They walked down a back corridor, a smaller one than the white main corridors and dimly lit. The walls were not clean white like the corridors either, more grey and worn, with some equipment installed here and there. There were empty shelves or tubes protruding from the walls where other equipment was missing. And it was almost warm in places. Together with the smell of warm electronics with the flowery scent of Kora, despite the look, the nicest place on that station for him after the Petra den.

Kora opened the door which had a large ‘3-26’ in bleached out fluorescent paint and looked inside. Through the crack in the door, the bright white world of the clinic shone through along with a cool draught coming from the room.

Another head appeared in the crack. "Kora, what."

"This is Marik, the human," she silenced the other cat.

The cat stared at him, then shook her head as if she had been drenched. "Ok, come in."

He blinked several times in the sudden brightness, only now realising how dark the corridor had been. The cat who had led them in was the first he had seen in the clinic, who was not as tall as Kora; she was closer to Rerra's size. Her fur still had the same pattern, but the colours of the spots were paler and the fur in between was not white, but greyish.

"This is my oldest sister, Kira, the clever one."

She did not look that much older. But then, his reference was the Petra clanmother.

"Kora!"

"Well, you made it to a doctor. Not like us."

"You could have."

"Sorry for the sudden disruption." Translated, this polite Fallerian phrase sounded terrible. "Marik, nice to meet you." He bowed, hoping to stop the brewing sibling rivalry.

But Kora was in for the next surprise. "Can you give him a tail?"

"What!" he and Kira exclaimed in unison.

After a moment he grinned. "Yes, could you give me a tail?"

"No, I mean." She looked at him, now scanning him from to bottom. "A tail." Her own tail was going slowly left and right. "The skin modders are out of supplies. Hmm." She looked at him very medically.

"Rerra said something about an alien modder."

"Even humans know of this!" Kira shouted, "And I am not." She stopped, her ear flat. "Sorry, that modder is off-limits and not working anyway. If it did, they would be running the high T's through it again."

"High T's?"

Kora delivered background for him. "Higher tiers of Ketcher. Sister, he's Fallerian."

"Like I said, if that special modder worked, they would reverse the monster mod instead of watching them wither away in those oversized monster bodies. So this modder could give you a tail in seconds, even a whole new body. But even the skin modders are out. So the simple options are out."

"It's ok, just dreaming."

He was sure, Kira showed amusement. "A human with a tail, huh." She thought for a moment. "Seriously, before we had modders, there was a way to reprogram the cells to regrow a limb. I'm not sure if it works on humans. Can I sequence your DNA?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

She beamed at him. "And a full blood count too."

"Yes, okay, but I have to keep my limbs."

Her smile became as wide as a Laperian hunting.

"Hey, I had all my shots just recently."

The doctor shook her head and returned to a more professional face, "Nanites?"

"Not that I know of."

Then she picked up a device and stopped. "Huh."

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"What?"

"I've never pricked a human before. No fur."

"And I've never been pricked by a cat. Ouch." While he spoke, the doctor had placed a small device on his thumb, which stung.

"Very funny, and it wasn't supposed to hurt."

"Well, it did. Maybe my little fingers are more sensitive."

He had won, the doctor looked away, embarrassed again. He had learnt a lot about the subtleties of the cat-expressions today.

She inserted the device into a reader, worked on some equipment and typed on a screen. "Done, this will take about 2300 or so. How about an early lunch?"

"We just ate." Well, Kora had.

"Actually, can I lie down for a bit?" He was still tired, and the sleep in the den had been short.

Kira opened a curtain with a bed built into the wall. "Here. But one has to be chong to miss you."

"Chong?"

"Smell blind?" Kira said. "Smell-deaf?"

"Ok, ok, got it. Do you have a blanket?"

"There's climate controls. And I am warm."

Kora chuckled. "Sister, his partner is, er, never seen such a strong cat. Here." She tossed her her inhaler. Kira threw it back. "I'm fine. Not the first male I've had today."

While the sisters bantered with each other, he climbed into the bed in the wall, closed the curtain and turned the temperature up to the maximum of 290K. It was so nice, he fell asleep in no time.

* * *

According to his pad, he had slept almost 3000. The mattress had been just right, it had been warm, and even the air carried no hints of having been recycled many times which it certainly had. In other words, he was well-rested.

