The friends have been introduced to something wonderful and amazing. But what does it take to get into such an item?

     
     

--- Susan ---
     
     
      “Oh my god. Is this real? This can’t be real. I must be dreaming. Pinch me Karen so that I know I’m awake,” Susan is saying a mile a minute as she follows the female doctor who is taking her over to a stall.

     Stepping aside Karen raises her hand with a smile and invites Susan to enter the cubicle first. Susan peeks inside and almost timidly tiptoes in. She sees an exaggerated tub along the back wall half full of water and on one side is a table with a large case resting on it that is open. Several other people are in the enclosure, but the only thing that Susan can see once her eyes come to rest on it is the item lying inside of the case on the table.

      “Is that ...?” she asks.

      “Yes, that is going to be your tail,” Karen says as she gently pushes Susan further into the room. “Go take a look at it.”

     Susan slowly approaches the case, one hand clasped in a loose fist up under her chin with the other hand hesitantly extended half way out reaching towards the glistening purple thing that has her rapt attention. She gets close enough to be able to touch it and just the tips of her fingers barely make contact.

     The tail is resting half submerged in a shallow pool of liquid and lies flat and empty as if waiting to be filled. It features fish-like scales that are larger than expected and become smaller as they transition down towards the fin at the end. The color of each scale is not solid; the end of the scale where it attaches to the costume is a lighter shade that gradually darkens going out to the external edge of each one. Susan can see that the scales which are facing up are a paler shade in the middle and get a little darker and more vibrant towards the sides that she can see. Now that she is standing close it is apparent the tail is noticeably longer than her human legs would be. The shape gradually narrows going down the length of it until it is narrow enough she could just touch the tip of her thumb and middle finger together around the circumference just above where the tail fin is attached if she squeezed it a bit. The fin on the end of the tail spreads out wider than the widest part of the tail and appears to be twice as long as her foot.

     Susan runs her finger tips down the length of the tail as if she is afraid that it will fall apart if she were to touch it more firmly.

      “It’s okay, you won’t damage the tail,” one of the others present tells her. “It’s quite sturdy and should stand up to a good bit of rough handling, within reason.”

     Susan glances over at the person who spoke and grins like a child in a candy store who just got told everything is free. Both hands are now used to touch, pick up, and explore the wonder before her. She finds the tail is a little heavier than she assumed it would be, the ‘skin’ being thicker than expected. Looking it over and moving the tail around she guesses that the side facing up would match up with the front of the person wearing it, the paler shading of scales turning darker around to the side that is lying face down. The top end of the tail is more like human flesh in texture and color and looks like it would cover the torso up to the ribs at least, the scales not showing up until down around the area of the waist and starting out as extremely small scales that are almost the same shade of color as the skin then smoothly transitioning into the larger and more colorful purple scales of the main portion of the tail.

      “This opening looks a little small,” Susan comments, “how will I get into it?”

      “It will stretch some which should be enough to let you slide inside once we get to fitting the outer garment on,” Karen informs her.

      “Outer garment?”

      “This is the final outer layer of the costume. Underneath you’ll have a skin tight pair of basically tights that fit over your waist, thighs, hips, butt, and legs which will also include the necessary internal inserts for proper hygiene and waste elimination. Did Brianna not tell you about that?”

      “Oh, right. She did tell us. I guess I’m going to need to strip down to get that part done, won’t I.”

     Turning to look at Karen Susan catches sight of something else out of the corner of her eye. Sitting in the corner out of the way is a power wheelchair. The base plate where the feet would rest is abnormally large and protrudes forwards quite far.

      “What is that for? Does someone here need a wheelchair?”

      “You do,” Karen says with a smile. “Or, you will. How else do you think you’re going to get around on land once you have a fish tail instead of legs? The wheelchair is setup with waterproof cushion covers and seals around the electronics so you won’t have to worry about getting it wet. In fact, you’ll need to pay attention to your tail and keep it moist while you’re out of the water. You don’t want to let it completely dry out so you’ll need to be able to wet your tail somehow while sitting in the wheelchair. We recommend keeping a damp towel or two available that you can lay on top of your tail.”

      “Oh, well, alright. That’s good to know. What would happen if I let the tail get too dry?”

      “It would be like getting a bad sunburn while you were in the dessert and hadn’t had any water for days. It would start to crack and peel just like your own skin would do, and since it will be attached to you through the sensory interface so you can feel normal sensations from the tail then we assume it would become quite painful if it got that far. Since you’ll be able to receive sensations from it you’ll probably start to get uncomfortable and itch long before it gets to the point of being really painful and dangerous. You’ll want to soak your tail in water just to soothe the itching and burning.”

