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Solène: "Only if they have a license, of course; I always make a copy and put it in their file."
Armed with this information, Lo?c waits for Solène to leave the room before heading to the administrative office.
He quickly locates the jet ski rental contracts and finds the photocopy of Alma Pedersen’s license, complete with her photo; it is indeed the Danish woman from the campsite.
She has booked a jet ski for Friday—a two-hour slot between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM, when the water sports center closes.
An idea takes shape in Lo?c’s mind: he will be out on the water, too.
The following evening, Lo?c’s cruising sailboat is anchored off a small, deserted cove along the rugged coast.
As gently as possible, he places a 23-year-old Danish woman into his dinghy; she is still wearing her sailing suit, her hands and feet bound, and her mouth gagged with wide adhesive tape.
Though the young woman struggles, she is securely tied; the young Breton knows his knots and hasn't skimped on the rope.
It is already pitch black, and Lo?c has had time to move well away from the area where a search is underway for a jet ski that failed to return to port.
By early morning—according to Lo?c’s calculations—the jet ski will have drifted several kilometers out to sea by the time it is found, minus its rider.
He sculls the two hundred meters separating him from the small beach, then he heaves the Danish woman onto his back and makes his way to the Volkswagen van he had positioned there earlier that morning.
He has an hour’s drive to reach Gwendal and Louane’s farm and deliver this second cow—a Danish Red, the first of the herd.
Upon reaching the van, Lo?c takes a chloroform-soaked cloth, provided by Louane, to sedate the young Danish woman.
In the event of a traffic stop, it would be unfortunate if the van started rocking from the Danish woman’s kicks or knee-thrusts, even though she is securely bound.
Once at the farm, he delivers his Danish Red to a delighted Louane before heading back home.
Gwendal and Louane immediately take Alma down to the cellar and lay her on the changing table.
Gwendal heads back up to the house while Louane busies herself with receiving her new cow.
It is 11:00 PM, and the light in the cellar has woken Sarah, whose stall adjoins the changing room.
Once Alma’s wrists are chained to the legs of the changing table, Louane takes a moment to check on Sarah through the bars of her stall door.
Louane: "You don't understand French, Sarah, but just so you know, you're getting a new friend."
She returns to the changing room and looks at her new cow.
She decides to temporarily put Sarah’s second suit on her, since the ones ordered for Alma haven't arrived yet.
In the meantime, she sets about cutting into Alma’s sailing suit—a task that proves to be no small feat.
She manages it, however, and finds it much easier afterward to cut through the thin fabric of the two-piece swimsuit the young Dane is wearing underneath.
She puts on her diaper and the jersey suit, then secures her front legs to the changing table.
All that remains is to wait for her to wake up before moving her to her stall.
Louane hesitates between two stalls for Alma: the one facing Sarah or the one next to her.
She feels the two cows will find it easier to interact if they are side-by-side, and she is curious to see how this might affect the ease of raising them.
She leaves the cellar, keeping the light on in the changing room but turning it off in the hallway, effectively plunging Sarah’s stall back into darkness.
Each step brings new lessons learned. Faced with Sarah’s attempts to bite and tear at her suit, Louane had asked the manufacturer to reinforce all areas accessible to the cows' mouths. Naturally, she didn't phrase it quite that way, but she specifically detailed the arm and leg sections.
Gwendal had already anticipated this when designing the cellar layout, ensuring there were no protruding elements that could be used to cut the cows' suits.
This was done primarily to prevent escape attempts, but also for economic reasons—to avoid having to reorder new suits too frequently.
Back in the living room, Louane monitors the changing room via the camera, but Alma is fast asleep.
At one in the morning, she decides to go to bed; there will be plenty of time to attend to Alma tomorrow morning, along with Sarah’s first diaper change and bottle.
Gwendal has already gone to bed, as he too starts work early in the morning.
Although his work hasn’t really changed since they opted for this second herd, his mindset is very different.
Louane senses that he is calmer and far less worried about his future—or their future.
He also knows he plays a crucial role, since his output directly feeds the cows in his own herd as well as Louane’s.
The next morning at breakfast, the couple is eager to see the new cow that has joined the barn on their computer screen.
