E.V.T.

"Of course. Look around."

Clear blue water, stretching away as far as the mermaid could see, was broken by a seemingly endless series of low islands, each surrounded by broad beaches and covered with lush vegetation. Low bridges spanned the waterways. A gentle golden sun in a rich blue sky warmed without overheating.

Never had she even dreamed of such a beautiful place.

"Do you like it, Meera?"

Turning back to him, she broke into a broad, effortless smile. "Yes!" she sang, "Oh, yes! It's lovely!"

"Good. It's your home now. Feel free to explore."

He seemed friendly enough and Meera took him at his word, sliding down over the white sand into the water. Never a strong swimmer in her previous life, she was amazed at how well her tail drove her through the still blue water. Twisting and turning, she plunged deep, chased colorful fish and had to surface, choking slightly, when her underwater attempt to laugh in delight failed.

So far, she thought to herself, this new life was a great deal of fun - exhilarating in fact.

The islands she was passing between were all pretty, but she was able to see differences in each with regards to the types of plants, the colour of the flowers. At several points, swam under trees whose low, fruit-laden branches offered both shade and the promise of sustenance to the young mermaid.

Rounding one island, she stopped, gazed in amazement at the creatures on it. Clearly, mermaids were not the only 'mythical' beings here, for a small herd of centaurs were trotting along the shoreline, pacing her progress as she went. Being accustomed to the usual male-only depictions of centaurs, she was amazed to see that about half the herd was female. Her eyes grew wide at the swaying of their shapely breasts as they moved.

They grew wider when she saw that both sexes had two sets of genitals - the normal 'horse' ones and a second set, quite human, at the front end of their bodies, about where they would be on their remaining human half.

The creatures seemed very friendly, very cheerful. Like colts in warm sun back on Earth, they cantered, chased each other in games Meera couldn't understand.

She waved at them. Laughing and clearly delighted at having caught her attention, the horse-people trotted off, waving as they went. None of them had approached or invited her to land. None had tried to talk to her.

Her next encounter didn't begin so pleasantly.

She was swimming along the shore of one island, her attention focused on the colourful shells on the seabed beneath her, when a large shadow fell across her path. Lifting her head out of the water, she gave a slight scream and drew back in fright at the sight of the creature towering above her.

It was a Minotaur, right out of Greek mythology, with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. The head was covered in coarse black hair. Its ears stuck out rather to the side and black horns rose from the side of its head, curving up to point to the sky.

Its red eyes, she thought, were fierce, full of aggression and primal cunning. Its huge nostrils flared as it breathed in and out.

The monster's naked body towered above her, its smooth coal-black skin flowing over chiseled slabs and blocks of muscle. Under the fearful head, massive human shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist. Its genitals were human, its balls huge and pendulous, its slitted crown the size of a small apple and its vein-traced shaft the length of a tall man's foot. A lengthy tail as thick as her wrist flicked back and forth behind the beast. Gold rings the size of her wrist hung from its nipples and ears. Wide gold armbands circled its biceps.

It was magnificent in its masculinity, fearsome in its might.

Meera held her breath, afraid to move. She thought she could outswim the monster, but doubted she could evade a sudden leap before she built up speed.

The Minotaur's beady eyes stared at her for a long minute. Then, to her surprise, it simply sat down where it stood. A moment later, it lay down on one side, parallel to the water's edge, its head resting on one arm.

"You're new," it said, in a voice so deep as to be barely audible. Still, Meera was amazed at the its gentleness, in total contrast to the beast's ferocious appearance.

She realized to her surprise that the Minotaur had adopted the least-threatening posture possible before it spoke. On reconsideration, she thought that the beast's red eyes contained far more intelligence than cunning. For some reason, she decided she was safe in its presence and came a little closer to shore.

"Yes," she sang. "I'm Meera. I just got here."

The Minotaur tried to smile, exposing a mouth full of sharp teeth. The mermaid gasped and drew back a little.

"Sorry," it apologized. "I keep forgetting that this..."  and here it waved a massive hand over its muzzle, "...really isn't made for smiling.

"In any case, Meera, permit me to welcome you to our... planet, I suppose. You've meet Keeper?"

"Yes. He was there when I woke up."

