"You stay with the ship," said Cassidy. "I'll see what's fouling his
tubes."
* * * * *
Before Cassidy reached the fence, his pet Fuzzy Tail came scampering
from behind a bush. It clambered up his trousers and wrapped itself
around his neck. This encouraged the speculation that perhaps the
shipment of Tails could be bartered for repairs to the stabilizer--_if_
there was a local space technology, and _if_ they could corral the
animals.
The native grew even more frenzied now as Cassidy drew up before him.
"Trespasser! Back get! _My_ property this be! Scram! You I'll kill!"
The Fuzzy Tail uncoiled itself from around Cassidy's neck. Perching on
his shoulder, it fussed back at the native in chirping, excited tones.
It not only acted at times as though it owned Cassidy, but it also
exercised a personal responsibility for his welfare.
"Quiet!" Cassidy snapped out.
It caught both the Fuzzy Tail and the old man by surprise. The animal
bounded for cover while the native rocked back on his heels.
"Be you not just a--_little bit_ afraid?" His eyebrows mounted the
wrinkled expanse of his forehead.
The nearby hedge rustled and parted to let through a dark-haired
girl whose tanned skin suggested accustomed exposure to the multiple
sunlight. Wearing a belted tunic that lacked inches of reaching her
knees, she confronted the old man calmly.
"It's all about what, Papa?" she asked, with a trace of an amused smile.
"Trespassers! On _our_ property, Riva! The alarm sound! Scat! To the
woods take! Or a dead duck you be!"
"Now, Papa," she chided. Then, through the fence, "Him you musn't mind.
It's only his duty he's attending to."
From the distance, Cassidy had suspected the man was of Terran descent.
Now, with Riva in the picture, he was certain this world was stocked
either by intent or accident with true humans.
"We're from Terra," he said.