It did not seem odd to Overby that not one of the castaways could give a coherent description of any of the "natives."
There had been twenty-six travelers when they landed. Now there were ten women, four men. The missing twelve had wandered in the heavily fogged, jet-black night and simply disappeared, none knew how.
The "natives" appeared to have done a great deal more for the remaining humans than just rescue the battered survivors of the crash..most of whom had been in serious condition with severe cuts, abrasions and broken limbs.
They were now, and had been for as long as they could now remember, on an apparently illimitable prairie, under the eternally overcast sky. The weather was mild, dry, occasionally gentle breezes wafted by them, they neither sweated nor shivered. They were generally comfortable, but...
What presently remained of their rations and water, by Mate Bernie Overby's count, would last them only one more day - maybe two if they ate only once tomorrow and the next day. The meeting was were so that all surviving travelers might consider the options they had, the thirteen of them gathered in a somewhat self-conscious circle around Bernie Overby..
"Aye, but they have odd ways of making us heal, don't you think? Why should we be almost naked, not that it bothers..." asked Ramona daSouza, she of the long, black hair and imperious ways. She stopped before she said more than she should.
"Of course, dah-ling, it wouldn't bother you, would it?" replied Nelustra Mulkar, who detested her, mostly because of Ramona's pursuit of Lars Noutern, a handsome Otrilian, in the undeclared race to see who could take more men to bed in one voyage.
Ramona's manners had improved somewhat in the days since their landing - she halted her reply before it was uttered. She had no idea how long they had been wherever they were - her memory told her that at first she had suffered severe wounds, but had recovered, and was now suffering from noting more fatal than ennui. She vaguely remembered a deep bath, her head supported by a sling, as were her torso and limbs, the multiple fractures mending while she floated in a thick liquid.. She had awakened this morning to find herself lying on the ground, dry and whole - and very hungry. Her memory of the craft's crash on the planet and her cure were already fading.. She was beginning to wonder if she had imagined the entire thing.
Several of the other females (as Ramona now thought of them, rather than as girls, or women) lay on the soft moss which covered the ground just here, recovered from less serious, but painful, injuries. The others had noted and forgotten that Ramona had suddenly appeared, as each morning another person had been cured. The bath . . . if there had indeed been a bath.
"Has anyone spoken with a 'native,' so far?" asked the only other surviving crew member, Amanda Quendi, sometime second engineer and perhaps the oldest of those standing or lying around the meadow, at 26. She was an Otrilian, like Lars.
"Who has really seen them?" asked Paurlu Qom, from Justofar.
"I think I've seen one or two...they look human...oid, I think. They must speak an entirely different language, but I've been having odd thoughts...I dreamed about . . . certain things, last night," said Lauria Gens, blushing faintly.
"You too? So have I," added Lars Noutarn, the object of Ramona's desires. He had been an object of amused speculation among the young male passengers for his eccentric ways and extraordinarily well-muscled build.
"Like what?" asked Maury Desmaines, another of Ramona's ilk, also freshly healed and ambulant, but not reverting to her former haughty mannerisms. She had been quietly trying to get Lars into her bunk for the entire trip. For some reason she no longer looked at Ramona or the other females with dislike.
"We-ell. In my dreams," said Lars, "there is a red-skinned female - looks like a very well-tanned human woman, anyway - who becomes our guide...I think it's 'guide' I mean. 'Teacher' might be better. She shows us what to do, and..."
Just at this juncture, as they listened to Lars's recounting of his dream, a fairly tall, deeply-tanned woman, bearing a long staff appeared. She had quite normal, Earth-like features, and the men sat up and took notice. Because of her coloration and features she looked like an extremely well-built Amerind of the ancient days, save for her stubbier nose. She wore nothing save long, braided black hair, the same, unbraided, short, showing between her legs. She regarded the group speculatively, then strode confidently toward them. She stood regarding them as they watched her.
"Holloa! Here's that 'well tanned native' you spoke of," murmured Maury, in her nastier and more disdaining voice.
