Leo Frankowski

knocking each senseless.
    Groping with his
huge arms in the dark, Winnie managed to catch the last of the intruders. He
was vigorously bouncing this screaming unfortunate on the sand, occasionally
switching hands to demonstrate his versatility, when Dirk told him to stop.
    “Aw, gee, Dirk.
I was only spanking him a little,” Winnie said.
    “From here it looks like you’ve
broken both of his arms and at least one
leg. Next time leave this sort of thing
to me! Now put him—gently—on the bed inside.” Dirk dropped two unconscious boys on the sand.
“And get me some rope to tie
these guys up.”
    Mona efficiently
bound the unconscious boys as Dirk brought them in. In twenty minutes there were
casts on all
four limbs of the one Winnie had gotten hold of, and Winnie’s side had been
bandaged.
    “Ridiculous, my
ladies,” Dirk said. “According to my brother Tomahawk, who’s up on Indian
lore, this group is the most incredible hodge-podge imaginable. The one on the end, for
example. His moccasins are maybe Crow, the leggings are Shawnee, his bow Cree, and
the arrows are Seminole. The war bonnet is Sioux, his scalp lock is Iroquois, and the war
paint looks more Zulu than anything else. Yet judging from their facial
features, this bunch are Zuni.”
    “They’ve just
been watching too many movies, Dirk,” Mona said. The boys were starting to
come around.
    “Perhaps, my
lady. A more important question is what to do with them. We can’t have them
running around
shooting people, but I would prefer not to kill them,” Dirk said.
    “Neither would
I.” Mona turned to the boy on the end. “Why did you shoot at us?”
    The boy was silent.
Liebchen slipped back into Winnie.
    Dirk prodded the
boy. “Come, come, now. The lady is speaking to you.”
    “I’ll never
talk, paleface,” the boy said in perfect English.
    “Lacking, among
other things, a face, I hardly qualify as a paleface. Winnie, bring out the
first one from inside, the one who wouldn’t talk.”
    The boys’ eyes
widened as the huge hand placed the bandaged boy in front of them.
    “Gee, Dirk, can
I spank another one?”
    “Perhaps. Now
then, son. Why did you shot at us?”
    “Well, for one
thing, we didn’t know your house— trailer was alive.”
    “That’s hardly an excuse for shooting
at people,” Mona said.
    “You’re on our
land!” the boy in the middle said.
    “Gee, the map
said this was a state park.” Winnie hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.
    “No! I mean
this whole country is our land. You stole it from us and now we’re taking it
back.”
    “You’re welcome
to all the land you can use,” Mona said, “but you’re not entitled to kill
people.”
    “We have a
right to take what’s ours.”
    “It’s not yours.
The land belongs to everyone. There’s plenty enough to share. The time of stealing
and killing is over. Soon, for the first time in history, there will be enough of everything
for everyone. Why be stuck on the past when you can be part of the
future?”
    “Paleface.”
    Liebchen came out of
Winnie with a glassful of something that looked like a mixture of milk and pink grapefruit juice.
“This will fix everything, my lady.”
    “What’s
that?” Mona asked.
    “Something I
had Winnie’s synthesizer make. It’ll make these guys go home and be happy,”
the faun said proudly.
    “You haven’t quite answered my
question, Lieb chen.”
    “It is a
behavorial modification compound that will change their perceptions and programming, my
lady. It’ll make it so everybody’s happy.”
    “What does it do?”
    “It makes people
see things the way they want to see them, and act the way they’re supposed to
act, and be happy about it.”
    “Give me
that.” Mona spilled the stuff on the sand, trying to control her emotions. The
source of Patricia’s problem was now obvious. “Liebchen, I don’t want you to make anything
like this again.”
    “Never, my lady?
But it makes everybody happy.”
    “Never! Well, not unless Uncle Martin
tells you to.
    Now go inside and go
to sleep and stay asleep until we get home.”
    “You’re not mad
at me, are you, Lady Mona?” Liebchen was quivering, frightened.
    “No, but you
did make a mistake. Now do as you’re told.”
    Patricia didn’t make
the connection between her own problems and Liebchen’s, and followed the faun inside.
    “Dirk, give this
bunch a warning and let them go,” Mona said.
    “Well, you
heard the lady.” Dirk extended his dagger-claw in front