Jon's mother stayed by her side through the whole physical. It was, indeed, torture. By far the worst, if mercifully quick, was the examination of that slit in the front of her tail. Nurse Loria, still in her biohazard suit, seemed like she knew what she'd find, and later remarked that Jon looked normal for a fish-tailed mermaid.
They did at least give her some clothing: a sort of swimsuit top, but cut oddly. It had short sleeves, like a t-shirt, to at least cover her shoulders. But it only went low enough to cover the breasts, leaving her belly exposed.
And the full-body x-ray wasn't so bad. Jon had to admit she was a little curious what a mermaid's skeleton should look like. She just didn't like owning that skeleton.
But perhaps the wildest part was when the nurse wheeled Jon -- now feeling terribly dry again -- into a room half-filled with a decently sized wading pool. Once Jon was in the water, enjoying some relief, Nurse Loria asked her to stick her face underwater and take a breath.
After considerable hesitation, Jon gave in and did so. She expected her reflexes to fight back, but was surprised when there was no internal resistance. Then she was shocked by the feeling of water escaping through slits she hadn't even noticed, right below her ribcage. (And right below two very distracting features. No wonder she hadn't noticed.) Nurse Loria explained that, in all the fish-tailed transformees, water was directed right through those gills below the lungs.
She explained the clothing. "I don't know if you've seen the other fish-type merfolk in town, but these are becoming the standard. They all tell us they don't like covering their gill slits, and I assume you'll feel the same. But the sleeves are a nod to 'dry' clothing, just so you don't feel exposed. If your tolerance for cold water is the same as the others, you don't really need clothing." Jon was grateful for that; at least no one was handing her a bikini top for now.
Another spacesuit walked into the room. It waved at Jon and his mother, then taped a series of x-ray images to a lightbox on the wall. Jon leaned over the side of the pool for a good look. My new skeleton. The top looked normal, she supposed, but the tail was something else. Even being attached to it, she hadn't quite believed it was real. She'd already noticed how her tail widened at the "hips," giving her an hourglass figure most of her female classmates would kill for. It was no surprise then that her hip bones were still there, even if there were no legs to attach to them. But after that, her tailbone had apparently grown into a true tail, continuing her backbone down to the end of her tail.
Jon had to admit it was pretty interesting. Looking forward to getting the stone back, she wondered how she might phrase her next wishes to keep mermaids around. After all, they would make the world more interesting. As long as nobody, especially she herself, was forced to be one.
The suited figure extended a hand, which Jon shook hesitantly. "I thought you might want a look. I'm Dr. Saldago. I'm in charge of the quarantine. I like to meet personally with each transformee, to let you know how we'll take care of you." He handed her a book. It was apparently the waterproof printing, with plastic pages. "You should read the introduction, and skip to chapter three. That has instructions for taking care of your tail. And chapter five addresses your gender change." He paused. "So how are you feeling?"
"I just want to know when I can go home," asked Jon. And fix all this, she added silently.
"We'll want to keep you here for observation overnight," answered Dr. Saldago. "Of course the key is to get you home, but from what I understand your family only has a small, above-ground pool. You live in the water now, and you'll need more space than that for proper exercise." He looked at Jon's mother. "Ultimately your whole family may want to move to a house on the pond in town, so you can be near them and close to water at the same time. We can help pay for it. That would also be closer to the other aquatic transformees. We find that helps with adaptation."
Jon's mother looked angry. "Adaptation? How would you know? It's only been 18 months since this quarantine started." She stopped, and Jon sensed she was trying to maintain a brave face for her son-turned-daughter's sake. "Look, we're grateful for the help. But there must be more you can do."
"It's terrible, and I know it's unfair. But we're working as hard as we can on a vaccine. As I'm sure you've heard, most people who get the disease don't transform. But everyone, transformed or not, still carries a latent infection and is still contagious. On the plus side, Jon, you'll never get a cold. Even asymptomatic carriers seem to be perfectly immunized against ordinary rhinoviruses."
Jon was keeping her eyes on the prize. "Can't I go home to get my stuff? I ended up over here before I knew what was going on!"
"I'm sure your mother will pick up anything you need. But for now, I need to meet with another recent transformee. The pace has slowed down these months, but there are still a couple each day. And I believe you know one from yesterday..." He looked toward the door.
Karyn was standing there, her new tail swishing about in what Jon took to be nervousness. "Jon? Is that really you?"
