ad ever
looked upon, lights winked oddly blue through the thickening dusk. They
caught glimpses of immense moving machinery, and heard mysterious
sounds. Once and again, it seemed that in the open space before the
structures a great door opened in the earth, and against a blue light
that streamed upward they saw a vast winged shape rise majestically from
underground and roll slowly forward into the shadows to join others
already ranked there.

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know...." Dworn reflected, grasping at memories of the
legends, the traditions he had heard. What he recalled was ominous. "I
think I can guess, though. I think they're getting ready to swarm."

Her stifled exclamation was sign enough that she understood.

If the guess was right, the danger was on the verge of being multiplied
many times over. Soon now, a swarm of queen ships would take to the air
and fly in all directions, sowing the seed of the robot plague broadcast
far and wide; one such colonizing vessel, no doubt, had founded this
great hive only a few months ago. The things worked fast....

And Dworn's duty, and Qanya's, became all the more clear and urgent.
Duty to spread the warning, at whatever risk to themselves. In the face
of that, Dworn's mission of personal blood vengeance became
unimportant--even if it had been possible to take such vengeance upon a
foe with no life to forfeit.

He whispered to Qanya, "The ground machines are about to leave. When
they're gone, we'll have to make a break for it." For some reason, as he
pondered the distance they must cross to reach the Barrier cliffs, he
recalled the strange revolving thing atop the central tower off yonder,
turning constantly with its air of restless searching.... He swallowed
painfully, repeated, "_Have_ to."

The girl nodded silently. Impulsively Dworn put his arm around her; she
pressed close against him. They huddled together like that, finding in
one another's living warmth some measure of encouragement against the
terror of the falling night in which nothing moved but the lifeless
machines.

* * * * *

They watched while the lights glimmered far off across the flats; while
a flight of fighter drones took off from there and howled away into the
dark on some roving patrol; while, at last, the salvaging machines
finished their work and rolled loot-laden away one by one.

More than once while they waited, other columns of the wingless dro