We Are Both Mammals
by G. Wulfing
Daniel Avari awakes in a hospital bed to find that he has been the victim of a terrible accident. He should have died; instead, he has been the unconsenting patient of experimental surgery: he is now permanently joined by a hose to a thurga, a possum-like native of the planet on which Daniel is living and working. This creature is to be his living life-support system – if he still wants to live.