"Ah. Who may you be, please?" asked Bernie in a stilted manner as he stepped forward. Without a word spoken he had felt himself elected as spokesperson. He felt his "position" required some formality, but his reaction was to be unbending. His only qualification, apparently sufficient for the other survivors, was that he was the only bridge officer.
The woman's voice was pitched in a deep contralto, and she spoke softly, yet she evidenced no particular facial expression.
"I am courie... we think in your tongue is a... 'tcher'. . . .I make a trip for to tell? I am to be your...tick-er . . . guardian?"
"Pilgrim? Teacher, do you mean?" asked Bernie. The other simply nodded, seeming puzzled but amenable.
"What do we need, and how are we to take that word 'guardian?'" asked the supercilious Maury, winking at Lars, who she still wanted to "recapture" from Ramona, although her desire for such by-play seemed to be waning. That which took her fancy she had always obtained - she thought.
"As you will. There is nothing bad to you here, and I am show you how, for that you will live here for time...and learn place on this world."
None of the survivors seemed to be concerned with the phrase "live here for time," which the Teacher - or plain "Teach" as they came to call the dark-skinned woman - had uttered. Nor did Bernie even think to ask about interspatial communications available on the planet, an odd omission. He had meant to mention it, but looking around at the gently rolling plain with its low bushes and tall grass, now to him a very pleasant place, the idea struck him as ludicrous and he forgot it.
"You will find that the herbage and grass is delicious and will suit your di...jessyton," instructed Teach, pointing here and there with the long, thick stick she carried. She seemed to be gaining better command of Galactic as she stood looking at them.
Indeed, Ramona got the impression that they were being sized up. The castaways regarded her dumbly for moments, then one or two, followed by the remainder of the hungry group, began to browse among the bushes. Ramona, still alert, noticed that none of her compatriots used their hands, but tore at the foliage and grasses with their teeth and their jaws, turning their heads sideways to approach the leafage closely.
For a moment Ramona, kneeling there naked, looking at Teach, felt sheer terror as she had a flash of realization that something about their bodies and minds was changing - had been changed! She wondered briefly what kind of beings fed on herbage, but her fear almost at once subsided into a dull complacency. A few of the other castaways looked startled, but then tried one kind of leaf, found a particular type bitter, and tried a differently-shaped blade, which they began to devour.
Teach approved, "I think you hungry. You be here a time with no eat. You need feed up for good yield."
As she munched on a particularly succulent thick leaf, the thought struck Lauria for just an instant that none of them seemed to find the idea of eating herbage distasteful. She also had the passing thought that Teach was talking in shorter and shorter words, as though her audience were becoming less and less intelligent. For a second she felt fear, then her thoughts concentrated on finding a tasty leaf. The group was ravenous, and the surrounding foliage was good. Their mouths and momentarily odd feeling teeth masticated their new diet without hesitation, nor did their stomachs complain.
Just for a second, Lauria thought about the word "yield." Was that what this strange person meant to say? Then she was perfectly comfortable with the situation and incuriously began to munch on another tasty leaf.
The satiated group was sitting again in a rough circle as Teach, standing in their midst, outlined further facts of their existence.
"Water in . . . su. . . stareem....over there . . . is bad for you . . . will be other. You wash and relieve in, but not drink it. . ." she held up her long fingers to indicate seven "..starangi...that is, length you body," again the fingers, "ixxy two..." she poked holes in the air, "...way water flow, there fruit you like same herbage, here..
"When be cold - I lead you shelter, you be warm. Some...light-dark? . . . day, night? . . . you some change, nothing harm you. It now dry, warm time. It . . . last . . . for long time."
Her speech became more confident, as though she was tired of speaking at a moronic level. Perhaps some of her words would make sense to these...animals.
"You need to eat, sleep, play. You notice you not need cover, you are sufficient warm, no? but you will not take harm from later cold.
