Shepherd Read online

  “Just in case,” Shep agreed weakly. He had thought the sheep were strange?

  “Now on to another detail,” Mona said. “As you see, Bela accepts me. I am his godmother; indeed, I am his genetic mother. But when I go he will know, and be concerned. Elen will have to make his acquaintance directly. He is shy around strangers, but friendly enough once he knows them.”

  Shep worked it out. “So that if Elasa should, well, glitch, and Bela rejects her, Elen will be able to take him without a problem. Because he will know her, apart from the body she is in.”

  “Yes,” Elasa said. “It is a small safety net.”

  “Meanwhile I will be having the experience of birthing, nursing, and nurturing my body's baby,” Mona said. “Just as Elen will have the experience of sharing her body's baby. Parallel experiences, essential to both of us, and to the babies.”

  “I appreciate that,” Shep said.

  “You need to get to know Bela too,” Mona said. “Take him.” She held the baby out.

  “But I know nothing about--” He broke off. Obviously he would have to learn, both here on Earth and on the Colony planet when he returned there with Elen. He took the baby.

  Bela wriggled uncomfortably. “You're holding him wrong,” Mona said quickly. “Don't let him dangle. Put a hand under his bottom.” She guided his hand.

  Now that he was comfortable, Bela was satisfied to remain. He must have been passed to a number of other people on occasion; many folk liked to hold a baby.

  But in a moment Bela became restless. Elasa reached out and took him back. “That's all right; he doesn't know you yet, but he didn't reject you.”

  “You and Elen will really enjoy changing diapers,” Mona said mischievously.

  Elasa looked surprised. “I just received a message: there was a cancellation, and they are moving up your transfer, Mona. The tech will be here within the hour.”

  Shep realized that because Elasa was a machine, she had integral communication circuits. She could answer the phone without moving or talking.

  “But I haven't yet introduced Shep to my father,” Mona protested.

  Elasa smiled. “So are you going to tell them no, you changed your mind?”

  “No way! But you'll have to introduce Shep to my father.”

  “I will do that,” Elasa agreed. “Do you want to hold Bela when you exchange?”

  “So he can tune in on it? Maybe that's best.”

  The tech arrived with the equipment. Mona took her seat, holding the baby. Shep watched somewhat nervously. Would Mona really transform into Elen?

  “Ten, nine,” the tech counted. “...three, two, one, time.”

  Bela's expression changed. Startled he looked at Mona's face.

  “Oh, a baby!” she exclaimed, and kissed him.

  “He didn't fuss,” Elasa murmured. “That's a good sign.”

  “Elen?” Shep asked. “I'm Shep.”

  “Shep!” she said, looking up. Then down at the baby. “But who--?”

  “Mine,” Elasa said, taking Bela. “I am Elasa, Mona's friend. Mona is your host; she is now in your body on Colony Jones.”

  “Yes, of course,” Elen said, standing. “Is this really Earth?”

  “It really is,” Shep said, taking her in his arms.

  “Oh, I'm so relieved! I know it's routine, but I feared—never mind.” She put her face to his and kissed him ardently. It was Elen, all right.

  They led her to a mirror so she could see her new body. She gazed at it, amazed. “I'm so big, all around! At least I kept my hair.”

  “We have a whole lot of explaining to do,” Shep said.

  “Right now? I had hoped...” She trailed off, looking at him.

  “Use my bedroom,” Elasa said. “The rest can wait that long.”

  “Oh, to freshen up?” Shep said. “I'll wait.”

  “Get in there, idiot,” Elasa said, shoving him after Elen.

  Oh. In moments they were naked on the bed, making wild love. Her vagina gripped his member, grasping it in the way Elen's had. If he had had any lingering doubt about her identity, that erased it. She was doing the holddown on him.

  Then they lay beside each other, holding hands. “I missed you so much,” Elen said.

  “And I missed you,” he said, realizing that it was true. He had been too busy to think about it, and it had been only a day, but his enormous relief at being back with her, in whatever body, confirmed it.

