Birthright

“It could be something so odd or so tiny that a human would completely overlook it,” she continued.

“For example, did the miners build latrines or outhouses or anything else that might be considered a desecration of alien ground?”

“Quite possibly they did,” said Tanayoka. “But I couldn't begin to tell you where. We put everything back in order before we left. We even spent an extra day restoring the mountains.” “Is there anything else they could have done on the final day that they hadn't done before—hold a party, send a radio message to Deluros or Earth, anything?” “Nothing comes to mind,” said Tanayoka. “Then why were they attacked?” she said, more irritated at herself than her companion. “The aliens watched them mine the mountains for half a year. What did they do differently?” “I wish I could help you, Mrs. Orta.”

“So do I,” said Consuela.

She sighed, walked to the groundcar, took one last look at the terrain before returning to the ship— —And then it hit her.

“Curious,” she said.

“What is?”

She shook her head in wonderment. “Of course!” “You know, don't you?” said Tanayoka excitedly. “What was it we did?” “You know, too,” said Consuela. “It's that damned tendency to anthropomorphize again. I should have figured it out two weeks ago.”

“I haven't figured it outyet ,” said Tanayoka. “Won't you please tell me what you've found?” “Just use a simple process of elimination,” said Consuela “What did our miners do when they were ready to move on to the next site? Well, they tried to load the ore onto the ship, but we are forced by necessity to assume that didn't trigger the aliens off.” “Why forced by necessity?”

“Because you and I both know that if that's the reason, it's too damned bad for the aliens, because the Republic is going to keep on extracting what they need from Beelzebub. “Besides, our two sample aliens showed no interest whatever in refined ores. And we know it wasn't the knowledge that the ship would soon be taking off, because they could have had no such knowledge. And we know the miners didn't create any disturbance in their exuberance at completing the first phase of their jobs.”

“But thereis nothing else!” said Tanayoka.