Alma is thrashing about on the changing table and screaming at the top of her lungs, so she is wide awake.
Sarah is awake too; she can be seen pressing her ear against the partition separating her stall from the changing room.
The soundproofing is effective, but by speaking very loudly, the two cows manage to communicate.
Louane hears Sarah explaining to Alma what is happening to her and where she is.
The cameras offer not only high-definition images but also excellent sound quality.
Audio and video recordings are stored continuously and then analyzed by an artificial intelligence program created by an acquaintance of the couple.
Louane thus has access to comprehensive speech-to-text transcripts of all audio recordings, as well as automatic French translations regardless of the language spoken—English in Sarah’s case, though it could be Danish for Alma.
This AI can generate hourly or daily summaries of the various conversations and even trigger alerts based on keywords such as "escape," "untie," or "free," or any other keywords defined by Louane.
The video feed is also monitored, and the cameras can be programmed to trigger an alert—for instance, if a cow is no longer in her stall.
After the live video session with Gwendal, Louane checks her software and discovers that Alma woke up at 3:00 a.m., that her calls woke Sarah, and that the two cows have been communicating extensively ever since.
The full, translated transcript of their exchange already runs to twenty pages.
Louane requests a brief summary, which reveals that Sarah primarily described her living conditions since her kidnapping and answered Alma’s questions on the subject.
Gwendal goes off to tend to his cows while Louane heads down to the cellar to check on hers.
She starts by setting out two bottles for Sarah, then joins Alma in the changing room.
She greets her—still speaking French—and then, ignoring Alma’s mixed questions and pleas, she takes a halter with a bit, fits it onto the Danish Red’s head, and fastens a collar around her neck.
She clips the lead rope to the collar’s ring before unfastening the cow’s front legs.
She begins to lower the changing table, but the young cow jumps off before she can finish and tries to bolt through the open doorway.
Louane doesn't even need to pull the lead rope; the moment her hoof hits the ground, the young Dane buckles in pain as the studs dig into her sole.
She drops to all fours, and Louane guides her with her stick.
Her gait is incredibly unsteady, hampered by her hooves and the bulky diaper between her legs and over her backside.
Clumsily—and under the compulsion of the lead rope and, more importantly, the blows from the stick—the Dane leaves the changing room, passes Sarah’s stall, and enters her own, where the door stands wide open.
Louane removes the halter and unclips the lead rope but leaves the collar on Alma.
She exits the stall and slides the two bottles through the opening in Alma’s stall door.
She moves on to Sarah’s stall and finds that she has already finished her bottle of cereal.
She takes her to the changing room to change her diaper, then brings her to the milking parlor for the morning milking.
Sarah is milked twice a day—morning and evening—and maintains a steady output of 750 ml daily.
When she brings Sarah back to her stall, Louane notices that Alma hasn't touched her bottle of cereal.
She takes it away and puts it back in the refrigerator; she will offer it to her again at noon, and there is no doubt she will eventually drink it.
She goes back up to the living room and logs onto the computer, curious to see the communication between the two cows now that they are in adjacent stalls.
Louane quickly notices that, beyond vocal exchanges, the two cows are trying to see each other by attempting to stand up against the 1.40-meter-high partition separating their stalls.
Their initial attempts to stand fail; Louane watches Sarah—whose bottom is fortunately cushioned by her diaper—fall back down after leaning against the partitions with her front legs.
Eventually, Alma is the first to pull off the maneuver.
It seems that by balancing on the very tips of her toes, she manages to avoid the spikes on her hind hooves and stay upright, clinging to the partition with the front of her forelegs.
This gives the two cows a chance to see each other before Alma sits back down, exhausted by the uncomfortable position.
Louane reads the live translation of their exchange—which is necessary because, although she speaks English quite well, the Jersey and the Red Dane have a much higher level of fluency and speak very quickly.
The conversation follows the same lines as the one they had earlier that night.
At Alma’s insistence, Sarah finally admits—visibly embarrassed—that the apparent purpose of their abduction is to turn them into producers of human breast milk.
Alma seems incredulous at this but has to acknowledge that she is, after all, wearing a cow outfit.
Sarah provides details, telling her about the milking parlor and the stimulation of her breasts.