Here There Be Bovines

[Skyler Akade 0]

"Whoooo-ahh!" Skyler yipped, hefting herself up onto a crate and looking at the holding pen full of cattle. The nearest one swung its head around towards her in a lumbering sort of way and uttered a groaning bawl and then looked away, clearly uninterested in its visitor.

 

Skyler grinned.

 

Bos primigenius...the cow, quadraped mammalian ungulate... she thought absently, swinging her feet off the side of the crate. Four-part stomach, ruminant digestive system, distended subpectoral udder and mammary glands...nine-month gestation period with fully autonomous offspring at time of delivery.

 

She rattled her lips with a puff of breath and laughed. "Verdomme...amazing how much you can remember."

 

It had been about ten years since she'd looked at being a veterinarian with any seriousness, but more academic xenobiology still had the same sort of general appeal, and the fact was, much of the time animals were a lot more interesting than people were. These of course were garden-variety for anyone who had come from Earth or ever been on a colony world where farming was the norm (and Skyler had done both, though the former had been mostly in the city and the latter had been for a very brief period indeed), but still, there was something invigorating about seeing this much life packed into the cold metal box they all called home.

 

"Moooo..." she offered cheerfully at the nearby cow, who again turned sleepy eyes on her and gave her a singularly disinterested snuffle.

 

She'd been able to stay out of the way during the actual loading process, a loud, smelly affair involving more than a few animals becoming spooked by the noise and movement of the transfer and having to be calmed by an array of sweatsoaked burly cargo men (and women) until the assembled bovines reached their current state of passive, cud-masticating equilibrium. It hadn't been Skyler's scene; a bit too many people, a bit too high-energy. But it had calmed down now -- as a matter of fact the bay was pretty much empty. No Fleeter in their right mind would get their chuckles from sitting around watching the cattle in the cargo hold if they didn't have to.

 

So call me crazy...

 

Science would, she hoped, have some work to do on the cows, checking 'em over and all before their arrival wherever they were going. Innogen knew her background, too, so Skyler could be pretty sure she'd be up close and personal with the big animals if anyone was.

 

She leaned back on her box, resting her head against the wall. On the move, big ship, good sensor array, tweaks to make, good department, buddy in the chief slot, dinner coming up and a whole bunch of cows tramping the cargo bay. Verdomme...life is pretty damn good!