      “Okay. So what’s next? What do I need to do now?”

      “Now, it’s time to get started. We need you to strip down to your birthday suit. Everything needs to come off. Remember, I and several of the others are medical doctors. We’ve seen it all before so there’s no need to be embarrassed.”

     Susan nods and while feeling a little shy she removes her clothing until she stands as naked as the day she was born.

      “To get a custom fit for the body stocking we need you to stand with your legs spread out a bit wider than shoulder width and hold your arms straight out to the sides.”

     Susan complies and a small water tank with a hose and spray gun attached is brought over.

      “I’ll spray this gel onto you from your armpits down to your toes,” Karen tells Susan. “We’ll cover everything in between thoroughly and let it dry. It’s a fast drying solution so should only take about five minutes or so. Then we’ll do two more coats to get it thick enough so we can peel it off and still retain your shape. There’s also one more thing,” she stops and pauses a moment.

      “What? Is there something you don’t want to tell me?”

      “Susan, my primary specialty in medicine is gynecology. I’ve been doing female exams and preventative medicine for over ten years.”

      “Okay, that’s nice to know, but what does it have to do with this?”

      “There’s no easy way to say this,” Karen says while she shakes her head. “Susan, to get everything molded and setup correctly for the suit to work, we have to create someplace for the micro computer to reside along with a couple other components. To keep it safe from being damaged and not mar the look of your tail from the outside, well, we have to place it all inside. The best place for us to do that is in your uterus.”

      “My what?” Susan says flatly.

      “Susan, I’m going to need to insert the nozzle up into your vagina and coat the inside of your vaginal passage and uterus too.”

      “YOU WHAT?!?” Susan shrieks with indignation at the top of her lungs as she covers her breasts with her arms and closes her legs.

      “No, don’t bother repeating yourself,” she says firmly when Karen opens her mouth to speak, “I heard you clearly the first time.”

     Susan looks back over at the object of her childhood desires and fantasies as it lays quietly glistening, waiting for her. She sighs and nods to herself.

      “Is this really necessary, Karen?”

      “We couldn’t figure out a better way to make it work Susan. We tried. It just has too many problems and not to mention it looks bad trying to place it anywhere else.

      “Look, I know this is going to be uncomfortable and feel really strange while I inject the gel. I know from personal experience, I volunteered to be a test subject for this to see if it would be feasible. It’s going to be alright.”

      “Okay. Okay, I’ll do it,” Susan states as she slowly takes her spread out position again.

      “I’ll be as gentle as I can, I promise.”

     Susan nods and as Karen approaches with the hose she tightly squeezes her eyes shut.

     Twenty minutes later the team is poking the solidified gel coating that covers Susan from her breasts down.

      “You didn’t tell me that the nozzle was going to stay up inside me too,” Susan complains.

      “Well, we need some way to pull the form out once the gel has solidified. The nozzle tube will act as a handle.”

      “After having that shoved up ... there ... it wasn’t quite so bad when you invaded my backside too. A bit of warning would have been nice though.”

      “Sorry.”

      “At least it was quick.”

      “Yea. We just needed to make a short plug to verify the size of the anal enema tube we’ll be using.”

      “Wait, once you make the, um, uterine insert, how am I going to get it in and out of me?”

      “You’ll have a rod that connects to a small port on the inside of the form to assist you with insertion and retrieval.”

      “Oh goody. I guess I won’t be putting this costume on in public then. Wouldn’t that just look grand to have someone watching as I shove a stick up my hoochie.”

      “Well, yea, you’ll want to put on the inner sleeve in private. But once that is on you can put on the outer tail anywhere. The internal connections for the tail will match up and automatically connect to the right parts with very little assistance from the outside. Just a quick press in the right spots to make sure everything is properly seated.”

      “How long is it going to take to make the body sleeve?”

      “Once we peel this gel form off we’ll take it over to the manufacturing machine in another stall here and in about an hour it will be ready. The gel is firmed up nicely and ready to come off now by the way.”

      “Let’s get this over with then. Get that mass out of me as gently as you can please.”

     Karen simply nods and they begin peeling and rolling the gel down from the top. It takes some uncomfortable wiggling to get the internal form to loosen up enough that it can be slid out and ten minutes later Susan is wrapping a fluffy bathrobe around herself.

      “I’m going to the shower room after that,” Susan announces.

      “We need to make a pair of elbow length gloves for you too before you run off. Once we’re done with that you can go take a shower. There’s some special body wash in a green bottle in there you can use. It’s got a feminine disinfectant in it along with a mild analgesic to soothe your muscles and other parts.”

      “Thanks.”

     Susan watches as one of the technicians carries the gel body form out of the stall while her hands and forearms get sprayed with the first coating of gel.

