lush gardens served as an entry point to the village beyond.
As they trotted past, a bunch of children flew out of their front yards to see the big stag-horse go by.
Liberty smiled at them, and one little girl waved her arm so hard she looked like she was in danger of falling over.
“Children love animals,” Odin remarked.
“How could anyone not love this horse?” Liberty said, reaching down to pat the mare’s silky mane. It occurred to her that the beast needed a name that suited her.
“Howdy, neighbors,” a man called out to them, going the opposite direction with his Lachesis octopus-drawn cart.
“Hello,” Odin called back.
They reached the town and turned right.
“There’s a place to rest your mount over - oh wow,” Odin said, interrupting himself.
The open area they had been heading for had rows of posts and troughs. But there were no animals there.
Instead, a huge, sleek-looking ship had landed at the far side of the field. People were lined up outside.
“It’s a medical transport,” Liberty said happily, pointing to the universal physician’s crest on the ship.
“Of course,” Odin said. “It makes the rounds out in the frontiers. I’ve never seen it before.”
“That’s a good thing,” Liberty said. “Not all systems have an organized transport schedule. It can save lives at very little cost.”
“Well, there’s the cost of the supplies and the fuel,” Odin pointed out.
“If they’re doing this the way the Physician’s Brigade did, then it’s very efficient,” Liberty said. “They’ll leave us with what we need on Lachesis and pick up something we have here that they can’t get elsewhere to take its place onboard. When they’ve made their full rounds, they should be restocking as they go with most of what they need.”
“Interesting,” Odin said.
“See how some of the people in line are carrying things,” Liberty said. “They’re probably not here to get medications, they’re here to deliver supplies or ingredients. Each local government probably donates a fuel allowance too, at least those that can. We used to make up the difference with donations from wealthy individuals and corporations.”
“That does sound efficient,” Odin said thoughtfully. “You had a very important job.”
“Wyn did,” she said, pleased that she was able to say her husband’s name proudly, and without pain. “I just helped.”
“Seems to me like helping in any way was a very good thing,” Odin said.
“I wonder if Colton will get his vaccines this way,” Liberty pondered out loud.
“He’s not due for anything right now, but maybe so,” Odin told her. “We’d better get back into town and see what we can do about the sheep.”
They headed back to the main street and found the local police station without too much trouble.
“That’s funny,” Liberty said, pointing to the saloon, which was right next door to the police station.
Odin glanced over and shook his head, eyes twinkling. “I’d call it convenient.”
A worker was hauling a large wooden crate out the back door of the saloon and loading it on a hover transport with a dozen other empty whiskey crates on it. He waved to them, and Liberty waved back.
“They must do a brisk business,” she remarked.
“It’s a frontier moon. There’s not much else to do,” Odin said, quirking an eyebrow. “Unless you own a farm.”
They tied the mare to a post in front of the police station and headed inside.
22
Odin
Odin held open the door to the police station for Liberty.
She slipped inside and looked around curiously. It was likely that back on her Terra planet the police station was a marble wonder with every modern tech available to make policing easier. He wondered how she would react to this place.
It was a typical frontier police post. There were wooden desks, simple flex-screen computing stations and a sticky vinyl table with a pot of stale-looking coffee. A single-feature hologram newsfeed ran along the ceiling. Right now, it was streaming a play by play on the arrival of the medical transport.
“Howdy there, little lady,” the marshal on duty said, approaching Liberty with a smile that was far too appreciative for Odin’s liking.
“We’d like to report some missing sheep,” Odin said plainly.
“Well, now, let’s get your wife a nice chair to sit on and maybe some coffee before we get down to business,” the marshal said without looking at him.
“I’m fine,” Liberty told him, her face expressionless.
Odin couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t corrected the marshal when he called her his wife.
The dragon gave a satisfied snort somewhere deep in his chest.
“How many sheep are missing?” the officer asked, whipping a