“How would you explain the fact that they have a weapon not currently in our arsenal?”
“You would have to ask the Scientists, Commander. To the best of my knowledge, however, the Technicians have never been asked to construct one.”
“Zome! Your comments and analyses?”
“Kor is dead, Commander.”
“Yes, I assumed as much. Now your analysis.”
“None of her injuries seem to be caused by any mechanical weapon. From this we can assume that unless specifically prepared for combat, the Ants rely upon their natural weapons.”
“As to the stun ray, while the Scientists are not currently aware of such a weapon, it is logically a device such as would have been employed by the First Ones. It could have been passed over in their notes as being unsuitable to our purposes. Tzen will usually either kill an organism or leave it alone.”
“It would be useful on missions such as this, when we are assigned to capture live specimens,” I commented.
“That is true, Commander, but investigative expeditions such as this are a relatively new venture. Stun rays could have been discarded and forgotten before the need for these missions was known.”
“Possibly. Proceed with your report.”
“The examination described by Kor indicates prior knowledge of Tzen anatomy. This means the Ants have either obtained data from our earlier campaigns here, or that we have finally discovered what happened to Sirk. In either case, it shows the Ants are also capable of investigative study. They are both aware of the Tzen, and eager for additional data. This last is demonstrated by the fact they were willing to risk attempting to capture live and armed Tzen to obtain subjects for study. We will have to assume if they are intelligent enough to do that, they are intelligent enough to use what they learn.”