The Metal Maiden Collection

by Piers Anthony

  The sheep had known.

  That night Shep and Elen clasped each other in the holddown mode, kissing and making love without sexual completion. It seemed natural.

  In the morning they were ready to resume travel, but the sheep were not. So they waited. Sure enough, a ferocious storm crossed suddenly over them, deluging them with water and raising the level of the river close to overflowing its banks. But in another hour the torrent cleared and they were able to resume walking.

  The rest of the journey was like that. Only the awareness of the sheep made it feasible without severe problems. But because Shep now truly trusted the sheep, accepting their judgment without question, the return was relatively easy. In several days they reached the human village where Shep’s host lived.

  And that was it. The sheep disappeared into their pastures, leaving the four other members of the party behind. The mission had been accomplished.

  “I guess that goes for you too, friends,” Shep said to Python and Vulture. “You are free to resume your natural lives.”

  But neither animal departed. “I think they have been tamed,” Elen said. “They prefer to stay with us.” She smiled. “And I welcome it. I feel more comfortable with them than I would at home.”

  Oh, yes. “Because now we have to marry, and face the opposition of the two families.”

  “Yes. Python and Vulture accept us as we are. They know what we’ve been through.”

  “We’ll just have to explain that we are a team, and they are part of it. As long as they don’t attack human beings or their pets, it should be all right.”

  “Yes. I think they won’t attack anyone unless there is an immediate danger to us.” She faced the house. “I think you and I must explain some things to people who will not be pleased to hear them.”

  “Yes.” He considered briefly. “I am not properly conversant with social customs on this world.” He smiled. “I came here to study them, but got distracted. But I know that sometimes things that shouldn’t make a difference, do. We have gotten messed up from hard traveling. Can we—make ourselves more presentable?”

  She laughed. “Excellent thought. Looking travel worn is fine, but you should be obviously healthy and I should be pretty.”

  Elen got to work on them both, and soon their appearance was much improved.

  “And I think we will need to introduce Vulture and Python,” he said. “As evidence of the mission we were on. That may be why the sheep put their need to stay with us into their minds.”

  “Yes.” Elen knelt beside Python and stroked her neck. “Trust us,” she said. “We will safeguard you from our kind.” She did the same with Vulture.

  Then they girded themselves and approached the house. Shep knocked on the door.

  In a moment it opened to reveal Cora Peterson, his host’s mother. “Brian!” she cried gladly. Then she paused. “Or is it you?”

  “I am the man from Earth, Amber Shepherd,” Shep said. “I have brought Brian’s body home safely. The sheep have returned and I am free to pursue my original mission. But there are complications.”

  Now she saw his companions. “An elf. A python. A vulture,” she said faintly.

  “We are friends, bound together,” Shep said. “None of these creatures will harm you. It is a legacy of the mission with the sheep. We need to talk.”

  The woman seemed about ready to faint, but collected herself. “Come in. All of you. We will talk.”

  They trooped into the house, where Brett, the father, greeted them. “We know that the sheep change folk. You surely have an interesting tale to tell. Make yourselves comfortable.” If he was nervous about the presence of Vulture and Python he did not show it.

  Shep and Elen took chairs, and Vulture and Python settled quietly behind them. “This is Elen,” Shep said. “The sheep selected her, as they did me and the others. It was a considerable experience. Now Elen and I need to marry.”

  Cora put her hand to her breast as if suffering a heart attack, and Brett looked grim. “I think you know we would not approve of that.”

  “Going with the sheep was not my choice, or hers,” Shep said. “But we had to do it. Now we are in love and must marry. We ask for your support.”

  “Must marry?” Cora asked faintly.

  “I am pregnant,” Elen said.

  “You are not our son,” Brett said to Shep. “He can not be bound by what you do.”

  “But she is with child,” Cora protested. “By our son’s body. The child must have a father.”

  “Marriage to an elf was not part of the deal!” Brett said.

