When the nurse emerged he was carrying a small metal tool kit that he popped open on a steel table, unlatched it. To Cat’s relief, it was a simple disposable razor kit.

“I’ll be shaving your armpits, mons pubis and the area around your anus. Please lift your arms and face me.”

Cat nodded. She’d never been shaved by another person before, in fact, she hardly shaved herself. She held her breath and tried to be still as the nurse applied frothy soap to one armpit after the other and shaved her thoroughly.

“Please bend over now and hold your buttocks apart.”

Cat gulped. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Can I just do it?”

The nurse shook his head, “please bend over…” Cat started to bend over, “facing away.”

Cat’s face went red with embarrassment. She bent over, her back arching awkwardly and her toes pointed inwards.

“Please spread your legs.”

Cat followed instructions, gulping, feeling the cool air and then a warm, gloved hand on her buttocks. It didn’t feel bad, perse, but her mind laser focused on each stroke of the razor to the point she could barely think. She was sweating all over. What had she gotten herself into?

“You can stand up and face me.”

Cat stood up, her behind feeling weird and slick and smooth. The nurse wasted no time shaving her crotch.

“So, um, is there much more of this?” Cat gulped, “like, what’s the examination like?”

The nurse worked quietly, looking up at her momentarily. “This is the decontamination station. You’ll be passed along to the specimen collection room after, and a new nurse.”

“Specimen?”

“Yes, we’ll collect ear wax, saliva, hair, urine and fecal samples from you. It is important that this information is properly recorded as early as possible during your time in this program.”

“So, I’ll just pee in a cup?”

“For the non-sterile collection, yes.”

It was easy for Cat to chat and try and ignore that the young nurse was now shaving between her legs as she crouched ever so slightly. She didn’t want to know what the sterile collections pertained to. She had never been through anything like this before.

“And, like, just to ask, what if it’s too much? Can I, like, pause and take a break?”

“You’ll be removed from the program. You have to finish the examination once it is initiated.”

Cat nodded. Figures. The nurse wrapped up his work promptly, handed her a hair net, gown, mask and booties and walked her to the specimens room down the long corridor. Everyone she saw was in complete scrubs with masks and visors. She wasn’t sure she could do this, but she didn’t think she had a choice at this point. Each doorway she passed through was covered in caution signs and warnings and she passed through several before making her way into what appeared to be the sample room. It looked like a normal clinic room with an examination table in the middle and a seat for the doctor. The table was different from what she had seen, though, and included many tan plastic arms and stirrups as well, resembling both a chair for a gynecological exam and a dentist. At the end of one arm was a light, another was a strange ovular contraption. A female nurse in all white sat in the room, checking on the clipboard.

“You must be Cat,” she said, looking up, “nice to meet you! Did Mike treat you well?”

Cat nearly burst out into tears looking at the woman. Finally, a normal person! “He wasn’t so bad!” She said, looking towards the male nurse who was with her.

“She’s all yours,” Mike said, a little more peppy, obviously a fan of his peppy young colleague. “Just your standard full research admission. Another student.”

The woman nodded, “don’t worry, girl, we’ll get you out of here soon.” She gestured to the table, starting to put on her exam gloves, “my name is Sameera, I’ll be your nurse for sample collection. Did Mike explain anything?”

“He wasn’t very talkative,” Cat said, gingerly sitting on the table.

Sameera smiled before pulling her mask over her face. “Well, Michael sterilized the outside of your body, removing any nasty germs that were in your hair or other places. But we want to know, also, what kind of contaminants may be inside your body, along with the natural biome inside your gut. This will affect your eligibility for certain tests and procedures, and maybe even the space program.”

Cat nodded along. She was so happy that Sameera seemed kind and patient, unlike anyone else she had met so far. Sameera continued, “first, we’d like to collect samples from your ears, nose, eyes, and throat.” Sameera flipped the table into a ‘sitting’ position by pressing a lever with her foot before reaching out for the arm of the table and guiding it up to Cat’s face. Cat could now see that the contraption was meant to hold her head in place with a pad for her chin and one for her forehead.

“Learn forward,” Sameera guided, placing one hand behind Cat’s head and guiding her into the contraption, “good girl,” she said as Cat snuggled in and closed her eyes. “I’m just going to strap you in now,” to Cat’s surprise, Sameera began to restrain her head into the contraption with a velcro band behind her ears. “Sorry if it’s a little tight, just bear with me. You can breath okay?”

“Yup,” Cat responded, again starting to get nervous as Sameera turned towards a counter and opened a drawer, “uhm, I’m sorry. Can you tell me what you’re doing?”

“Oh, I’m just getting some swabs and a gag,” Sameera turned around and swiveled back to Cat. She started by swabbing Cat’s ears with a cotton swab, first shallowly and then deeper, warning Cat first. Then she moved around to Cat’s eyes, asking Cat to look up before gently swabbing over her eyeballs. Cat couldn’t flinch in the position she was in, but she figured being restrained like this was just an extra precaution, maybe a legal thing. A long swab went up Cat’s nose, causing her to sneeze. Then Sameera adjusted the chin strap, placing two gloved thumbs in her mouth and spreading her jaw wide.

“Sorry, I’m just going to collect the saliva swab now, open wide!” Sameera said, and as Cat complied she snuck in the medical gag, holding Cat’s mouth further open to the point of soreness with a few twists of the screw. It was no different than the dentist, really, just a little immobilizing. Cat saw the swab come towards her chin and then disappear to the back of her throat, making her gag as Sameera swirled the swab against her intact tonsils. “Just a minute,” Sameera said as Cat tried to cough, eyes widening, feeling like she was choking on the cotton, her chest heaving, trying to speak wildly with her mouth open but words wouldn’t come out. In a few seconds it was over, Sameera leaving Cat’s mouth cranked open for more than a minute.

The whole thing was causing Cat more than a little indignity. Sameera removed Cat’s head.

“I hope that wasn’t too bad.” Sameera said, “I know it can be a little uncomfortable, sweety.”

“A little!” Cat shot back, wiping some tears from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Sameera said, “just two more samples, ok?”