Chapter 3 – A Time to Heal, a Time to Learn

Gill had lost track of the days since he had been taken from his home in the ocean, and spirited away to the tank that he now shared with William the octopus. Not that life inside of the tank was unpleasant, Gill told himself; the tank was just a place where he could stay until he had completely healed, and anyway, the humans had every intention of returning him to his ocean home as soon as he was well enough to be released. So, knowing that he was a patient rather than a prisoner made his predicament bearable.

Even so, Gill longed to return to his ocean home once more. There was little to do in the tank, and, as time went on, Gill grew more and more frustrated with his confinement. It was not that he disliked Mr. Elias, his Grandson Sammy or their friend Alexander, all of whom had treated Gill and William with a sort of practical kindness, ensuring that all of their needs were invariably met; but William seemed to be correct in his assessment that moorish idols didn't do well in captivity. It also was not that Gill disliked William, who seemed to be a source of almost infinite knowledge and information, but it was becoming clearer and clearer to Gill, with each passing day, that fish were not meant to be kept in a box, that they needed the freedom of the wide open ocean, with all of the wonders and the dangers that were a part of a fish's natural home.

The old man, Mr. Elias, would feed Gill and William at least once a day, usually after he had finished taking Patch for his walk. Even in the short time that Gill had watched him, it was clear that the old man was slowing down, was becoming less able to walk, and more and more frustrated at the fact that he was no longer as strong or as tough as he had once been. Sammy was clearly getting worried about him, although the old man did his best to shrug off his Grandson's concerns, claiming that being old was not the same as being useless, and that he would keep going, keep on contributing for as long as he was able.

And it had to be said that the old man had a mind that seemed to be as agile and effective as that of a man half his age. Many evenings Mr. Elias would slump into his favourite comfy chair, after taking Patch for a walk, would pick up a book, and would read aloud to Patch. According to William, half of the time the dog didn't know what the old man was talking about, but simply liked to be close to his master, since he liked listening to the sound of his master's voice. Apparently dogs were pack animals, and Patch felt that Mr. Elias was his pack alpha, meaning that he disliked being away from him for even the shortest period of time, since being close to the old man made Patch feel safe and secure.

Gill, however, did understand nearly everything that Mr. Elias read, and William was invariably able to provide him with the necessary information whenever he had questions concerning what Mr. Elias had been reading to Patch. And so Gill listened, and learned, as there was little else to do while being confined within the tank. He learned about human history, about how people from all over Europe had travelled to Australia and the Americas, and how the indigenous populations of these countries had suffered as a result of this migration. He learned about the Industrial Revolution, which had started in England many years ago, and had involved people making all kinds of wonderful objects – only for the pollution from their factories to harm the land, the air and the waters in which they operated. He learned about the boats and the ships that humans had made in order to cross the vast expanse of the oceans that covered the Earth, and the submarines that they had also built in order to explore the underwater world of Gill's natural home. Gill learned about chemistry, how everything that existed was made up of very small objects called particles, which connected together in weird and wonderful ways, thereby forming new objects, completely different from those that had been there before. He learned about geography and geology, about countries, mountain ranges and volcanos, and the many wonders and dangers of life on land.

He learned about physics and astronomy, about the forces which were a part of the world and the wider universe. He learned about engineering, about the filtration system that kept his aquarium home clean, apparently by taking in dirty water, removing both the visible grit from it and the invisible germs that could make a fish ill, and returning this purified water back out into the main area of the aquarium.

He learned that there were many different human languages, and that people from different countries tended to speak different languages, depending upon where they were from. This seemed strange to Gill, since all fish in the ocean spoke more or less the same language – although there might be different words for objects or concepts in different regions of the ocean, these differences were no more than those found in, for example, the type of English that was spoken in America compared to that which was spoken in Britain, or the type of Spanish that was spoken in Spain, compared to that which was spoken in Mexico - hardly different languages at all. Yet humans seemed to be so concerned about the barriers that were in place around the world, barriers that separated one group of humans from another. These barriers might include mountain ranges, oceans, seas and rivers, but these physical barriers tended to lead to more psychological barriers, the belief that people on one side of an ocean were fundamentally different from those on the other side of the ocean, when it was as clear as the water in Gill's tank that the differences between the humans in different parts of the world were minor, superficial, certainly not worthy of the level of hate and animosity that humans from one area of the world would devote to humans from another area of the world.

Gill found much of the information that he learned about humans to be troubling at first, as it seemed so strange that such a…creative, imaginative species would waste so much time hurting and killing each other, not to mention what they were prepared to do to the other creatures that walked on the land, flew in the sky, or swam in the waters. Yet, just as he was beginning to think that humanity was little more than a mistake of nature, so he would hear Mr. Elias tell Patch of great examples of human heroism, of extreme bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of adversity, of humans risking life and limb to help each other, as well as the other creatures with whom they shared their beautiful, wonderful, terrible planet. Gill really liked those stories, those tales of heroes risking everything for the greater good, of people fighting the good fight against sometimes seemingly impossible odds, and defeating the evil that threatened them, their people, their countries and their world. He took inspiration from such stories, and wondered if, some day, he would be equal to those great heroes from history.

