Sana finished the procedure on Jillian Mason. Just like John Throckmorton, Jillian was surprised at how quick the procedure was. The human sat up on the operating table and inspected herself. With practice on the "billionaire", Sana tried to explain.

"We are essentially growing extra brain cells and using them to make more dense connections. One cell does not take long to grow, and we did them all simultaneously. The connections will take longer to sort out, as you start to think with them, like using a newly-grown muscle. There may be some sensory hallucinations for a few days, so do not enter crucial commands until they fade."

"Crucial commands?"

Sana looked up the idiom in English. "'Don't operate heavy machinery' is I think how you say it. Advanced cultures tell machines to do things more than they do them themselves, so the mistakes are more likely to come in when they are giving the instructions."

"That's fine. Thank you very much, Doctor. I look forward to..." Jillian stopped and blinked, and tried to focus for a few moments. "Whoa, that was weird. Everything turned green for a second."

"Things like that will happen, but as I said they will fade with time."

Jillian suddenly stared at her. "Wait, say that again. I mean, without the translation running."

"You need to turn it off."

"Ah. Right. Got it, I think. Please, say something."

"Are you interested in the sounds of the Goldaskian language?"

Jillian stared at her. "Say something else."

"Please let me know if you have any other problems. Are you all right?"

"That's...I can hear you better. I mean, there's...something...hard to describe...like I can see more of the raw data, consciously, that my senses are sending me."

"Yes, that will become automatic again with time."

"Hold on, let me turn the translations back on." There was a pause while Jillian fiddled with her interface. "This is wild. Thank you, Doctor. I'm looking forward to learning more about this." Jillian moved various joints, testing the experience. "And thank you for the tune up, I feel more energetic already."

"Any other issues?"

"I don't suppose you could make my breasts grow bigger naturally?" Jillian asked with a smile.

"Are you planning on having children?"

"No, no, it's a...popularity thing. I would be more attractive to men if my breasts were larger, at least in my culture."

"Oh. Do you not have that ability?"

"There is surgery to implant bags of saline solution to make breasts bigger."

"How barbaric! We can do that just by taking a medicine."

Jillian stared at her. "Dr. Vickall, that's...kind of a bombshell."

"It is explosive?"

"Culturally, yes."

"Should I conceal that we have this medicine?"

"For the moment, yes. Let me think about the...consequences...Sorry, more hallucinations. I'm back. Yes, please keep this quiet for now. Um, you have medicine to make them stop growing, right?"

"Yes, of course. It would be poor to have one but not the other."

"It's a disease on Earth called macromastia. If you can cure that, without revealing how to make breasts grow, that would help some women. It's not a common condition, but it exists."

"I'll add it to the list of things to consider. I am a very busy Doctor this month."

"I can just imagine. On behalf of Earth, thank you. An extra day of labor for you now is saving many human lives down the road." Jillian groaned and shielded her eyes. "Wow, I am really sensitive to all kinds of things right now."

"If you have sex in the next few days, make sure your partner is skilled," Sana advised.

Jillian got a wicked grin. "I hear that you and Nick have had sex."

"Yes, a number of times. It was an interesting experiment, and quite enjoyable."

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"Do you recommend Nick as a lover?"

"Very much so. Though I am looking forward to sampling other human males for comparison, once I lift the planetary quarantine."

"That...will be interesting. You'll find some human men are specifically excited by your appearance."

"I would hope so!" Sana grinned, trying not to bare her teeth, as it tended to upset humans.

"I mean Goldaskian appearance. You'll have your pick of lovers, so choose carefully. Some humans could be violent towards you, based on our history and stories of people who look like you."

Sana nodded. "Yes, demons, devils, and oni, apparently. I have heard. Thank you, Jillian. I will be careful."

Sana got an alert that John Throckmorton wanted to see her, urgently. "It seems I have another patient coming. Make sure to be active while the new neural connections are forming. Drink plenty of water, and eat some sugar and fat with every meal for a few days."

"I will. Thank you very much, Doctor Vickall!"

"You're very welcome. I'll check in with you in a few days if I don't hear back from you sooner. Now, please excuse me."

Jillian hopped down and left with a smile and a nod, still poking at her head as if she had expected Sana to drill holes in her skull or something. Human attitudes and beliefs are so childlike in some ways, it's almost endearing. She smiled and sent a message.

"John Throckmorton, I am available to see you now."

The man entered Sickbay almost immediately. He was already looking a bit younger, and moving better than before his medical treatments. He also looked angry and distraught. "Doctor, what did you do to me!?"

"Please specify."

