COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS

“Lambth, Mummy?” asked Beege, excitedly.

“Lambssss, BabyGirl,” Mamie said, hissing “But not the cute kind. They’re still bottled.”

Hope rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t babytalk her, Mamie,” She said with the confident air of every adolescent correcting an elder. “This cargo is fetal sheep, BG, still in cryo-wombs. The shepherds will complete their development when we deliver them to Pentangle and then they will be lambs”

“No lambths. Lambsssss.” Beege said. She sighed. Spaceships were boring and they never stopped dirtside long enough for fun.

The shepherds , three men in green coveralls, were unloading a wheeled cargo truck, stacking dozens of metal boxes, each cube 250 cm square, on metal pallets, in the cargo hold of Bluebell.

Beege hung from the railing on the catwalk above the bay until Hope pulled her back. Mandy patted her daughter’s bright red hair and strolled off to the engine room .

“I promised Mamma I’d have three courses plotted for Pentangle before lunch, Beege. Why don’t you go to the commons and read or something?′

“Can I play out thide?”

“Ask your daddy,” said Hope heading for the bridge.

Her daddy, the captain of the Bluebell, was talking with some people at the bottom of the cargo bay ramp. Beege slipped from behind the stacked cryo-wombs and between the Mamie and the working shepherds without being noticed.

She put her hand in Daddy’s. “I’m gonna go play, ’k daddy?” she murmured. Her father looked down and stroked her smooth red hair absent-mindedly. One of the people he was talking to, a tall thin lady, took a second look a Beege’s unusual colouring, then returned to the conversation.

And Little Lambs Eat Ivy/1

Beege looked back up the ramp to the dark interior of the spaceship then at the green fields outside the fence around the spaceyard. Turning off her hearing aids, she headed out for adventure.

The group Rand had been negotiating with wanted to travel with Bluebell to Pentangle where the shepherds would disembark their fetal sheep. All six passengers gathered in the galley for lunch and a safety lecture one of Rand’s favorite parts of being captain.

“There’s few enough that we’ll plan on eating together for lunch about 12:30 standard and dinner around 19:00. Breakfast and snacks, just fend your yourselves. We’ll have ten adults and the three kids.

I’d appreciate it if you would answer question for our kids, they’re homeschooled, a’corse, so it ’s one way of broadening their knowledge.

“Marco is our cook and in charge of the cargo bay. If you can’t eat something let him know. Dita is our pilot and is trainin up her Hope. We spect Hope’ll be off to pilot academy in about a year.” Hope’s brown cheeks flushed pink at the captain’s proud smile. “Mamie is our engineer, so if you have a plumbin or ventilation problem, ask for her help. She’s mother to Derry and to..... where’s Beege?′

Mamie said. “I thought she was with Hope.”

“She was going to read in the Commons,” said Hope.

The thin woman said, “She’s the little redhead? I saw her heading for the spaceyard fence.”

Crew and passengers spread out, leaving Hope watching Derry in the ship. The strangers didn’t need pictures once Beege’s unusual hair and eyes were described, although one of the shepherds had never heard of such colouring and shook his head in amazement when shown a picture of the family. “I’ve never seen eyes like yours and the boy’s, and that hair! Are you sure she’s not undernourished?”

Shouting her name did no good, since with her aids off, Beege lived in an almost silent world. An hour passed before one the of passengers suggested, “Why don’t we just beep her chip?”

Rand said angrily, “None of the government’s business where me and mine are at. We ain’t chipped, never gonna be.”

“Um, sweetie,′ his wife said, rubbin up against him and kissing his neck, “Actually we... I .... got Beege after your heart thing.′

“I didn’t give permission!” said Rand.

“Don’t need it. I’m her mother.” said Mamie, lifting her chin and pressing her breasts into his chest. “And chippin makes everything simpler.”

“If you have her code, we can find her quickly,” said the thin woman. “We want to get these lambs delivered as soon as possible.”

“Save it for your bunk, Rand,” said Dita. “What’s the code Mamie?”

Mamie pulled out her comm and punched in. The comm started beeping immediately. She headed for the door, followed by the captain. Everyone trailed behind, until Dita stopped them at the cargo ramp.

“Why don’t y’all finish getting settled. We’ll have her back right quick now and then Marco will serve lunch.”

Beege was nearly a kilometre from the ship, over a small hill and near a copse of berry bushes. Her mouth was stained by the berries and her hand scratched by brambles . Her overalls were stained by the lush grass and smeared in sheep droppings. She was trying to nurse from an unwilling ewe who was nudging the child away from her udder while her own lamb suckled.

And Little Lambs Eat Ivy/2

“You’re getting them cochlear implants my girl, soon as we’re near someplace that does ’em. No more of this turning off your ears,” her father told her.

