the circus; of sportsmen exterminating game; of the mob
watching the guillotine on the streets of Paris. It was
Zarathustra who said that when gazing at tragedies, bull fights
and crucifixions, man has felt his happiest; and when man
invented hell, he made hell his heaven on earth. Couldn't this be
a characteristic of all life? Couldn't the spheres be cruel and
ruthless, too?

Man, the mighty hunter, had become the prey.

A sphere detached itself from the group and circled toward the
car.

"I guess you're right, Masters," Taylor decided as he watched the
spheres. "We'd better move."

CHAPTER IV

PREY

Masters unlocked the handcuffs of the two men in the car. He
disposed of his short-wave set in a ditch, for it, too, had
batteries which might attract the spheres.

"Get out of the car, Orkins," he ordered.

"Watch him, Masters," Taylor warned. "If he starts yelling, choke
him."

"But not too hard," Masters added. "If we're going to be rabbits,
human values will change. Men who run into holes will live to eat
turnips, those who bare their teeth won't. Orkins might be the
forefather of a new race--a helluva race. Come on, Orkins. Get
out. Hurry up, Father Abraham, or I'll drag you out."

Orkins, cringing, emerged.

Taylor took charge of Norden, who followed Orkins out of the
machine.

"I hate your guts, Norden," he said. "You're a dirty, lousy rat
and you ought to be shot. But after all, you're a man. You've
courage and I admire it, as much as I hate the way you use it.
Overseas there's a war between countries. Here there's another
war between humanity and a species of alien monsters. Whether we
like it or not, we're allies."

Norden's undershot jaw moved in a grin.

"I know about the spheres, Captain," Norden replied. "I overheard
your remarks to Mr. Masters. I've listened to Orkins' babble."

"Will you help us?"

"I will bargain with you."

"For your life? You know I can't do anything about that. I'll do
my best--I'll speak a good word at your trial, try to save you
from the firing squad, but I'm only a captain. That's all I can
do. I haven't the power to do anything more."

"Then I will not help."

"Do you know what we're up against?"

"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it, Captain? But consider my
hopeless case."

"We have a chance, Norden. I know, more than any other living man
perhaps, what those spheres are. I've seen them close at hand.
Any hope of defeating them rests in us, usin