“But, by that logic, aren’t we the same as the Insects? I mean, aren’t we spreading beyond our planet and therefore disrupting the balance?”
“Possibly. But unlike the Insects, we respect the balance and try to upset it as little as possible. If we destroyed planets to dispose of the Insects, we’d be as bad as they are. We don’t. So the gamble is the possibility of our disrupting the Universe against the certainty of the Insects’ doing it if left unchecked.”
“You mentioned two things happened as a result of your research. What was the other?”
There was a long pause before he replied.
“I lost two teammates in the campaign against the Aquatics,” he said softly. “Ridiculous situations. With a little more practice, I might have saved them. But I hadn’t been practicing. I had been looking for answers to questions I had no business asking.”
“Warriors die in combat.”
“I know that, Hatchling, better than you ever will!”
“But there’s no guarantee you could have-“
“No guarantee, but a possibility. That possibility is worth my full concentration. Kor knows that, and so should I. I’m going to check my weapons.”
“But we wanted to…”
I missed the rest of the conversation. I had just been beamed by Horc. The defenses were in place. We could begin the mission.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“We’re in position, Commander.”
“Does Hif observe anything unusual about the boulders?”
“No. She claims they are identical in color to the rocks which abound throughout the area.”
I studied the boulders in the View Screen. The Technicians had established a bank of View Screens in the fortification, allowing us to monitor the images relayed by the view-input units mounted on either the flyers or the skimmers. By this method we were able to indirectly observe whatever transpired on a patrol or assignment.
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