  Then they cleaned up, dressed, and rejoined Elasa.

  “Congratulations on your bonding,” Elasa said. “Now you both know it's real.”

  “I hardly know you, but I like you already,” Elen said. “You understand.”

  “Elasa is a most unusual woman,” Shep said. Then they set about telling her. And showing her.

  “Earth has its wonders,” Elen agreed, impressed.

  Chapter 9:

  Prophecy

  Elasa took them to the hotel where the lawyer, Moncho Maverick, was staying. He was an impressive man in his 40s with a penetrating gaze and assured manner. Elasa kissed him at the outset. He was the one who had won her suit for legal personhood, and it seemed they remained close. “Shep Shepherd, and Elen Elf,” she said. “Or Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd.”

  “That's amazing,” Moncho said, smiling. “She could pass for my daughter if she tried.”

  “Elen is nice too,” Elasa said. “Mona was sorry not to be able to introduce you to Shep, but they moved up the schedule and she had to go immediately.”

  “And now she's five months pregnant,” he said, laughing. “Farther than she went before.”

  “Before?” Elen asked.

  “Mona was the donor of the egg from which Bela formed,” Elasa explained. “The embryo was transplanted to me so I could have most of the pregnancy and birth the baby, but I could not conceive him. I have no genes of my own to offer.”

  Shep digested that. No wonder the two women were so close. That was actually Mona's baby.

  “This body I'm in made Bela,” Elen said, getting it straight.

  “With my husband,” Elasa agreed.

  “Artificial insemination?” Shep asked.

  “No.”

  He decided not to question that matter further.

  Then they got serious. “You want to save the sheep,” Moncho said.

  “Yes. They must be protected.”

  “You say they are telepathic and precognitive.”

  “Yes.”

  “We need persuasive evidence. We don't have it.”

  “If they went to Jones and looked at the sheep, even for a day, they would know,” Elen said. “All of us know.”

  “My dear, the special interests don't want to know. Knowing would cost them money, and that is a sin. They will not go to Jones to garner evidence against their greed. We need a case right here on Earth that will blow away a skeptic.”

  Shep and Elen exchanged a look. They knew they had nothing.

  “You have a notion, Moncho,” Elasa said wisely.

  “You are getting to read me too well, fembot,” he agreed fondly. Their relationship seemed much like father/daughter. “Just as Mona does. Yes, there may be a way. It's a wild gamble, but what have we to lose? If we don't act within days, the case is lost by default.”

  Shep exchanged another glance with Elen. Neither of them had any idea.

  “Think carefully,” Moncho said to them persuasively. “If the sheep sent you here because they procogged your ability to save them from slaughter, they surely provided you with the means to accomplish your mission. We merely have to fathom that means.”

  “They aren't smart,” Elen protested. “They don't reason the way we do.”

  “Smartness is not the issue. They simply know what path to take to get where they are going. It is for us, not them, to figure out the details.”

  The details. Such as making a persuasive case to the Earth authorities who did not want to hear it. But Moncho was surely correct. The sheep had in effect given the order;
now they had to carry it out.

  They reviewed their experience with the sheep without finding anything relevant. Then Shep got a notion. “Those dreams we had. They were of Earth.”

  “They were wild fantasies,” Elen said.

  “What was the context?” Moncho asked.

  “We slept, and dreamed,” Shep said. “When we woke we discovered that the sheep had come to sleep near us. Then they moved away again.”

  “That may be it. If they are telepathic, it is surely more effective at close range.”

  “But the dreams were of Earth,” Elen protested. “The sheep know nothing of Earth.”

  “Telepathy, again,” Moncho said. “They projected a thought into your minds, and you translated it into the dreams of Earth.”

  “The precognition!” Elasa said. “They gave you telepathic precognition!”

