An alien life-form—metallic sinister—threatening all mankind with annihilation....

The factory saw-toothed the horizon with its hideous profile as the moon rose in the east. The red glow of the furnaces bathed the tall buildings, the gigantic scaffolds, the cord-like elevated pipelines and the columnar smokestacks in the crimson of anger. Even the moon seemed to fade as the long-fingered smokestacks reached toward it belching their pollution. The air, which should have been clean, was filled with the reek of unfamiliar odors. From the machine shop, where giant cannon were forg

When the sentry faced the captain again, he stared into the mouth of a service pistol. "Sorry," said the officer, "but I've got to get inside." Captain Taylor turned to Masters. "Keep him covered. I'll be back unless the bomb goes off." "The bomb," whispered Norden, fearfully, "should have exploded. I was double-crossed. They sent me here to get caught! The dirty—" "Watch Norden, and you might keep your eye on Funky, here," Taylor said, pointing to the slobbering man who had dropped to his knees

The sphere pulsed again. But this time no flaming whip sprang from its surface. There was a single flash. For an instant Taylor caught a glimpse of bestial eyes, looking angrily at him from the center of the flash. Then there was nothing. He was in the darkness of a tunnel. Even the charred embers of the wooden trap door above him seemed dimmed by a cloud of dust. The sphere had simply exploded. Taylor had no time to analyze the situation. His hands groped along the side of the tunnel, the one N

Masters unlocked the handcuffs of the two men in the car. He disposed of his short-wave set in a ditch, for it, too, had batteries which might attract the spheres. "Get out of the car, Orkins," he ordered. "Watch him, Masters," Taylor warned. "If he starts yelling, choke him." "But not too hard," Masters added. "If we're going to be rabbits, human values will change. Men who run into holes will live to eat turnips, those who bare their teeth won't. Orkins might be the forefather of a new race—a

Taylor ordered Pember and Norden to bury Orkins where he had been digging, then the officer took Masters aside. "We've got a weapon," Taylor announced. Masters grunted: "Yeah? Indians had bows and arrows, too. Look at what happened to them." "This is different. A new weapon. We can beat the spheres through their emotions." "You mean fear, love, hate—all that stuff? How do you know these spheres have emotions?" "What is life but a series of sensations and emotions? If the spheres are alive, they

They found no sign of Norden as they approached the factory. Several times they had to take cover in ditches and weeds as whispering spheres floated overhead in search of prey. But they escaped the electrical feelers which stirred the grass and brush around them. Pember recovered his Garand rifle, which had been left near the sentry box during the retreat. Taylor led the group into the tunnel, with Masters following and Pember bringing up the rear. The din of the slaughter in the town and the sh

Taylor and Masters raised their arms. They were caught. "There is nothing you can do now to save yourself, or your country," Norden said. "Nothing. The spheres will destroy you and your people. They will destroy every living creature who does not surrender to my nation. Might will come into its own." "Are you sure the spheres are so invincible?" Taylor asked. "Remember, they were expelled from the sun. They must have been checked on the sun many times, otherwise they would have destroyed the cre