"I want you..." she counted rapidly on her fingers, "...four, Paul, Giveeny, Bern, Larss...to come now. You others, your . . . clothy? . . . you take off, you not need. Get wet, be clean, you like, but stay this...place? Understand?"
There were, oddly, no questions from this formerly curious and loquacious group, nor did the four men object to being singled out. Perhaps a libidinous thought wafted across Paul Gens's mind as he watched Teach's slim waist and rounded buttocks undulate ahead of him, for his penis erected slightly, but he waved cheerfully toward what once had been his sexy wife Lauria - the sight of her nude body did not arouse him, nor did Teach's, after that initial twitch. Lauria watched the males out of sight with an odd expression, shook her head as if ridding herself of something distasteful, and turned back to munch on a particularly tasty bush with a sigh.
The females slowly began to divest themselves of their few remaining rags while the "others" were gone. Having done so, they bathed and lolled around in the warm sunshine until they were dry.
We'll be ready for... what? Oh, the males, thought Ramona, but her libido was becoming very low and she did not pursue the thought. Not one of the females thought it odd that they'd had no sexual response to the males since the crash.
Amanda, the free-spirited second engineer for whom most of the women had pretended contempt among themselves, naming her a "de-sexed space jock," was the first to discard what remained of a utility coverall and tattered bra - her figure put to rest any further comment about "de-sexed." None of them gave any further thought to the subject.
She was small, tightly knit, but with perky, firm breasts, rather larger than the coverall had made evident. In fact, before she divested herself of her bra, her breasts had been bulging over its constraint, but that caused no notice, for all the women who still wore them found that their bras were suddenly far too small. Ramona, who did not wear a bra, appeared to have become at least 44D, although no one remarked the fact of the sudden and considerable growth of their breasts.
Oddly, those few lesbians who had been strongly attracted to Amanda - and each other - felt no further attraction. Two of the women who had been decidedly small breasted and mannish now had definite hips and breasts, at least 38s - and growing visibly.
When the naked males returned with Teach, the females evinced no interest. Ramona and Maury, the predators of the spaceship, were combing each others' hair with their fingers, like monkeys grooming each other, and had no time for males.
It was also noticeable that the four - Paul had been particularly randy aboard the spacecraft and had departed with a stiff penis - showed no sign of interest when confronted by ten naked, well-built females, considerably better endowed than the horniest teen's dreams. Jewelry had been worn flauntingly on board, but none was now evident. .
Ramona and Maury from ingrained habit began to resume their maneuvering for position near Lars, but then the thought of contesting for a male when they were not in heat seemed ridiculous and they hugged each other for the pleasure the pressure of their bodies against each other gave them. They went back to browsing among the low bushes almost at once. The thought crossed their minds that only one of the males smelled right. What did that smell mean? The thought was unimportant, and they returned to their browsing ..
Their bodies dry, their discarded clothing in a ragged heap to one side, stomachs full, the group had no trouble just relaxing in the sunshine. Ramona was beginning to enjoy the benefits of a cud, over which she was ruminating. Teach regarded them again with her calm indifference.
"Now you are ready . . . that is the word?...I tell you more. Lars, Giveney and Paul . . . and Bern, so everyone here.. Bern, hold still."
Bern, as Teach called him now, had discovered that his penis and scrotum were feeling odd, and he was jiggling from foot to foot and fingering his privates, which seemed to have an infernal itch which he could not reach. His penis seemed to have grown, and his testicles and scrotum felt large. He thought briefly that might be the reason for the funny itch.
"You all have already had change to your bodies and minds." Teach spoke as though reciting a lesson.
If there had been any changes, the castaways had not noticed. There were, in fact, many unseen, unrealised changes, but none had caused any alarm, nor raised a question.
Teach went on, "You cows have big changes, but you not hurt. Just be easy, we take good care. You no bleed every. . .what you call? Oh, munt - just twice in each founa will you feel need of male. There is plenty of food this pasture, and plenty water. If you ill, or hurt, come to me, I fix you."
