"Interesting," the emergency medical hologram said as it ran a tricorder across my head, "Is it common that you shed your skin?"
"Seems to happen every five years or so. Should be in my medical file."
The EMH nodded and studied the readings before holding it out, "Kes, come look at this," he said, "What is your take?"
Kes walked up and took the tricorder. She had been training in sickbay. Her species had a nine year lifespan, so I'm not entirely sure what the point is, but completely not my department. She seemed to like it and learn fast, so no real argument from me.
She studied the readings for a while and then poked the controls for a minute, "I am comparing them to previous scans and your scales seem stronger now," she said and then looked up at me, "I think you are maturing."
"Very good, Kes," the EMH told her and then looked up at me, "That is my conclusion as well. This is simply part of your species maturation process. As your file notes, you are a very young member of your species. You are simply maturing, if slowly."
I slowly blinked at him, "I already figured that out. Why am I red?"
"I don't know. There are no other individuals to go off and insufficient data of your genetic structure to base any analysis of," it said, "If you are asking why the scales are red, it's because they now contain an additional pigment. If you're asking why red, I would say to attract mates. If you wonder why there, I would speculate that it'll grow with each molting until you are red."
I barely suppressed a growl at it, "I am a predator. I can't be entirely red, prey would have seen my species coming kilometers away."
The EMH nodded, "Good point. Maybe it's only along your dorsal side. My point is, expect it to spread next time you shed your skin."
Sighing, I nodded, "Anything else to expect?"
It closed the tricorder, "Don't know. You're not a humanoid, nor a mammal. Your biology is different enough from anything in the database that any speculation is just guessing. But you seem to have entered a maturation phase so expect changes. Mood swings, hormones, that sort of thing. Kes, bring a hypospray, we should start taking monthly blood samples for analysis and tracking."
"Yes Doctor," she said and moved to get one.
I growled at that thought. I didn't like the sound of that at all.
Any of it, blood samples included, even if I did understand why. So when Kes returned, I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out to let her take one. For some reason, that makes doctors way more comfortable than needing to stick their hands into my muzzle, no idea why.
I waited until she finished before I looked at the EMH, "My scales are stronger?"
"Only by ten percent or so," he said, "That's not unexpected. The hides of adult individuals with that sort of natural protection are usually significantly tougher than young offspring."
Not everything about this was bad I suppose. Stronger scales could prove useful after all, being harder to injure was never a bad thing.
"What of my size?" I then asked, "My growth hasn't accelerated, has it?"
The EMH shook its head, "Not that I can detect. But it is not unheard of for species to have growth spurts in cases like this. We will measure you each month along with the blood samples. If you grow faster, you will be molting with a much lower interval. Make sure you eat healthily."
I snorted in slight annoyance before I looked over and nodded to Kes, "Thanks for the help," I told her, "I need to get back to work."
"Remember, next week Lieutenant."
"I will," I agreed and carefully turned around before leaving sickbay, finding Dinah still waiting for me outside.
She pushed away from the wall and looked up at me, "Well?"
"Don't you have anything better to do?" I asked her as I walked past.
"Ah, moody teenager. Got it."
I bared my teeth and growled at her, "Stop that!"
She grinned, "I'm wrong?"
"I am not a teenager!"
Dinah raised an eyebrow at me and held her hand up, "Growing, check. Bodily changes, check. Moody for no real reason, check. Just wait, soon you'll be getting piercings and telling people 'It's not just a phase!'"
I grumbled, "Pest," and started to move again.
Dinah laughed and sped up to catch up to walk next to me, "Come on, I'm just teasing. Are you okay?"
"...I'm fine," I said before I sighed, "...I may just be a bit sensitive about transformations."
"...Yeah, I guess that's understandable," Dinah admitted and then sped up, putting her hand up to stop me as she turned to face me, "Serious time. If you need to talk or help or anything, I'm here, Zeph. You know, about anything."
"Thank you," I told her quietly before touching my snout to her shoulder, "Same offer from me."
Dinah smiled and put a hand on the side of my head as she leaned her head against the other side, "And hey, at least I won't be the person with the worst dating prospects in the quadrant anymore!"
I responded with a small growl, but not like she was wrong. If I ever became interested in that sort of thing, women of my species didn't exactly grow on trees. And the alternative seemed to be tiny monkeys, so that's out.
"I'm the only one of my kind, what's your excuse? Aren't humans one of the most populous species in the Federation?"
"Ouch!" Dinah laughed and let go with a grin.
I chuckled and raised my head, "You started it," I said and then stretched as much as I could in a cramped corridor, "I need to get to engineering."
"And I have an armory inspection to do," Dinah agreed, "See you in the mess for dinner?"
"The Neelix is there, so no. I usually eat around nine or so when he has left."
And the place had time to air out.
Dinah sighed and nodded, "Alright, I'll see you then. Want to introduce you to some people. I was thinking maybe play some board games?"
"That sounds fun," I agreed, "See you tonight then."
I was tired, but not that tired. Besides, it really could turn out to be fun.
She smiled with a nod, giving my snout one last pat before heading off through a cross corridor. I moved towards the closest cargolift.
Getting to work was exactly the sort of thing I needed to take my mind off things.