Gill also really enjoyed listening to Mr. Elias reading fiction to Patch. These stories also often featured great heroes fighting the good fight against powerful enemies, overcoming adversity and returning home once more, forever changed by their adventures. What was most fascinating about these tales was the possibility of getting inside the minds of fictional characters, to learn about their motivations, their fears, their own personal histories. William had told Gill that it was by reading fiction of this nature that humans were able to develop empathy for each other, and for the other creatures on the land and the sea, since these stories allowed them to get inside the minds and the hearts of people and creatures that initially seemed to be very different from themselves, only to discover that, deep inside, they were not so very different after all, since their motivations and the reasons for their actions became all the more understandable once their thoughts were explained.

Some of Gill's favourite stories involved different types of animals having to work together, forming bonds of mutual protection with each other, as they travelled through various dangers, in order to reach a place of safety. One of his favourites involved an oath of mutual protection, whereby animals that would normally prey on each other had taken a vow to protect each other in the face of greater odds, caused by humans, who, in their unthinking desire to change and develop the land to their own liking, had forced the animals away from their natural home. These animals had therefore been forced to join together in their journey, as they made their way to a place of safety that they hoped they could eventually call home – Gill, trapped in the tank, could easily empathise with their plight. There were also tales where humans devised certain ceremonies, initiation rituals, whereby new members of a group would be welcomed by their more experienced colleagues, and were required to perform certain activities to demonstrate that they were now a part of these groups.

There was also a story of humans in the future, spending all of their days living in luxury on board a spaceship, all of their needs and requirements being met by their robot servants. Although everything that they could possibly need or require was instantaneously provided for them, the humans were merely surviving, not thriving, for they were not having new experiences or facing the potential dangers that were a fundamental part, as far as Gill was concerned, of being truly alive. Gill felt the same way, inside his clear prison, unable to experience the wonders and the dangers of the ocean. Of course, he understood that this was not because of any intended cruelty on the part of Mr. Elias or Sammy, that they were simply keeping him in the aquarium until he had completely recovered. But I'm still like those people on that spaceship, Gill thought to himself – I'm surviving, but not really living. So Gill continued to long to return to the ocean, with all of the dangers and wonders that that entailed.

Unfortunately, Gill was to find himself in captivity for far longer than he had initially anticipated. The trouble all began one evening, when Mr. Elias had been calling Patch over to himself, to take the dog for his evening walk. As Patch jumped up excitedly, the old man suddenly put his hand over his chest, and began wheezing, stepping backwards a couple of paces, and looking worried. Sammy came running from the other side of the room, where he had been feeding William and Gill, as soon as he heard his Grandfather gasping for breath. Mr. Elias tried to push him away, but Sammy gently forced the old man to sit down in his favourite comfortable armchair, and then gave him a glass of water. The old man protested, claimed that he was fine, but Sammy was insistent – Mr. Elias was to stay home and relax until he felt better. The old man had complained that Patch needed to go for his walk, to which Sammy had replied that he was quite capable of walking Patch, and insisted, once again, that the old man needed to relax. Mr. Elias had not exactly been happy about that, but had reluctantly agreed that it could not hurt to take one evening off, and that it might make him feel better and more able to contribute tomorrow. With no small amount of relief in his voice, Sammy had agreed that that was almost certainly the case, and had taken Patch out for his walk. The old man had spent a while just sitting in his favourite armchair, grumbling quietly to himself, as Gill had watched him with mild amusement. This amusement turned to worry, however, when the old man put his hand over his chest once more, and became very pale, and clearly unable to breathe. Gill looked at William, who merely looked back at him. "Old age, kid," he said, "there's no cure for that, unless you count the very extreme and completely terminal one."

"I'm not giving in without a fight!" Gill replied, looking around himself quickly, wondering what he could do to help the old man.

"Doesn't surprise me," William said airily, "you wouldn't be Gill if you did. Still, can't see what you can do about it right now," he gave him a knowing grin, and looked upwards towards the shelf.

Gill followed his line of sight up to the beeper that Mr. Elias had left near the fish food. That's how I can contact Sammy and Patch, who can come back and help Mr. Elias, he realised. William wanted me to figure that out for myself. But how to get out of this tank to actually press that red button on the beeper? Well, I'd better try something. With that, Gill tried to jump out of the water, trying time and time again to reach the beeper and press the big red button to alert Sammy that his Grandfather was unwell and needed his help. Yet, no matter how hard Gill tried, he could not seem to make himself jump high enough to reach that beeper, and Mr. Elias' wheezing and coughing was not exactly helping his concentration. He turned to William, "Help me!" he said.

"I thought you wanted to kill them all," William replied, giving him a wry grin.

Gill growled, turning away from William in frustration, glaring up at the beeper as though willing it to be lower down so that he could reach it. It was only then that he felt William pulling him back to the far side of the tank. He turned around and looked at William in confusion.

William winked at him, "Pressure equals force divided by area, kid," he said.

"What do you mean?" Gill demanded.

"Simple. I pull you back further, and you will be able to reach that button when I let go, due to the force of my pull. Take a big breath." He winked at Gill once more.

"You're going to help me reach that thing?" Gill asked.

William grinned at him again, "'Course I am, kid," he said, "you'll do. You'll very much do, you got spirit, determination and a heart to match. Not often you get all three in one fish. Two, yeah, sometimes, but not often all three. Now hold your breath as you'll be out of the water for a bit."

Feeling more than a little uncertain, Gill held his breath, as William launched him towards the big red button on the beeper.