CHAPTER FOUR - EPILOGUE
"Good morning, Mr Mayor."
Elizabeth Foulter warmly greeted her visitor with a firm handshake. "I'm glad you could accept our invitation to return to this particular facility. As I said on the phone, I particularly wanted you to see one particular cow, the one whose processing you saw last time. Back then you seemed quite interested in the general welfare of our cows, so you'll be able to see the progress this individual has made in six months, as well as observing conditions here."
"Thank you for having me back, Ms Foulter. Your commentary last time I toured your facilities was fascinating, so I'm more than happy to make time to come back."
His broad smile revealed just how much he was looking forwards to his visit, Elizabeth noted.
They walked in slowly through the main entrance to the farm and across to one of the barns. Inside its tall wooden doors, he took a deep breath, savouring the aromas of straw, of bodies, of milk, and of aroused femininity. All around them there was an almost hypnotic hissing chorus of pneumatic machinery slowly pumping, holding and then releasing, sounding like a slither of sedated snakes.
Ms Foulter, who as the new Regional Manager was now in charge of both the processing facility within the city, and all the farm sites in the district, led him forwards into the bower. Ahead of them, on either side, were the bare heads of cows, protruding from their cages, their chins resting on small padded shelves. Each scalp bore a large barcode lasered into a shaved strip on their scalps, in addition to the plastic tags hanging from their ears. Some of the heads regarded the visitors in a disinterested way. She noticed the mayor gazing intently at the cows.
"Yes Mr Mayor. These are term cows, so their barcodes are conveniently sited where we can scan them. Then, when they return to normal living, their hair will cover the barcode. Not even their hairdresser will notice it, and the ink is designed that they will fade in time. On this side we have the 5-year cows, and on this, the 10-year cows."
Each girl had suction cups attached to her nipples, and those were connected to ascending translucent polypropylene tubes that formed a common line above their heads. The rhythmic pump and release of each girl's cups was quite soporific, he thought, as he watched little spurts of milk frothing up the tubes and away to be processed.
Further on, where the row of stalls finished, there was a single crude wooden dais in the centre of the aisle, really just a large crate, right in front of one of the thick timber poles supporting the roof. On the dais was a cage, and in it, motionless, was 398P.
The mayor recognised her straight away. She was on her hands and bent knees, just as he had seen her six months ago. But now she was almost unrecognisable. For a start, she was heavily pregnant, her belly swelling out to each side, as well as hanging ponderously from her torso.
But at the same time that his gaze was absorbing her state, and her presence, his eye caught another sight, beyond where the crate was. Further down the barn there were several cows strung up, swaying gently in the currents of air that wafted through the building. Attached by their wrists and ankles, their bodies hung limply from chains that attached to the rafters. Their heads hung back, their mouths open. They looked lifeless. He looked quizzically at the superintendent.
She followed his look. "Oh, them? That's a tranche of cows that have reached the end of their milk producing time. They will....move on.....soon, but we find this suspension helps relax all the joints and in effect it renders them unable to struggle when the time comes to transport them away. Several days fasting in this suspension has proven ideal to leave their flesh supple and cleansed within. We sluice them out at the beginning and then again before they are transported. Our people also think that it helps them adjust to the fact that their time with the NRS is over. Actually, from memory I think they are due to be shipped out today, so they will have been given their final muscle relaxant injection this morning. They will remain quite limp while being handled."