"I'm sorry to have to tell you this...."
Kirk knew. The knowledge leaped through him. It was strange, to feel a spear-stab where there was no spear.
He said, "Pa."
The Officer nodded. He seemed very tired, and he didn't look at Kirk. He hadn't, after the first glance.
"Your father, and his two friends."
Kirk shivered. The horny lids dropped over his eyes. "I wish I'd known," he whispered. "I'd have killed more of them."
The Officer put his hands flat on the top of the wall and looked at them as if they were strange things and no part of him.
"Kirk," he said, "this is going to be hard to explain. I've never done anything as hard. The Piruts didn't kill them. They were responsible, but they didn't actually kill them."
Wes raised his head slowly. "I don't understand."
"We saw them coming up the tongue of rock. The Piruts were behind them, but not far. Not far enough. One of the three, it wasn't your father, called to us to put the ladder down. We waited...."