  “Here is what we propose,” Shep said. “We will marry, and Elen will exchange with a young woman of Earth so she can remain with me on the other planet. That Earth woman will keep company with your son, in Elen’s body. She will not be his wife; he is not committed to that, as you say. But she will bear his genetic child. Six months later, I will return and so will Elen, to resume our marriage here. It will be known that this was not your doing, but the result of the mission of the sheep. No blame will attach to you.”

  “But our son!” Cora protested. “With this elf woman! With child by him!” She was having trouble getting past that.

  “With an Earth woman in Elen’s body,” Shep said. “They may have whatever relationship they choose.” He smiled briefly. “Brian may have developed a taste for Earth women by the time he returns.”

  “You know it must be,” Elen said. “My family will be no better pleased than you by this union. Elves and humans seldom marry. I hope both families will make the best of it.”

  “I ask your indulgence,” Brett said. “Would you show us your body, Elf?”

  Elen opened her cloak and showed them. Both Brett and Cora looked. “You are beautiful,” Bret said.

  Elen shrugged. “Nature made me that way.” She closed her cloak.

  “More beautiful than our son would ever be able to attract on his own, human or elf. You would play the part of his lover?”

  “I am Shep’s lover,” Elen said firmly. “I will not touch your son.”

  “But the exchange Earth girl—she would love our son?”

  “Unlikely,” Shep said. “She wouldn’t know him.”

  “But the two bodies would be married, by our custom,” Brett said.

  “Elen and I would be married,” Shep said. “Not Brian and the Earth woman.”

  “But they would live together.”

  “I suppose they would,” Shep agreed.

  “They would act married,” Brett said.

  This was evidently important to the man. “Probably they would, publicly.”

  Now Cora saw where Brett was going. “And if they fell in love, they could marry—Brian and the Earth girl. Completing it. No shame about the baby.”

  “If they fell in love,” Shep agreed cautiously.

  Brett smiled, looking at Elen. “Could any man be close to this body, whatever its occupant, and not fall in love with her?”

  “Not if he’s like me,” Shep said.

  Elen’s face was composed. That could be mischief. She had no interest in the lout. But she knew she would not be occupying her own body in Shep’s absence. She would be with him on Earth. She could endure that. “My body will be at the Earth girl’s disposal. So long as she does not harm my baby.”

  Both parents nodded. They seemed to have hammered out a compromise of sorts. But Shep knew there was one huge uncertainty: could they find an Earth woman who would agree to keep company with the lout? To make a marriage of appearances that would satisfy the relatives.

  “You may stay here, using Brian’s room,” Cora said. “Until you marry.” Which would give the parents the semblance of some control over the situation.

  “Thank you,” Elen said, seeming genuinely grateful. She knew that the Peterson’s interest was in appearance, both social and physical, rather than the technicalities of host versus visitor, but that acceptance counted for a lot.

  “Now we must broach the elf fam
ily,” Shep said.

  Brett laughed. “Lotsa luck!” He understood perfectly how the elves would react.

  They walked to the other village, accompanied by Vulture and Python. Elen knocked on her own door. “Mom, I have awkward news.”

  There was a scene, of course. In the end, the elves agreed to the marriage. What else could they do? Not only was their daughter keeping willing company with a vulture and a python along with a man of Earth, she was pregnant and in love.

  Then they went to the Earth embassy to message Shep’s parents. He knew they would be intrigued, knowing he would not have done such a thing without good reason. They would promise to see about a suitable Earth woman to be Elen’s host, and a lawyer to arrange for the exchange, since the law was vague in this instance.

  Messaging Earth was expensive and limited. They were allowed only ten words.

  MARRYING ELF GIRL.

  WOW! That would be his father talking.

  MUST GET EARTH HOST, LAWYER.

  WILL DO. GOOD LUCK, SON.

  He had done it in only eight words, and his father had used only six. Shep was reassured; his family had resources, and he knew the matter would be competently handled.

