13 Degrees of Separation Read Online Free PDF Page A

bitch. She sighed, slapping dust and bits of hay away
before answering. “Don't look at me, I just handle the live critters,” she said
hands up. “I don't deal with steak unless it's with a fork, knife, and with a
bake potato and a big pad of butter or sour cream,” she drawled.
    The Captain and crew were amused by that. The Captain chuckled.
“Take five everyone,” he said, waving a hand. George scowled, but a look from
the Captain made him back down. The hands settled down, passing a canteen
between themselves.
    “It's their ruddy gene engineering,” Annie finally admitted. “It
makes them grow fast... and break down quick. Which is why they have to be
slaughtered and dressed in minutes or the meat goes south on you. I don't even
want to think about trying to slaughter them here,” she said, looking around the
compartment. “And by the way, slaughtering them and dressing them is not in my contract,” she said, giving a pointed look at the cargo master.
    “No one said it is,” Wendy interjected before her father could put
his foot in his mouth.
    “We could just vent the compartment. Suck all the oxygen out and
they'd pass out,” Peter suggested.
    Annie frowned. “You do that and they'd panic. If you went the
opposite way with hypoxia and flooded the compartment with carbon dioxide you'd
taint the meat. Both are humane, but you are taking a risk. Besides, you do
them all at once and you'd have spoilage before you were a quarter done
dressing them. By half done quite a bit'd be waste. And what would you do with
the hides and offal? You can't tan hides in space right? And the offal?” she
shook her head.
    “I don't think we've thought this out very far have we?” the
Captain asked, looking pointedly at George. George flushed and kicked at the
deck.
    Reluctantly they agreed to keep the animals alive. They offered
her a ticket to go on to Triang.
    Annie frowned. Wendy smiled invitingly. “You'd like it there
Annie, it's even better than Syntia. Not as many people, some really nice
ranges. Think of it. A fresh start, a place to start a family, Ranch.”
    “Right.”
    “I can get you some images we've got.”
    “Huh,” she grunted. She twisted about, not looking at the
expectant faces. She was put on the spot, she realized she'd been set up.
    “It's just after Senka.”
    “I'll think about it,” she said, not agreeing to anything. If she
did go, she'd have to go on, staying in Senka was out.
    “Well, if you don't want to stop there, there are other worlds,”
Wendy said.
    Annie looked up, tipping her hat up out of her eyes. “Oh? Where
else you going?”
    “Well, from Triang we head down to Briev, and then Agnosta. you'd
like it there, bison and herds there. A bit cold though. From there further
south to Pyrax and then we cut across to Gaston and then up to Centennial and
then back into the New Texas chain.”
    “I'll... think about it.” She had enough saved to buy a spread now
but only a small one here on Syntia's world. Most of the big land was staked
out already. Finding fresh ground where there weren't a lot of bodies sounded
good. As long as the price was right.
    “We can dicker over dinner later,” Wendy said, smiling.
    “Beer. Cold beer,” Annie said, rubbing the small of her back.
    ...*...*...*...*...
    In orbit of Syntia's world, they negotiated the port fees and then
headed down on the shuttle. She tweaked Jane's braid as the girl passed her on
the way to the cockpit. She smiled, shaking her head as the girl stuck her
tongue out at her and then scampered off. “Little scamp,” she called.
    George Darling had determined half their herd would go down. He
wanted to keep the pick of the litter for Senka for some reason, but Wendy and
Annie had struck a deal, half of the sickly ones and half of their best. “The
sickly ones we can get healthy with a bit of sunlight and TLC. Some fresh
grass, fresh air, they'll turn around in a week, you'll see. And who knows, you
might even sell them to