arest Garlock.
"Situation under control, thanks to you Tellurians. Supposed to be two
squads of us gunners, but the other squad was busy on another job.
Without you, this could have developed into a fairly nasty little
infection. I don't know what you're doing or how you're doing it--we
were told that you weren't like any other humans, and how true _that_
is--but I'm in favor of it. I thought there were four of you?"

"One of us is not a fighter."

"Oh. You can knock off now, if you like. We'll polish off. Thanks much."

"But don't the boys on the ground need some help?"

"The Arpales? Those idiots you have been thinking of as 'guardians'?
Which they are, of course. Uh-uh. Besides, we're air-fighters. Ground
work is none of our business. Also, these guns would raise altogether
too much hell down there. Bound to hit some humans."

"Check. Those Arpales aren't very intelligent, you Arpalones are
extremely so. Any connection?"

"'Way back, they say. Common ancestry, and doing two parts of the same
job. Killing these fumapties and lemarts and sencors and what-have-you.
I don't know what humanity's job is and don't give a damn. Probably
fairly important, some way or other, though, since it's our job to see
that the silly, gutless things keep on living. We have nothing to do
with 'em, ever. The only reason I'm talking to you is you're not really
human at all. You're a fighter, too, and a damn good one."

"I know what you mean," and the three Tellurians turned their attention
downward to the scene on the ground.

* * *

The heaviest fighting had been over a large park at the city's edge,
which was now literally a shambles. Very few people were to be seen, and
those few more moving unconcernedly away from the center of violence.
All over the park thousands of Arpales were fighting furiously and
hundreds of them were dying. For hundreds of the sencors had suffered
only wing injuries, the long fall to ground had not harmed them further,
and their tremendous fighting ability had been lessened very little if
at all.

"But I'd think, just for efficiency if nothing else," Garlock argued,
"you'd support the Arpales _some_ way. Lighter guns or something. Why,
thousands of them must have been killed, just in this last hour or so."

"Yeah, but that's their business. They breed fast and die fast.
Everything has to balance, you know."

"Perhaps so." Garlock was silenced, if not convinced. "Well, it