Regin Naylo scowled. "We had 'em in your lap," he complained. "And
nobody gave the order to fire. We could have chased 'em inch by inch,
but all we did was to hang here in space and scare the hull plates off
of them and let 'em run like rabbits."
Viggon smiled. "Exactly. I expected one of two things. They could have
swarmed into us senselessly, suicidally, to take whatever toll they
could take before they lost. That's why we had the projectors alerted
and the fighters hot. I don't even open an ant hill without protection,
gentlemen. So they did the other thing."
"Sure," growled Regin Naylo. "They could either stay or run. Since they
didn't stay, they--"
"Stop being smart," snapped Viggon Sarri. "Or weren't you listening?"
"Yes, I was."
"Then you should realize that what they were doing was behaving
sensibly. Just what would you do, Naylo, if you were wandering through
a woods unarmed and a large, unknown, and completely unexpected beast
leaped out on your path?"