The beast nodded. "He always is.

"I'm the Minotaur," he said, "You probably already gathered that, I suppose, but you can call me Amos if you wish."

"Amos?" It seemed such a very ordinary name for such an extraordinary creature. She'd been expecting something Greek, with about five syllables.

"Yes." The minotaur managed a wry chuckle without exposing its teeth. "Such a mundane thing is an 'Amos', I agree. But it was my name before..."

Again, it waved its hand in indication.

Meera somehow felt comforted by the banality of the name and tried to remember her manners.

"How do you do, Amos?" she sang. "Have you been here long? Why did you change? What is this place? Who is Keeper?" The questions boiled out of her mouth.

"So many questions, Meera! But thank you for asking. This place, if we need a name for it, is just referred to as the Islands, but some of us call it the Gardens. It really doesn't matter, I think. There's only one place in our existence.

"I am, I think, one of the latecomers here. It is rather hard to tell. Keeper could tell you, I suppose."

"Who is he?" Meera drifted in closer to shore as she sang.

"Ah. Well, Keeper is just... Keeper. He's the only fully human living here, among all the dozens of..."

Amos paused again for a moment. ".. of us."

The massive body rolled a bit, sat up, cross-legged.

"As to what  Keeper is, I've often pondered that, for he doesn't do much explaining. The only rule he seems to enforce is that we must obey Them in all ways. "

"Them?"

"The other humans. You'll see them, sooner or later."

"I thought you said Keeper was..."

"I said the only one living  here. The others are guests, visitors - the owners maybe. They rule and we obey." His voice was low and, for once, he was not looking her in the eyes. Instead, his heavy head was turned off to the horizon. His red eyes seemed to her sad now and were focussed at something far off in distance or time.

"What do 'They' want?" she sang.

"What does any easily-bored near-deity in an artificial paradise want? Diversion, of course."

"Diversion?"

"Amusement. Pleasure."

"What...?"

The bull turned back to her, cut off her question with a fierce glance. His red eyes burned with anger now, though whether it was at her, at Them or at himself she could not tell.

"Don't be naïve, Meera. NOT card tricks." His voice was bitter.

The mermaid sagged. In the end, she knew, she had always known it would come to this.

She took a deep breath. On the whole, the minotaur seemed less threatening, even friendly.

"May I come ashore on your island, Amos?" she asked.

"Of course."

Her tail and heavy breasts made movement on land difficult, but staying in the water to her seemed to be an unwanted emphasis of her profoundly altered stated - and status.

The huge figure watched her land without moving. Perhaps fearing to frighten her, he made no attempt to help.

+

"I think what I miss most is reading - books," Amos rumbled. "I always had a book or a reader in my hands. I should have known there'd be none here. No matter, I suppose. Tell me about you, Meera."

"I came here because I had no other choice," Meera sang. She outlined her run-in with the Poloid.

"Ah. How unfortunate," he commiserated.

"What about, you, Amos? Why are you here?"

"I myself did  have a choice, Meera. I was a scholar, adjunct professor in ancient studies, no less. My work on the Theseus legend had however stalled, run aground on hat had become for me the unavoidable rock of the Minotaur. I couldn't escape the presence of the monster, yet of all the people and creatures in the legend of the fall of Minos, his character was the hardest for me to fathom. The legend of Queen Pasiphaë deliberately mating with Poseidon's bull simply made no sense; it would have killed her. And the offspring being a ferocious man-eater was no better. There were too many inconsistencies, even for a myth. I kept going round and round, but always coming back to the monster.

"There were a lot of rabbit holes to go down," Amos said, deliberately not-smiling, "but I eventually found a way to experience  the Minotaur.

"And here I am," he said, his hand sweeping the horizon. "It's rather prettier labyrinth than my namesake was penned up in, but still..."

He turned to look at Meera. "Who else have you met here?"

"Aside from you and Keeper? Just the centaurs," she sang. "I didn't know they came both girl and boy, so to speak."

"The imagination behind the Islands is... imaginative," the Minotaur said, looking at some of the nearer islands. "This place is not bound by the limits of old tales. It takes them and, perhaps, amplifies them.

"The centaurs are an odd lot," he continued. "Did they say anything to you?"

