by Darrell Bain
“So he has. Troy, are you for it?"
“I think it's worth a try,” the ranger said.
“Certainly, nothing else is working. The outside ecology just keeps getting worse. At the very least, returning some humans and their pets to the wilds, and trying to draw the feral animals into cooperation with us will provide a base for our continued existence, even if the Enclaves ultimately fail."
“That's what I think, too,” Jamie said. “Not that I'm going to like the idea of living in the wilds, but I don't see anything else working. At the least, we can start small, and go on from there. We can help the feral animals control their population in our own area and work from there. It they cooperate, maybe some of the other Enclaves will try it. Jeannie and Kristi are willing. Our kids will grow up with the feral animals. If we treat them as equals, like we do our pets, maybe someday we can get the ecology balanced again, and go from there. They might even help us if we want to go into space again, but that's for a long time in the future."
“Maybe not so long,” Whitmire said. “We've reached a compromise with Moon City. We'll retain the ship that's already built, and let them have the one still under construction. They can use it to sterilize and re-equip the Altairian generation ship. It's big enough to take most of their population, or if they don't want to try that, they can use it for more exploration. In the meantime, they will build us several other ships to use. Who knows, somewhere we may find a planet to our liking. They have also taken up your idea of enhancing the musculature of any of the space people who would rather settle on earth than go exploring or wait to see whether their ecology can survive. And who knows? Maybe it will, now."
“Did Della get our message?"
Whitmire smiled. “She did. She's already undergoing the treatments. By the time we get organized to support your colony, she should be able to come down. She's bringing Sean's pets with her, by the way."
“How about Sean? I told Della in my message that we'd like to have him along as well."
“You haven't heard?"
“Heard what?"
Sean is now the number two man in Moon City, right behind that woman, Selene. He's the one who finally convinced the space folks to agree to all our proposals. I don't think he'll be coming any time soon. He can't be spared, even if he wanted to."
Well, Jamie thought, two men and three women. That was a start, and he felt sure that Masters would convince some of his rangers to join them. Anyway, it would be the pets that would make the enterprise a viable project, if it succeeded at all. He was just a player, and he would go along with whatever happened.
* * * *
The floater drifted down, bringing Della to join the others already living in the wilds. The prefabricated huts formed a circle in a little valley, a lonely outpost in a pet-plagued world, but there was hope, now. Somehow, the feral animals and humans would learn to live together.
Fuzzy Britches scampered out to meet her as the floater landed, another addition to his brave new world. If anyone could make it work, it would be Fuzzy Britches.
THE END
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