MS-33 said. "Extremely,
extraordinarily, incomparably, incalculably kind." He used up all the
adjectives in his memory pack. "I wonder if you would mind awfully
much if--"

"Not at all," I said. "Help yourself. By the way, friend, would you
mind telling me what your real mission of your party is here on
Phobos. The Senator forgot to say."

"Secret," he said. "Horribly top secret. As a dutiful subject--I mean
servant--of Earth, I could not, of course, divulge it to anyone. If I
could--" his neon eyes glistened, "if I could, you would, of course,
be the first to know. The very first." He threw one nickel-plated arm
about my shoulder.

"I see," I said, "and just what is it that you are not allowed to tell
me?"

"Why, that we are making a preliminary survey here on Phobos, of
course, to determine whether or not it is worthwhile to send salvage
for scrap. Earth is short of metals, and it depends upon what the old
ma--the master says in his report."

"You mean they'll take all the derelict spaceships, such as this one,
and all the abandoned equipment?"

"And the r-robots," MS-33 said, "They're metal too, you know."

"They're going to take the dismantled robots?"

MS-33 made a sweeping gesture. "They're going to take _all_ the
r-robots, dismantled or not. They're not good for anything anyway. The
bill is up before the Federation Congress right now. And it will pass
if my master, Langley says so." He patted my helmet, consolingly, his
grapples clanking. "If you were worth a damn, you know--" he concluded
sorrowfully.

"That's murder," I said. And I meant it. Man's inhumanity to metal
people, I thought. Yes--to man, even if we were made of metal.

"How's that?" said MS-33 foggily.

"Have another drop of Moon Glow," I said. "I've got to get back to
Argon City."

* * * * *

I made it back to Benny's place without incident. I had never moved so
swiftly. I sent Benny out to find Jon Rogeson, and presently he
brought him back.

I told Rogeson what MS-33 had said, watching his reaction carefully. I
could not forget that though he had been our friend, he was still one
of the Builders, a human who thought as humans.

"You comprehend," I said grimly, "that one word of this will bring an
uprising of fifty-thousand metal people which can be put down only at
much expense and with great destruction. We are free people. The
Builders exiled us here, and therefore lost their claim to us. We h