that led both up and down. Around the edge of the ship were storerooms, racks, a kitchen, a toilet, and a number of horse stalls with straw-covered floors. Two horses were being led into place as we came up the ramp and into the ship.
The monster said, “Those are for your father and his assistant after we land.”
I didn’t say anything. I just looked stonily around.
When the colonies were settled, they took horses to work and ride, because tractors and heli-pacs have such a low reproductive rate. There weren’t any opportunities to set up industries on the colonies, simply time enough to drop people and enough supplies to give them a fair chance to survive. Then the Ships would head back to Earth for another load and another destination. Those supplies included very little in the way of machines because machines wear out in a few years. They did include horses. Nowadays, when we land on a planet when they haven’t made any progress in the last 170 years, we ride horseback, too.
At that time, of course, I hadn’t learned to ride yet and I was a little shy of horses. When one was led past me and wrinkled its lips and snorted, I jumped back.
I noticed the toilet then. We were only a few feet away from it. I looked up at the giant and said, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Before he could say anything, I was inside with the door locked. Escaped, for the moment. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom at all. I just wanted to be left alone.
I looked around at the bare-walled room. I ran the water and washed my hands. Altogether, I managed to stay inside for a full five minutes before being alone in the little empty room with my nervousness got to be too much for me. I kept imagining that Daddy was on board by now, and I even thought I could almost hear his voice. Finally I was driven outside to see.
When I opened the door, the giant was standing exactly where I had left him, obviously waiting for me. There were people moving things on board, the horses were locked in their stalls and moving around, and Daddy was still outside somewhere.
Exactly as though I’d never been gone, the giant said, “Come on upstairs,” in his deep voice. “I’ll show you my buttons. I keep a collection of them there.”
Resignedly, I preceded him up the flight of metal stairs that led upstairs, winding around a vertical handpole like threads winding around a screw. It was obvious that he was determined to keep me in his charge, and I wasn’t feeling up to arguing, even if I’d dared to. At the top we came out in a bubble-dome in which were two seats hung on swivel pivots, a slanting panel directly in front of them with inset vision screens, dials, and meters—the slant of the panel low enough so as not to obscure vision out the dome—and beside these, perhaps enough room to turn around twice.
The giant waved a paw at the console at the base of the panel. “My button collection,” he said, and smiled. “I’ll bet you didn’t think I had any.”
They were there. Enough buttons to keep a two-year-old or a pilot occupied for hours. It was obvious that in his way this George was trying to be friendly, but I wasn’t in the mood to be friendly with any large, ugly stranger. After one brief glance at the panel and console I turned away to look outside.
Through the dome I could see the rock roof glowing gently all above us. The ring of the scoutship’s body cut off the view directly beneath us and I couldn’t see Daddy or the men with him at all. It’s no fun to be deserted. It’s a miserable feeling.
This George said, “Your father will be a little while yet.” Feeling caught, I stopped looking for him and turned back around.
“Sit down,” the giant said, and somewhat warily I did. The chair bobbed on its pivot as I sat down. I kept my eyes on George.
He leaned carelessly against his panel and after a moment he said, “Since you don’t seem to want to talk and we have to be here together for a while yet, let me tell you a story. It was told to me by my mother the night before I went on Trial.”
And with that, he launched full into it, ignoring the fact