There appeared, or always had been as far as the castaways were concerned, six large upright tubes, with large bowls affixed, standing in a row near the creek, and the thirstier ones of the group had already sampled the cool, clear liquid from those self-filling bowls. None thought it strange that they lapped from the bowls directly. No one remembered when the tubes had not been there.
Evening came and the group lay in a huddle, not cold, but for some reason now a part of their mind-set they wished to be close to each other in the dark. Teach sang a strange tune which calmed those of them who seemed frightened.
There was a low murmur as certain of the group paired or grouped together.
"I feel...," said Paul Gens, murmuring indistinctly into Lauria's ear. "I miss some thing here." He placed her hand on his groin.
"Well, you have lump, sometime, you smell all right now. Ah, no lump there."
Now why did I say that? she thought.
She murmured abstractedly. "Didn't you have lumps...? No, you have . . . I don't remember."
"Lauria? It all right, I feel fine. How you feel?"
"I different...But I . . . cow . . . is that word?. Burya not wet, I not ready . . . for bull. What thing say, heh? I not ready. For bull. You. . . steer, though, so all right you here."
"Matter now? You . . . need?"
"No."
"No. You front big."
"I cow. Not lick-suck my teats. You big, you not calf!"
Paul grumbled a bit as he lay down slightly apart from her. He'd remembered calfhood - he did! - and the wonderful taste of milk from the udder, and was suddenly hungry for some. Well, Lauria wouldn't give any to a steer, anyway.
He rolled back over to look at his - not his, no. No, could not be, he was a steer. In the dim light he could see her teats were thick and long and her breasts just the right size for a cow . He watched her as she lay there, but no feeling of desire arose within him.
He was numb, now, where he had formerly carried a rod of lust. His penis itched, he gently scratched it, and it did not stiffen. He had no reaction to what would earlier have been sexual heaven. He nodded. Soon, like the rest of the fourteen, he was sleeping.
Teach did not seem to need sleep. She assured herself that her charges were indeed asleep. Certain that none of her charges would see, she slowly morphed into something else, not in the least human.
Ramona woke in the morning and began to sit up, but the weight on her chest made it easier to roll onto her belly and then push up from there. Sitting up was not how cows arose. She drew her legs up and went about standing easily, her legs bending to accommodate her movement - she thought for a moment that the way they bent was odd, but quickly forgot it - and she was standing on her hind paws, awake, hungry. She looked casually at the other cows and recognized them by the shape of their bags, long teats and faces. She could not have put a name to any of them.
All the females now bore two large, firm "udders," slightly divergent, perhaps eight to twelve inches deep, from just under their collar bones to a thick teat, then curving back to their bottom ribs. At first, they found that the bulging udders and teats got in their way. The teats were somewhat stiff, not yet sensitive, although yielding and bendy, if pressed.
The females' movements soon adjusted to their padded, clawed feet, their minds gradually taking account of their new shapes and the initially strange distribution of weight, so they were fully accustomed to their new shapes in just a few hours.
Bern at the same time found that he had become vaguely interested by all the udders, but more particularly by the scent of the cows, as his muzzy thoughts defined them. He felt his penis rise about halfway, then relax, as his enhanced and sensitive sense of smell informed him that none of the cows was yet ready to breed.
He looked for the other males and saw Lars, Paul and Giveney browsing quietly, seemingly unaffected by the cows' proximity. He waddled toward them, slightly favoring his enlarged penis and balls, in order to discover about the nocturnal changes.
As he approached he happened to be looking at their pubic areas, and he realised that none of the three had anything behind the penis depending between their legs, as he did.. His curiosity aroused, he walked around behind each of them and felt roughly between their thighs. His prying hand caused no resentment, so he examined the three more closely. None of them had testicles, but each had a thin fleshy tube about six inches long in place of a penis.
His own penis and scrotum, he realised as he looked at and felt them to assure himself that he was still a male, was the reason for the way he now moved. His scrotum was larger than human, bulging with maleness, and he'd had to change his manner of walking so that his legs straddled his penis and testicles more widely than before to prevent discomfort and possible pain.