  Moncho shook his head. “That's so far-fetched it just may be the truth. We don't know the limits of the powers of the sheep. If they gave you precognition, your minds would have shaped it into familiar substance. Exactly what were these dreams?”

  “Mine was of a volcano erupting in the Everglades,” Shep said.

  “Mine was of the discovery of an air-breathing cave squid,” Elen said.

  “Ludicrous,” Moncho said. “But sometimes the unbelievable is true. Was there anything else?”

  “A date,” Shep said. “The same for each one.” And paused, surprised. “That date is close to now!”

  “Verification,” Moncho said. “Your precognitive visions can be disproved simply by waiting on the date.”

  “That's bad,” Shep said.

  “No, that's perfect. We will publicize your predictions. If they are disproved, we have lost nothing we won't lose anyway by doing nothing. If they are proved, we win. It's so simple even a sheep could see it.”

  They looked at him. “You're taking it seriously?” Shep asked.

  “Yes. This is a phenomenally important case. Verifiable precognition would be the discovery of the century. If the sheep are as you say, they must be protected so they can be studied. So we will shoot for the moon, or in this case, the planet. The two of you are about to go dramatically globally public.”

  “I have seen that happen,” Elasa said.

  “Yes you have, metal maiden.” Moncho focused Shep and Elen. “Now we have work to do. I will pull a few strings and get you a spot to testify before the key congressional committee the day before the prophecies are due. You will rehearse your stories, not to falsify them but to make them as clear and effective as is feasible.” He rubbed his hands together. “We are going to make global headlines.”

  “Again,” Elasa said.

  Moncho eyed her. “You have a problem with that, boltbucket?”

  “None at all, meatman.”

  Shep squeezed Elen's hand. These two were fun!

  They left Moncho's temporary office and went to see about semester courses. Shep had to do a detailed report on his exchange experience, and Elen had to sign up for the advanced math classes she so desired. They also made sure they were registered as man and wife here on Earth. They were, as far as they knew, the first interplanetary couple, and the law was vague on their exact status. As long as neither Earth family, his and Mona's, challenged it, they were okay.

  Elasa arranged to audit the same classes Elen took, so the two could keep company most of the time. Shep understood the reasons, but apart from that he found it increasingly convenient. Elasa was conversant with all manner of feminine concerns that Shep knew little about, and was fine support for the visitor. Elen also got to hold Bela more often, and she did learn how to change his diaper. She reveled in the experience, anticipating her own baby on Colony Jones. Meanwhile she absolutely adored the math classes, and there were indications that she was a top student. She did have the mind for it. It was clear that the two women were rapidly becoming close friends, perhaps in part because one was a consciousness in a machine, the other a consciousness in a foreign body; they had unique aspects in common.

  Then they were due for the Congressional Committee Hearing. The Committee, as Moncho explained, was something of an ad hoc group consisting of some congressmen, some senators, and some representatives for those other nations involved in the interplanetary colonization initiative. All were deeply in hock to the special moneyed interests who were their true masters, whatever other impression they might try to make for the voters. But however makeshift it might seem, their word was quietly law.

  “Understand,” Moncho briefed them in advance. “This is a charade. They will listen to you, seem to be interested, perhaps promise further consideration, but you might as well be singing in the toilet for all the legal effect your words will have. Except for the publicity. You will be a global laughing stock for one day. Then, if the sheep's prophecy is true, everything will change.”

  “And if it isn't true,” Shep said glumly, “the sheep are dead.”

  “It is their scene to make,” Moncho agreed. “Meanwhile we must do our part to attract an audience.” He glanced at Elen. “You, my dear, must wear a supposedly accidentally revealing outfit that will make the male eye linger, and therefore the cameras. Elasa will help you select it from my daughter's closet. You must smile whenever Shep catches your eye.”

  “I will do that,” Elen agreed.

  Shep and Elen made desperate love the night before the hearing, fearing the worst. They believed in the sheep, but these prophecies were so far out that even the two of them could not really believe them. A squid unknown to science? A volcano in the swamp of Florida? Shep was no biologist or geologist, but he knew that these things were so unlikely as to be virtually impossible. Yet what else did they have?

