never that happened there was a flash as of lightning,
the heavy smoke of burning insulation, grease and metal, and the robot
went down out of control. Recalling his remaining automatons, Roger sent
out a shielding screen, against which the defenders of their planet
raged in impotent fury. For days they hurled themselves and their every
force against that impenetrable barrier, then withdrew: temporarily
stopped, but by no means acknowledging defeat.

Then, while Roger and his cohorts directed affairs from within their
comfortable and now sufficiently roomy vessel, there came into being
around it an industrial city of metal, peopled by metallic and insensate
mechanisms. Mines were sunk, furnaces were blown in, smelters belched
forth into the already unbearable air their sulphurous fumes, rolling
mills and machine shops were built and equipped: and as fast as new
enterprises were completed additional robots were ready to man them. In
record time the heavy work of girders, members, and plates was well
under way; and shortly thereafter light, deft, and multi-fingered
mechanical men began the interminable task of building and installing
the prodigious amount of precise machinery required for the vast
structure. Roger was well content: but one day he was rudely awakened
from his dream of complete isolation.

Even though he had no reason to believe that there was anything
dangerous within hundreds of millions of miles, it was Roger's cautious
custom to release the screens from time to time, in order to allow his
detectors to range out. This day, as he sent out his beams, his hard
gray eyes grew even harder.

"Mirsky! Nishimura! Come here!" he snapped, and showed them upon his
plate an enormous sphere of steel, its rays flaming viciously. "Is there
any doubt whatever in your minds as to the System to which that ship
belongs?"

"None at all--Triplanetarian," replied the Russian. "While larger than
any I have seen before, its construction is unmistakable. They managed
to trace us, and are testing out their weapons before attacking. Do we
attack or do we run away?"

"If Triplanetarian, and it surely is, we attack," coldly. "This one
section is armed and powered to defeat Triplanetary's entire navy. We
shall take that ship, and shall add its slight resources to our own. And
it may even be that they have picked up the three who escaped me.... I
have never yet been balked for long. Yes, we shall take that vessel. And
those thre