Bernie asked Paul how he was, his thoughts considering this the extent of such small courtesy as the surge of testosterone would allow. His voice was a deep rumble, quite different from the way he had sounded aboard ship.
"Hrm, Paul, how was night?"
Lars and Giveney had taken no particular notice of his approach, despite his feeling at their crotches, but as they looked up from their quiet browsing at his question they seemed to recognize him and immediately gave back as though he naturally were to have the best browse.
"Quiet. sleep well, Bull."
"'Bull?' My name . . . uh, what my name? I called . . . oh, ship? . . . no . . . here since calf. My name 'Bull,' yes, that right. What your name?"
"I called Cutpaul, Bull. I steer. We steers, Bull."
Bern, in a sudden unthinking panic, searched desperately for Teach, and trotted up to her with the burning question in his eyes - for she seemed to read his query there. He vaguely considered her "Authority." She talked to him soothingly, although certain he would not understand much of what what she said - the tone would sooth him..
"I did say there would be changes. You have kept your bodies to an extent, but little else. When I took you four with me, you were tested - of course you don't remember - and you, Bull, are good stud potential, you have the right genes to breed. You kept your maleness.
"You have ten cows to service, all to yourself! The others will fatten and be made use of, but you will be father to many calves, Bull. I think you will enjoy yourself - if your mind understands 'enjoy,' anyway. And you don't need to worry, your tongue will do for many things. You'll find out."
Bern - Bull - bowed respectfully, although he'd understood only about half of what she said, mostly her tone. His head rose again. Teach seemed to understand.
"No, I can't change you back. Neither you nor any of your herd have any need to be whatever you were - you cannot leave. After awhile, Bull, you will hardly have anything to talk about, either, will you? When the cows are ready...well, you're Bull, you'll know. You have enough to eat, good weather to sleep, the herd around you, and you're quite safe."
---
Perhaps a month or two - quite a few successive periods of light and dark, in the herd's vague thoughts - went placidly by. The cows browsed, the steers browsed, Bull browsed, all of them relieved themselves while squatting over or in the creek, which washed away their leavings. Slowly language and the very idea of language slipped away. The three steers and the ten cows allowed Bull an open space and the best herbage to himself.
Bull noticed with interest that the cows' udders and nipples were now considerably larger. A few of the cows' teats were turning pink. The three "cuts" were a bit fatter and much heavier - they lumbered when they walked. The cows and he were slimmer than the cuts, save for the cows' bags (as he now called those protuberances in his muzzy mind), which were bulging and very large, their arms making wide sweeps to avoid hurting themselves.. They had all become quite used to their padded, short-clawed feet.
If he looked like the cows, as Bull dully recognized, he was beginning to have a forward-thrusting muzzle which made it easier to browse and drink, as well as a forward leaning stance. He knew his tongue was long, he could see a great deal of it! It felt good when he bent his torso so he could lick his semi-hard penis - it began poking out from his belly more and more as certain so far unidentifiable scents became stronger and more fascinating.
Despite his situation as leader, and as friendly as he was becoming with the cows, Bull had begun to feel lonely and disregarded. The cuts remained stand-offish, although courteous and always yielding him the better browse. Until one morning . . .
---
The day was, as always, warm and overcast. Bull thought he remembered Teach telling the herd that the cooler weather and the rains would not come until much later, so they had quite a time - "six or seven britlax, perhaps, all you cows will come in season" - before they need concern themselves with shelter. Teach knew very well that these days the herd understood very little and tended to forget what she had told them within a day, but her duty was to keep them informed.
Of course, when the time came she would lead or direct them to shelter. Giveney had apparently wandered off during a recent night, but he had not been taken for slaughter. He returned the following day. His absence caused no one any misgivings.
