Yes, that was a puzzler. The dead monster would be more than
_he_ would care to tackle without a blaster. And yet it was dead, with
a smashed spear for evidence as to the manner of killing.
All those others dead in the arena, too. How large a party had invaded
the city? Where were they now?
"I'd like to know," he was speaking more to himself than to the
com-tech, "how they _did_ do it. No other bodies--"
"Those could have been taken away by their friends," Soriki
suggested. "But if they're still hanging about, I hope they won't
believe that we're bigger and better editions of the painted lads. I
don't want a spear through me!"
Raf, remembering the maze of lanes and streets--bordered by buildings
which could provide hundreds of lurking places for attackers--which he
had threaded with the confidence of ignorance earlier that day, began
to realize why the aliens had been so nervous. Had a sniper with a
blast rifle been stationed at a vantage point somewhere on the roofs
today none of them would ever have returned to this field. And even a
few spacemen with good cover and accurate throwing aim could have cut
down their number a quarter or a third.
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