  “Oh, I want so much to go to Earth!” Elen said. “But now that it is being arranged, I can’t help wondering what it will be like to occupy another woman’s body, and to have her occupy mine. I wish I could have the one without the other.”

  “I’m nervous too,” Shep said. “About what it will be like to embrace you in another woman’s body, and what you will think of my own body. Suppose you can’t stand it?”

  “Then I will fake it,” she said, smiling. “You will never know the difference.”

  “Why am I not completely encouraged?” he asked rhetorically. Then they made love. If she was faking her continued interest in that, he was unable to tell.

  The banns were published, and in the following month they held the wedding. It was in an open forum between the two villages, open to any who wished to attend, and as it turned out, the majority of both villages came. They understood the significance: not of human and elf union, which was hardly encouraged, but of Earth and Colony union, the first. Supported by a wild vulture and python, an extremely unusual occurrence.

  Colony weddings were non-religious, as settlers had decided at the outset to avoid as many of the divisive aspects of Earth as possible. They each spoke their lines, swearing love and companionship, and publicly kissed. Then the two nominal fathers, Brett Peterson and Erasmus Elf, stood together. “Who cares to stand in witness to this union?” Brett asked the audience. It was a formality, and a tacit invitation for any objection, which would be made by remaining seated.

  All the villagers stood. They liked the notoriety of it, knowing that this would be awkward for the Earth authorities who exercised control over the colony. Was this a local or an interplanetary event? What were the legal repercussions?

  There was a bleat. All eyes turned. There were the six ewes, approaching in a close formation. Python and Vulture went to meet them, touching noses. Shep and Elen went too, surprised. They hugged each of the sheep, who tolerated this intimacy without objection. “So glad you could make it!” Shep said with a smile.

  It was significant. Sheep had never before attended a public human event, and that fact that Shep and Elen were able to embrace them without getting stabbed was not lost on the audience. No one ever touched a sheep without knowing the sheep approved it. The sheep did approve this union, and allowed everyone to see their endorsement. What did it mean?

  “The sheep want us married,” Elen said. “Why do they care, since they don’t have any such thing in their own kind? They don’t love, and sex is only for procreation. I doubt they understand the intricacies we practice, and would not care about them if they did understand.”

  “Why, indeed?” Shep asked. “As far as I can tell, the sheep are not smart in the human sense, merely telepathic and precognitive. What do they see that requires our union?”

  “There has to be a reason,” Elen said. “And the sheep themselves may not know it. Only that the marriage needs to exist. It must relate in some way to their needs. All they really care about is their own welfare; the rest of us are merely tools they use when they have to.”

  “Their precognition may see something far ahead. Could it relate to Earth? To Earth policy with respect to the Colony? I am in training for Colony Administration. But that’s in the future; I am nobody of importance at present.”

  “Can we find out?”

  “I’ll try.” They returned to the Embassy and messaged a query to his folks, using his two remaining words: COLONY NEWS?

  The answer came back promptly. YES. IMPORTANT. MORE ANON. That used up his father’s words.

  They exchanged a glance. Something was definitely up, and the sheep knew it. “I suspect our adventure is not yet complete,” Shep said grimly.

  The dominoes fell into place. The Earth administration approved their marriage, and Elen was granted status to exchange to Earth. That was surely the work of the lawyer Shep’s family had hired. In addition, they had found a good exchange partner for Elen. Shep would have to return to Earth to approve her; then Elen could follow.

  “Please, let her not be a hag,” Elen said. “I want sex appeal.”

  “So do I.” Then he caught her glance. “For your sake,” he added quickly. “I have no interest in the bodies of any other women.”

  She elected not to argue the case.