On this particular morning Bull awakened with a strong but fascinating scent bothering his sensitive olfactory nerve. As he rolled over before getting up, he noticed that his penis was rigid and his balls felt hot and tight. He sniffed the new scent appreciatively, but he could not at first understand what it was, nor locate it.
He tried to browse, for he felt hungry, but the scent seemed to increase and he forgot his hunger and began to seek its origin. He went to the creek to relieve himself and could smell the much stronger scent. Nearby he noticed two of the cows apparently wrestling, one on top of the other, the rest standing in a circle, watching. The cow on top - it was Lauria - had her legs clamped around the other cow's, Erma's, hips and was humping herself on the other's ass, grunting as she did so. The other cows were apparently fascinated, for Bern's urgent efforts to push to the center - he wanted to see, too - brought little response.
He finally shoved his way into the group to find Lauria - he could sometimes remember the females' names, if little else - with her belly and udder rubbing against Erma's back, her legs encircling Erma's legs, urgently moving her hips against Erma's haunches as the scent waxed in Bernie's nostrils. Lauria looked puzzled yet determined to effect some personal release, and her movements became more and more frenetic as Bern watched. Her bright pink teats stood about two inches straight out from her firm udder.
Bull caught a good whiff of her scent and his thick penis lengthened and stiffened to a bar-like rigidity. Erma was moving her hips, too, apparently affected by Lauria's movements, as well as beginning to enjoy this odd attack, for she seemed to gain something from the movement while she licked her nose. Had Bern been able, he could have detected a lesser whiff of the scent from her, too.
Lauria, on the other hand, was flushed, and when Bull touched her flank with his stubby fingers, her skin was hot. Bull felt a drip from his penis, and when he looked down, his nose twitching at the smell, he saw that his penis was a reddened bar of glistening flesh - nine or more inches long and two inches or more thick, with two knots near the base!
The head was even bigger, spread like a mushroom at the end of the shaft, distended and purple, the shaft trembling in anticipation of what Bull did not yet understand - save that he must taste Lauria at once!
Down Lauria's inner thighs ran a fluid which Bull desperately needed to lick. He had a great urge to nuzzle at her crotch, and he bumped her buttocks with his face. His tongue instantly shot forth to taste the fluid on her thighs, and he touched her labia. She turned her head toward him, and ceased to pound on Erma's haunches.
As Lauria smelled his maleness she turned her entire body while rising, her udder and long, rigid teats slapping his torso. His penis jumped - that was as sexy a thing as he had ever felt. He realized that, true to his atavistic instinct, Lauria could be approached from the front. He would lick and nuzzle at her crotch until she indicated her readiness to be mounted - that's what he must do!
He thrust aside the other cows and pushed the no longer confused Lauria away from Erma and down onto her back. He pushed her legs apart with his hands, mouth and muzzle, exposing her sopping cunt, open and pulsing as his eager tongue slapped against it and began licking up and down.
Lauria's reproductive organs (as the other cows') still had a clitoris, or at least a sensitive little knob at the top of her opening, a protuberance which Bern's seeking tongue touched several times as he licked, making her body tense and her muscles twitch while bringing a low moan from her mouth.
Neither paid the least attention to the enthralled crowd around them, which included Lars and Paul as interested but indifferent spectators.
Bull found that Lauria tasted wonderful, but the thickening and throbbing of his long hard penis made it imperative that he quench the heat of his loins with his member's immediate immersion in the welcoming, warm wetness of the inviting female answer to his bullish sexual drive.
He nuzzled Lauria's sex to make her turn over - despite licking her from the front, he somehow knew that he had to mount her from the rear so that his rod could have the greatest and most effective penetration.
Lauria immediately humped herself onto her hands and knees, raising her ass as high in the air as she could, hunkering down in front so that her burning teats were cooled a bit by the grass, her legs wide, Bern's erect member thumping her flanks as she moved. He bent and began licking at her vulva as she moved restlessly awaiting his assault. His tongue, so large and long, thrust into her and thoroughly tasted the juices which he had already sampled.