"No," she replied. "They just giggled and ran away."

"They're not particularly intellectual," he agreed. "I think they were selected for their beauty alone."

He sighed deeply and, without opening his lips, gave a wry smile. "I sometimes think they were serious stoners, too. Either that or the tank altered more than just their bodies."

"They're jolly, I suppose, but not much by way of conversationalists. It's nice to finally have somebody I can talk to, Meera."

He leaned back against a tree, which groaned slightly at his weight.

"Let's see," he said, contemplatively. "You won't have seen the dryads, the tree spirits. They're very pretty, but rather small and very shy. They'll get used to you, eventually; be patient. And I'm told there's a unicorn somewhere, complete with a maiden to guide it, but I've never seen it.

"There's a Pegasus about three islands over, in that  direction. He's pleasant enough, I suppose, but very narcissistic. His wings are purely decorative, but he's too stupid to realize it and spends most of his time trying to take off. I think he must have played a lot of football at one time."

His massive chest shook a little with soft laughter.

"Oh, and the satyrs." At that, the laughter stopped. The huge bull head turned directly at her, surprising her with the intensity of its gaze.

"I'd advise you to stay away from both satyrs and satyresses."

"Satyresses? Female  satyrs?" Meera sang.

"Yes," Amos replied. "As I mentioned, the creators of this place take considerable licence with the ancient myths. You'll see."

"Why should I stay away from them?"

"Mmm," the Minotaur grunted. "Let's just say they're rather forward  in their, mmm... relationships. Two of them tried to drag me  onto their island one time. It didn't go well and, after that, Keeper warded the bridges to their islands."

The enormous bull head shook, as if in regret or apology.

"I'm forgetting my manners, Amos said, "Are you hungry?" His head rose, looked around. His hand came up, its panatela-sized forefinger moving back and forth about as he pointed.

"Let's see... Dragon fruit there, mangoes, papayas..." He looked at her with a not-smile on his muzzle. "If you just want a plain apple, there might be a tree a couple of islands away."

His hand fell.

"Or are you more interested in fish?"

"Fish? To eat?"

"Why not?"

"Erm, too close to home?"

'Fruit?"

"I'd love some."

+

Meera swam slowly down the channels. It would, she realized, be easy to get lost here. Yet there were subtle clues - the height of the trees, the colour of the flowers, the shape and colour of the bridges between them. It was like moving into a new neighbourhood, she thought, having to learn your way around without having to stop and read street signs every block.

Once she saw what she thought was a dryad peering shyly from behind the branches of a tall tree, but the creature slipped away before she could get a good look, leaving only an impression of exquisite delicacy. She circled the island several times, hoping to get another glimpse.

Eventually, she stopped opposite a stand of trees and waited, the water up to her waist. After a minute, she introduced herself.

"Hello!" she sang. "Please don't be afraid. My name is Meera and I just got here. Perhaps we can meet sometime."

She waited another few seconds before turning and swimming off. She felt eyes watching her as she went.

+

The island of the satyrs was as pretty as any of the others, but was ill-matched to the creatures on it. Goat-legged and goat-eared, there was a look of debauched slyness about them which made Meera stay well into the middle of the channel, ignoring the inviting gestures from several of them to come ashore.

The above-the-waist human halves of the male satyrs were handsome and well-proportioned, their shoulders broad and their muscles clearly defined in the afternoon sunlight, but there was a brutality to their features as clear to the young mermaid as any of the hard and swaying phalluses they all sported.

Their female counterparts were odd. Pretty,  Meera thought to herself, but not beautiful . While their features were lovely and while the human skin of their torsos was clear and flawless and while their very human breasts were high and firm, they were anything but beautiful. Instead, their faces burned with a brazen sensuality, an utterly self-centred lasciviousness which Meera found eerily repellent.

There could be no love with or between such beings, she knew, just cold, emotionless and ultimately consuming carnality.

As she watched, two of the satyrs quietly approached one of the females, one from each side. In a moment, she was grabbed and thrown over the trunk of a fallen tree. One of the satyrs, seizing her long ears, drove his cock into the mouth and began working himself back and forth between her lips. The second seized her hips and, without pausing, rammed himself into her sex before beginning rapid, almost frantic, thrusting with goat-furred hips. The turf under his hooves was dug up and thrown around with the force of his exertions.