John Throckmorton started pacing. "I feel awful."

"In what way?"

"My body is fine, thank you for that, but the brain changes! This is intolerable!"

"The hallucinations will fade with time," she explained again.

"I don't care about the hallucinations! It's my...emotional reactions that are messed up!"

"Are the things that make you happy or sad different?"

"Yes. I think. I'm not sure. I'm getting upset at things I shouldn't be."

"Like what?"

"Like...other people."

"Other people are annoying," Sana agreed.

"No, no, not annoying! More like...I'm reacting to reactions, if that makes sense."

"Do you mean empathy?" Sana inquired.

Throckmorton froze. "Oh, no," he whispered, looking horrified. "Oh, God, is this what empathy feels like?"

Sana consulted her notes. "Hm, that's right. It's one of the things I repaired during your 'tune up', I believe you call it. Your right supramarginal gyrus was severely atrophied. It should be healthy now."

The human whirled to face her. "I don't want it to be healthy!"

Sana blinked. "You want a disability?"

"Empathy is a disability!"

"Ah." Sana thought she understood. "You can expect an adjustment period, as your brain is growing emotional connections as well as the others."

"But I don't want it to!"

"It is part of being a healthy human. The rest of your species has empathy; I'm sure you will adapt."

"Empathy is an enormous liability in my work!"

Sana arched an eyebrow. "Then, perhaps you need to find different work now."

"Are you insane?!"

Sana frowned at the man. "You are one of the wealthiest people on Earth, I understand. I am sure that you will find the resources to cope."

"Reverse it!"

"What?"

"Reverse the procedure! Remove my right...supra...whatever that was!"

Sana was beginning to enjoy this. "No."

"No? What do you mean, no? You did this to me! You have a responsibility to fix it!"

"There's nothing to fix. I made you healthy. That's what doctors do."

"Reverse it, immediately! Or I'll..."

Sana couldn't repress a snort of derision. "Or you'll what? Sue me? I'm quite a bit outside of your jurisdiction. Use violence? I'm aboard a warship that could level your civilization in an afternoon. Besides which, your own people would hunt you down and kill you if you harmed the person curing different Earth diseases every day."

That made Throckmorton shut up for a few moments, as he gripped the reality of her statements. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit lower. "Who else can treat this?" he asked.

"I am the only person qualified to do so on this ship."

"What about the other ship? Don't they have a doctor?"

"Yes, but they are not as well-equipped or advanced. Besides, I'm confident that their doctor will also refuse you." Sana took pity on the man. "Look, you have a big adjustment to make. Remember, I told you not to enter any crucial commands for a few days." She thought about using the English idiom, but decided she liked the Goldaskian one better.

"I thought that was for sensory effects, not...not..."

"Emotional adjustment?"

"I don't need my emotions adjusted!" Throckmorton shouted, and Sana was struggling not to laugh again.

"Obviously, you do. You're not regulating your emotions well right now. I warned you about this."

"You didn't warn me that I'd be getting empathy!"

"I didn't think I needed to. You asked to be healthy. I gave you what you asked for." She sighed. "Look, even if I wanted to, I couldn't reverse it easily, and definitely not for days. Why don't you take a few days and think things over? We can discuss it again once you've had time to consider. You will find that there are large benefits to having empathy."

"My competitors will eat me alive!"

"So, you would prefer that I not tell anyone about this?"

Throckmorton looked alarmed. "Of course not! Keep it secret! Don't aliens have doctor-patient confidentiality?"

"We do. Not to worry, John Throckmorton, I will not reveal your secret. Do not assume this is a bad thing for you. Think it over."

"I don't want to think it over! I want this reversed!"

"There will be some discomfort during the healing process. You will need to deal with that, and learn to deal with your new emotions."

"This is..." Throckmorton's voice dropped to a whisper. "This is monstrous."

Sana made a note to monitor Throckmorton for threats of self-harm. "Is it empathy that you find monstrous? Or something else?" He flinched, and Sana nodded. "Bear in mind, human, that you have vast resources, and that you control your own destiny. If you want to change the way you live your life, you have the means to do so successfully.

"If you are having difficulty reconciling your past behavior with your new emotions, may I suggest that altering your behavior in the future might make you happier? I gave you a gift. Don't try to throw it away without at least looking it over. You are a businessman, I understand. You should know how to turn a problem into an opportunity."

That seemed to reach the man. He calmed a bit, and looked more thoughtful.

"That...you have a point." He took a deep breath. "Very well, Doctor. We'll discuss this again in a few days."

"Already looking forward to it," Sana told him sincerely.

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