she went into the other cabin and closed herself in. There was the
sound of a chair being wedged against the door.

Murgatroyd blinked at the place where she'd disappeared and then
climbed up into Calhoun's lap, with complete assurance of welcome. He
settled himself and was silent for moments. Then he said, "_Chee!_"

"I believe you're right," said Calhoun. "She doesn't belong on Weald,
or with the conditioning she'd have had, there'd be only one place
she'd dread worse than Orede, which would be Dara. But I doubt she'd
be afraid to land even on Dara."

Murgatroyd liked to be talked to. He liked to pretend that he carried
on a conversation, like humans.

"_Chee-chee!_" he said with conviction.

"Definitely," agreed Calhoun. "She's not doing this for her personal
advantage. Whatever she thinks she'd doing, it's more important to her
than her own life. Murgatroyd...."

"_Chee?_" said Murgatroyd in an inquiring tone.

"There are wild cattle on Orede," said Calhoun. "Herds and herds of
them. I have a suspicion that somebody's been shooting them. Lots of
them. Do you agree? Don't you think that a lot of cattle have been
slaughtered on Orede lately?"

Murgatroyd yawned. He settled himself still more comfortably in
Calhoun's lap.