Earth Alert!
Sweat beaded John's face. "There will be enough of killing."

It will be great pleasure to hunt them down.

They will kill some of us, Walt thought back. And, to himself: I wish I could be afraid.

Not me! Calvin thought joyously. It was uncertain when Calvin could telepath. Not me!

They have powerful weapons, too. Atom bombs, they are called. It will not be easy to kill them all. This thought came as a reminder from one of the aliens.

Calvin moved his powerful hands. "I can kill them all by myself."

The smaller compartment, itself, was huge. To the left lay the hydroponics tanks, and to the right, the mutants' cubicles. In the center of the compartment was the games space where the mutants boxed and wrestled and exercised with weights. The walls of each cubicle were so designed as to produce the illusion of great distances. The mutants would be required to face vast open spaces, and their cubicles partially conditioned them for the experience. Huge as their world was, it was miniscular compared to the one that would confront them.

Calvin, sitting beside Walt in Walt's cubicle, was trying to express an abstract concept.

"... Forential is afraid of earthmen," he said. He puckered his face in a frown. "I have just thought of that."

"Forential is afraid of everything," Walt said respectfully.

"I remember once when I shoved him he was very afraid. I shouldn't have," Calvin said, "... it must be wonderful to be afraid."

"He is more advanced than we are."

"We can kill earthmen, though," Calvin said. "He's too afraid to; so we get to kill them for him."

"You got it wrong; you always get things wrong. We are killing earthmen for ourselves."

"Oh, yes," Calvin nodded. "I forget."

"Forential is a friend," Walt said. "He helps the Lyrians from the goodness of his heart."

"Earthmen are very bad."


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