He's
different from the others. Perhaps he is, as he claims, a
superior being. There was one, who called himself Orkins, who
talked with us. But when Orkins saw us slay he ran away in
terror. This Norden begs us to kill."

"It is only through destruction of the weak that the strongest
survive," Norden answered. "Man is a cruel, but noble creature.
Those who fail to kill are weak."

The sphere's whistle grew thunderous.

"You speak the philosophy of my world!" it said.

From the depths of the sphere a rhythm of thought arose. A
whispered epic sang through the fibres of Taylor's mind, telling
of a world of energy, whipped into a storm of war. Spheres of
energy, overwhelmed a weaker race made up of gaseous clouds of
atoms.

In the midst of this titanic battle a huge disc appeared, carried
by the gaseous clouds. It was a concave lens, like some powerful
optical instrument. But instead of focusing beams of light, it
reflected, not only light but all forms of energy. As the spheres
attacked they were shattered into spores and shot away through
space.

The whispered song told of the flight through space. Behind lay a
world, unlike the earth, which the spheres called home. It was a
gaseous, flaming world where matter and energy mingled as one
substance. It was mottled with spots of cold gases which warred
with the whispering spheres. _It was the sun._

The sun was power, yet a ceaseless struggle between energy and
matter. But neither energy nor matter was in control. Should
matter control, the sun would cool. If energy triumphed, the sun
would explode. It was war, like the wars of the earth, where one
philosophy was based on power, and the other seeking justice. A
victory for might would make a ruthless world. Justice was
worthless without injustice. The ideals were mutually dependent,
yet always at war.

"The cold gases tricked us," whispered the sphere. "The weak have
no right to outwit the strong. The weak has no right to survive.
Justice is an unnatural condition. Progress means nothing, except
on the road to glory. Your race, sharing our philosophy, can
build another great energy reflector to send us back. We can aid
our people in triumphing over these inferior beings who claim
rights in a world of might."

"We can built what you wish," Norden promised.

It was a promise like other promises Norden had made, Taylor
thought. Norden once had promised to help Taylor fight the
spheres.

"I will call the othe