Good Hands
© 2024 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by :iconkittydee:

“Zogat, Admiral,” the Surgeon-mistress said cheerfully as she walked into Vesan’s room.  “Are you well?”
“Yes, Surgeon,” Vesan replied, “under the circumstances.”  Her tail gestured toward the arm-length regeneration unit strapped to her torso.  “I will be very happy to have this removed – what?” she asked as her four brothers entered the room behind the Surgeon.  “What is this?”
“We were invited,” her oldest brother Daruv said, “and none of us wanted to miss it.”
She blinked at each of her brothers, all of whom were now smiling, before looking at the Surgeon.
The physician smiled and placed her right hand on Vesan’s left shoulder.  With a few beeps, the regeneration unit deactivated.  “You won’t be needing this any longer.”
Vesan gaped at her as the unit began to unseal, and she sat up so that the doctor could remove the straps at her chest and waist.  “It’s done?” she gasped.  “I have my arm back?”
“See for yourself,” the Surgeon-mistress said as she removed the regen unit and revealed the new limb.
She found herself staring at it.
Her youngest brother Kivan said, “You need a fur trim, Sister.”
Vesan glowered at him as he and the other three kami laughed, but she had to agree that he was right.  From the point of her shoulder down, the fur on her arm and hand was three times thicker than the rest of her pelage.  She reached out with her right hand and felt the new limb, and she could feel the pressure of her hand.
Just as she recalled it.
She became aware that she was crying, and her brothers had gathered around the bed, and Daruv was hugging her while the other three were resting reassuring hands on her legs and tail.  When she was finished, she turned a wet face to the Surgeon-mistress and whispered, “Thank you.”
“It was my honor,” she said.  “I must tell you that the limb is probably very weak.”  She watched as Vesan tried to flex her left hand.  “That is expected.  The regen process can create bone and muscle, but it cannot impart either strength or muscle tone.  You will be given an exercise regime, and you are expected to follow it.”
“I will,” Vesan said.
“I point out to you that if you do not, the arm will not reach the same level of strength and flexibility as your right arm.”
Vesan’s tail gestured acknowledgment.  “I understand, and will start exercising today.”
“Masturbating, she means,” Zhirian joked, and he and the rest of his siblings laughed.

***

She did not use her new arm to masturbate with.  That would wait, of course, but she had gotten used to using her right hand and tail to pleasure herself.  After her brothers and the Surgeon had left the room, she had gotten up and bathed, then had directed a few small drones to trim her fur all over so that it would be uniformly at the military length her rank required.
Light weights, a tension strap, and a hardcopy list of exercises awaited her when she returned to her bedroom, and a copy of the regimen had been uploaded to her padd.
Her midday meal arrived as she finished the last of the exercises, but she did not immediately start eating.  Instead, she moved her new arm around, twisting it and bending each joint, extending and retracting her fingerclaws, enthralled and scarcely able to believe her good fortune.
Only when she was certain she wasn’t dreaming did she turn her attention to her meal tray.  She would do more exercises in the afternoon, and Vesan told herself that she needed to notify Varan.  The younger vir would be pleased.