Aardvark Posted February 7, 2004 Report Posted February 7, 2004 It hung in the water, calling out to him, tempting him. Every instinct in his little body said "Eat it, eat it". He floated near it idly, fighting the urge to just bite the strange green meaty stripe. Because he knew it was death. He couldn't see the hook, but he knew it was there. Shiny death hidden well by that delicious-looking morsel. One bite and it was over. But that was the one bite he wanted to take more than anything. He'd already seen several of his friends and family snatched out of the water in this way. He'd lived long enough to know this wasn't how he wanted to go. But he couldn't swim away. The bait was too tempting. His body was sending urgently-hungry signals everywhere it could. Anything to make him bite. He fought them down, battling his instincts, knowing... knowing... what did he know. He silently cursed his three second memory, then bit into the conveniently placed snack hanging before him. PAIN! The hook had him. The barb had pierced his mouth and he was stuck. Now he remembered why he didn't want to eat the thing. Well, he guessed that was what he was thinking before. He felt his body being pulled upward, out of the water. "Ahh, got him, finally." The angler said to his camera-toting companion. "You getting all of this, Ray?" "Yeah mate, I got the whole thing. The little blighter just sat there. Trying to fool the thing or something." Ray replied, looking through the camera's viewfinder. "What now? What's next?" "I dunno, I've got all I need. Kiss it and throw it back or something." "Ahh, bugger off you toothless old bastard, I'm eating tonight." The two men packed up their equipment, deconstructing rods, reels and tripods. Ray fished his waterproof camera and it's aquapod out of the water and packed up his laptop. He'd gotten enough footage The fish had just paused there, as if pondering it's last meal on some philosophical level. He wasn't complaining. The footage was emailed to the studio that night. The next day, various people cut, spliced, edited, reversed and corrupted the images in as many ways as they could think of before deciding on the finished product. The final cut was cleaned up and sent to the networks. It finally aired during the world famous outdoor adventure show, "Hex Runt's Angling Fun!" Just after a segment about using natural bait. Cut to commercial, the world at large got to see the last few moments of the fish as he pondered life, the universe and taking the bait. Someone had even added a voiceover to that effect, to add a little authenticity. Everyone knew fish talked. Then it took the bait, was pulled from the water and held up by a grinning fisherman. Final part was a large white screen with a packet of the bait and the following, accompanied by a voiceover, across the top of the screen. "SuperBait! Fish say it's to die for!"
Savage Dragon Posted February 7, 2004 Report Posted February 7, 2004 I don't know how a fish with a 3 second memory is supposed to be intelligent, and I think that fish sounded intelligent. It was almost depressing for me. I was thinking, here is a fish I can finally relate to, and BAM by circumstances totally beyond his control, he bites only to realize his mistake while being pulled out into the air, where he had to have suffocated slowly. That’s the last time I make friends with a fish. :dragon4:
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