While honeymooning in the north of the country, photographs and videos of the two dead merfolk were leaked to the public (as Marty always knew at some point they would be). A day later further leaks revealed that Jacky and Pip had not been killed by a rogue shark but rather man-eating merfolk, and that the infamous Dr. Martin Murdoch was at the center of this latest merfolk controversy. International news outlets jumped on the wild story, and Marty once again became an overnight sensation and punching-bag, inspiring wall-to-wall media coverage, viral memes, and fierce debates on message boards between skeptics and conspiracy heads.

When he and Rad returned early from their honeymoon, dozens of journalists and reporters were camped out on her front lawn and in the park across the street. Marty drove past them, lost the mob who scrambled to follow, and spent the next several days with Rad cooped up anonymously in a hotel room.

Public interest in the story grew exponentially, making the hullaballoo surrounding the Netflix hoax seem like a footnote in comparison. Marty made the decision to jump into the fray, screw the NDA, and screw the backlash and ridicule he knew he would attract without any hard proof to support his claims. This time the truth was on his side, and he was ready for the fight.

He organized a tell-all interview with the BBC, sat down with their biggest anchor in what would become the network’s most-watched broadcast ever, and recounted everything that had happened, from the night Jacky showed up at the Oannes to tell him about the merfolk skull that had been discovered in the belly of the great white, to killing the merfolk that had been in the process of devouring his dear friend on the beach of Demon Island.

And the most amazing thing happened: public opinion swayed in his favor. People believed him. The swelling of support from around the globe, as well as anger that the Sri Lankan government was participating in a Roswellian-like cover-up, forced the country’s Ministry of Defense to release a statement that they had in their possession the bodies of two mammals from an indeterminate species. Furthermore, they would donate one body to Oxford University, which had agreed to assemble a team of world-class scientists to study the specimen.

Three weeks later the scientists published their findings, stating unanimously and unequivocally that the specimen was both authentic and a mammal previously unknown to the fossil record. They exhaustively defined its anatomical and genetic features—especially those it shared with primates—and designated it the holotype for a new species they named Siren Sirena.

The world went nuts.

Mermaids and mermen existed.

A race by individuals and corporations to capture a live one commenced.

Sadly, to this day, not a single merfolk had been discovered, dead or alive.