I slept well, and the next morning waited patiently for Ashley to wake up.

  “Come Ashley. I can hear you. Let us go get food and then see Amanda.” I said from our connecting wash room.

  “Christ on a stick, Kos-Api. Let me wake up and maybe have some coffee. The sun isn’t up yet.”

  “What is Crisp and why is it on a stick? And does that have anything to do with coffee?” I asked through the solid wooden door. I tried the handle and it opened. Ashley was sorting through her bags for clothes.

  “Please don’t touch anything in here. It would be unfortunate if something unexpected were to go horribly wrong with misused equipment.” Ashley warned me as I looked around t all the stuff we took out of the Suburban.

  “Not touching. Oh, that look interesting.”

  “Kos-Api, what did I just say?”

  “See if get you to yell. Not work. Next time.”

  “Ugh.”

  Breakfast was the same as yesterday, but getting consistently decent food that I didn’t have to kill and cook myself was still a novel enough concept after two months on this world that I couldn’t help but to enjoy it. I ate it all as fast as I could.

  “We go see Amanda now and get clothes.”

  “You need to wait.” Ashley was enjoying her second cup of coffee. Burnt bean water smelled revolting. I didn’t know how the Marines here practically bathed themselves in it. “Our appointment is at nine.”

  “That is three hours before mid-day? I can’t get used to how you do days.”

  “We can go hang out with Troy until it is time to go?” Ashley recommended with a glint in her eye.

  “You tease me about Troy Givens becoming close time partner? Yay Ashley! We comrades now!”

  “It’s no fun if you are not properly abashed about it.”

  I decided to study until it was time to go. I pulled a book out of storage and flipped it open.

  “I admit I’ve only known you for a handful of days now but your personality doesn’t come across as studious.” Ashley remarked.

  “You miss out on study hard near half of life. And miss hours of study every night while you in bed.” I flipped the page. “Also, review text in head after see pages once. Magic brain to remember words. Not always need book in hands.”

  “Well, you can read in the car. We should go get ice cream.”

  “What you scream?”

  “Ice Cream. It is a frozen dairy treat.”

  “No dairy.”

  “Well, more for me. We’ll get you beef jerky.”

  “What..”

  “Wait and see.”

  The car ride was fun, it was interesting to watch Ashley as she ate the ice cream, and the beef jerky was fantastic.

  Amanda lived in a house behind a house. As soon as we pulled into the driveway and got out of the car someone yelled from inside.

  “You got a warrant, Fed!?”

  “Unless you are counterfitting, I’m not that kind of Fed.” Ashley shouted back with her hands visible to the house. “Anyway, we have an appointment with Amanda.”

  “She is in the back, and we don’t consent to any searches!”

  “Ugh, worst part of the job.” Ashley muttered to me. “Do people hate authority figures this much on your world?”

  “Are you asking person of unliked subgroup if people with kill permission looked fondly on?”

  Gah. Fair point. Sorry I asked.”

  Amanda threw open the door as soon as we walked up to it. She was short for a human, standing about three or four finger widths taller than me. 2 inches rather. We were both small compared to other humans.

  “Thank you for choosing Amanda’s Alterations! Not very imaginative, I know, but people like alliterations so it works OK I guess. Would you like to come in?”

  “May I?” asked Ashley as she moved to step past Amanda and look into the house.

  “Well, all my stuff is in here so it would be hard to get work done outside!”

  Ashley was satisfied with what she saw, and motioned for me to go in ahead of her. As I got close to Amanda I noticed something off with the way she smelled. It took me a moment to figure it out. Liefsenai. I gave no more than an idle thought to where she might be on her transformation, but we had other things to do today, like clothes.

  “I am glad you called me. Business is slow so while I don’t normally just alter normal clothes I appreciate the work.”

  “You probably enjoy novelty.” I said as I pulled off my long coat and hat, revealing my ears and tail.

  “I… what?” Amanda was broken.

  “Close your mouth before you start drooling.” joked Ashley.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “Oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God…” Amanda stepped in place in a full circle shaking her hands vigorously.

  “Let all out now so we can work.” I prompted.

  “I have so many questions. How did you make that so well? How did you attach everything? Where are the motors to make it all move like that?”

  “What?” asked Ashley.

  "My mother make. Take 12 and half month.” Ashley slapped herself in the face.

  “That’s a really short time to build accessories that detailed.” Amanda pondered.

  “She’s talking about pregnancy, but her planet uses a different calendar.”

  “I think I need to sit down now.”

  “Yes, you probably should do that.” I looked around and quickly moved two rolls of cloth off of her couch. She sat and Ashley fetched a glass out of the drying rack in the small kitchen area on the other side of the room. She filled it from the faucet and brought it back.

  Amanda took a long pull and then looked me over while she worked to get her breathing under control.

  “Alien catgirl from outer space?”

  “Skipped space part. It complicated.” I shrugged.

  “And while it isn’t exactly classified, we would appreciate it if word wasn’t spread everywhere about it. The whole reason we aren’t at a more mainstream shop is that we are hoping for some discretion.”

