Part 53
DATE:FC+203

The medical room was hushed. The doctors stood to one side, monitoring Becky. There were no screens showing her stats. Everything needed was displayed directly to the doctor's implants.

Ashleigh stood just inside the door, wondering if she was interrupting them. The Alphonian doctor looked across. "Come in. You can go to Becky if you want."

She didn't need more of a prompt than that, and rushed to see her. There were no wires or tubes. Becky was just lying on the medical bed, looking like she was sleeping peacefully. She had some type of cover over her, covering her modesty. Becky's clothes were neatly folded on the side.

"Is she okay? It didn't hurt her brain, did it?"

"Her brain was untouched. This was purely a physical change. Her transition is complete. We're simply waiting for the last of the pain to fade before waking her."

Gently, Ashleigh took hold of Becky's left hand. It was warm, and tears came to Ashleigh's eyes. She'd been so worried that Becky would be cold and feel like death. Becky was breathing unaided. If there had been any assistance earlier, it had been removed before Ashleigh had been allowed to visit.

"She won't remember the pain, will she?"

"No. That is why she is unconscious during this procedure. The doctors we spoke to on Earth said that humans didn't feel anything during operations they carried out. It is the same process."

Ashleigh looked at her sleeping beauty. She had always been perfect. Since the day they'd first talked, long ago while watching a hockey match, Ashleigh had thought she was perfect. Now, Becky would be perfect for Becky. For Ashleigh she could never be better than just being herself.

"When do you start?" Becky mumbled in English, her eyes opening.

Ashleigh's heart leapt, relief coursing through her. "They're done my darling. You're just waking up."

Becky glanced up at Ashleigh, love in her eyes, then closed them after giving a contented sigh. She lay awake, basking in the aftermath of her sleep. The bed was comfortable, like laying on a cloud.

Ashleigh stroked the back of Becky's hand, and Becky twisted it slightly, so their hands joined. Ashleigh grinned; Becky was content.

"Don't be like Jenny," Ashleigh teased after a few minutes. "Come on. It's time for the doctors to tell you what they've done."

Shinara said, "We will step outside to let Becky get dressed."

Ashleigh then noticed that Becky's right hand was under the cover, checking out the changes. She didn't know whether to laugh or scold.

"Does it feel right?" Ashleigh teased, the doctors out of the room.

Becky blushed realising that Ashleigh had noticed, then with an impish grin pulled back the cover. "Does it look how it should?"

Ashleigh's mouth dropped open in shock and then it dawned on her that Becky would never have done that previously. That area was always hidden. What faith. What trust.

She glanced down and gave a shy smile back. "It looks perfect. I'll wait until we're home and alone before I see how it feels."

"I wish I had a mirror," Becky muttered.

Ashleigh had a fleeting thought. Could she share her view via the device? Could she let Becky see what she was seeing? Then she shut those thoughts away. She didn't know how private that would be.

"We can use one of the makeup mirrors or get a handheld one. I know you want to see, but this is your anatomy going forward. Remember the saying, the best things come to those that wait."

Becky got dressed. The rest of her body felt unchanged, though her hips felt a bit strange.

"I've just had a major operation, and there isn't any sign of blood. If I'd had this done on Earth, I would have had packing inside me for a few days, and then weeks of recovery. I'm out of bed already and moving around like nothing has happened."

Once dressed, Becky asked, "How has Jenny been?"

"She had a fun morning. We did Space Racers, and then she and Kelly decided to follow her friend to school."

Becky looked incredulous. "School?"

"I know. Hang on."

She woke her device. "Is it possible to extract memories from this morning between leaving the medical room and returning, summarise it and send it to Becky?"

"Yes. Would a 40-tick length be fine?"

Ashleigh did a mental conversion of octal to decimal and then from ticks to seconds. "Yes."

Becky must have got the message, as she sat there, mouth open in surprise.

"You did all of that?" Becky asked, her eyes wide in surprise. You flew a spaceship like that!

Ashleigh couldn't help but grin at the moment. "It's more like a space go-cart than a ship, but yeah. It was fun!"

"I sensed that. You've certainly got used to this device. There are just so many possibilities that we'd never thought possible. Scientists are going to be busy for decades. Knowing something is possible, will spur funding in research that previously would have been laughed at."

Shinara came in, and seeing Becky was dressed, opened the door for the other doctors to come in.

"Thank you so much," Becky gushed, remembering to talk in Hytuna.

"Our pleasure," Shinara responded, overwhelmed by Becky's delight. They were used to helping solve medical issues, but this must have had the most profound impact she'd ever seen.

The doctors came closer and Becky had a thought. "Is there anything I need to do?"

"Do?" the Reginadde doctor asked, puzzled.

