and as the overmind came to understand the thing which flickers and puts out light and clouds which lie near the ground or rise up into the sky , we all came to know of it as well , and we knew full well that the thing which flickers and puts out light might be the best of the things which kill , for if we could have that thing which kills , we could kill the man-things from far off , and thus it would be that the sticks with teeth of the man-things could not reach us .