"Don't tell me no!" cried Darquelnoy. "I _saw_ it!" He was obviously
at his wit's end.
"It's unbelievable," said Ebor.
"I know," said Darquelnoy. He led the way into his quarters, motioned
Ebor to a perch, and rang for his orderly. "It was just a little
remote-controlled apparatus, of course," he said. "The fledgling
attempt, you know. But it circled this Moon here, busily taking
pictures, and went right back to the planet again, giving us all a
terrible fright. There hadn't been the slightest indication they were
planning anything _that_ spectacular."
"None?" asked Ebor. "Not a hint?"
"Oh, they've been boasting about doing some such thing for ages,"
Darquelnoy told him. "But there was never any indication that they
were finally serious about it. They have all sorts of military
secrecy, of course, and so you never know a thing is going to happen
until it does."
"Did they get a picture of the dome?"
"Thankfully, no. And before they had a chance to try again, I whipped
everything underground."
"It must have been hectic," Ebor said sympathetically.
"It was," said Darquelnoy simply.
The orderly entered. Darquelnoy told him, "Two restno," and he left
again.
"I can't imagine them making a spaceship," said Ebor thoughtfully. "I
would have thought they'd have blown themselves up long before
reaching that stage."
"I would have thought so, too," said Darquelnoy. "But there it is. At
the moment, they've divided themselves into two camps--generally
speaking, that is--and the two sides are trying like mad to outdo each
other in everything. As a part of it, they're shooting all sorts of
rubbish into space and crowing every time a piece of the other side's
rubbish malfunctions."
"They could go on that way indefinitely," said Ebor.
"I know," said Darquelnoy gloomily. "And here we sit."
Ebor nodded, studying his friend. "You don't suppose this is all a
waste of time, do you?" he asked, after a minute.
Darquelnoy shook a tentacle in negation. "Not at all, not at all.
They'll get around to it, sooner or later. They're still boasting
themselves into the proper frame of mind, that's all."
Ebor rippled in sympathetic amusement. "I imagine you sometimes wish
you could give them a little prodding in the right direction," he
said.
Darquelnoy fluttered his tentacles in horror, crying, "Don't even
_think_ of such a thing!"
"I know, I know," said Ebor hastily. "The laws--"
"Never mind the laws," snapped Darquelnoy. "I'm not even thinking
about the laws. Frankly, if it would do any good, I might even
consider breaking one or two of the laws, and the devil with my
conditioning."
"You _are_ upset," said Ebor at that.
"But if we were to interfere with those creatures up there," continued
Darquelnoy, "interfere with them in any way at all, it would be
absolutely disastrous."
The orderly returned at that point, with two steaming cups of restno.
Darquelnoy and Ebor accepted the cups and the orderly left, making a
sloppy tentacle-cross salute, which the two ignored.
* * * * *
"I wasn't talking necessarily about attacking them, you know," said
Ebor, returning to the subject.
"Neither was I," Darquelnoy told him. "We wouldn't have to attack
them. All we would have to do is let them know we're here. Not even
_why_ we're here, just the simple fact of our presence. That would be
enough. _They_ would attack _us_."