tos. They had been snapped hurriedly; they
were blurred and indistinct. The first few showed--David. David
walking along a road, by himself. David and another David. Three
Davids. All exactly alike. Each with a ragged teddy bear.

All pathetic.

"Look at the others," Tasso said.

The next pictures, taken at a great distance, showed a towering
wounded soldier sitting by the side of a path, his arm in a sling, the
stump of one leg extended, a crude crutch on his lap. Then two wounded
soldiers, both the same, standing side by side.

"That's Variety One. The Wounded Soldier." Klaus reached out and took
the pictures. "You see, the claws were designed to get to human
beings. To find them. Each kind was better than the last. They got
farther, closer, past most of our defenses, into our lines. But as
long as they were merely _machines_, metal spheres with claws and
horns, feelers, they could be picked off like any other object. They
could be detected as lethal robots as soon as they were seen. Once we
caught sight of them--"

"Variety One subverted our whole north wing," Rudi said. "It was a
long time before anyone caught on. Then it was too late. They came in,
wounded soldiers, knocking and begging to be let in. So we let them
in. And as soon as they were in they took over. We were watching out
for machines...."

"At that time it was thought there was only the one type," Klaus
Epstein said. "No one suspected there were other types. The pictures
were flashed to us. When the runner was sent to you, we knew of just
one type. Variety One. The big Wounded Soldier. We thought that was
all."

"Your line fell to--"

"To Variety Three. David and his bear. That worked even better." Klaus
smiled bitterly. "Soldiers are suckers for children. We brought them
in and tried to feed them. We found out the hard way what they were
after. At least, those who were in the bunker."

"The three of us were lucky," Rudi said. "Klaus and I were--were
visiting Tasso when it happened. This is her place." He waved a big
hand around. "This little cellar. We finished and climbed the ladder
to start back. From the ridge we saw. There they were, all around the
bunker. Fighting was still going on. David and his bear. Hundreds of
them. Klaus took the pictures."

Klaus tied up the photographs again.

* * * * *

"And it's going on all along your line?" Hendricks said.

"Yes."

"How about _our_ lines?" Without thin