of them, but refraining from any explicit reciprocation of Rodriguez’s overture.
Brenner was uneasy. “You will not do anything foolish?” he asked.
“We must establish our footing with them,” said Rodriguez.
“If they are concerned with secrecy, and such,” said Brenner, “how is it that we are here? It seems unlikely they would simply open their lives, or culture, to us, if they commonly conceal it with such care.”
“Doubtless they want something from us,” said Rodriguez.
“What?” asked Brenner.
“Probably gifts, and such,” said Rodriguez. He had brought, of course, the customary trinkets, beads, ribbons, mirrors, and such, with which those of his species were wont to deal with, and impress, certain other life forms, which, in spite of their indubitable equivalence, might prefer colored glass to the abstractions of credits.
“The light is green,” said Brenner.
The two gates then slid back.
Rodriguez picked up a pebble and tossed it between the gates of the double fence. He was not the sort of fellow to trust to signals which might be deceptive, perhaps for so trivial a reason as a fault in wiring.
Brenner turned about, to look back toward the buildings of Company Station.
“Why are you looking back?” asked Rodriguez.
“No reason,” said Brenner.
“Look forward,” said Rodriguez. “Not back.”
Brenner did not respond to him.
“Did you sleep well?” inquired Rodriguez.
Brenner did not respond.
“How was the brunette?” he asked.
Brenner did not respond.
“She looked well on a chain,” said Rodriguez.
“So, too, did the blonde,” said Brenner, irritably.
“They all do,” granted Rodriguez. He then turned about and waved to the Pons, to enter through the gate.
“What are you doing?” asked Brenner.
“We have drawn the sled far enough,” said Rodriguez. “They can pull it from here.” Then he turned again to the Pons. “Here!” he called. “Sled! Sled! Pull! Pull! Hurry! Hurry!”
Brenner looked back again. He caught his breath. He thought, between the buildings, he caught sight of a small figure hurrying toward them, wrapped in a cloak.
“Here!” called Rodriguez to the Pons. They then, first two or three at a time, and then the others, together, like domesticated animals, came through the gates. Some of them looked upward, at the operator, who doubtless to them was a figure of considerable authority. He waved them through.
Brenner could now see clearly, through the lightly falling rain, that a small figure, indeed, was approaching them, hurrying through the mud, bundled in a cloak. Her feet and calves were bare.
Rodriguez was pointing to the ropes and communicating with the tiny figures now about them, trying to convey his desires to them.
One or two of them were poking at the cases and bundles on the sled.
“No!” said Rodriguez, pointing rather to the ropes.
Brenner felt in his jacket pocket for the small package he had placed there.
The small figure had now changed its direction a little, as had Rodriguez and Brenner earlier, the mud being deep in its path, apparently to reach the more secure footing of the plank road. Then it was on the surface of the road. The mud had come up several inches on her calves. She had had to hold the cloak a bit high, to a point just below her knees, that its hem not drag in the mud. Brenner had not objected to this glimpse of her well-turned calves. She now stood on the plank road, some yards from him. She continued to hold the cloak high. She could not lower it, of course, even on this surface, lest it be soiled from the mud on her legs. Again, of course, Brenner had no objection to this.
She stood there.
Brenner did not, of course, rush to her. He stood there, regarding her. He had grasped last night that it was, for most practical purposes, she who must come to him, that it is the female who must approach, and present herself to, the male. To be sure, she was still a free woman, at least in point of law. The woman under contract, for example, is not free to utter formulas of self-embondment. Being under contract, she is not at liberty to unilaterally alter her status. Such would be in clear violation of the rights of the contract holder. As a technical point, which might be of interest, if the contract is not paid off within a certain period, varying from contract to contract, the woman ceases to be under contract and becomes property, to be disposed of then as the contract holder may desire.
Brenner took a step or two toward the figure. She was, after all, a free woman.