"Matters!" B'prith halted, suddenly blazing out in fury. "Sure it
matters! For the first time--in a century. The first time in our lives
we're beating you. We have you on the run, you--" He choked out the
word, almost spat it out. "You white-grubs!"
They disappeared into the house. Tony sat gazing stupidly down at the
ground, his hands still moving aimlessly. He had heard the word before,
seen it scrawled on walls and in the dust near the settlement.
_White-grubs._ The Pas term of derision for Terrans. Because of their
softness, their whiteness. Lack of hard shells. Pulpy, doughy skin. But
they had never dared say it out loud, before. To an Earthman's face.
Beside him, his EEP stirred restlessly. Its intricate radio mechanism
sensed the hostile atmosphere. Automatic relays were sliding into place;
circuits were opening and closing.
"It's all right," Tony murmured, getting slowly up. "Maybe we'd better
go back."
He moved unsteadily toward the ramp, completely shaken. The EEP walked
calmly ahead, its metal face blank and confident, feeling nothing,
saying nothing. Tony's thoughts were a wild turmoil; he shook his head,
but the crazy spinning kept up. He couldn't make his mind slow down,
lock in place.
"Wait a minute," a voice said. B'prith's voice, from the open doorway.
Cold and withdrawn, almost unfamiliar.
"What do you want?"
B'prith came toward him, claws behind his back in the formal Pas-udeti
posture, used between total strangers. "You shouldn't have come here,
today."
"I know," Tony said.
B'prith got out a bit of _tis_ stalk and began to roll it into a tube.
He pretended to concentrate on it. "Look," he said. "You said you have a
right here. But you don't."
"I--" Tony murmured.
"Do you understand why not? You said it isn't your fault. I guess not.
But it's not my fault, either. Maybe it's nobody's fault. I've known you
a long time."
"Five years. Terran."
B'prith twisted the stalk up and tossed it away. "Yesterday we played
together. We worked on the spaceport. But we can't play today. My family
said to tell you not to come here any more." He hesitated, and did not
look Tony in the face. "I was going to tell you, anyhow. Before they
said anything."
"Oh," Tony said.
"Everything that's happened today--the battle, our fleet's stand. We
didn't know. We didn't dare hope. You see? A century of running. First
this system. Then the Rigel system, all the planets. Then the other
Orion stars. We fought here and there--scattered fights. Those that got
away joined up. We supplied the base at Orion--you people didn't know.
But there was no hope; at least, nobody thought there was." He was
silent a moment. "Funny," he said, "what happens when your back's to the
wall, and there isn't any further place to go. Then you have to fight."
"If our supply bases--" Tony began thickly, but B'prith cut him off
savagely.
"Your supply bases! Don't you understand? We're beating you! Now you'll
have to get out! All you white-grubs. Out of our system!"
Tony's EEP moved forward ominously. B'prith saw it. He bent down,
snatched up a rock, and hurled it straight at the EEP. The rock clanged
off the metal hull and bounced harmlessly away. B'prith snatched up
another rock. Llyre and the others came quickly out of the house. An
adult Pas loomed up behind them. Everything was happening too fast. More
rocks crashed against the EEP. One struck Tony on the arm.
"Get out!" B'prith screamed. "Don't come back! This is our planet!" His
claws snatched at Tony. "We'll tear you to pieces if you--"
Tony smashed him in the chest. The soft shell gave like rubber, and the
Pas stumbled back. He wobbled and fell over, gasping and screeching.
"_Beetle_," Tony breathed hoarsely. Suddenly he was terrified. A crowd
of Pas-udeti was forming rapidly. They surged on all sides, hostile
faces, dark and angry, a rising thunder of rage.
More stones showered. Some struck the EEP, others fell around Tony, near
his boots. One whizzed past his face. Quickly he slid his helmet in
place. He was scared. He knew his EEP's E-signal had already gone out,
but it would be minutes before a ship could come. Besides, there were
other Earthmen in the city to be taken care of; there were Earthmen all
over the planet. In all the cities. On all the twenty-three Betelgeuse
planets. On the fourteen Rigel planets. On the other Orion planets.
"We have to get out of here," he muttered to the EEP. "Do something!"
A stone hit him on the helmet. The plastic cracked; air leaked out, and
then the autoseal filmed over. More stones were falling. The Pas swarmed
close, a yelling, seething mass of black-sheathed creatures. He could
smell them, the acrid body-odor of insects, hear their claws snap, feel
their weight.
The EEP threw its heat beam on. The beam shifted in a wide band toward
the crowd of Pas-udeti. Crude hand weapons appeared. A clatter of
bullets burst around Tony; they were firing at the EEP. He was dimly
aware of the metal body beside him. A shuddering crash--the EEP was
toppled over. The crowd poured over it; the metal hull was lost from
sight.
Like a demented animal, the crowd tore at the struggling EEP. A few of
them smashed in its head; others tore off struts and shiny arm-sections.
The EEP ceased struggling. The crowd moved away, panting and clutching
jagged remains. They saw Tony.
As the first line of them reached for him, the protective envelope high
above them shattered. A Terran scout ship thundered down, heat beam
screaming. The crowd scattered in confusion, some firing, some throwing
stones, others leaping for safety.
Tony picked himself up and made his way unsteadily toward the spot where
the scout was landing.
* * * * *
"I'm sorry," Joe Rossi said gently. He touched his son on the shoulder.
"I shouldn't have let you go down there today. I should have known."
Tony sat hunched over in the big plastic easychair. He rocked back and
forth, face pale with shock. The scout ship which had rescued him had
immediately headed back toward Karnet; there were other Earthmen to
bring out, besides this first load. The boy said nothing. His mind was
blank. He still heard the roar of the crowd, felt its hate--a century of
pent-up fury and resentment. The memory drove out everything else; it
was all around him, even now. And the sight of the floundering EEP, the
metallic ripping sound, as its arms and legs were torn off and carried
away.
His mother dabbed at his cuts and scratches with antiseptic. Joe Rossi
shakily lit a cigarette and said, "If your EEP hadn't been along they'd
have killed you. Beetles." He shuddered. "I never should have let you go
down there. All this time.... They might have done it any time, any day.
Knifed you. Cut you open with their filthy goddamn claws."
Below the settlement the reddish-yellow sunlight glinted on gunbarrels.
Already, dull booms echoed against the crumbling hills. The defense ring
was going into action. Black shapes darted and scurried up the side of
the slope. Black patches moved out from Karnet, toward the Terran
settlement, across the dividing line the Confederation surveyors had set
up a century ago. Karnet was a bubbling pot of activity. The whole city
rumbled with feverish excitement.