eared his throat.
"All of you are ordered by the President to carry out the plan you have
submitted." He looked sharply at Gelsen. "Not to do so will be treason."

"I'll cooperate to the best of my ability," Gelsen said.

"Good. Those assembly lines must be rolling within the week."

Gelsen walked out of the room alone. Now he was confused again. Had he
been right or was he just another visionary? Certainly, he hadn't
explained himself with much clarity.

Did he know what he meant?

Gelsen cursed under his breath. He wondered why he couldn't ever be sure
of anything. Weren't there any values he could hold on to?

He hurried to the airport and to his plant.

* * * * *

The watchbird was operating erratically now. Many of its delicate parts
were out of line, worn by almost continuous operation. But gallantly it
responded when the stimuli came.

A spider was attacking a fly. The watchbird swooped down to the rescue.

Simultaneously, it became aware of something overhead. The watchbird
wheeled to meet it.

There was a sharp crackle and a power bolt whizzed by the watchbird's
wing. Angrily, it spat a shock wave.

[Illustration]

The attacker was heavily insulated. Again it spat at the watchbird. This
time, a bolt smashed through a wing, the watchbird darted away, but the
attacker went after it in a burst of speed, throwing out more crackling
power.

The watchbird fell, but managed to send out its message. Urgent! A new
menace to living organisms and this was the deadliest yet!

Other watchbirds around the country integrated the message. Their
thinking centers searched for an answer.

* * * * *

"Well, Chief, they bagged fifty today," Macintyre said, coming into
Gelsen's office.

"Fine," Gelsen said, not looking at the engineer.

"Not so fine." Macintyre sat down. "Lord, I'm tired! It was seventy-two
yesterday."

"I know." On Gelsen's desk were several dozen lawsuits, which he was
sending to the government with a prayer.

"They'll pick up again, though," Macintyre said confidently. "The Hawks
are especially built to hunt down watchbirds. They're stronger, faster,
and they've got better armor. We really rolled them out in a hurry,
huh?"

"We sure did."

"The watchbirds are pretty good, too," Macintyre had to admit. "They're
learning to take cover. They're trying a lot of stunts. You know, each
one that goes down tells the others someth