. This sandy beach isn't the right place."
As she spoke a beach buggy rushed over. "Thank God you are safe. Saw your boat capsized. There was an unexpectged earthquake. Never thought you would make it. We have to leave here before more tremors happen."
Grabbing a towel to disguise her friends, Serafina climbed into the buggy. "Is there an Oceanarium close by? I have some specimens to protect. I need them alive. Already the starfish and anenomes were burrowing deeper into her seasalt wet braid for protection.
"Take you to clean up and you can keep them in the pail there, till we reach safety. There's a lid and we can pick up more salt water from the puddles here." Quickly her driver half filled the pail and handed it to her. As unobtrusively as possible Serfina encouraged her tiny friends to slip into the pail. Some of the babies had fallen asleep from the excitement, but a good number of seahorses, crabs and baby jellyfish were organising themselve to make the pail reasonably comfortable for the rest of the journey.
The sand buggy driver switched to hover as they crossed the saltmarshes heading towards a gap in the hills. Only as the sped between the gap did the driver stop to replace the batteries in his air compressed vehicle. Serafina turned to look and cried out in horror. Her boat now rested on a sand dune and the sea was slowly drowning the salt marshes and reaching higher up the hillsides they had left behind.
"Quick." said her driver, a marine biologist. "We have to get out of here.Don't know how far the sea will advance this time.Hold on." The vehicle surged forward again heading across a lake towards higher ground. We don't want to get caught without fuel."
They rushed inland past Serfina's usual base towards their central marine biology centre. Wriggling slightly Serafine realised that a piece of living coral had attached itself to her equipment. Into the pail it went with several tiny marine creature still clinging to it. Unrthinking she turned to see the sea surging inland and beyond the reef huge tails slapped the water and blowspouts sent salt water higher that the spuming surf that crashed on the coral reef and rocks reclaiming the beach as though land and sea had never seperated.
'Bye whales and reef. Thank you for saving me.' Her unspoken thought message was reciprocated by more flashing tails and blowspouts before her vehicle took another turn, heading over foothills and deeper inland. Sadly Serafina realised that many of the small sea creatures she had left behind might not have survived the roaring eathquake tide. 'I'll look after your babies until they can return to the sea.' she promised. 'I wish I could have done more.'
When th buggy finally stopped, batteries exhausted, they had arrived at the centre for Marine Biology studies. Gratefull that she was still wearing her swim gear, Serafina asked for an empty tank of salt water. There was a deep one reserved for sick and injured dolphins. Pail and equipment in hand she climbed in, and began to carefully to help her tiny friends re-locate in their new home.
Rocks were carefully rolled in place and bio-technology used to help keep the coral alive and growing. Seaweed wrapped around her oxygen tank and breathing apparatus seemed to plant itself and start waving in the waves she made as she settled the tiny sea life forms in their new home. Her suit itself had a coating of sea algae that she knew would help the creatures creat a microcosmic home.
The Director watched her quietly. Serafina knew her work better than many. They said she had an instinctual understanding of the life of the seas and oceans. Only Serafina knew that her past included a gene that related her to the mammals of the sea. Privacy prevented that genetic disclosure and it was one she feared in case she too became an object of study. Others like her existed, but the land was now their home and their shoreside presence had been planned to help protect the wild of sea and shore.
Exhausted, she finally climbed out of the tank, leaving her diving gear over a rock in the tank to make sure that every one of the tiny creaturs had the opportunity to settle into their new emergency home. She unbraided her hair and the little anenomes and sea horses emptied into their natural habitat. 'Safe for now.' was her thought message to them as she imaged the plan to settle in the sandy bottom of the tank. 'When this is over and you are grown I will take you home again.'
The tank was carefully labelled 'Serafina's Study' and 'Keep Out' signs posted. The Director nodded quietly and left when the work was completed saying only "I would like a full report tomorrow." He prefered the official approach with Serafina. He believed that she naturally knew more any course of study could teach her, but preferred to leave those thoughts unspoken. Her skills had made her an asset to his Institute and he knew better than to raise unnecessary questions outside of her duties and resume.
"We do what we can." he muttered as he left, feeling that the day's adventure would now justify his demand for more hover buggies.
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