Part 12 (2/2)
”Your species always has them four at a time?”
Yes
”Whoas the father?”
NO FADER
”No father? Then howAnna, soenetically Do your people do that?”
Yes
”Huh But this isn't a sensible tiers it? Why did you have them now and not some other time?”
SHE ASK
”She? You mean Kotcha?”
Yes
”And all she had to do was ask? You reproduce voluntarily?”
Yes and yes
”I'll be darow up?”
She tapped her hoof four-ti children?”
Yes and yes
”Well, having more people like you around would sure be helpful You keep on having them until further notice Is that sufficient?”
Yes
”Good I hope you accept uess I'd better talk to Kotcha now
How long before you're ready to travel?”
She gaveafter childbirth? Well, if you say so We leave in an hour I' to ask”
Yes
I apologized to Kotcha, but she stayed mad at me, the way a kid will It was ain
Actually, I was pretty disgusted with myself I had reacted emotionally and had almost made a horrible mistake because I hadn't stopped to think I'd known for years that Anna was a member of a different species than a horse Just because the adults of her species looked like horses was no reason to think that the juveniles would And since when do you do otten into the bad habit of forgetting it
I'd had the saddler make a sort of second saddle that attached to the back of Anna's regular saddle This let a passenger ride sidesaddle behindto show her soive her a chance to show off some of her neestern-style outfits, and for sex, of course There was no point in e ladies when I had perfection at hoet to Copper City Anna couldin and the days were ht cut into travel time as much as it did into industrial production
My experi to distill a decent lamp fuel from coal tar had met with a pretty dismal failure
The stuff had so much sulfur and ammonia in it that it cleared the room of people when I fit the la with the idea of trying to drill for oil so that we could have kerosene lamps, but the only oil fields nearby were at Przeain, but had been in the hands of the Ukrainian Duchy of Halicz Ruthenia for fifty years Getting permission to set up an installation there would probably take a ot to Copper City, the duke was just arriving
He had Lady Francine with him, and two dozen armed men
”damn, boy! Do you always run a horse like that? You'll kill her!”
”Not Anna, your grace She likes a good run”
”People say that whenever they see you on the road, you're always at a dead gallop and never seem to have time to talk”
”It's just that between your projects, Count Larace I hope I haven't been rude”
”No, but it keeps the about you”
”I suppose it does keep ot out of the saddle and helped Cilicia down She was short and slender but surprisingly heavy for her build A dancer's body is all smooth, hidden muscle, and remarkably dense
She bowed to the duke, who nodded back, but she stayed out of the conversation until invited in, as a good woman should In the twentieth century, the ladies would haveThe thirteenth was less decadent
”What the hell is a liht dawned in the swa to think of for two years, your grace It's a very bright artificial light as under lime, and it's ill double the production in our factories”
”Double the production? I don't follow you, boy”
”Itthe daytiood weather in the wintertime Our expensive ood artificial light, we can shutter up the s and run things day and night!”
”How're you going to get that much work out of the peasants? Three days of it and they'd fall over dead!”
”Well, you don't work the sarace You work thehts We're already doing that with the sht, but the aniive off ht is three times that of the day shi+ft, and a lot of that is caused by poor lighting But liht as day!”
”But you'd stiff have to double up on the housing, and that's what ure to run their beds on two shi+fts too”
”That would cause race Every fas are not the sleeping rooms What costs is the bathrooms and the kitchens, and there is no reason why both shi+fts can't use those same facilities”