     Forty minutes later Susan is back in her stall with the bathrobe pulled tight around her and talking with Karen and the other technicians as they do a little more prep work to get her ready to don her tail.

      “We call this here your microchip spine,” one of them states as he holds up a length of what looks like a two inch wide strip of white medical tape.

     Looking closer at it Susan can see what looks like gold circuitry embedded into the tape along the entire length of it. On one side there are gold colored bumps going down in a double row. Touching her finger to the bumps she finds they are actually sharp although very tiny and short.

      “What are these bumps?”

      “Those are the interface contacts. They will just slightly penetrate your skin so they can sense then send and receive the electrical signals going to and from your brain. The strip will connect to your micro computer so you can feel and control your tail as if it is a part of you.”

      “Does it hurt putting those spikes in my back?”

      “According to Brianna it’s not painful at all. She described it like an intense itch that lasted for a couple of minutes then went away. Once the entire suit is in place and properly fitted to you the first time the strip will be integrated into the costume and come off with it when you remove your inner sleeve.”

      “So the body sleeve is going to be a custom piece unique to the individual then?”

      “Very much so.”

      “Could I use that sleeve for another, different costume? Or will I have to get a brand new one made if I want to try out a different one?”

      “We’re not entirely sure. Right now we’re doing these with the specific costume in mind and tailoring the body sleeve for that. For example, your body sleeve is going to have your legs connected together from top to bottom to fit you inside the tail, while Brianna’s sleeve kept her legs separate so she could fit down inside the legs of her centaur form. The one getting the Naga tail will be similar to you with their legs pressed together and the harpy will have their legs separated. The Harpy’s sleeve will also include their body from the neck down. The arms, hands and fingers are included to accommodate for the wings which will replace her human arms.”

      “I see. So, what’s next then?”

      “In a short bit the inner sleeve should be ready for you and we’ll get you into it and then the tail itself. There are a few other bits as well, but we’ll get to them when we need to.”

     The talk devolves into simple chatter from there as they all wait for Susan’s sleeve to be completed. About ten minutes go by as they talk then Susan sees several of them look up as she hears someone walk into the stall they are in. Turning around the same tech who carried out her gel body form is walking in carrying what looks like a mass of tan cloth that resembles tights or leggings. He moves over to a low slung cot and begins to lay out the garment.

      “Okay Susan, let’s get you into this part now. Go ahead and drop the robe on the chair you’re sitting on and come over to the cot.”

     Susan does as asked, leaving the bath robe behind and walking nude over to join those around the low bed. Getting a closer look at it, the sleeve does appear to be made from what she hopes is a stretchable material as it is noticeably shorter than her legs are even considering it is supposed to go up to her breasts. Susan can see that there are what look like thin wires or circuitry embedded within the weave of the cloth. There are also lumps inside it and she realizes those are most likely the inserts that are going to be going inside of her body.

      “Alright, if you’ll just lie face down on the bed we can get started,” Karen tells her. “First we need to get the micro strip put in place then we can roll you over and we’ll work on getting this sleeve pulled up onto your legs.”

     Susan sits on the edge and lies on her side then rolls over onto the padded surface so her back is exposed. She feels fingers locate her spine then a cold creme is spread on her skin down the length of her spine from the middle of her neck to her tailbone. She turns her head to look sideway in time to see two of the techs bringing the long strip over between the two of them. A small cushion with a hole in the center is placed under her head and Susan is directed to turn her head face down so her face falls into the opening on the cushion. One end of the microchip interface strip is carefully placed onto Susan’s neck just below where the creme has been rubbed on then they carefully and slowly lower it down along her entire spine from top to bottom, making sure it lines up perfectly. Once it is in place someone presses the strip down firmly against Susan’s back at the top and keeping the pressure consistent slowly runs their hand down to the bottom. This pushes the tiny spikes into Susan’s skin. It feels like a very intense itch, nothing more, thanks to the anesthetic creme that was spread on first. A few small wires are pulled down between Susan’s butt cheeks and around to between her legs in her crotch.

      “Give that a minute to settle then you can turn over.”

     Once the itching stops Susan rolls over onto her back.

      “Now it’s time for some uncomfortable parts, Susan,” Karen states as she moves up beside Susan’s hips. “I’ll be inserting the catheter tubes and vaginal insert here. Work with me and try to relax as best you can and we’ll get through this quickly.

      “Go ahead and bend your knees up for me and spread your legs out a few feet if you would.”

