ot damn far."

"They hang around close to the bunker. He's getting into the bad part.
Get set!"

The Russian began to hurry, sliding down the hill, his boots sinking
into the heaps of gray ash, trying to keep his gun up. He stopped for
a moment, lifting his fieldglasses to his face.

"He's looking right at us," Eric said.

* * * * *

The Russian came on. They could see his eyes, like two blue stones.
His mouth was open a little. He needed a shave; his chin was stubbled.
On one bony cheek was a square of tape, showing blue at the edge. A
fungoid spot. His coat was muddy and torn. One glove was missing. As
he ran his belt counter bounced up and down against him.

Leone touched Eric's arm. "Here one comes."

Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the
dull sunlight of mid-day. A metal sphere. It raced up the hill after
the Russian, its treads flying. It was small, one of the baby ones.
Its claws were out, two razor projections spinning in a blur of white
steel. The Russian heard it. He turned instantly, firing. The sphere
dissolved into particles. But already a second had emerged and was
following the first. The Russian fired again.

A third sphere leaped up the Russian's leg, clicking and whirring. It
jumped to the shoulder. The spinning blades disappeared into the
Russian's throat.

Eric relaxed. "Well, that's that. God, those damn things give me the
creeps. Sometimes I think we were better off before."

"If we hadn't invented them, they would have." Leone lit a cigarette
shakily. "I wonder why a Russian would come all this way alone. I
didn't see anyone covering him."

Lt. Scott came slipping up the tunnel, into the bunker. "What
happened? Something entered the screen."

"An Ivan."

"Just one?"

Eric brought the view screen around. Scott peered into it. Now there
were numerous metal spheres crawling over the prostrate body, dull
metal globes clicking and whirring, sawing up the Russian into small
parts to be carried away.

"What a lot of claws," Scott murmured.

"They come like flies. Not much game for them any more."

Scott pushed the sight away, disgusted. "Like flies. I wonder why he
was out there. They know we have claws all around."

A larger robot had joined the smaller spheres. It was directing
operations, a long blunt tube with projecting eyepieces. There was not
much left of the soldier. What remained was being brought down the
hil