  Meanwhile they had taken a village house to share with Python and Vulture. To pay for it they exploited their discovered musical abilities, developing several songs. Shep played on the staff/mirliton with increasing competence while Elen sang, and they also sang duets, starting with “He Who Is Noble.” They started doing brief tours, playing before both human and elven audiences, and were always welcomed. At first, he suspected, it was the notoriety of their interplanetary marriage, but before long their pleasant harmonies became popular in their own right.

  They were also demonstrating to Brian’s family that Brian had a likely future in music. He would not have to be a turnip farmer. Shep could see the parents slowly melting as they heard the lovely melodies and saw the enthusiastic responses of audiences. They were reluctantly concluding that their son’s possible union with an elf or Earth woman was not necessarily evil.

  Elen started to show. She was indeed pregnant. She would be about five months along when they went to Earth. Shep hoped his folks had made that clear to the exchanging Earth girl.

  Then the time came. They elected to make the exchanges from the Peterson’s home, so that Brian would have a familiar homecoming and the incoming Earth girl would have a secure situation from the outset. Both Vulture and Python attended; they were evidently in it for the duration.

  “It should be only a few days,” Shep told Elen, not for the first time. “I’ll miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you,” she agreed. They kissed, then he sat down for the exchange apparatus. He suffered a sudden siege of nervousness, but kept his gaze on Elen.

  Then the scene changed.

  Chapter 8:

  Earth

  And there were his parents, Sherman and Zandra, a similar look of expectation and concern on their faces. They needed immediate reassurance that nothing had gone wrong in the exchange.

  “Hi Dad! Hi Mom. It’s me, Shep,” he said.

  “Good enough,” Sherman said, as if there had been no doubt. He was normally a man of few words.

  Zandra didn’t bother to conceal her relief. She caught Shep by the shoulders and kissed him.

  “How did you get along with Brian Peterson?” Shep asked.

  “That boy’s going to make a fine musician,” Sherman said. “If he can persuade his folks.”

  “He can persuade them,” Shep said. “Elen and I prepared the way. We even did recitals.”

  “Elen, the elf girl?” Zandra said. “You will have to tell us all about how you got married.” />
  “Obviously he knocked her up, then had to marry her,” Sherman said gruffly.

  Shep laughed. “I did, technically, but it wasn’t like that. We fell in love first. Yes, her name is Elen. She’s some woman.” That reminded him. “You found an exchange host for her?”

  “Actually the host found us,” Sherman said. “She’s the lawyer’s daughter.”

  “The lawyer’s daughter! And he is allowing it?”

  “He recommended it. It’s that she has conflicting ambitions. One is to be a super-high-power attorney like her dad, and it seems she has the drive and talent. The other is to live a rustic country life far from the tensions of civilization and have a normal family. She thought she couldn’t have both, but now maybe she can. Six months here, six months there.”

  “She does know Elen’s five months pregnant, and will give birth during her tenure there?”

  “She knows the essence. It seems that’s another thing: she can’t be a high-power attorney and have a family. Not on Earth. But on the Colony she can have a baby, and time for it, with guaranteed no sudden business calls. She’s ready to give it a try.”

  This sounded good, but Shep was wary. “I need to meet her first.”

  “She’ll be here tomorrow,” Zandra said. “She’s a marvelous young woman.”

  “And quite pretty,” Sherman said.

  “And what is this business about Colony Planet Jones in the Earth news?”

  “The lawyer will fill you in properly,” Sherman said. “But we can tell you that Congress is about to pass a law making that planet a tourist resort, where rich folk can go by exchange and make out with native girls and shoot wild sheep. That sort of thing.”

  Shep stared at them in horror. “That must not be!”

  “It is very likely to be,” Sherman said. “The moneyed interests are behind it.”

  “Dad, those sheep are telepathic and precognitive.”

  Sherman laughed. “Lotsa luck with that one, son.”

  Shep realized that this was going to be a hard sell. He had not believed it himself, until repeated experience had satisfied him. Without actual sheep to prove his case, he was unlikely to get far. But shooting the sheep? He had to stop that.