  “I’ll do my best!” agreed Amanda. Ashley looked at me.

  “Probably the best we are going to get, even if we had an injunction. Too many people have already seen you as it is, but we can’t keep you in a dungeon somewhere. Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t really have those.”

  “We get to work now then. And get back to barracks faster.” I looked at Amanda. “Need do measures fast, fit pants we buy for tail.”

  “Wait! You have to let me make you something nice!” Amanda caught herself, and scrambled for a measuring strip.

  “You make pretty thing I wear out in people areas. If like I buy when done make.”

  Ok! Ah, can you… take off some things so I get the correct measurements?”

  I put everything I had on but my underlayer into my storage and held my arms out. It didn’t escape my notice that Ashley subtly put her hand near her pistol when I made the armor she gave me vanish.

  “Wow. It’s hard to see under all the clothes, but you really work out.”

  “Yes, very strong.”

  Amanda measured everywhere. I was sure when she was done she could commission a statue that looked just like me. She was breathing heavily when she finished, but her body language indicated that she was closing off into herself. That was no good. I pulled her in for a hug as the humans did it.

  “No feel bad now. You be you, OK? Give time, all be OK. You be in you and be happy be in you, and when all done be more happy that you be in you.”

  “How?”

  “Nose very very good compare to human. See body words, smell body. Know. Is OK.” I held her by her shoulders. “Three pretty woman in room, be pretty and make pretty together.”

  “I feel like I am missing something, and I generally don’t like it when that happens.” Ashley grumped.

  “That because you think all time about danger and not about pretty.” I deflected.

  “Hey, I’ll have you know I like pretty things just fine!” I just rolled my eyes at her. With that, we left Amanda with the promise that I would call her later.

  The next morning some of the Marines got dressed nice and went out after breakfast.

  “What are they all doing?” I asked Givens, who was explaining to me how people who looked like me were (mostly) drawn in their television programs.

  “They are going to Church. Do you have gods where you are from?”

  “What is god?”

  “Powerful beings, often portrayed as non-corporeal. Sometimes attributed to creating the world?” Givins prompted.

  “No gods. Creation myth in other world complicated. Most believe that humans brought to world from elsewhere, and Murenyan created from humans. Other people also brought to world. No details, no proof.”

  “So your people were once human?”

  “Made from human, difference. Muranyan look like cat, not cat.”

  “You have cats there?”

  “Yes. Dog too.”

  “Are there people that look like dogs there?”

  “No. Human like you. Call them Hume in many language. Xinifex. Metal people. Build new body with shape as need. Shimbolt, shape change people. Like appear tall and thin but can look like anything of same size. Ord are Plant people. Muranyan like me. Xinifex, Shimbolt and Ord like to take basic form of Hume because Hume spread fast, dangerous if threatened. Others try not threaten.”

  “I guess that makes sense. No gods though?”

  “Who can say? Aware of concept.”

  “Cool, cool. Where were we? Edo period in Japan?”

  “Yes. You were talking about Bakeneko and Nekomata.”

  Before lunch everyone came back and put their more casual clothes back on. They turned on the big television in the day room and the people on it were talking about car racing. I kept studying what I could find on my phone about how healers got trained here. There was an overabundance of search results for civilian healers of all levels, but the telephone wasn’t revealing much about how it worked for the Marines.

  One of them noticed me working intently.

  “What’s up with you, whis, ah, Cosappy?” Maybe he had forgotten his manners for a moment.

  “Do we need to go outside?” I asked him.

  “Only if we are keeping it friendly,” he decided. “I want to keep all my parts where they are.”

  “We can keep it friendly, not painless.” I told him. “To answer, I am searching for how to be a combat healer.”

  “You want to be Doc? Wicked.” He turned around. “Michaels, get over here!” another person came over.

  “Michaels, Cosappy wants to be Doc.” he turned to me. “Michaels here is Doc.”

  “I wouldn’t want to take if from you.” I explained.

  “Doesn’t work like that.” Michaels said. “The Marines are supported by embedded Navy Hospital Corpsman, like myself. Gotta be Navy to be Doc, not a Marine. There are lots of us.”

  “I will ask at my meeting tomorrow how to be “Doc” then.” I turned back to the first man. “Outside?”

  “I am going to regret this, but alright. Nothing that Doc here has to treat.”

  “No weapons, covered vitals. Agreed. Bruises?”

  “I would prefer nothing we have to explain later.”

  “OK. Submit restrain?”

  “Submission hold, sure.”

  We went out and most of the Marines abandoned the television to watch.

  Outside, I quick-changed into sparing clothes, which made most of the Marines turn right back around. I looked down at myself. Wrapped cloth top and bottom, hard leather finger and toe caps over the claws, hard leather gorget and corset over the soft bits. What was the problem?

  “You Marines are so strange about less clothes.”

  “No, we are fine with it, but there are rules.”

  “Tell them they can stop being squishy about perfect female form.” I flexed a bit and did some stretches to limber up.

  “Many girlfriends here would argue that point, including my own, but I agree. Let’s do this.” He pulled his shirt and shoes off and put on some padded gear that another Marine brought him.