"We can feed them from the synthetizer," Renner answered. "We know that they will eat it."
"Why bother?" Farrow asked sourly.
Renner turned on him.
"Will the synthetizer handle it?" he asked.
"I guess so," Farrow grumbled. "For a while, at least. But I don't see what good the natives are to us."
"If we take their food," Renner said, "we're going to feed them. At least until such time as the crops come in, and they are able to feed themselves!"
"Are you building this planet for us, or for them?" Farrow demanded.
Renner turned away.
They put out cannisters of food for the natives that night. In the morning it was gone. Each evening, someone left food for them near their favorite nest of rocks. The natives took it in the dark, unseen.