Meera was astonished to see that the satyress made no attempt to resist or escape. Instead, she watched in wonder as the creature's stubby tail began to wag back and forth in apparent delight.

Wonder turned to amazement the creature's hands came up to caress and fondle the balls swinging in front of her face. Meera was sure she could see her cheeks hollow as she sucked the cock driving in and out of her mouth. Her own hooves, now lifted off the ground for better access by the rear satyr, began to quiver to their own rhythm; she began to utter shrill cries of delight.

The first satyr, perhaps spurred on by her cooperation, began to plunge still deeper into her mouth, seeking the back of her throat. Meera winced at the sight, but the female didn't so much as choke. Without stopping her own efforts, she adjusted the angle of her head to give the male better access. With that, he was buried balls-deep in an instant.

The female began to quiver. Her body shook with the force of her building orgasm. Her growing cries were muffled by the cock in her mouth, but, whenever the male withdrew to give her a chance to catch a gasp of air, the force of her squeals almost hurt Meera's ears.

A few moments later, the second satyr paused. His head fell to its chest and the mermaid could see he was gasping for air. A second later, releasing his grasp on the satyress and toppling backwards onto the grass, he instantly fell asleep, his still-rigid member glistening above him in the light.

The front satyr continued his own oral hammering of the female until he too grunted, withdrew and sat down, a dazed look on his face. Released, the female in her turn stood up and wandered away, paying no attention to the two figures behind her.

Weird!  Meera thought to herself. She fully understood the minotaur's warnings now.

.

As the sun began to go down, Meera was left wondering where - and how - to rest. She was pretty certain she wouldn't drown if she fell asleep in the water, but felt more like being on dry land when night fell. For some reason, she found she trusted the minotaur and turned back to his island. As she passed by the island of the dryads, she paused in the water, facing the beach she had gone ashore on earlier. She thought she briefly saw a face, but when she blinked, it was no longer there.

"Hello!" she sang to the trees before swimming on, but there was no response.

+

She slept that night in the arms of the minotaur. Amos had seemed happy for her company, for he waded into the shallows in greeting.

"Will you stay a bit?" he asked.

When she nodded, he pointed at a patch of grass near the shore. "That's as good a place as any," he remarked. "We'd also have a good view of the sunset from there. They do have nice ones here."

His muzzle turned towards Meera. "May I take you over there or would you like to..."

"It's OK," she sang, "You do it. Please." Moving across land was possible, but slow and uncomfortable.

Effortlessly, the giant creature stooped in the shallow water, slid his hands under the mermaid and lifted her as one might a small child ready for bed. She allowed her body to sag against his, her tail swaying as he walked, soft breasts rolling against his solid chest. Carefully, Amos lay down, facing the setting sun, arranged himself so that Meera was comfortable, half-rolled her towards him, her head on his right shoulder.

As he placed on the ground, Meera realized that she had felt more at peace in the arms of this unnatural being than she had felt back home in the arms of any of her human lovers.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"A little."

"Wait for a moment," he said. "I'll fetch you something to eat." He soon returned with a collection of fruit on a large leaf.

So much less fussy than on Earth!   she thought. She realized that she was becoming accustomed to the Islands.

Amos also produced from somewhere a small amphora, two pottery mugs and a loaf of bread. "Keeper gets generous on occasion," he not-smiled, lifting the amphora. "I've been saving this."

The wine was a deep red as he poured it into the two mugs.

Passing one to her, Amos raised his mug in a toast, "Here's to you, Meera." He gently tapped his mug with hers.

"No, Amos," she sang, "to you.  You're a fine host and I'm grateful."

"To us, then," he replied.

Meera found the wine amazing - full-bodied and fruity. Her head almost swam at her first sip.

"Thank you, Amos," she purred. "This is delightful!"

"Don't thank me," he replied. "As I said, Keeper shares every so often. I wonder if it's his own or something he's filched from Them?" He shook his massive head in apology for his cynicism.

While simple, the food was good and talk thereafter was limited. Meera realized the meal was far more satisfying than any of the - admittedly few - fancy restaurant outings she had had back home.