“Yes, ma’am,” he said, giving her space to work. “Forgot myself. I’m dealing with ranch boss Tamsyn right now, aren’t I?”
“Damn straight,” she said as she made the cut. “What we did in bed was amazing and I want to repeat the experience sooner than later but work is work, Mr. Wayne and to be taken seriously.”
The hum of the fence stopped and the box folded itself into a tiny cube which Tamsyn plucked from the grass and stuck into her saddlebag. “Nine more to go,” she said.
“I think I’ve got the technique,” Cody replied. “I’ll ride out to the other end and work my way toward you.” He walked to where Mercury grazed and swung into the saddle, suiting action to words.
* * *
When the fence was completely gone and nothing remained but the tiny cubes in their saddlebags, Tamsyn and Cody had a quick lunch and headed back to the herd. As he passed the grazing cattle, Cody asked, “What now? Do we ride home and let them figure out for themselves they can go to the literally greener pastures?”
“Cattle ain’t all that smart, my friend.” Tamsyn’s amusement was plain on her face. “I’d rather not take the chance. We’ll have to move them but carefully so we don’t set off a stampede. Cattle in a stampede have no sense and I don’t need valuable animals to hurt themselves running headlong into who knows where.” She made no move, however.
Watching her survey the herd, frowning, Cody was puzzled. “What’s bothering you? If it’s me, you told me I should basically let Mercury have his head and he’d do all the work. I’ll follow your lead.”
“No, that’s not it,” she said with a sigh. Shoulders slumped, she said, “Normally on a yearly roundup like this we’d take inventory, mark the calves, banding the bulls we didn’t want to use as future studs, administer certain medinjects…” Her voice trailed off and she waved a hand at a cluster of wooden structures off to the side. “Didn’t you wonder what that over there was used for? The most ornery animals we’d stun in order to work on them but most we ran through those chutes. But it takes a full team of ranch hands and days to get through the whole herd. You and I can’t even begin to do the work. And the herd will be on its own after today anyway.”
“Maybe we can’t do most of it but you can take inventory from my drones’ holos, can’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess, but a rancher likes to be more hands on with the most valuable asset we own, you know?”
He could see her point but he wasn’t going to give up on trying to make her feel better. “How do you mark the calves?”
“I have the tool in my pack here, brought it for old times sake I guess. We don’t do branding like they did in the old, barbaric days. The marker gets pressed to their flank and it leaves a permanent symbol in the hide.” Tamsyn rode on to the cabin and dismounted, looping the reins over the hitching post. She opened her pack as Cody arrived and got out of the saddle, turning to show him the piece of equipment. It was a slender metallic wand, with a tip glowing purple. “See, touch this to the skin and the Double Comets mark is set.” She demonstrated on the wooden stair, leaving a bright purple logo of the twinned comets.
“You’ve yet to see what a cyborg can do,” he said, extending his hand. “Give me the marker and step back.”
She let him take the instrument but asked, “What are you planning to do? You can’t walk around in the herd—not only will Fury take exception once he notices you, but the mama cows are also going to get upset if you approach their babies.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” He gave her a cocky salute and started walking toward the grazing cattle. As he got closer he shifted into cyborg mode and moved faster than the human—or bovine—eye could track. He wove in and out of the herd, startling a few animals but for the most part swooping in on each calf, touching them with the marker and moving on. He brought a couple of his drones down to eye level and coordinated with them on identifying the calves in need of ‘branding’. It took him less than ten minutes and he was out the other side of the herd, jogging at a human pace to the cabin where an open-mouthed Tamsyn waited.
“What I did would be a top secret demonstration under normal circumstances,” he told her as he got closer. “Cyborg capabilities are a highly classified Sectors secret.”
“I won’t tell anyone. I couldn’t even see you myself but the calves are marked so you must have done it.” Her voice was full of awe.
“It does take a toll on my reserves,” he admitted as he handed her the marker. Sinking onto the stair, he said, “Gonna need a few minutes for the nanos to eliminate the toxic byproducts and rebuild my reserves. I’ll admit I can’t do that often.”
She sat next to him on the riser and he slung his arm over her shoulder to pull her close. “I’m honored you chose to do it for me. It’s reassuring to have this year’s crop of calves marked at least. I guess I’ve got to let go of a lot of things that were so important to me now and recognize if we manage to get a handle on the infected issues, which is a monumental if, we’re in for rebuilding in so many ways.”
“Probably a good way to look at it.” He took a deep breath, testing his reflexes and checking the status of the nanobots. “We’d better get moving on shifting the herd before it gets dark.”
“How precisely can you control your drones?” she asked.
“They’re not tactical, all they can do is observe.” He was mystified by the question.
“I know they’re tiny but could they maybe buzz by Fury’s ear, for instance? Annoy him, not enough to send him into a rampage or a stampede but enough to want to move away from the nuisance?”
Cody caught her drift and was enthusiastic. “Sure. They can be mini ranch hands for you. But I only brought a few with me. I kept the majority flying perimeter on the ranch to protect the others at the house.”
“I think a few would do it with you and me riding on the flanks. We only have to motivate Fury and Bossy and the rest of the herd will follow them.” She pointed at the loosely gathered animals. “We’ll ride at the rear of the herd, slowly and calmly, no shouting or rapid moves. The horses know the proper gait. We’ll go in a big zigzag, kind of pushing the cattle to want to be somewhere else. Once we get the leaders to the spot where we removed the fences, our work is done. They’ll be drawn to the abundant grazing in the lower pasture.”
“All right, I’ll wait for your signal to deploy the drones.” Cody wasn’t sure he wanted to be in the saddle again so soon. He wouldn’t admit it to Tamsyn, who rode like a centaurette and never seemed tired. He’d be happy to stick to motorized transport after this trip. Primarily anyway. He’d miss Mercury and the closeness to nature accompanying the act of riding through the terrain on a horse.
As Tamsyn had predicted, once Cody rode him into position behind the herd and Mercury figured out what was up, the horse swung right into the zigzag pattern . Cody and Tamsyn crisscrossed in their routes and Cody could see the cattle slowly deciding to move on from this spot. He deployed his small contingent of drones to ‘bug’ Fury and Bossy, which helped accelerate the transition from a grazing herd to one on the move at an ambling pace.
No stampede. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if these horned behemoths ran mindlessly.
When Tamsyn decided they’d nudged the herd far enough, she brought Blaze to a halt and Cody rode Mercury up next to her. “We’re good now,” she said. “We’ve done all we can for them. One more night at the cabin and tomorrow we can leave early for the ride home.”
