* *

The sky was lightening when Dworn and Qanya settled themselves to watch
from the crest of the rocky ridge which had shielded the attacking
forces' deployment not far from the brink of the cliffs.

Behind them, the spiders which had brought them here melted stealthily
away toward the east, going to take their places in the battle line.

The two were alone once more, looking out over the vast circular
depression infested by the enemy, just as they had yesterday at sunset.
But today, as the sun rose, the situation was very different. For miles
around the circumference of the great hive, there were furtive
stirrings, last-minute movements of preparation for the imminent
assault. From behind every outcropping and fold of the ground, grim
gun-muzzles pointed inward, ready to begin spitting fire when the zero
second came.

From here the central buildings of the hive were plainly visible,
standing out against the sunrise. Around them moved many of the tireless
worker machines; and the parked aircraft seemed more numerous than they
had been the night before. Among them a score or more of winged shapes
loomed conspicuous for their great size; when you made proper allowance
for the distance, you realized that they were immense.

Those would be the queens--loaded and ready to take flight on their
one-way journey to found new colonies wherever their evil destiny might
lead them. The time of swarming was near.

Dworn scowled darkly, squinting against the light in an effort to judge
the enemy's numbers. He grunted, "I hope ..." and bit his lip.

"What's wrong?" said Qanya tensely.

"Nothing.... Only it would have been well if we'd had time to bring up
more reinforcements. But don't worry--we'll smash them." He was a little
surprised to note that he said "we"--and meant any and all of the
machine-peoples, united now in a common cause.

Dworn was bitterly wishing at this moment that he had had his
beetle-machine again, and had been able to take an active part. As it
was, he didn't even know surely just where in the battle line the
beetles had taken up their position.

A distant explosion, a single gunshot, rolled echoless across the flats.
It was a signal. Even as the shell hit the ground close to the ranked
drone aircraft, motors had begun to pulse and snarl all along the
farflung line. The desert began to spew forth attackers. A motley horde
of metal things, they darted, stalked, and lumbered from their
lur