13 Degrees of Separation (2 page)

“It's the Mariah's Mischief. She's a medium freighter. She's
calling for animals and they've got the trade goods and reputation to back it
up.”

“Mariah's Mischief?” Annie asked as Bert, the bartender poured her
another shot.

“Rode on her before Annie?” Bert asked. She shook her head no.

“Word is they are headed North to Syntia's world. They had me put
in calls to the nearest ranches to see who had what available,” her informant
said.

“Really?” Annie asked, turning that idea over in her head. Someone
was on the ball, that was good.

“What do they want? Spring buck?” Bert asked.

The tech took a pull of beer and then shook his head as he set the
mug back down on the cork coaster. “No, bison.”

Annie frowned. The gene engineered bison were hardy, and the run
was short, but it was spring, the animals had been through a long cold winter
and this was the time they usually put on meat after a long lean winter. Sure,
some of the nearest ranches were selling their young early, most went to the
springtime barbeques and to refill the larders after the long winter. There was
currently a glut on the market, too much hoof going around.

“Why are there so many culls?”

“I thought it was disease, but someone tried some new stuff that
there admiral fellow recommended and now there are too many heads. Or so they
said,” Bert said. Annie didn't see the sense in that, either they'd had a bad
spring and the grass was bad, disease, inbreeding, or something else was up.

It could be that they were selling their culls, getting rid of the
runts or the ones that wouldn't last long. Lame... she'd have to watch out for
that. She frowned, realizing she was thinking that she'd already taken the job
when she hadn't applied for it. She hadn't reconnoitered it to be sure it was
worth having. She vowed to do that, first chance she got. Culls though... Bad.

Not that the cowgirl was going to tell the spacers that. Most
ships took on animals in the fall, that was when they were harvested and the
cows were re-bred. The ships in port at that time took whatever was offered,
glad to get in and out with the animals since they fetched such a high price on
the other end.

The best animals went to market on New Texas, some of the more
shadier characters shipped out the dregs with the spacers who showed up around
that time. The dregs survived better around that time, all fattened up. Even
though they were the dregs the animals were in high demand. Their succulent
meat  was much prized in the sector. She paid her tab and then headed to the
city pens.

...*...*...*...*...

She heard the familiar chink chink of approaching boots. She
scented a familiar cologne and snorted. “You still putting that stink on?” she
asked, not opening her eyes.

“Well, hello to you too Miss Annie,” a gruff voice laughed. She
turned to see the old weathered face of Wario, the lead ranch hand on Jim
Drake's property. “Been a while gal,” he said, tipping his hat to look at the
small herd. He'd been on the ball, bringing the herd in right after getting the
call about the ship, beating his competition here. Ships didn't make money
sitting in orbit, they made it moving their goods. Wario had turned her down
for the job only a few days ago, but apparently today was a new day.

“That it has,” she said, turning to look at them. She studied
Wario out of the corner of her eye. He was putting on weight, which wasn't like
him. He had suspenders now. He had a curly mustache, a fresh scar on his
throat, a bullet hickey from the look of it. “How's life treating you?” she
asked.

“The same. Bout the same.”

“Ayeyup,” she drawled.

“Look Annie,” he sighed and turned to her. “I need a favor.”

“A favor? Well, la-dee-da. Wario, the head ranch hand of Drake
wants something from li'l ole me,” Annie said, voice dripping sarcasm. She'd
said about the same words to Wario the other day.

Wario didn't even wince. “Old is pushing it gal,” Wario snorted.
“You being you, and I know you don't want to sit around much longer. You heard
about this herd shipping out?”

“Ayeyup,” she said, noncommittal.

“Thinking about taking it on? It's up your alley,” he said.

Annie shook her head. Half way to the pens she'd picked up some
people talking about the MM's call. Apparently they wanted a hand, but at rock
bottom prices, or tied to a percentage of profit from the sale of the herd.
She'd heard that crap before. “Price isn't right. And I'm not keen about the
space. Too many animals, too little space.” She'd done some research on her
tablet, pulling the ship's class up and taking a look. It was a medium all
right, but fitting a hundred head in would be damn tight.

“Annie...” he said in appeal, hands apart.

Her eyes flashed. She hated being buttered up for something.
“Don't Annie me,” she growled, glaring. “You know better than to butter up any
gal other than Matilda. How's she doing by the way?”

“Darlin's doing well. Now don't you change the subject missy,” he
said, shaking a thick finger at her. She snorted. “She give me the rough edge
of her tongue for not having you by for dinner since you're in town.”

“Yeah well, not much going on,” Annie said hunching her shoulders.
She hadn't wanted to stick around the ranch after getting rebuffed anyway.

He winced. “Okay, I forgot my New Texas hospitality. I'll make it
up to you. Grease the wheels and get you in here.”

Annie's eyes flashed as her hands went to her hips. “Don't go
doing me any favors Wario. I can get my own work.”

He turned, resting a shoulder on the fence. “I'm trying to
help
you gal.”

“Right,” she snorted. “Help me into an early grave you mean. This
job is a suicide run. What's in it for you?” she asked, eying him.

He sighed. “No fooling you is there?” he asked. She shook her
head, smiling slightly. The smile didn't get to her eyes though.

He sighed once more than kicked a rock. “Well, Bert was supposed
to do it, but he just broke his leg bringing the herd in to Freeport. Damn
rattler spooked his horse.”

Annie winced. “It happens.”

“Yeah. He'll be laid up for weeks. So, my youngest is keen on
taking the job.”

Annie smiled. “Good for him!”

“Yeah well, he's never managed a herd. Never been in space, and
he's got soft hands. He's more like his mother than me.”

Annie tipped her hat back, cocking her head in inquiry. “Oh?”

