Chapter Six: Tale of a Tail
Exhausted, hungry, covered with mud, weighed down by body armor and their packs, the cadets of Squad 3 filed into the transport for the hour-long trip back to the academy. It was the end of a ten-day field exercise, their first such operation, and there was not a one of them who was not exhausted. They had marched, hiked, climbed, crawled, and ran across endless kilometers of every imaginable terrain. They'd practiced self-defense in mud and brush, mastered firing their guns while running, and discovered the frustration of trying to keep uniform and equipment clean in all sorts of weather. They had learned to set up a camp and break it down in record time, stand picket, build shelters in the wilderness, camouflage themselves and their gear, dig trenches, latrines, and shelters, and a thousand other skills infantrymen needed. There wasn't a one of them who came out disliking field rations the way they had going in. It was strange what you could learn to love when there was nothing else, even field rations.
"Strap in," ordered Senior Drill Instructor Tomkin over the sound of groans and sighs. "The faster you sit, the sooner you'll hit your racks. You all did well in this operation. You're excused from morning drill and physical training tomorrow, so sleep in. Breakfast is optional, but if you're up in time, get some food in you. Your first class tomorrow will be fighter simulator at noon."
They were too weary to get excited. Being ordered to get extra sleep was as much a novelty as the simulators, but they wouldn't appreciate it until they were actually in their beds getting the promised sleep.
Every joint heavy and aching beyond belief, his head throbbing, Avocato handed his rifle to the armorer before he swiftly shed his pack and shoved it onto the rack with the others. Then he followed Kedi's wide back to the rows of seats running the length of the transport. He hadn't sat in a chair for over a week, let alone seen anything resembling a cushion, and he knew he'd be asleep as soon as he settled in. He was shocked, therefore, when sharp pain shot up his spine to the back of his head the moment he sat down. He gasped, practically clawing his way up Nikos to get upright again. Grimacing, he clenched his teeth and closed his eyes against flashes of light and the need to scream out his pain, almost doubled over in the aisle.
"Avocato?" pressed Nikos, suddenly alert and worried. He bent close, steadying his friend with both hands as Avocato leaned on his thighs and tried to get his breathing under control.
"What is it, Avocato?" demanded the Tomkin, weaving through the crowd to reach his side.
"I - I think my tail is broken, sir," slurred Avocato. He blinked, trying to shake off his fatigue. He'd never been so tired before that he couldn't speak clearly. "Right at the base."
"It looks swollen," confirmed Tomkin, glancing down. He gave Avocato a shrewd look and quietly asked, "This isn't the first time this has happened, is it?"
"No, sir."
He nodded, seemingly unsurprised, but Avocato couldn't be bothered to give Tomkin's observation a thought. He was too preoccupied with not passing out. "I'll get you a pain killer. Sit whatever way is most comfortable for now and try not to move or jar it. Report to medical as soon as we get back to the academy. Nikos, you stay with him. I'll meet you there later."
There was no getting comfortable, so Avocato finally knelt on the cushioned seat and leaned heavily against Kedi, instantly falling into a stupor. Tomkin had to wake him up to take a pain killer, and he woke up again in the lift taking them to medical. Nikos smiled at him, trying to hide his concern.
"There you are, Cato. I couldn't wake you up. We're almost at medical. Drill Instructor Tomkin called ahead for us. Toshi and Felice will drop our packs in our room."
He nodded, his head pounding as hard as his back and tail despite the pain medication. The motion of the lift did nothing to help. It felt as if he'd left his stomach on the ground floor. Finally, he closed his eyes because the light panel overhead was too bright for him and tried to keep his mouth clamped shut.
"How did it happen?"
He twinged, and quickly blurted, "I think maybe when FannFee was sliding down the cliff. She grabbed my tail and her rope."
"Lucky thing she's small. She didn't fall far. Still, it seems like it should take more than that to break it. I'd say I'm surprised you didn't notice before now, but given how I feel at the moment, it makes perfect sense."
He nodded and swallowed and instantly regretted it as nausea hit him like a wave. A strangled sound escaped him, and Avocato clapped a hand over his mouth, bracing himself on the wall. His stomach protested as the lift came to a gentle stop and Nikos had just enough time to murmur, "Oh, no!" before Avocato began vomiting.
The doors opened and an authoritative female voice said, "There you – oh! Oh. Well, not the first time that's happened. Clawpaw, call for some custodial droids for bio-hazard cleanup in lift two. Lock it in place until it's sterile. Do I have one or two casualties, Cadet . . . ?"
"Nikos, ma'am. And he's Avocato. Class 984, Squad 3. And no, I'm not injured, I'm just escorting him. We were on our first field exercise and Avocato thinks he broke his tail."
By now, Nikos was holding Avocato upright. Or as upright as the differences in their heights would allow.
