The starved Fixer slowly became more active but seemed to gain little weight. As the eggs hatched more and more little critters needed to be cared for and fed. They seemed to do well on the green goo with a little crushed straw mixed in. The little Fixers now had dozens of little critters to play with but it was obvious to Floyd that they needed an animal barn. Floyd asked Tesla to come up with a plan and a few days later Tesla had a drawing of yet another dome, but this one mostly buried into the hillside and divided into multiple sections. It looked like a lot of extra work until Lina explained why. "These animals are cold blooded and will hibernate all winter but must be kept above freezing. They have been traditionally harvested only when they were hibernating. Then there is no stress on the other animals or on those doing the harvesting."
Floyd had to admit this form of animal husbandry was much more humane than what was done on Earth, but he still grumbled about all of the work. The Fixers did the digging but Floyd was again responsible for moving all of the bigger rocks. The drone was showing the signs of all the abuse they had laid upon it but kept on working. Lina would insist that Floyd take time to go flying every few days and who was he to argue with his wife. Usually a couple of the kids would go with him and they would explore the world around them from the air. They managed to spot another one of the small drones and several metallic meteorites. He would let one kid at a time crawl up into his lap and fly the airplane but never told Lina. The little one seemed to be the most excited and had a natural affinity for flying.
They no sooner finished the animal barn than the harvest started. There was no time to work on the gliders. Without pests their harvest was as dependable as the rain it needed and they would have yet another good yield. The wind pollinated the grain but the beans had to be pollinated by hand. They worked on the beans first saving the dried plants and husks for the critters. Only after Lina was happy with the bean storage was the grain harvest begun with each type of grain harvested separately and stored before starting the next one. All of the straw was saved for making mats and clothes as well as paper and food for the critters. There was little time for other projects but the Fixers finally succeeded in making a type of rayon from the cellulose in the stems. This produced a much finer cloth and hence much nicer clothes.
The little one came into the dome while Lina was working on her history of the Sanctuary asking if she could keep a little critter in the dome. Lina looked up and saw her holding a baby critter and said, "The rule is no critters in the house." The little one would not give up, and started giving all of the reasons why she should keep the baby critter in her bed. Lina tried to explain why she could not but the little one was such an aggressive debater that Lina just could not win. She finally said, "Go argue with your father!"
When she found Floyd, the tears were flowing. When Floyd gently asked what the problem was, she gave her side of the story. Floyd held her in his lap and listened to the long list of reasons why she should keep the critter with her. The critter was covered by soft scales that were almost feather like and looked sort of like a rabbit with its fur all puffed up. He asked, "How big is this animal going to get?" The little one held her arms up over her head. Floyd sat rubbing his beard and asked, "How are you going to carry it up the ladder to your bed when it gets bigger?" The little one's eyes got bigger as she thought about how to lift the critter. Before she could come up with some fantastic machine to do the lifting, Floyd asked, "How are the other critters going to treat it if they do not grow up with it in the barn?"
The little one thought of the stories she had heard from her mother of the treatment of the Fixers, by those in the Sanctuary, and said with great sadness, "They will be mean to it."
Floyd asked, "Is this what you want?"
"No."
"Then I think you should put the critter back in the barn with the others of its kind."
Floyd said, "You know my little one, these…" but before he could go on she jumped off of his lap and stood as tall as she could saying, "I am not your little one. I am Ally and you need to call me by my name."
With that she stomped off to return the critter to the barn.