"After human gender surgery, there is a process called dilation." Becky, blushed and explained.

"Ah. No. Everything created is natural. To your body, it is as if you were born with it. It isn't a transplant, so there is no concern about rejection."

"So, what now?" Ashleigh asked.

"You go home. The nanites no longer have to regulate hormones, but they will always be in your blood. They will contact us if there is a problem."

Becky went across and hugged each one of them. It probably wasn't any of their customs, but she just wanted to show her gratitude.

As they collected everything to go, Shinara said, "If humanity does join the Rohastin Council, I look forward to some human chefs coming to work at the station. I enjoyed your food."

"Apart from the eggs," Becky laughed.

Shinara joined in the laughter. "Yes. Apart from the eggs."

"You only had a sample of food from that region of Earth. There are many different foods from different areas."

Ashleigh and Becky found the others in the pilot lounge, where they'd been happily drinking something that was probably closest to an alien hot chocolate. It wasn't an intoxicating drink, but it had a rich smooth texture that seemed to caress their insides.

Tina, Luke and Sam gaped as Becky walked in, hand-in-hand with Ashleigh.

"You're here!" Tina exclaimed in shock.

Becky nodded, still slightly overwhelmed herself that it was over. "I thought I'd have to spend the night, but it seems not. Their medical treatment is certainly superior to what we get at home."

"Jenny will be over the moon to see you," Tina said, shaking off her shock, and slight envy at Becky's treatment.

"Do you know when she will finish?" Becky asked, eager to see her daughter.

"Why don't you ask your device?" Ashleigh suggested. "I don't think they expected the girls to be there all day. Just to get a taster."

Their lesson was finishing soon, so Becky and Ashleigh went to get them. It would be getting late back home, and they needed to return Kelly. The rest would head to the ship and meet them there.

The school leader was waiting and when they saw Becky, gasped. "The Saviour … then Jenny must be one of the Trinity!"

Becky wanted to roll her eyes. "Thank you for letting Jenny and Kelly visit your school and letting them see how children learn here. I hope the other children didn't have issues seeing humans."

"We are only one of two schools that have mixed species. Having two well behaved, well-mannered children was an honour. I do hope you join the Rohastin Council. This is a very special time. Species who make it this far are rare, and there is much to be joyful about. Humans have already had a profound impact on our view of the galaxy."

This was something new. Ashleigh had only really considered the impact of First Contact on humans. Being told that it was impacting the aliens too was something she'd never really considered.

Jenny and Kelly eventually appeared chatting together, looking happy.

"Ma!" called Jenny when she saw Becky and rushed to her.

"I'm all good," Becky said, patting her daughter's head. "Now thank the student leader and we need to get Kelly home."

The student leader reached out their hand and gave an attempt at a human wave. Jenny and Kelly responded.

"How did you know?" Kelly asked.

"Your Reginadde friend taught us after Jenny visited last."

Eos was just one level below, so they were guided to a ramp leading down to it.

"How did lessons compare?" Becky asked Jenny and Kelly.

"We had a lesson about different species. We had to talk a bit about Earth and humans. There were some normal lessons too."

"Doing multiplication in octal got me for a bit," Kelly admitted. "Five times three isn't fifteen but seventeen. Because the five times table is so simple, I used instinct. These are going to be the harder things to grasp."

"What do we do with our devices?" Becky asked, as they got to Eos.

"Deactivate it and keep it for next time," James answered. "Rather like we've been drip fed Hytuna, we are gradually being introduced to their systems. I've got to admit, it was useful. When I'd visited before, I'd felt a bit at a loss what to do. Now, I can go to the Space Racers!"

When they sat down in Eos, Becky gave a huge yawn. "I know it isn't that late, but I feel so tired."

"You've just had major surgery," Luke responded. "I'm not surprised. Yes, I know it wasn't surgery like at home, but it was still major. Take it easy for a few days. Give your body chance to recover."

The journey home was never as quick as the journey out. They had to go via Farnborough, and they arrived there at a bad time. The landing pad was free, but there was a queue for their passports to be checked. Even at a private airport, there was sometimes a queue, though never that long.

Tina and Luke were going to stay at Ashleigh's old house, so offered to take Kelly home. That just left the three of them. The bodyguards were in their annex but never interrupted them unless there was an emergency.

"I was thinking," Becky said, relaxing on the settee. She didn't want to go to bed and was trying to stay awake.

"Oh?" Ashleigh asked, gazing lovingly at Becky.

"I was wondering about setting a date."

"A date?" Ashleigh asked, wondering what Becky was thinking.

Becky smiled warmly, "A wedding date."

Jenny squealed with delight. "Can I be a bridesmaid?"