Free Jethro: First to Fight by Chris Hechtl

hesitantly, favoring the
arm as he approached the front desk. The human female nurse smiled. “Another
one?” she said, slightly exasperated.
    “Another one what?” he asked, looking at
her in confusion.
    “Oh wait you're a cat. Never mind,” she
replied, shaking her head. “We've had a couple of the Neohounds come in with
problems in their necks and spines. Arthritis in one, it's common in beagles as
they get older.”
    “Ah.”
    “Even with your re-engineered necks you
Neo's still tend to have the problem. The doctor said it's the bones fusing, or
trying to fuse together once the soft tissue in between them erodes. So take
care of yourself and when you get a pain, come in. A couple shots of steroids
and a little stem cell injection to rebuild the layer and you'll be right as
rain,” she said smiling as a beagle exited.
    Jethro made a hole to allow the other
Neo to pass. He had a stiff vertebra collar on to keep his neck up. His ears
and tail drooped though, a sure sign he was still in some pain.
    Once the beagle had made a follow up
appointment the human female returned her attention to Jethro. “So, what's your
problem?” she asked, hands over a virtual keyboard.
    “It's nothing really,” he said
demurringly. She eyed him and then did a quick scan.
    “No, I can see the swelling, you should be
checked out. The doctor will see you,” she said, sending a signal to doctor
Standish.
    “Just like that ma'am?”
    She smiled. “Just like that. Follow the
corridor here, bear left. He'll be waiting,” she said with a dismissive nod.
    Doctor Standish took charge of Jethro's
case since it was a slow day. He used nanites to repair the ligament tissue
after he did his own assessment. “I'm curious, I'm looking at your implants,
and you don't have some of the basics. If you had this would have been
preventable,” Doctor Standish commented.
    “It's my cloak sir,” Jethro replied.
    “It is? Fascinating.”
    “The cloak is more than my skin sir.”
    “Your epidermis? Well, I can see why the
implant surgeons didn't want to blemish it, but we now use nanites for such
things.”
    “You do? Sir?” Jethro asked, ears perked
in surprise.
    The human doctor nodded, not looking up
from the arm. “Indeed we do. Oh I know, the first teams couldn't control the
nanites, a clear case of chicken and the egg. In order to make and use medical
nanites you needed medical implants. Well, now we've got them.”
    “If you say so sir,” Jethro replied,
feeling amused. He flicked an ear.
    “Indeed I do. When your class graduated,
let's see..” Jethro felt the doctor access his ID implant. “Ah yes, first
class. First graduated class actually. F platoon, impressive,” the doctor
replied.
    “We did our best,” Jethro replied.
    “Yes, I see that. Sent quite a few to
sickbay, but you gave ten times what you got in return. Hmmm...” he picked at
the wound with the nanites. “I'd put you in a regen tank but there really is no
need for something this minor. The Quick heal is working nicely.”
    “Which is why he's doing it out of the
box. Showing off. Again,” the nurse said.
    The doctor smiled and winked at Jethro.
Jethro snorted. “Do try to relax,” the  doctor admonished. “It's only
nanites,” he said.
    Jethro didn't even bat an eye. The
doctor frowned. “Interesting. You have no problem with the idea of nanites?”
    “No, should I? You're controlling them
doctor,” Jethro responded.
    “Interesting,” the doctor drawled,
sounding like someone who'd tried to pull a prank only for it to blow up in his
face. “You're unique,” he murmured.
    Jethro's ears perked. He snorted softly.
“So, nanites, I take it the medical staff can now use them?”
    “Each time we get someone like you to
practice on, we get better,” Doctor Standish replied, smiling slightly.
    “I see,” Jethro said, churring slightly
in amusement. The doctor glanced at him and then shrugged.
    “Now we do most of the implant surgery
with nanites.