saw him running toward the factory."

"He'd rather take it that way than the firing squad, I guess,"
Masters decided.

"Masters," Taylor said. "We overlooked something. Norden knows
something we don't know. He was around Orkins most of the time
after we left the plant. He listened to what Orkins said. Orkins
was in the factory when the spheres first appeared. I overlooked
Orkins as having an answer to the problem. I thought I knew it
all, but I was wrong! Orkins knew more than I know about the
spheres."

"Sure! I should have thought of it, too. How did Orkins get away
when everyone else got killed? I never asked that. I just took it
for granted that he got away by accident. Orkins might have known
enough to help Norden get the spheres on his side!"

Taylor already was running toward the factory. At his heels came
Masters and Pember.

CHAPTER VI

INFERNO

They found no sign of Norden as they approached the factory.
Several times they had to take cover in ditches and weeds as
whispering spheres floated overhead in search of prey. But they
escaped the electrical feelers which stirred the grass and brush
around them.

Pember recovered his Garand rifle, which had been left near the
sentry box during the retreat.

Taylor led the group into the tunnel, with Masters following and
Pember bringing up the rear.

The din of the slaughter in the town and the shrill whistle of
the spheres was blotted out underground. They reached the far
end, where the ladder led upward to the sphere-haunted factory.

Taylor ascended. He could hear the shrill whistle of spheres
dinning through the bleak building. He peeped into the forge
room. The first flush of dawn was streaming through the windows.

Norden was there, creeping along the barrels of some naval guns
toward the casting room.

Norden halted at the door. He took a deep breath. From his lips
came a shrill, whispering whistle, a close imitation of the call
of the spheres.

An orange light was reflected from the room beyond.

Still whistling, Norden stepped back a few paces. Through the
door, floating toward the spy came an orange sphere.

Taylor watched, expecting to see a bolt of heat lash out toward
the spy. But the sphere pulsed slowly, as if half pleased by the
sound Norden made with his lips.

So this is how Orkins escaped from the plant, Taylor thought.
Orkins had imitated the creatures. They had spared him as a pet,
like a man keeps a talking parro