Tamis giggled. "You know that, and yet you let the grain of sand obstruct your view!"
"But why hide yourselves?" he burst out. "With powers like that...."
"I didn't destroy the wall," she interrupted. "I recognized its transparent qualities. That is all. We have no weapons, no science that can destroy. We can only hide!"
"But why hide?" he persisted.
She regarded him sadly. "Your people are a hard grasping race—ruthless. What has happened to the dominant life forms of Mars and Venus? They are extinct!
"We don't propose to be driven into extinction. We have hidden ourselves, waiting for a weapon to free Asgard. And now the Republic itself has given us one!"
"The Republic has given you a weapon!"
"Yes. The maladjusted. The misfits. They are being organized. They are our weapon!"
"Very interesting!" drawled a low voice from the doorway to the fo'cs'le.
Tamis gave a startled gasp. Her face paled. Joel sprang to his feet.