They walked slowly back to the ship, at first in silence.
"Humans are very cruel . . . " said Shirl at last.
"We have studied your history," said Darleen.
"So?" said Grimes.
"So all through your history," went on Darleen, "you have slaughtered, for your own profit, not only beings lacking real intelligence but those who are as intelligent as you, although in a different way. The whales, the dolphins . . . "
"We have seen the error of our ways," said Grimes. "We are trying to put things right."
"We? Do you speak for all of your race, John? Oh, you were sent to this world by the Old Crocodile to try to save the silkies—but there is money in this stinking fur trade, just as there has been money in other trades in which Drongo Kane has been involved. Women and boys from their primitive worlds to the brothels of New Venusberg, for example. And Kane is not alone. There are many like him, to whom the only god, among all the odd gods, is money. At times we have suspected that even you worship this god."
"Don't drag religion into it," snapped Grimes. Then, "You've seen silkies now. Are they intelligent beings?"
Shirl laughed bitterly.
"We saw," she said, "a squirming mass of very young beings, wallowing in their own filth, terrified, speechless. Imagine that you are a non-human being from some other planet, seeing human babies in a similar state. Would you think that they were intelligent beings?"
"So you are not sure," said Grimes.
"We are not sure. We know that the fur trade is a brutal one, that is all. We shall have to meet adult silkies and talk with them . . . "
"Talk with them?"
"As we talked with the kangaroos, back on Earth. Oh, they are not truly intelligent but they are capable of evolving, doing over a very long time what our ancestors did, with outside help, in a very short time."
"The crimes of genetic engineers are many," said Grimes.
"We resent that," they said in chorus.
"I was speaking in jest. And, in any case, the pair of you are much better looking than a silky in any age group."
"We should hope so. But what would a silky think of us? Horribly ugly brutes who slaughter and torture."
"They must learn," said Grimes, "that all human beings—and that includes you, after all you are officially human—are not the same."
"Then we shall have to meet them," said Shirl. "We shall have to commune with them."
They passed through the town and then made a detour, following one of the wagons, with its load of shrieking pups, that had made its way inland from the waterfront. It was headed toward a long shed, came to a halt outside its open door. Men clambering up on to the vehicle, threw to the ground the small, squirming, furry bodies. Other men dragged these inside the building.
"We . . . We would rather not see what is happening," said Shirl.
"Neither would I," said Grimes, "but I'm afraid that I have to."
It was an experience that would live long in his memory. The pups, hanging by hooks from a sort of primitive overhead conveyor belt, were being flayed alive and their still-living bodies thrown into a steaming cauldron while their pelts, treated with far greater respect, were neatly stacked on tables.
A burly man, a foreman, bloody knife in hand, approached Grimes.
"What are you doing here, spacer?" he demanded.
"Just . . . Just looking." And then, unable to restrain his disgust, "Is that necessary?"
"Is what necessary?"
"Couldn't you kill the pups before you skin them?"
"Keep your nose out of things about which you know nothing. Kill them first, and ruin the pelts? Everybody knows that a pup has to be skinned while it's still living."
"But. . . It's cruel."
"Cruel? How so, spacer? Everybody knows, surely, that the Lord God gave Man authority over all lesser beings. How can the exercise of divinely granted authority be cruel?"
"It need not be."
"It does need to be, spacer, if the high quality pelts are not to be ruined. Too, is not God Himself often cruel in the light of our limited understanding?"
With an effort, Grimes restrained himself from saying, Thank God I'm an agnostic.
"But I have work to do, spacer. And you will have seen that no effort is spared to ensure that the pelts we export are of high quality. The pastor has told us that you may be interested in entering the trade."
Grimes made his retreat to the fresh, open air but was delayed as a fresh batch of feebly struggling, almost inaudibly whining pups was dragged into the slaughterhouse. When he got outside he walked unsteadily to where Shirl and Darleen were waiting for him.
He muttered, as much to himself as to them, "This filthy trade must be stopped!"
When they got back to the spaceport, to the ship, his nausea was almost gone. He saw two women taking a gentle stroll around the ship. One was in uniform, but with slacks instead of the usual very short skirt, the other was wearing what looked like a modified version of the traditional kimono. But who was that with her, in uniform? It was neither the radio officer nor the catering officer; her face was not black. It was none of the female engineer officers.
The two women saw Grimes, walked to meet him.
"Captain-san," said Tomoko, bowing.
But it was Tomoko who was wearing the uniform.
"Captain-san," said the other, also bowing.
Her glossy black hair was piled high on her head. Her face was very pale, white, almost, and her lips an unnatural scarlet. Rather incongruously she was wearing a pair of huge dark spectacles.
"Who is this . . . geisha?" demanded Grimes of Tomoko.
But he knew. He had recognized, although with some incredulity, the voice.
"Captain-san," said the third officer, "Seiko-san wanted some exercise, some fresh air . . . "
"She needs neither," said Grimes.
"And you had made it plain," went on Tomoko, "that she was not to appear before any of the colonists in her true form, as a robot. But I have cosmetics, and a wig, and suitable clothing for her. Her eyes, of course, must remain hidden . . . "
"And her body," said Grimes.
"Oh, no, Captain-san. I have painted her all over, from her head to her feet, with the right touches of color . . . "
Grimes laughed. "That was unnecessary. A naked female body would give even more affront to the people here than would a robot. All right, Tomoko. And Seiko. Carry on with your stroll. But don't stray too far from the ship."
As he mounted the gangway he muttered, "Exercise . . . Fresh air . . . Why not sunshine while she was about it?"
"She's only human . . . " said Shirl or Darleen.