"If they weren't trying to kill us," Palmer says in a huff, "why'd they laugh at me when I was tryin' to negotiate with 'em? Couldn't bother to tell us what they wanted. They would've saved themselves and us a lotta trouble if they'd listened to what I had to say." He brushes the tears in his jacket. Palmer's not usually like this, but his optimism had been roughly thrown back in his face.

He's physically unhurt, but the same can't be said for his pride. Palmer feels foolish. He actually thought he could stop the fight. It's a good thing he hadn't gotten himself killed.

He thinks the creatures are intelligent, all right, smart enough to set traps and use complex weapons, but they were clearly not interested in explaining what they were or what they wanted. He just doen't understand why, if they were smart enough to understand what he was saying, they just laughed his offer of peace off and continued attacking.

"That was too close. I'm gonna stay in the safe zone for a while."