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."

"Oh, well," said Darquelnoy, "you see, they're cowards, too. They have
to boast and brag and shout a while before they finally get to clawing
and biting at one another."

Ebor waved a tentacle. "Don't make it so vivid."

"Sorry," apologized Darquelnoy. He drained his cup of restno. "Out
here," he said, "living next door to the little beasts day after day,
one begins to lose one's sensibilities."

"It has been a long time," agreed Ebor.

"Longer than we had