Sandy explains ( Sandy POV)

“Good, I’ll start with a summary of Gaby’s result,” I say now that everyone is seated. “I assume everyone here has general knowledge about pethood. I know in your case it’s probably redundant but I have to ask it.”

“I only just had to write a paper for my biology course,” pipes up Hannah.

“And I have got the whole bundle when I got my phenotest, plus we covered the basics at school,“ continues Gaby, snapping out of her reveries about it.

Mathew and Amanda just nod.

“…How did you actually found out? The phenotests are scheduled for the start of next quinzara … right?” Hannah thinks out loud.

“I will explain everything ... after Sandy leaves …right?“ replies Gaby turning her head to Hannah.

“ Ok. Like I said, Gaby is a PH-2 fish but also a PHBS which made it harder to get a final result.”

“So my little sister is not only a pet but a special case too...” pipes up Hannah teasingly. ”Sorry, go on Sandy.” Hannah excused herself after being looked at.

“Well, she really did do a number on the poor doctors at the clinic, ” I reply with a little suppressed smirk. “They found pethood markers but pet owner hormone levels it wasn’t until they did a test for PH-2 markers that things started to clear up and they could put the pieces together….all this plus the fact that Gaby had embryonic scales … could only mean one thing…” Now looking directly at Gaby I continued, “Gaby, you are a PH-2 pet with the Pethood Borderline Syndrome or PHBS for short. This means you will still go thru the PH-2 changes, but will not express the behaviour typical for pets. Put in another way: your body will change but your personality should stay the same.”

“How much will I change?” Gaby asked, looking back at me.

This is the part I wasn’t looking forward to I thought to myself, pinching my nose and closing my eyes. Looking back up to Gaby I continue, “… You see ... because PH-2 fish pets are among the rarer kind, there is much less known about them than of the more prevalent kinds.“

“Well, what do you know?” pipes up a shrugging Hannah.

“You studied biology ... right?” I say looking at Hannah. “We, science, have a working theory that the amount of change is linked to the PH-2 receptors.”

“But … let me guess … because Gaby here is one of the rare cases, there isn’t as much data available as for the more common kinds of pet … and because there is less data there is less research done … because there only so much data available…” replies Hannah.

“At the moment we have a working theory that ... well … works for the most common kinds of PH-2. It consists of two parts: the ER-delta and the kind of donor animal,” I continue.

“ER-delta that’s the hormone receptor only PH-2 have … right?” remarks Hannah.

I only nod.

Turning back to Gaby I say “ The one thing we do know about PH-2 fish pets is that they always develop gills.“

“Like fish-breathing-under-water gills?” blurts out a wide-eyed Gaby.

“Yes, if there is one thing all PH-2 fish pets have in common is the ability to breathe underwater like fish... “ I say.

“But ... there is ... a catch … right…”

“Yes ... there is … you’ll have to adapt to at least an amphibious lifestyle…”

While Gaby is processing what is said, Hannah asks the question on everybody’s mind, “When, and how fast will it go?”

“Like I said, much depends also on the kind of donor animal. But the change should be completed in a year. There isn’t any kind of pet on record that took longer than a year to complete the change.”

“Well, that does it!” exclaims Hannah all of a sudden.