"Where is the break?" she asked briskly.
"Right at the base, I think," Avocato whispered, squinting at the doctor. She was a major, her fur as snowy white as the long coat she wore over a medical uniform, and she seemed possessed of uncommon good humor and energy.
"That would explain the vomiting. Remember that, cadets. That particular break will hit you harder than the worst concussion you've ever enjoyed. If you enjoy that sort of thing, of course. Get him in here, Ni . . . kos. Ohhh. Once he's done painting the lift, that is." As she moved to give Nikos a hand, she called to the medical AI, "Clawpaw, access medical files on Cadet Avocato for any allergies or anomalies that would preclude standard treatment and prep for a bioscan, followed by regen." She looked over Avocato's bent head to Nikos. "Who's in charge of your class?"
Avocato tried to answer. "Cata . . . Cat . . ."
"Colonel Cataloupe, ma'am," Nikos provided when the doctor ignored Avocato's efforts. "Senior Drill Instructor Tomkin ran the field exercise. He said he'd be here later."
"Good. Clawpaw, alert Cataloupe that one of his students is being admitted."
"Notification sent, Dr. Chausie. Records do not indicate any known allergies or anomalies. There are three previous instances of Cadet Avocato having broken his tail."
"Pull up his file. Nikos, when did this happened?"
A garbled sound escaped Avocato, though nothing resembled actual words. Chaisie paid him no mind.
"Early this morning," Nikos explained before the injured party could strain anything else by trying to answer, like his brain. "We were scaling a cliff and one of the cadets slipped. She grabbed his tail and her rope at the same time to stop her fall. We've been going straight-out. Avocato didn't notice until he sat down in the transport back here. Drill Instructor Tomkin gave him a pain killer for the ride back."
So many words strung together seemed impossible to Avocato right now, and he was speechless with admiration for Nikos' eloquence. As they walked the few feet to the examination cubicle, Chausie expertly stripped Avocato's equipment belt and field jacket, dropping them to the floor before maneuvering him belly-down on the biobed. He tried to help as they went, but Avocato was too busy trying not to vomit on a superior officer to be of any use. He couldn't even raise his head when she offered him a pillow. With a sympathetic smile and gentle touch, Chausie lifted his head and slipped the pillow under so his face would not be on the biobed.
"Are the previous breaks in the same place?" she asked the AI, probing the area in question and ignoring Avocato's attempts to communicate. Seeing he was shivering, she said, "Increase biobed temperature by ten degrees."
Clawpaw projected a bioscan, highlighting the points in question. "Negative. Previous breaks are in the ninth, sixteenth, and twenty-fifth caudal vertebrae."
"Twenty-fifth?" she echoed, astonished by what she was seeing. The twenty-fifth vertebrae should have been towards the very tip of his tail, but the diagram was highlighted at three-quarters of its length. She looked from the scan to Avocato, then all the way down the extent of his abnormally long tail, frowning all the way. "Clawpaw, how many caudal vertebrae does he have?"
"Thirty-one."
She stared in undisguised shock, then snapped into action when Avocato heaved again and pushed himself up on his elbows, still in the throes of nausea. Shoving a basin into his paws, she said, "Clawpaw, commence scan while I deal with this."
Within minutes, Avocato had been given an injection for pain and nausea and he was receiving fluids through an IV. Between the medication and the warm bed, his relief was swift and obvious. Chausie sat at her desk to review the scan while Nikos made himself useful by retrieving the discarded equipment, then removing Avocato's heavy combat boots at the doctor's request. Once done, Nikos wilted into the chair next to Avocato's bed to wait and doze, as worn out as his friend. Avocato was nearly asleep when Chausie rolled her chair over, spinning to face him.
"I need to discuss your condition," she said, leaning over so Avocato wouldn't have to move to see her. "Do you want Nikos to step outside?"
At the sound of his name, Nikos jerked awake, standing automatically.
"No," Avocato said, then added, "Ma'am." Privacy was a thing of the past when you shared a dorm the size of a closet and the world's smallest refresher. Avocato's dignity had withered and died by the third week here.
She waved Nikos to sit and stay put. "Your heritage records are sealed," she said. "That's not unusual for children of peers. However, there's no hiding the fact that you're a Blue Imperial."
"Yes, ma'am. I am. Blue," he said, as if realizing it for the first time. His words were practically smeared together, but he couldn't seem to shut up. His pain had dulled to a burning throb, and he had a strange sensation of floating.