     Looking straight up at the roof Susan endures having a catheter inserted into her bladder. The vaginal insert initially feels like it is much too big to fit, but as she forces her muscles to relax the soft texture of the device allows it to gently slide up inside until just the narrow connections for the sleeve remain on the outside of her body. The insert goes quite deep and fills up her uterus once it is in place which is odd to feel a semi solid foreign object inside her body, but is not entirely uncomfortable. Once the insert has been placed Susan is rolled onto her side and a large feeling enema tube is inserted into the rear and seems to go quite far up inside as well.

      “Are you okay?” Karen asks once all three devices are in place.

      “I’m ... I’m alright. It feels odd. All of them.” Susan wiggles a little bit. “I hope I can get used to this.”

      “Everything is done to your own measurements so your body should adjust quickly. Take a few minutes to get used to it.”

     Susan nods then gets up from the bed and walks around for several minutes. Initially her pace is stiff and she stops frequently to move her legs and hips around, but as the minutes go by she finds her new equilibrium with the devices and her pace returns to a more normal tread. Lying back down on the bed she nods.

      “Alright, I’m feeling a bit better. Let’s continue.”

     Karen and another tech have rolled up the sleeve into a donut like shape and are waiting for Susan. Lifting her feet up together when prompted the two of them stretch the roll out some and slide the sleeve on over Susan’s feet. There are separate internal channels for each foot and leg to fill while the sleeve as a whole binds her legs together. They work carefully, unrolling the tube up her legs to the thighs. The odd lumps inside of the sleeve come into view and are revealed as connections for the tubes and implants emerging from Susan’s nether region. She watches as everything is hooked up and notices the catheter and enema get connected together to the same place.

      “Those two tubes are going to the same thing?” Susan questions.

      “Yes. Once we get you into the tail and release the temporary plugs we’ve got on them then you’ll relieve yourself from just one orifice like pretty much all marine animals do. The catheter and enema are open ended so your human parts are going to continually pass your wastes on through down into the parts of your tail designed for that.”

      “Will I be like Brianna then? I’ll just go where and when ever I feel the need?”

      “Pretty much. Like her, you’ll have a few minutes to get somewhere more private or appropriate if that is what you want to do, but you won’t have the ability to hold it back either. That’s something we’re still working on improving for future versions of costumes, but right now it’s not a feature we’ve been able to get around yet.”

     The sleeve is rolled up over Susan’s hips and waist after the connections are secured and the cloth reaches up to her armpits to cover her breasts as well. Looking down her body Susan’s legs are held tightly together and she is even holding her feet en-pointe without thinking about it. Flexing her knees and ankles the sleeve allows her to bend them freely, but she is unable to spread her legs out sideways even a little. Relaxing her feet the cloth brings her toes pointing down again and supports them in that position comfortably.

      “Alright. That’s the inner sleeve done. Now we need to move you over to the tub there to get the rest of it in place.”

      “You do? Why?”

      “The actual tail is resting in a bath to keep it wet, which is necessary. You’ll recall that you’re going to have to keep your tail moist to maintain it without doing damage to it or causing yourself unnecessary pain. Well we have to get you into the water and soak you down for the same reason. It’ll also provide a bit of lubrication to get the tail on too.”

     Susan nods and several of the technicians surround the cot then gently lift Susan up between them. She is carried over to what is more of an oversized wading pool than a tub and she is carefully deposited feet first down into the water that fills it. Letting herself slide down in, Susan submerges herself up to her neck and lets the sleeve soak up whatever amount of water it is going to take. The tail is brought over and lowered down into the water with her.

      “We can’t really roll up the tail like we did the sleeve, just the upper body portion is flexible enough for that, so we’re going to have to struggle a bit to get you down into it I think. Hopefully the water will make the interior surface slick enough it won’t be too hard.”

     Karen and two more techs strip off their shoes socks and pants to climb into the pool with Susan and assist her with donning her new tail. The process is not nearly as difficult as they assumed it would be and the tail slides up Susan’s legs with relative ease. They do still have to push a bit to get her legs to squeeze through the opening and down into where they should match up with the costume, but the inside turns out to be quite slick and with a final pop Susan can feel her entire lower body from her feet to her thighs settle in place. Karen feels along the outside of the tail around Susan‘s groin area and with a firm press inwards there are several clicks as the internal connections are made.

     The upper body part is quickly rolled up over Susan’s ribs chest and back and firm pressure is applied all along her spine to get the processor strip to adhere properly, the water having activated a two part glue. Two thin, mostly flesh colored, arm sleeve gloves are produced and Susan wiggles her hands inside of them. Another thin, flesh colored covering is wrapped around Susan’s neck with the distal ends getting pressed down onto the top edge of the upper chest part of the body where they appear to fuse.