  Then they were at the hearing. Moncho and Elasa sat behind them, silent support, with Bela asleep in Elasa's arms, but they would not be participating unless a Committee member addressed one of them specifically. Video cameras were recording the proceedings. Probably not too many people were tuning in, but the news was readily available for those interested.

  There were several other routine matters. Then it was their turn. “Our next witnesses represent Colony Planet Jones,” the Committee chairman said. “The exchange student Amber Shepherd, who has returned from a semester there, and his wife Elen Elf, now in exchange from there, taking math courses here. They wish to make their case for the protection of the Colony sheep. That is, against the pending legislation promoting the reclassification of that planet as a tourist hunting enclave.”

  The other Committee members had been casually indifferent to the prior business, but they abruptly focused. They would not let that legislation get sidetracked. The hostility did not show on their faces, but it was as though the oxygen in the room had been depleted.

  “Mr. Shepherd,” the chairman said, “Please state your case. You will have five minutes before we question your details.”

  Shep was ready. “When I exchanged to Colony Planet Jones, I was approached by a native sheep,” he said. “It seemed that the sheep had a difficult journey to make, and they wanted me to shepherd them, though I know nothing about sheep. But it seems that the sheep can be dangerous, and it was best to honor their preference. So I became their shepherd, along with other creatures they recruited: a vulture, a python, and an elf girl.” He paused briefly. “I should clarify that the elves are of human stock, merely a bit smaller than normal people. The two races can interbreed. Indeed, I married her, and she will bear my baby on Jones. She is with me here, in transfer.” He indicated Elen, who smiled fetchingly. “The sheep evidently knew what they were doing, because each member of the party had a key role to play, somewhere along the way. But what concerns me is the prophetical vision the sheep gave me. It is this: tomorrow a volcano will erupt in the Everglades.”

  There was a burst of laughter. Shep waited for it to fade, then continued. “This is why the sheep need to be protected, not hunted: true precognition would be invaluable, and we need to study them to ascertain how
they do it. They must not be hunted.”

  The cameras had feedback indicators showing the size of the video audience. Suddenly it was rapidly growing. Something newsworthy was occurring.

  “Moncho Maverick,” the chairman said. “I recognize you; you have been in the news often enough. Is this one of your publicity stunts?”

  “Of course,” Moncho agreed.

  The chairman glanced at the camera indicator. He liked publicity as well as anyone did. Then he glanced at Elasa. “And is the woman beside you the android?”

  “The bucket of bolts,” Elasa agreed. She took off one hand and waved it at the invisible audience. Then she put it back on and bared a breast for Bela to drink from. “I am here to support my friend Elen.”

  The audience was expanding exponentially. Much of the world remembered the metal maiden. Much of it also appreciated the view of a bare breast, however legitimate.

  “Then perhaps it is time for her to talk,” the chairman said. “Elen Elf, enlighten us about the sheep.”

  “Gladly,” Elen said, learning earnestly forward, so that more of Mona's fine cleavage showed for the cameras. “I, too, had a vision, a prophecy. It is this: tomorrow an air-breathing cave squid will be discovered.”

  There was another burst of laughter. The committee members were enjoying this for more than one reason.

  “A vision sent by the sheep,” the chairman said, hardly concealing his scorn.

  “I think so. I know too little of Earth to be able to generate such a vision.” Elen inhaled, and the audience grew at an even faster rate. This show had everything.

  “To make the news tomorrow?”

  “Yes.”

  The chairman evidently decided that the joke had gone on far enough. “Thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs Shepherd. I believe we had heard sufficient testimony. We will take this matter under advisement.”

  They had been dismissed. They got up and departed along with Moncho and Elasa. “Excellent,” Moncho murmured.

  “Until tomorrow,” Shep said. “When it either explodes or falls apart.”