Dave Questell wanted to know what it meant; Meillard explained.
"Well, what are we going to do for water?" the Navy engineer asked.
"Soundproof the pump house. You can do that, can't you?"
"Sure. Mound it over with earth. We'll have that done in a few hours."
That started Gofredo worrying. "This happens every time we colonize
an inhabited planet. We give the natives something new. Then we find
out it's bad for them, and we try to take it away from them. And
then the knives come out, and the shooting starts."
Luis Gofredo was also a specialist, speaking on his subject.
* * * * *
While they were at lunch, Charley Loughran screened in from
the other camp and wanted to talk to Bennet Fayon.
"A funny thing, Bennet. I took a shot at a bird ... no, a flying
mammal ... and dropped it. It was dead when it hit the ground,
but there isn't a mark on it. I want you to do an autopsy, and
find out how I can kill things by missing them."
"How far away was it?"
"Call it forty feet; no more."
"What were you using, Charley?" Ayesha Keithley called from the table.
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