     Susan looks down at herself in amazement. Her hands are now webbed between the fingers, but the gloves are thin enough that they feel just like her own skin. The color of her lower arms, hands, and upper body covering is a flesh like tan but does not quite match her own shade of skin. At her waist the color starts to darken and looking closely she can see that very fine scales start to take the place of the skin. The scales quickly get bigger and darken to the various shades of purple as they go down over her hips and from what she thinks is the tops of her thighs on down is a fish tail. The tail is noticeably longer than her own legs by at least a foot or more and narrows down below where her feet are to be less than the width of her limbs before reaching the caudal fin where it spreads out wide again.

      “I’m a mermaid,” Susan whispers in awe as she gently flexes her feet to make the tail move.

     “Almost,” Karen says which gets Susan’s attention.

      “See these strings down here?” she says pointing down to the lower part of the tail.

     Susan looks and notices a couple of strings emerging side by side from between some scales.

      “This here is analogous to your anus and is called the cloaca, or urogenital, opening,” Karen explains. “This slit is closed and covered by scales almost all the time except when you will need to defecate. Then it will relax just enough to allow for your combined wastes to pass through. These strings are connected up through the internal organs of your tail to the plugs in your catheter and enema tubes. I’m going to pull them out now so you won’t feel anything.”

     Karen takes the strings in one hand and wrapping the ends around her fingers to get a good hold pulls on the strings. Several feet of nylon string gets pulled out before the plugs finally emerge. They are big enough that the opening is noticeably stretched as they pop out one at a time.

      “Glad I didn’t have to feel that, those look a bit big,” Susan comments.

      “Yea, that probably would not have been pleasant,” Karen agrees. “Now that those are out I’m going to activate the devices we’ve secured on the inside of you. That’s going to be done up a bit higher through a different opening, if I can locate it.”

      “What do you mean if? Don’t you know where it is?”

      “Pretty much, but just like your anal opening it’s well hidden. Look down there where I just pulled the strings out from and tell me if you can see where your opening is at?”

      “Uh, it’s right ... well, no I can’t. I think it’s here?” Susan points to a spot on her tail.

      “Maybe. And this second opening is just as hard to locate. I’m going to have to prod a good bit to locate it.”

      “What is this opening for? I thought that both my urine and feces come out from the same place now?”

      “This is something we had to work hard to get in place. While it is present in certain members of aquatic mammalian species, your tail is a mixture of mammal and piscine. We had to make some alterations as the tail was developed to both create it and get it in a somewhat more normal, human location.”

     While she has been talking Karen has been feeling and pushing down on the scales that are on the underside of Susan’s tail at about the level of where her upper human thighs would be.

      “Ah, here it is,” She says as two of her fingers disappear inside the tail through a slit. “This is your vaginal opening. If you are inclined, you could have intercourse with someone.”

     Karen keeps her fingers inside Susan’s opening as she turns to accept a probe like device from someone. Turning back she has to work at forcing the probe into the opening enough so the end is inside and she can pull her hand away.

      “Man, this is really tight,” She says out loud then realizes that Susan heard her. “Uhm, your vaginal opening is designed like your anal. It will remain tightly clamped shut most of the time to prevent anything getting inside. To get it to open normally you’ll need to be sexually stimulated or aroused. That should get the muscles to relax and the inner lining to start self lubricating.”

     She pushes the probe in deeper until almost the entire length is inside the tail.

     “I’m going to activate the micro computer last so you won’t have to deal with a sudden rush of sensations and other functions all at the same time. The processor is going to take it in a step by step pace when it does get turned on, but it starts as soon as it is powered up. I’ll initialize the power pack first, then the other components, and the PC last.”

     Karen flicks a couple of small switches on the end of the probe then leaves it in place as she turns to accept another item.

      “I have a slightly uncomfortable bit to do now.”

      “What’s that?” Susan asks.

      “You want to be able to see underwater, right?” to which Susan nods. “Then I need to put a couple of full sclera contacts in your eyes to protect them. They’ll alter the color of your eyes to complement the color of your tail. I think they’re a shade of lavender.”

      “Okay, I’ve worn costume contacts before for Halloween. Get them in.”

     Karen accepts a contact case and in a couple of minutes Susan is blinking her eyes to adjust to the contacts.

      “Now for the biggest and hardest part,” Karen starts off. “You’re a Mermaid. Mermaid should be able to swim underwater without having to surface all the time for air, don’t you agree?”

      “Yeesss,” Susan says hesitantly, trying to see the thing that Karen is partially hiding behind her.

      “That means being able to breathe underwater somehow. Right?” Karen backs up a couple of steps to keep Susan from getting a look at what is in her hands.

      “Yeeaaa.”

     Karen takes a deep breath before saying, “So you’re going to need gills or something similar to allow you to breathe. I’m going to need to insert this device down you throat into your trachea. It’s going to take the place of and perform as your gills.”

