"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_." Ebor extended his eyes in surprise. "As vicious as all that?" "Chilling," Darquelnoy told him. "Absolutely chilling." "Then I'm surprised they haven't blown themselves to pieces long before this."