They went much closer to Earth, not intending to commit themselves. For a day they circled the planet, avoiding radar detection, which for them was not difficult, testing, and sampling. Finally Ethaniel looked up from the monitor screen. "Any conclusions?"
"What's there to think? It's worse than I imagined."
"In what way?"
"Well, we knew they had the big bomb. Atmospheric analysis showed that as far away as we were."
"I know."
"We also knew they could deliver the big bomb, presumably by some sort of aircraft."
"That was almost a certainty. They'd have no use for the big bomb without aircraft."
"What's worse is that I now find they also have missiles, range one thousand miles and upward. They either have or are near a primitive form of space travel."
"Bad," said Ethaniel. "Sitting there, wondering when it's going to hit them. Nervousness could set it off."
"It could, and the missiles make it worse," said Bal. "What did you find out at your end?"