"Stop talking. Really. You can't do it very well right now." She held up a padd for him to see a diagram of his own skeletal system. "Bone counts in Ventrexians can vary regionally and in accordance to age and certain genetic factors. Nikos, for example, probably has more teeth than you or I. There are certain isolated pockets where they tend to have more fingers and toes. Now tails usually have anywhere between twenty and twenty-four caudal vertebrae, sometimes a few more or less. The highest number I've seen up to now is twenty-eight. You have thirty-one. That's a rather unprecedented number, but telling. The last five or six at the tip are still developing. I can't be sure without a genetic scan, which I can't do without parental permission, but I believe you're what's informally known as a regal longtail. It's a recessive trait that shows up most often in the royal and noble families and came about due to prolonged swimming in a limited gene pool. It's actually linked to a lack of whiskers in males, which you have. Or don't have," she added.
"Don't have," he echoed, suddenly deeply sad for his deficiency.
She shook her head, amused with his drug-induced idiocy. "Either way, long tale short - pun intended - your tail has an abnormally high number of vertebrae, so it will probably keep growing most of your life."
"I have an aunt and some cousins like that," Avocato muttered, forgetting her order. "They think it's fashion-ish."
"They can afford to. You can't. Until a Ventrexian stops growing, the smaller bones tend to be brittle. That's why you've broken your tail so many times. So until your tail stops growing, you're vulnerable. Essentially, your tail is going to be a pain in your ass your whole life."
Nikos snorted, and Avocato managed a small bark that did not aggravate his stomach. "Why does this time hurt worse than . . . then?"
She understood the intent of the question clearly, if not the content. She pointed to the base of his tail on the scan she held. "There's a nerve bundle right about here, where legs, tail, and spine converge. The vertebrae at this end of your tail are more directly wired to your spine." She lifted the rounded tip of his tail. shaking it at him. "These are fairly useless and not done growing."
"Oh." He nodded, not quite processing any of it as the pain medication kicked in and seemingly, kicked him right in the head. Staring at Nikos, he asked in an awed whisper, "How many teeth do you have?"
Chausie rolled her eyes. "Stop talking, cadet. Go to sleep. Clawpaw and I will start regen treatment tonight. You won't feel a thing, I promise. You'll be out of here in time for dinner tomorrow."
His eyes were already closing, and he mumbled a last, "Yes, sir, please don't tell Fann, " before dropping off completely.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Ma'am, is he going to be alright? I've never seen him like this, and I'm his roommate. Avocato's not usually this . . ."
"Dense?" Chausie waved dismissively. "That's his tail talking. He's in a lot more pain than I'm letting him feel right now and his brain is misfiring. He just happens to like to talk in this state."
"But he'll be alright?"
"Completely, Nikos. This is a classic example of what extreme pain and fatigue will do to a Ventrexian. We get pretty useless. Entertaining, but useless. Don't worry. He'll be fine."
Nikos' sigh of relief was cut short as the door to the stairwell opened and Drill Instructor Tomkin and Colonel Cataloupe entered. Nikos jumped to attention. As the doctor on duty, Chausie was in command here, but she still stood respectfully to greet them.
"Permission to come aboard, Doctor . . .?" asked Cataloupe, making sure they weren't upsetting anything with their presence.
"Chausie. Granted, sir. Colonel, Drill Instructor, my apologies," she said, gesturing at the closed elevator doors. "We had a custodial issue with the lift earlier. It's still being cleaned."
"At ease, cadet," said Cataloupe to Nikos. He gestured at Avocato, whose back was to them. "May I?"
"He's asleep, but you can see him."
They came closer to check on Avocato, keeping their voices low even though there was no chance of him rousing. After studying Avocato for a few moments, Cataloupe looked at Chausie. "Tomkin said he broke his tail?"
"Yes. It's a clean break, but very painful due to the conjunction of nerves from the legs and tail to the spinal cord. It has the same effect and symptoms as a concussion. I'll start regen tonight. He'll be on his feet tomorrow. Barring any unforeseen complications, I'll release him for light duty for a day, full duty after two. I'll keep you both posted."
"Thank you," Cataloupe said, visibly relieved. He took another look at the long, lean cadet. He was so young. They all were. "We'll leave you to it, Doctor. Cadet, time to get some sleep."
"Yes, sir," Nikos said. "Drill Instructor, sir, I can't be out of the dorm this late without a faculty escort."
Tomkin nodded, glad he wasn't the one doing the reminding for that detail. "I'll bring you back."
"Hold on," ordered the doctor. "Clawpaw, privacy screen around the patient."
A solid hologram was projected around the biobed from floor to ceiling, behind which Chausie disappeared. There came a few grunts and muffled oaths, and moments later she reappeared, smiling and carrying a heap of uniform pieces that she dumped into Nikos' arms, then topped with Avocato's large and heavy boots and equipment belt.
"Bring him a uniform tomorrow," she said, then added in a whisper, "and underclothes."
Swamped, Nikos tried unsuccessfully to stand at attention. "Yes, ma'am."