The tiny sound from opening the curtain was enough to wake Kora with a jerk. The cat had been sleeping on a simple chair. Seeing him, she bared her teeth in that for him forever uncanny toothy smile.

"Well rested human?"

"Well rested cat?" with all the sarcasm he could muster.

That wiped the smile from her face and her tail drooped. "Sorry, Marik, I know. It is just - sorry."

"Thank you for remembering my name. But that plastic chair does not look very comfortable."

"I am not as thinly padded as your partner," then stretched as only cats could do. Including the straightening out of her tail.

Kira entered. Luckily Kora had finished her stretching; he was sure there would have been another round of sisterly bickering otherwise. So was Kira in full doctor mode. "Come," and waved him over to a screen. "These lines are a highly zoomed out view of your DNA codes, the yellow parts are exclusive to humans, the orange parts you share with us, and the blood-red parts are the regions needed for a tail. Only about 0.2% difference there."

He could not agree to the colours but then, the doctor was color-blind too. Nevertheless, he saw the differences. "So what does that mean?"

"I think I can give you a tail and it will not be rejected even without major alteration to your DNA."

"I mean how?"

"Well, subcutan injection into your lower spine to convert the cells there into slightly out-differentiated stem cells with modified DNA. They will settle there and convert into final tail cells and extend onwards from that, despite having a slightly different DNA inside from the cells of the rest of your body."

"You will inject me something and I will grow a tail?"

"Yes, I said that already. You can specify dimension, fur density and approximate pattern."

"His partner is Petra."

"Oh, then black and white. How long?"

"Maybe to the floor? And strong please."

The doctor shook her head. "Strength is up to your tail exercises." She glanced sidewards at Kora, "which most of us ignore anyway," and then back to him. "But all the tails I can give you a not prehensile, it would be a tail like mine. So I do not recommend hanging your full weight on it."

"Then make it as strong and long as you can. And fluffy."

She sighed again while Kora made faces. The doctor repeated. "Fur length 3-5 cm, five extra caudal vertebrae are possible. It will trail on the floor if you are not careful. And it will be heavy, at least four to ten kilo, depending on muscles" She typed on the screen and another machine started working. A semitransparent tail appeared on the screen, through the striped fur pattern he could see the muscles, blood vessels and bones. "Here, the extra layer of sinew, and larger blood vessels. With the good insulation from the fur, almost no extra effort to keep it warm. Five extra vertebrae to a grand total of 23. This long fluffy tail could be yours." Her presentation reminded him of a used-spaceship salesman on Fallerian.

"And how much?"

"Are you kidding? Of course, this is so exciting. I had never seen a real human before, and now I even have your DNA." She sounded a bit over-enthusiastic, like 'I've got a hair from my favourite celebrity'. In a drama, a mad doctor would now crackle.

The machine next to the screen stopped whirring and a small cylinder stood on a perforated steel plate. Kora was the first to take it and looked closely as if she could see a baby tail inside. "So this is the magic tail essence."

She handed it to him carefully. It was a whitish, milky liquid. He gave it to the doctor.

"Nothing magic, just science," corrected Kira, with a tone that implied 'you stupid sibling'. Then she loaded the cylinder in something not unlike his gun and he turned to him. "Yes or no?"

He thought again how cool it would be to have all hands and feet free and also how much fun it could be otherwise. "Yes!"

"Turn around!"

She put the injector gun through the tail hole of his borrowed trousers. The injection did not hurt much, it was more as if someone kicked him in the bottom.

"Eat lots of meat and protein. If you cannot hunt, er, forget it. A Fallerian diet is fine too. Make sure to eat also the skin of the insects. And come again in 50 to 100 days for a check."

"50 to 100 days?"

Kira shrugged in a very human way. "I have never used that method, it is very old-school when you have a modder. A modder could have done this in days. But I am not sure how fast it works with humans. Maybe come more often."

"You never used it? Why"

His pad chimed, Rerra wanted to see him. Urgently.

He was still full of questions. But it was done. He rubbed his tailbone, shook his head. "I will not die soon?"

The doctor laughed and even Kora joined in with her sister.

"Ok, sorry, I am needed." He held up the pad.

"You are welcome here anytime," Kira almost purred while Kora looked at the destination on his pad.