Beege sobbed. “I waanna lamb. Can we take lambths wid uth? Peese, pr’y peese?′

“No and you’re going to your bunk with no lunch.” Her father sniffed. “After you’ve had a bath. Them sheeps reek.”

Rand had spent some time finding a clinic that would correct Beege’s hearing. His preference to stay well away from any sort of authority had to be put aside , since those which provided privacy charged high for it, while free services required a lot of information about patients and their families.

“Chippin the kid without my permission was bad enough.” he growled at his young wife.

“She’d be back on Muir carryin a shepherd’s crook and suckin on sheep titties if’n I hadn’t.” Mamie riposted.

“An when did you get chipped any way?′

“When we registered Derry for school. It was easier to get us both done at once while I had all the paperwork handy.” She looked admiringly across their bunk at the gaudy marriage and baptism certificates in their ornate gilded frames hung over their daughter’s cot.

“An then they hardly looked at it.” She pouted.

“Well next time ask me first,” he replied.

“You planning to knock me up again? Cause it’s hard to squeeze under the engine when I’m preggo.”

“You take your contras and I’ll take mine. Two is more than enough.”

Mamie giggled.”Well, since we’re both contra’d wanna try an beat em?”

She slid her little hand into his pants. Rand was happy to be distracted.

Months later they found an affordable clinic on Deuce and the whole family went in to have Beege’s ears checked. Her aids corrected her hearing but she had never had a diagnosis for the cause of her deafness.

The surgical consultant was optimistic about cochlear implants for Beege.

“It looks like the tiny bones in her ears are either deformed or missing. It’s called osteosclerosis. The implants will replace those and with therapy she should be able to hear fairly normally. Does deafness run in your families?”

“Not in mine,” Mamie said. “Even Nana Singh heard everything us kids was up too when she was over ninety.”

Rand was less sure. “Really only me and my mother growing up. We didn’t see any other family and I left before I was interested enough to ask.”

“Could you contact her now?” asked the doctor.

“I come up on Ciccone. She didn’t make it off.”

The doctor nodded. “That was a horrible disaster.”

“That was Home World moneyboys cheapin out on terraformin machinery.” Rand scowled.

“Yes, of course, and not enough was done about the guilty parties. Few would disagree.”

They were all silent for a moment. There was a crash from the waiting room, where Derry had been left with the receptionist.

Rand hurried out. Derry had managed to pull over a water cooler, trapping his left arm. He was pale and sweaty. “I’m sorry, captain!” he said “It just fell. I think I broke my arm again though.”

The receptionist has raised the heavy cooler but was staring in shock at the blood on the boy’s shirt. There was a tear in the sleeve and something white and sharp poked out.

“Get the doctor, miz,” Rand commanded.

And Little Lambs Eat Ivy/3

The hearing specialist looked pale at the wound. “I’m not used to blood, sorry.” He didn’t touch the broken arm, but gave Derry a painkiller while the receptionist called an ambulance.

The next day Mamie was back, without the rest of the family to set an appointment for BabyGirl’s surgery.

“I found something interesting, Ms. Dieudonne,” the surgeon told her. “I ran both children’s DNA, from the girl’s cheek swab and from the blood I picked up when I looked at your son. This isn’t his first break, is it?”

“He’s terrible for it , doc,” Mamie admitted. “He was such a fussy baby and Michael, that’s Doctor Chen who rides with us as a Flying Doctor, said he might have been a greenstick when he was tiny. And since he’s been walking! Well, boys will be boys,eh?”

“Mmm. His DNA indicates that he is somewhat fragile boned, not full-blown osteoporosis, but his bones will fracture when other boys would just bruise. If you could quietly encourage him to lead a less...adventurous life..And you should let your daughter’s dentist know when her second teeth come in.” he sighed.

“Your daughter’s sample was similar. Her deafness is caused by bone abnormalities. The surgery will correct that but there is a chance that the problems will be passed to their children.”

“Can that be fixed?”

“No, not yet. Perhaps by the time they are adults. But most science today is aimed a geological work for better terraforming. Medical progress is not much ahead of the First Landing.”

“Oh.”

“There is no reason to worry. The children are basically very healthy and well-adjusted. Are you planning more children?”

“Great Green Gobs! I warn’t even planning these two! I just lost track of contras Out There and bam!”

“Well, it would be best to do something more permanent. You are a monogamous couple? There is a vasectomy clinic in this building.”

“Hah! I can see Rand crossin his legs from here.”

“It’s a more serious operation for you. You’d want a couple of weeks off work.... what do you do on your spaceship?”

“Mechanic, engineer... I keep her flying. Spend most of my days tinkerin with grav plates and fuel cells.”

“Ah,” said the ear surgeon, “That’s... well you should consider ending your fertility soon. How old are you?”

“Twenty six next month.”

“That’s young for having a tubal,” he paused. “How old is our son?”

“Ten and a half.. and before you ask we was married when he was born.”

The doctor made no reply.