Cordell Scotten - Renegade

As they watched, a minillama came out of the corral and went into the forest before Adam could get over to catch it.

He came back and closed the gate by the cargo robot.

“Go stand by that middle gate,” he told Eve, “and let them in but don't let them back out.”

“I didn't come out here to be ordered around,” Eve replied.

“Just help me and call it enjoying my companionship.”

She did as he said without saying anything further. He walked to the' far gate to keep the animals from leaving there.

It took another hour for all of the small herd to enter the corral, then he closed the gates. Adam had tallied 31 animals.

“Now we see if all this effort brings any reward,” he said.

He walked to the cargo robot, took out the shears, and vaulted the fence. Eve stayed by the middle gate.

“Come on,” he said. “I think this is going to require a great deal of companionship.”

Putting one hand on the top rail, she, too, vaulted the fence.

Adam had walked to the shearing chute with the shears in his hand. He stood studying the chute for a moment.

When Eve walked up, she said, “You're not going to hurt them, are you?”

“They won't feel a thing. No more than Master Derec feels when Miss Ariel gives him a haircut.”

“Oh, you're going to shear them?”

“Yes, and let's see if we can do it outside the chute. We certainly can't hurt them that way. “

He walked up to the nearest minillama-it was quite tame-grabbed a handful of wool near its ears, and started to work the shears down its neck with the other hand.

The shears closed just that one time before the beast jerked out of his hand and trotted to the other side of the corral.

“Not so easy as I had thought,” he said. “Help me shoo one into the chute.”

He hung the shears on a nail projecting from the shearing chute's end post and opened the chute's inside gate. Together they tried to herd the nearest beast into the chute, but it escaped between them and trotted over to join the one on the far side of the corral that had a section of wool on its neck standing on end, where Adam had made that initial cut.

“Okay, we move to Plan C,” he said.

He walked over, vaulted the fence, and took a coil of rope from the cargo robot. He tied a noose in one end, jumped back over the fence, walked to the animal nearest the chute, and slipped the noose over its head.

“Now,” he said, “come with me.”

And he started toward the chute. The rope tightened, and the animal dug in its hooves. He couldn't pull on the rope any harder without hurting it.

“Here,” he said, handing the line to Eve. “You pull on the rope.”

He went around behind the beast to push on its hindquarters. Eve pulled and he pushed, and the beast made ten-centimeter furrows in the ground before it bellowed and lashed out with both hind legs, catching Adam in the chest, setting him on his rear end.

Then the animal reared back, still bellowing and jerking the rope so hard Eve knew she was going to hurt it if she held tight. She let the rope go, and the animal trotted over to join the other two on the far side of the corral, trailing the line across the trampled grass.

“Plan D,” Adam said.

He walked over to the animal with the noose around its neck, loosened the noose, and slipped it off. It stood there tranquilly while he worked over it, as though it knew it had won that round and had nothing further to fear.

He tightened the noose to a ten-centimeter circle, bent down, grasped one of the animal's forelegs, and started to lift it. The animal jerked its leg from Adam's hand and trotted off a couple of meters before it stopped and resumed grazing.

Adam went to it again, bent down again, but this time with lightning motions he lifted the foreleg, slipped the noose around it, tightened it, stood and whipped the rope completely around the animal, jerked the rope tight so that the animal's legs were brought together and swept out from under it. It fell to the ground with a loud bellow as Adam took two more rapid turns around the legs.

Eve walked over from the chute.

“Plan D is rather painful,” she said. “In a good cause,” Adam said.

He retrieved the shears from the chute, sheared one side of the beast, flopped it over, and sheared the other side.

He unwound the rope from the beast's legs, slipped off the noose, and slapped it on the rear. It scrambled to its feet and trotted off.

By that time it was dusk.

Adam gathered up the blankets of wool, threw them and the shears over the fence into the cargo robot, and opened the three outer gates and the two chute gates.

“We'll do it again tomorrow,” he said.

They rode back to the apartment as the minillamas drifted out of the corral and into the forest. Adam compressed the wool into a tight ball and tied it with rope as they bounced along.

“Do you think that little bit of wool is worth the pain it caused?” Eve said…, And what will that poor beast do without its fleece? That, too, has to be painful, both the loss of warmth and the injury to its dignity.”

“Indeed, it may not be worth it. I feel some aftereffects myself from the afternoon's work. We' II let Master Derec be the judge.

“And what about you?” Adam asked. “What aftereffects of the day's activities are you feeling?”

“How should I feel, having just lost my Master?” she asked.

“Perhaps you should stay away for a while. You've got some sorting out to do with respect to humans, something I can help you with better than they. Miss Ariel might just take you to the disassembly station. Right now, she might consider that a fair exchange for the little that was left of Jacob Winterson. I suspect that's what she and Mandelbrot were putting in the ground as I left the city.”

“No, I've got to serve someone, even a pseudomaster. It might as well be Miss Ariel. She was there at my birth. I bear her imprint. I'll serve her for now.”

The mammals were all sitting on the balcony when they got back.

“Master Derec, catch,” Adam called, still standing in the cargo robot. He threw the ball of wool up in a parabolic trajectory that ascended to a peak and then dropped, terminating precisely in Derec's lap.

Before Derec could answer, Adam jumped out of the cargo robot, hurried into the lobby and up to the apartment, followed more slowly by Eve.

They walked through the apartment and came out on the balcony. Derec tossed the wool back to Adam.

“So that's what you've been up to,” Derec said. “A commendable effort, wouldn't you say, Ariel?”

“That's from just one animal,” Adam said.

“It does show a great deal of initiative, Adam,” Ariel said.

From Ariel's tone, Adam was not sure it was so commendable. It became less likely as Ariel continued.

“However, we decided early that we would not introduce any form of animal husbandry to this world. I'm afraid your woolgathering falls into that category.”

“But his initiative is quite commendable, isn't it Ariel?” Derec said.

“Yes,” Ariel said. “Quite commendable.” But to Adam, it didn't sound so.

“I was under the impression that animal wool was quite valuable,” Adam said, “and easily moved in the interplanetary marketplace.”

Despite having admitted that he was experiencing bad aftereffects from his animal husbandry-perhaps because of that-it was not easy for Adam to gracefully absorb a second rejection by Ariel.

“Perhaps in a second phase, Adam. But not in this first phase. That decision has already been made.

“And now, Eve, what brings you back?” Ariel asked.

“I wish to serve you, Miss Welsh,” Eve said.

“And the alien, Neuronius, what about him?”

“He is dead, as you know.”