[Agh-- that sound still unnerved him, even weeks later. He hated not being able to see the enemy.]

A little, [he admitted,] I was in a den of 'em a few weeks back-- I think. Telling time gets weird when you're jumping from local time to the galactic standard. Lots of 'em were big, but some were small enough to fit in here...

[And that wasn't even counting the ancient Crosell in his factoring.]