      “In my throat? I’m not going to like how this is going to happen, am I?”

      “Afraid not Susan. Have you ever been medically intubated before?”

      “No.”

      “Well the basic procedure here is similar to that. I’ll insert a metal guide through your mouth and down through your throat into the top of your trachea to open your airway so I can then get the tube and device in place. It’s not pleasant. I’ve done it enough times that I know what I’m doing, Susan. But I won’t lie, this is going to be a bit difficult for you.”

      “Great. Any chance we can skip this part?” Susan exclaims as she looks around and starts to pull herself away from Karen.

      “Nope, this needs to happen to finish connecting all of the systems together and get your tail fully functional. I’m sorry. Please don’t try to fight this. Everything else is in place and I’ve turned on part of the system already. At this point you can’t be taken out of the costume for at least twelve hours to let it properly integrate with your body and settle into a natural rhythm with your normal functions.”

      “Is that so? You waited to tell me all that until now on purpose, didn’t you?”

      “Well, yes, I did,” Karen admits sheepishly. “I didn’t want to scare you off and have you reject the costume before it was too late.”

      “Bitch,” Susan tells her through narrowed eyes, but she stops trying to pull away.

      “Okay, I guess I deserved that. Are you going to work with us on this?”

      “Looks like I don’t have much choice, do I? I’d rather it go as easy as possible, and fighting will probably just make things harder. I do have some questions before you take my voice away.”

      “Go ahead, and you should still be able to speak again once the tracheal implant is working.”

      “Well that answers that. How long will that take for it to work? And how am I going to breathe once it’s in? Will I have to be underwater from then on to breathe or can I come up and breathe air still?”

      “You swim fairly well, don’t you?”

      “Of course I do.”

      “How long can you hold your breath underwater?”

      “For over two minutes.”

      “That should be enough. When the device is initially put in place it is going to fully block your airway so you’ll need to hold your breath until it starts processing your air. That should only take two to three minutes or so. While it continues to ramp up and get to one-hundred percent operations you’ll be able to breathe although somewhat shallowly at first. Eventually it should allow you to make sounds and talk again. Your voice may sound a bit different, but it should still be your voice.”

      “Alright. I guess that answers my immediate questions. No, wait. One more. What about getting water down into my lungs? Or down into my belly then? I assume that I’m going to be breathing water won’t I?”

      “Your lungs will be protected by the device. No actual water should get into your lungs. And there will be a secondary tube that sits inside of your esophagus to keep water from going down that side. It will close off the passage while you breathe underwater.”

     Susan sighs.

      “Let’s get this over with then.”

     Susan allows Karen and the others to approach and hold her still. Her head is tilted back some and she opens her mouth when told to do so. They prep Susan’s throat with an anesthetic spray that will help to deaden her gag reflex and reduce the sensations of having a foreign object pushed into her windpipe. Karen slides the wide, flat, curved, blade like guide along her tongue and down into the back of her throat while gently pulling up and out on Susan’s lower jaw with her other hand. The blade goes in deep until it reaches her larynx and holds the epiglottis open.

      “Take a deep breath now Susan, I’m about to insert your gills” Karen instructs.

     Susan inhales as deeply as she can while Karen holds the tube and device over her lips. As she completes filling her lungs with air and is about to have to exhale again Karen pushes the device down through Susan’s mouth and upper throat and into the trachea. She presses it down firmly for a moment to get it seated in place and pulls out the metal guide.

      “Hold your breath Susan, It’s in place and needs to initialize. I’m activating the related component down here,” Karen says as she reaches down and flicks another switch on the probe that still resides inside of Susan’s tail.

     Susan does her best to relax while holding the air she took in her lungs. The first minute ticks by and she is doing alright. The second minute goes by and Susan is starting to feel like she is reaching the end of her capacity. She tries to exhale and nothing comes out, nor is she able to take any air in. Three minutes go by and Susan is starting to feel the panic rising and starts to struggle. She’s never been able to go this long and her lungs are screaming at her to release the stale CO2 and take in fresh air. She starts to struggle as she begins to get dizzy and is seeing small sparkles in her vision. She knows she is starting to asphyxiate and struggles even harder. At three minutes and thirty seconds there is a huge burst of air that escapes from her lungs as the device finally allows her to exhale which is immediately followed by an attempt to draw in as much air as she can.

     Susan gasps as she once again is able to breathe, but is limited to shallow breaths. Over the next several minutes the breaths slowly deepen, allowing her to get more and more air. After ten minutes she is once again breathing almost normally.

      “...” Susan attempts to speak but no sound comes out.

