"And then a bunch of 'em hit Swazey's farm here," Potter said. "Killed two of his cattle, and pulled back."
"I figure they thought the cows were people," said Swazey. "They were out for revenge."
"How could anybody think a cow was folks?" another man put in. "They don't look nothin' like—"
"Don't be so dumb, Bert," said Swazey. "They'd never seen Terries before. They know better now."
Bert chuckled. "Sure do. We showed 'em the next time, didn't we, Potter? Got four."
"They walked right up to my place a couple days after the first time," Swazey said. "We were ready for 'em. Peppered 'em good. They cut and run."
"Flopped, you mean. Ugliest lookin' critters you ever saw. Look just like a old piece of dirty blanket humpin' around."
"It's been goin' on this way ever since. They raid and then we raid. But lately they've been bringing some big stuff into it. They've got some kind of pint-sized airships and automatic rifles. We've lost four men now and a dozen more in the freezer, waiting for the med ship. We can't afford it. The colony's got less than three hundred able-bodied men."
"But we're hanging onto our farms," said Potter. "All these oases are old sea-beds—a mile deep, solid topsoil. And there's a couple of hundred others we haven't touched yet. The Flap-jacks won't get 'em while there's a man alive."
"The whole system needs the food we can raise," Bert said. "These farms we're trying to start won't be enough but they'll help."