"We're damn glad you're here, mister," said a fat man with two
revolvers belted across his paunch. "We can use every hand. We're in
bad shape. We ran into the Flap-jacks three months ago and we haven't
made a smart move since. First, we thought they were a native form we
hadn't run into before. Fact is, one of the boys shot one, thinkin' it
was fair game. I guess that was the start of it." He stirred the fire,
added a stick.
"And then a bunch of 'em hit Swazey's farm here," Potter said. "Killed
two of his cattle, and pulled back."
"I figure they thought the cows were people," said Swazey. "They were
out for revenge."
"How could anybody think a cow was folks?" another man put in. "They
don't look nothin' like--"
"Don't be so dumb, Bert," said Swazey. "They'd never seen Terries
before. They know better now."
Bert chuckled. "Sure do. We showed 'em the next time, didn't we,
Potter? Got four."
"They walked right up to my place a couple days after the first time,"
Swazey said. "We were ready for 'em. Peppered 'em good. They cut and
run."
"Flopped, you mean. Ugliest lookin' critters you ever saw. Look just
like a old piece of dirty blanket humpin' around."
"It's been goin' on this way ever since. They raid and then we raid.
But lately they've been bringing some big stuff into it. They've got
some kind of pint-sized airships and automatic rifles. We've lost four
men now and a dozen more in the freezer, waiting for the med ship. We
can't afford it. The colony's got less than three hundred able-bodied
men."
"But we're hanging onto our farms," said Potter. "All these oases are
old sea-beds--a mile deep, solid topsoil. And there's a couple of
hundred others we haven't touched yet. The Flap-jacks won't get 'em
while there's a man alive."
"The whole system needs the food we can raise," Bert said. "These farms
we're trying to start won't be enough but they'll help."
"We been yellin' for help to the CDT, over on Ivory," said Potter. "But
you know these Embassy stooges."
"We heard they were sending some kind of bureaucrat in here to tell
us to get out and give the oases to the Flap-jacks," said Swazey. He
tightened his mouth. "We're waitin' for him...."
"Meanwhile we got reinforcements comin' up, eh, boys?" Bert winked at
Retief. "We put out the word back home. We all got relatives on Ivory
and Verde."
"Shut up, you damn fool!" a deep voice grated.
"Lemuel!" Potter said. "Nobody else could sneak up on us like that."
"If I'd a been a Flap-jack; I'd of et you alive," the newcomer said,
moving into the ring of fire, a tall, broad-faced man in grimy leather.
He eyed Retief.
"Who's that?"
"What do ya mean?" Potter spoke in the silence. "He's your cousin...."
"He ain't no cousin of mine," Lemuel said slowly. He stepped to Retief.
"Who you spyin' for, stranger?" he rasped.
* * * * *