      “You won’t be able to talk for a little bit yet, Susan,” Karen tells her. “The cycle took a bit longer than we expected it to, and for that I apologize. Based on that I’m going to estimate that you won’t be able to talk for a couple of hours yet.”

     Susan gives Karen the stink eye and flips her the bird the best she can with the webbing between her fingers.

      “I’m sorry. This costume is definitely the worst one for the initial setup. But the hard parts are over now. You just have to keep it on for twelve hours now then you can take it off. In about half an hour you should be ready to swim and breathe underwater. I’m going to turn on the processor now which is the last piece to turn on. It’s going to let you feel and control your tail.”

     Karen flicks the last small switch on the probe and waits a few seconds for a small LED light to go green before she pulls the probe out. Susan jumps slightly as she feels the probe get removed.

     With the final component activated, the micro computer verifies the connections to the other machines that reside inside with it, and then establishes a connection with the micro strip along Susan’s spine along with the internal nervous system in the tail. The color of the upper body suit and the edges of the gloves on her forearms fade and shift to exactly match her own skin tone until the edges of the costume are indistinguishable from her own flesh.

     Susan begins to feel a gentle tingling in her entire lower body, but it’s not coming from her legs. While the tingling starts to increase the sensations from her legs fade. As the tingling stops and Susan begins to feel the pressure of her tail lying along the bottom of the pool she loses any feeling from her human hips, legs, feet, and even toes. She can feel the waves of the water moving over her tail as Karen and others move around. She tries to move her legs and nothing happens. Thinking about the tail she tries to move that and still there is no movement.

     Reaching down Susan touches her chest at the bottom ribs then runs her hand on down along her belly and down over her tail. She sits up and leans forwards so she can run her hand down as far as she is able to and can feel her hand sliding over her scales all the way, from the inside. She pokes herself and feels the pressure in her tail. Taking a finger she finds the edge of a scale and pulls it up and backwards but has to quickly let it go as she feels a sharp pain from having her scale bent up in a direction it is not supposed to go.

     Susan motions to Karen and indicates she wants them to lift her tail above the surface of the water.

      “Are you not able to move your tail yet?” Karen inquires.

     Susan shakes her head negatively and they oblige her, raising a portion of her tail up above the surface of the water. Susan slaps her tail and immediately feels the sting from it. Grinning like a child on Christmas she continues to poke and rub her tail, relishing the sensations.

     After a few minutes she starts to feel a twitching along the length of her tail, and a moment later there are visible tremors from the limb. The tremors become more pronounced twitching of muscles and quickly graduate to actual jerking around of the tail. The others in the pool back away as Susan’s tail gets to moving around uncontrollably then it settles down to semi float quietly.

     Staring intently at her tail Susan tries to move it ever so gently. The caudal fin at the end slowly spreads out until it reaches its maximum width. She grins as she makes her tail slowly wave from side to side then undulate up and down. With a push Susan flips over onto her belly and, keeping her head above water, uses her tail to move herself forwards through the water. She turns as she reaches the far end and glides through the water back to where Karen is standing.

      “Very nicely done Susan. Give it another fifteen minutes or so and you can try going underwater to see how that is going to work too.”

     Susan nods and turns to continue swimming around the small pool. Twenty minutes later Karen, who has gotten out of the pool, calls out.

      “Okay Susan, you can try submerging any time you want.”

     Susan continues to swim around for another couple of minutes as if she didn’t hear Karen. Suddenly her head disappears below the surface. Susan keeps her eyes closed for a second while she holds her breath. Opening her eyes she finds that she is able to see almost normally underwater with the contacts, her eyes are not bothered by the water. She pushes herself a bit deeper in the water until she is at the bottom of the pool where she stops in place. Rolling over so she can look up, she hesitates. Opening her mouth a few bubble escape and float upwards but she continues to hold her breath. Her lungs start to feel uncomfortable and Susan lets out the air she inhaled prior to diving and a stream of bubbles break the surface. With no air left she almost panics but forces herself to breathe in, inhaling water instead of air.

     The feeling of having water being pulled down into her throat is unsettling. Susan has never had the experience of inhaling water before, so is not aware of how it feels to potentially drown, but she is feeling like she is about to do just that. She has no idea what the artificial gill device in her trachea is doing, but no water reaches her lungs. Instead she feels something open up on both sides and is sure that she can feel the water flow out through the sides of her neck. With a start she quickly reaches up to her neck and as she continues to ‘breathe’ she feels three slits open and close on the side of her neck. Feeling the other side she finds the same thing, she literally has gill slits now and the water is flowing in through her mouth and throat and out through the sides of her neck.

