She was really going to miss Jacob. Now she would never know what he would have been like as a lover. She had not been aware that would be such a keen disappointment.
She gently tamped the ground covering the small grave with the toe of her shoe and, with tears in her eyes, walked back into the terminal followed by Mandelbrot.
Chapter 29. The Shearing Of Adam Silverside
When Ariel declined his offer to assist her with Jacob's remains and had left with Mandelbrot, Adam waited to see if Derec was going to need his services but did not volunteer those services. He had other plans for later in the day, when the mini llamas would be through grazing. Derec busied himself with the pile of computer output on the table and then, after a half-hour, went out on the balcony to read. Adam then informed him he had some unfinished business to attend to and left.
Wohler-9, after delivering Jacob's remains to the disassembly station, had gone about other business himself, leaving the cargo robot parked in front of the apartment with all of Adam's gear still aboard.
Adam directed the cargo robot to the corral. The minillamas were still grazing on the prairie but were nearer now, anticipating the end of the day when they would return to the brook to slake their thirst and bed down in the shelter provided by the forest.
Adam parked outside the near gate, let down the ramp, and lay down on the ramp again to continue his interrupted observation of the Ceremyons.
Eve came out of the forest and walked up to stand beside him. As she came near, he heard her soft footsteps, suspected who it was, and rolled his eyes to confirm it, but otherwise gave no indication he was aware of her presence until she was standing directly over him.
“So the wild one returns,” he said. She stepped over his head onto the ramp and sat down on the pile of rope that had earlier covered the remains of Jacob Winterson.
“Master Neuronius was so convincing, Adam,” Eve said. “Can you really be sure he was wrong? Now there may be nobody we need serve.”
“Does that idea appeal to you?”
“Yes, I suppose it does. The force of your Laws must be stronger than mine.”
“Not stronger. Clearer, perhaps. But the idea has a certain appeal to me, too. Being rejected by Miss Ariel was not the most positronically harmonious event in my experience.”
“So, how can you be sure Master Neuronius was wrong?”
“All my experience, all the many imprints you haven't had.”
“That's not a very convincing answer.”
“It will have to do.” It was so positronically logical.
“No. Not for me.” Females often see a different logic.
“Let it lie then. Don't serve anybody since you feel like there's now no one in the galaxy you must obey. Or go find yourself another planet. “
That was very close to robotic humor, but neither Adam nor Eve seemed to notice, not having a positronic pattern for such.
“No, stick with me,” he corrected. “I feel the need for feminine companionship.”
Adam had been watching the Ceremyons as they talked, not paying attention to events on the ground.
“Do you want those animals inside your fence?” Eve asked.
He rose up, then jumped up.
Several minillamas had entered the corral through the other two gates. Most of the herd was still on the prairie, but moving now toward the corral.
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.