“He's not so much interested in taking care of the animals as he
is the idea of going up on a ship. I've had trouble getting him to do work and
he's spooked about handling them. Put that together in a confined space and
well...” he frowned and kicked another rock.

She scowled blackly. Taking on a job like this was a bitch. You
had to be on the animals nonstop, practically sleeping with them. Mucking them
out daily, cleaning, feeding... it was smelly, dangerous, exhausting, and damn
tedious. One good round of colic and there would be hell to pay. Toss a
neglectful kid into that sort of mix who didn't have his head on the job... “Not
a good mix,” she admitted gruffly.

“Yeah. He's a good lad, good heart, but for this sort of job...”
Wario shook his head. “He's in over his head.”

“Wario...”

“I'm asking you to think about it. I'll chip in to cover whatever
they are shorting you,” Wario said.

She frowned  thoughtfully.

“Why don't you come by the house and we'll talk about it? Or at
least you can see Matilda and put me back in her good graces,” he teased.

She snorted. “Well, I have missed her peach pie.”

“They get better the longer you've missed them,” Wario replied
dryly, patting his belly.

“Well, we'll see about that,” she chuckled.

...*...*...*...*...

Annie knew the job was dangerous, that was a lot of animals in a
confined space for a long time. Large animals, none of which had lost their
horns. All the males would be near their first musk by the end of the trip.
None of them were gelded, all were to be transported that way, they wouldn't
put on weight but would be worth more if they survived the trip. She wasn't
looking forward to that.

Reluctantly she decided to make the run on the condition that the
males were gelded. Wendy Darling, the assistant purser wrote the contract up.
The woman was fair, a blond not quite as old as Annie, but she knew the risks
of handling the animals and deferred to Annie's judgment, which was a relief.

George Darling, the purser hadn't been happy, he'd called her on
it, and she'd used short words to describe just how dangerous the animals were
when they were in musk. That hadn't deterred him, but mentioning that the
animals did better and put weight on after being gelded did. Her warning that
she wouldn't make the run and he'd get his people killed if he went his way had
gotten Wendy to intervene. She'd taken the phone and discussed it with the
purser, who was apparently a relative before she'd set her foot down and did
things her way.

Gelding the males had taken a while, longer than she'd wanted to
take, but it was done. She just didn't have the damn room to separate all the
males on the ship. Wendy had heartily agreed, and had even joked about having
that problem with the male crew.

“You could always do this...” Annie teased right back with a
straight face. Wendy pursed her lips, fighting a smirk as she watched a crew of
six men load another young male into a chute and then pin it in place for the
surgical procedure. The soon to be castrated five hundred kilogram male bawled
in terror. The hand doing the cutting just ignored the thrashing animal as he
stropped his blade on a piece of leather tied to a hitching post. Other men
were near the cooking fire, frying up the 'meat' for lunch. Waste not want not,
Annie thought. The New Texas tradition lived on.

“Don't tempt me,” Wendy said darkly. “Though it would solve a few
problems now wouldn't it? And I'm sure  Roger would absolutely
love
to
do something like that when our Jane starts to date,” she said wryly.

Annie snorted. “That your Jane?” she asked, nodding to the girl
with the pilot.

“Yes,” Wendy said. “So, gelding was your only term?”

“Only one that mattered. It wasn't just for my safety mind you,
but the entire ship and the herd. Get two of these bulls in musk in the same
compartment and they'll tear the place apart. They are liable to overheat too,
and the stress...” she shook her head. “This way, with them gelded, they'll put
more energy into getting fat then in having sex.”

“That sounds good,” Wendy said, smiling. “I'd try that with Roger,
but he's already put on enough weight as it is. I may have to put him on a
diet!” she teased, raising her voice ever so slightly, and turning her head in
her husband's direction.

“I heard that!” he growled, mock glowering at her as he accepted a
skewer. Jane whispered to her dad, asking what he was eating. When she found
out she made a face and hastily retreated. Wendy snorted.

“She looked a bit green, with her hand over her mouth,” Annie
observed of the girl.

“It'll pass,” Wendy replied serenely.

...*...*...*...*...

Loading was terrible. They could only take six to eight head each
trip. Fortunately she'd put her foot down and picked only animals she was sure
would survive the trip. Most were calves, less than a year old but weaned. She
carefully checked each animal to make sure none had medical issues. It was her
hide if they turned up sick or infectious. Each was branded, and each had a
plastic ID tag clipped to their right ear with a number on it for tracking
purposes. It was something she'd suggested to Wendy. Wendy and her father
George, the purser had heartily agreed.

George was a blowhard, a nice guy, but on the job tossing boxes he
sure liked to carry on like no one's business, screaming and carrying on about
the schedule and weights and balancing the ship. She was sure he was headed to
an early grave with all that fuss. His Veraxin assistant Knynuck was a nice
sort, though much like his boss.

The cowgirl was surprised that the copilot of the shuttle was the
twelve year old daughter of pilot Roger. Jane Darling she thought, sizing her
up. The girl was cute, with her blonde pony tail and coverall, but she was all
business at a moment's notice. Professional through and through, despite the
twinkle in her eye. Annie nodded in approval, slapping dust off her chaps. They
hit it off, forming a fast friendship on the trips up and down. Her approval
and support helped seal their friendship.

Annie had to admit, she didn't make many friends, she was alone
with the herd most of the time. Having a kid, a lass, to talk to made her feel
good. But she tried to keep her distance, knowing they'd part ways in a couple
months. Still their discussions were fun. It took some of the grit out of the
situation, and it sure beat her last trip on Pelican.

Jane gave her a small vacuum to get the dust off. “You have no
idea how much of a pain in the ass that is. Same with the animals. The Captain
doesn't understand it, doesn't understand how much work goes into maintenance
and how much damage the dirt and hair can do.”