     Susan lies on the bottom of the pool, her entire body rigid in shock. The only movement is the gentle action of her gills as she continues to breathe water. Several minutes go by before she begins to relax and is able to mentally process the unexpected change to her anatomy. Stopping the action of her muscles from breathing like she is holding her breath, Susan tried to take a gulp of water as a drink. She can feel something in her throat shift and open up and the water travels down through her esophagus and into her belly. With a thought the pathway closes up again and she starts water flowing through her gills once more.

     Susan slowly sits up then allows herself to float head first up towards the surface. Her head and eyes breach and she stops before her nose or mouth rise above the water line. Taking in as big of a mouthful of water as she can, Susan rises up until her shoulders begin to appear. Locating Karen at the edge of the pool Susan stares directly at her then breathes the water in her mouth. As her gills spread out to let the water exit Karen only stares back in complete shock at what she is seeing. With the water used up Susan starts breathing in air through her nose again and the gill slits on her neck seal closed, completely disappearing from sight.

     For several minutes Karen and Susan simply stare at each other, neither sure how to react or proceed. Slowly, Karen climbs into the pool and as she does Susan swims over to get closer. They meet and Susan allows Karen to take a close look at and prod at her neck.

      “What the hell was that?” Karen quietly says as she is trying to find any evidence of what she thinks she was seeing.

      “That can’t be possible. It’s supposed to be a mechanical rebreather system. It should be processing the water to extract the oxygen and pass it on into your lungs. I can’t find them. Where are they? Are they really what I thought I saw?”

     Susan tries to clear her throat and makes a sound. Daring to hope she tries to speak.

      “They’re gills,” She says in a whisper that Karen can only just hear.

      “But, they can’t be. It’s not supposed to alter you anatomy like that.”

      “Karen, I was lying on the bottom of the pool for I don’t know how many minutes just breathing. The entire time I could feel gills opening and closing on the sides of my neck and I felt water flowing out of them. They’re real.”

      “So where are they now? Why can’t I see or feel anything?”

      “Give me a large glass or cup. Or better yet a short length of a hose.”

      “Yes, of course.”

     Karen turns about and tells one of the techs to grab a plastic mug and dump it out and give it to her. When the mug is in her hands she tells them to find a hose they can cut and to bring a one foot length over. Karen hand the mug to Susan who dunks it in the water to fill it then tilts it up to her lips. It takes her a moment to not try and drink the water and instead tries to breathe with it. When she gets it right she can feel her gills open up and the water flows through her neck and spills back out into the pool. She drains the entire mug three times this way as Karen inspects the unexpected alterations to Susan.

     With a splash another technician enters the pool and brings a short length of hose to them. Susan takes the hose and sticking one end into the water puts the other end in her mouth and with a few tries starts to inhale water through the hose. She continues this for several minutes without distress, showing that she is in fact processing oxygen from the water via the gills.

     Karen and several more technicians swarm around Susan while she does this, taking pictures, gently probing the gills and doing their best to figure out why this occurred. Susan has to slap a few hands away when their probing gets too rough and they try to insert fingers and instruments deeper than she is comfortable with. After a half hour of this Susan has had enough and pulls the hose out of her mouth. With a final splash of fluid the gills close up and disappear from sight as she starts to breathe normally with her human lungs again. By this time Karen has gotten a video camera running and is able to get an extreme close up of Susan’s gills working then sealing closed.

      “Simply amazing,” she comments.

      “I’m not sure if I am all that happy with this development, Karen,” Susan states. “Yes, I can swim and breathe underwater with these things, but what’s going to happen when the device comes out? Am I going to have holes in my neck still? For that matter, can the damn thing even come out at all? You never did mention that part of things.”

     Susan’s voice has grown stronger as time passed, but it is still a bit off and quieter than her normal voice.

      “I don’t know. Yes, the device is absolutely supposed to be able to come out again. It too needs the twelve hour integration period to adjust to you, then it should be a lot easier for you to be able to take out and insert on your own. But now, with this, I have no idea. This was not expected or even anticipated. I do recommend that we wait, give the twelve hour integration period its full extent. Then we’ll just have to find out. I really don’t know what’s going to happen.

      “Right now, with you breathing air I can’t find a single indication that your neck is anything other than a normal human neck from the outside. From the inside I expect to see something out of the ordinary, and we’ll confirm that as soon as we can with an appropriate camera.

      “We just don’t have the proper devices here right now for that. We didn’t expect to need a laryngoscope. I’m also going to get some equipment in here so I can get a properly magnified view and see if there is anything to find from the outside with you in the air. It’ll take a couple of hours to get the equipment here.

      “Until then, I guess you’re free to do what you want. You can keep swimming in here, or we can get you out and into the power chair so you can move around and visit your friends. It’s up to you.”