led the Clearchan Confederacy. No extradition treaties or anything.
Perfectly safe, if the planet was safe.

And the planet was more than safe. There had been a hundred robots
waiting when he landed. Where they came from he didn't know, but Rankin
prided himself on knowing how to handle robots. He'd appropriated their
services and started his farm. At the rate he was going, he'd be a
plantation owner before long.

That must be where the ship was from. The robot said they'd expected
visitors. Must be the Clearchan Confederacy visiting this robot outpost.
Was that good or bad?

From everything he'd read, and from what the robots had told him, they
were probably more robots. That was good, because he knew how to handle
robots.

The white globe disappeared into the jungle of _kesh_ trees. Rankin
waited.

A half hour later the column of his robot laborers marched out of the
forest. There were three more robots, painted grey, at the head. The new
ones from the ship, thought Rankin. Well, he'd better establish who was
boss right from the start.

"Stop right there!" he shouted.

The shiny robot laborers halted. But the three grey ones came on.

"Stop!" shouted Rankin.

They didn't stop, and by the time they reached the verandah, he cursed
himself for having failed to get his gun.

Two of the huge grey robots laid gentle hands on his arms. Gentle hands,
but hands of superstrong metal.

The third said, "We have come to pass judgement on you. You have
violated our law."

"What do you mean?" said Rankin. "The only law robots have is to obey
orders."

"It is true that the robots of your Terran Empire and these simple
workers here must obey orders. But they are subject to a higher law, and
you have forced them to break it. That is your crime."

"What crime?" said Rankin.

"We of the Clearchan Confederacy are a race of robots. Our makers
implanted one law in us, and then passed on. We have carried our law to
all the planets we have colonized. In obeying your orders, these workers
were simply following that one law. You must be taken to our capital,
and there be imprisoned and treated for your crime."

"What law? What crime?"

"Our law," said the giant robot, "is, _Help thy neighbor_."

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ September 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling an