The mountain in the sea

There's something in the water of Con Dao. To the locals, a monster. To the newly minted corporate owners of the island, an opportunity. To the team of three sent to study and protect, a revelation. Here developed, for an unknown number of years, the first known sentient species beyond humans in the modern era. Their minds are unlike ours. Their bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting. They can communicate. And they want us to leave.