Balls

6

Tilapia 7 was in her dreams. Ballqis dreamt the fish had asked for corn pellets, citing the regular soy and wheat pellets were yucky.

"Hmm, why are you being picky T7 ..." she mumbled as she checked on the creature.

They were on their second pit stop, Mrs Jogh knew Micah would need the restroom as usual and Mr Evans wanted to stretch his long legs.

"What did Tilapia 7 said to you? He used to confide to me but these days he seemed to like you," said Iqball, knocking her socks off.

"Did he? I thought..." Ballqis' sentence trailed off as she realised Iqball meant it as a joke.

But Iqball didn't look like he was joking.

"Do you know he doesn't like soy or wheat pellets?" she asked finally.

The young man nodded.

"He did mention it..."

"Mention?" Ballqis queried.

Iqball took the corn pellet sack and scooped a bit of the fish food. He dropped it into Tilapia 7's small tank.

The fish ate gratefully and aggressively.

"You're going to think I'm mad, but I think the fish is a telepath. He sort of push thoughts into my head sometimes," Iqball revealed, not really caring if Ballqis would look at him differently and from then on.

The girl's jaw dropped.

"You already think I'm weird anyway, right? It's OK. Maybe I had been playing with these fish too long," he laughed.

Ballqis knew Iqball tend to visit the Tilapia Project Lab even when it was not his turn to do chores. That's why he and Micah got along so well.

"He told me the soy and wheat pellets are..."

"Yucky?" Iqball supplied.

Ballqis mouth could only form an 'o'.

"He said corn pellets were tolerable, not that he really loved it, didn't he?" Iqball guessed.

Now her eyes were as round as golf balls. But he didn't see it because Tilapia 7 was doing its little happy dance after gulping away all the corn pellets.

"Don't you think he's being rather choosy? For a fish?" he fumbled, suddenly realising how stupid he must have sounded to her.

The two of you are my chosen ones. A single sentence, which was uttered by a male adult voice pompously boomed into their heads.

Ballqis and Iqball jumped. It was as if they had been both struck by lightning.

"Iqball! Did you hear him ... speak?" Balqis whispered.

Iqball slowly peered closer towards Tilapia 7's tank.

"You mean ... You could hear his thoughts too?" he asked.

They both stared at Tilapia 7. The fish was swimming peacefully, its eyes staring at them as he swished his fins.

"Say something again, T7!" pleaded Ballqis.

Silence.

Ballqis looked at Iqball, embarrassed and confused.

"Did you or didn't you say we were your chosen ones?" Iqball posed a question towards the tank.

"You ... You heard him ..." Ballqis stuttered.

Still swimming lazily, Tilapia 7 no longer seemed interested to pay them any attention. In fact the tilapia look quite normal.

"He's just a fish," Ballqis uttered, her voice calmer than a few seconds before.

"Yeah, and we can fry him if we get stranded later," cursed Iqball.

The fish did not seemed perturbed.

***

What was that? What just happened? Did Iqball and I had a moment of insanity just now? Ballqis mind was running a thousand miles an hour.

She bet the 'dream' was not really a dream. That biologically engineered fish was able to talk. He had dolphin strains in its DNA after all. As the van chugged on Ballqis kept to herself, entertaining her wildest theories.

How could the fish do that then stopped talking? He's such a downer. Why am I complaining about a telepathic fish when Ballqis had just engaged me in a conversation? Iqball mused.

Tilapia 7 had been prodding into his mind with feed suggestions. Try wheat, it had said one day, pushing the sentence into Iqball's mind as if it was his own. The wheat was awful, try corn. Tilapia had suggested that the next day. Iqball was shocked, but he dutifully complied. That's when the fish started to thrive.

Its size grew slightly faster than the rest. Its physique grew a distinctive slivery tint on every scale. And Iqball grew comfortable 'talking' to the fish. That was why he visited the lab even on his off days.

"Why are you two sulking? We're just an hour away from the campus. Cheer up!" Micah suddenly tapped in.

Again, the two first-year students in front of him jumped. The lean bodied, long-haired senior laughed, his curls shook with him.

"Yes, we should be there by dinner time. I heard the host university has arranged a welcoming party. Shall we all grab our meal there, or would you all like to have dinner elsewhere?" Mrs Jogh called out from the front passenger seat.

The students agreed to attend the campus party.

"I hope there will be cute girls," whispered Micah as he hang his head in between Iqball and Ballqis.

"Don't do what I wouldn't do, Micah," Mr Evans warned playfully, keeping his hands firm on the steering wheel.

I should be out there meeting people too. At least it will get my mind off the talking fish. How embarrassing to have Iqball, of all people, to witness me going crazy, thought Ballqis as she recalled the incident at the previous stop.

I better take care of Ballqis. She must have been shocked. What a mean tilapia. T7 should not have left her hanging like that, he should have said something when she requested, he sigh.

Iqball chanced a glance her way. I hope she'd soon feel comfortable enough to confide in me, he wished.