Lauria's response was to move purposefully backward onto Bull's tongue, at the same time as she bent her back, opening her vulva further, apparently trying to impale herself. Dissatisfied with the contact thus made, she groaned and backed harder while moaning disconsolately and Bull discovered that although he had tasted nothing quite so nice as her slippery cunt and the fluid leaking down onto his tongue therefrom, it was time for different and immediate action.
The increasing distention and continually increasing throbbing of his penis had also alerted Bull to more urgent matters than his tongue and her vulva. Most reluctantly, he withdrew his tongue and raised himself from all fours while his forearms wrapped automatically around Lauria's lower belly and thighs, so that he could aim his erect rod at her sex. He shuffled awkwardly and managed to insert the tip of his pulsating cock between her leaking lips, then thrust slowly forward as she pushed back against him. Very quickly his belly was pressing close against her cheeks, and he and she rotated their hips with pleasure at this new sensation.
The halting of Bern's so urgent cunnilingus, what Lauria had muzzily considered a high point to date of her sexual experience, was also quite obviously bothering her. She moaned wordlessly in frustration until Bull had inserted his member into her streaming cunt and pushed in deeply. Lauria immediately bent her pubes up and shoved back in ecstatic cooperation, yet for several minutes after full penetration the two remained still, save for random twitches and grunts, as their physiques accommodated to each other.
Then Bull, in whom tremendous lust had burgeoned despite his passivity, began sliding slowly in and out, to Lauria's increasing pleasure. The two increased the pace of their joining until Bull was pounding on her, his belly and thighs at her haunches, her cheeks to his belly. They pounded at each other in a frenzy for several more minutes, and then Bull could feel his scrotum drawing tight against his crotch, his semen beginning its migration from deep within his testicles to the base of his penis and along its length. With a slurping sound, the knots at the base of his penis slipped inside her cunt lips, to be trapped there as Lauria felt some kind of climax approaching, but her mind being so dull now, she had no conception during this first experience of being bred that she was about to have a monstrous orgasm.
---
It is certain, Teach indicated in her report, that the stud could have continued to mate with this particular cow for some time, had I not soon restrained him, for the cow spasmed continuously with his knots inside her. It proved necessary to apply stasis while I injected the cow so that the joining in this instance might be terminated. Apparently this type of bordi continues to perform coitus after the cusp, unlike others we have taken.
We cannot waste seed from this new bord until we have mated the stud several more times and we are sure that the cows will produce calves. We aim for a few males among the births.
Several cows have come into season, and the stud has performed more than adequately each time. One stud to ten cows would appear to be the correct ratio with this particular bordi herd, to avoid undue debilitation of the bull or the cows.
All feed well, move their bowels properly, and appear to enjoy the herbage. I found it necessary to supplement this feed with certain kwiliafiar before the cold sets in. Shelter, despite earlier estimates, will be required, as there is no sign of these bordi developing a pelt or heavy outer covering naturally. The steers are of some help with moving food supplements, but save for one, prematurely designated for slaughter, have not yet had sufficient time to fatten to prove their worth as meat.
---
Bull, of course, could have understood none of this and very little else by this time, but he was thoroughly enjoying his role as stud and "paterfamilias" to the growing herd of which he remained leader. The two humanoid neuters were carefully trained by Teach - having gained relatively great strength - to move heavy objects and help herd the cows, as well as to milk with the electronic machines those which came into production.
Lauria, soon after her calf was born, was joined in producing fluid from her udder by three other "mothers" and became one of the more productive cows, giving an average of five douria at each daily milking.
Giveney was the first steer, the largest and heaviest, to be led quietly away one night. The herd never saw him again, but then, they saw no one but themselves, and his absence made no difference in the even tenor of their lives.
As the cows gave birth after the normal interval, three of ten calves were male, and these were quickly neutered so that they could be fattened and later slaughtered, like Paul, Giveney and Lars . Until Bull was considerably older and losing his fertility he would continue as leader of the herd.