He was thinking of small boys torturing frogs; of Roman emperors at the circus; of sportsmen exterminating game; of the mob watching the guillotine on the streets of Paris. It was Zarathustra who said that when gazing at tragedies, bull fights and crucifixions, man has felt his happiest; and when man invented h.e.l.l, he made h.e.l.l his heaven on earth. Couldn't this be a characteristic of all life? Couldn't the spheres be cruel and ruthless, too?

Man, the mighty hunter, had become the prey.

A sphere detached itself from the group and circled toward the car.

"I guess you're right, Masters," Taylor decided as he watched the spheres. "We'd better move."

CHAPTER IV

PREY

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 h.e.l.luva race. Come on, Orkins. Get out. Hurry up, Father Abraham, or I'll drag you out."

Orkins, cringing, emerged.

Taylor took charge of Norden, who followed Orkins out of the machine.

"I hate your guts, Norden," he said. "You're a dirty, lousy rat and you ought to be shot. But after all, you're a man. You've courage and I admire it, as much as I hate the way you use it.

Overseas there's a war between countries. Here there's another war between humanity and a species of alien monsters. Whether we like it or not, we're allies."

Norden's undershot jaw moved in a grin.

"I know about the spheres, Captain," Norden replied. "I overheard your remarks to Mr. Masters. I've listened to Orkins' babble."

"Will you help us?"

"I will bargain with you."

"For your life? You know I can't do anything about that. I'll do my best--I'll speak a good word at your trial, try to save you from the firing squad, but I'm only a captain. That's all I can do. I haven't the power to do anything more."

"Then I will not help."

"Do you know what we're up against?"

"It looks pretty bad, doesn't it, Captain? But consider my hopeless case."

"We have a chance, Norden. I know, more than any other living man perhaps, what those spheres are. I've seen them close at hand.

Any hope of defeating them rests in us, using the meager knowledge I've gained from contact. What happens to your fatherland after the spheres finish on this side of the ocean depends on whether we conquer them, or they exterminate us."

Norden stopped smiling.

"When you put it that way, Captain, how could I refuse?" he asked. "I'll cooperate, not to help you, but to help the fatherland."

The moonlight showed a gleam in Norden's deep-set eyes that Taylor did not like.

They moved to a wooded spot in a nearby field. There was a feeling of semi-security as they settled down to rest under the trees. Orkins' moans of fear were silenced by sleep. Norden sat motionless and Taylor could not tell whether he was asleep or awake. Pember removed his pack and used it for a pillow. Masters snored peacefully on the gra.s.s.

Only Taylor remained awake. A sphere floated overhead. Taylor, watching, saw the leaves of the tree stir restlessly as the invisible feelers probed toward the earth.

It was a reddish-orange orb, like the setting sun. Taylor once more got the impression of deeply embedded eyes glowering beneath the s.h.i.+ning surface.

Were the eyes an illusion? Did the creatures really have eyes, like those of higher forms of animal life? Illusion or not, the eyes seemed to be there, intense, glaring and savage. They seemed to peer into the depths of Taylor's soul.

Taylor sat motionless, almost positive he was under observation.

He expected to feel the jerk of the electric shock of the feeler.

Instead, the sphere drifted on. The eyes had not seen.

A moment later flame streaked down from the sphere toward the parking lot. There was a roar as a gasoline tank exploded and flame shot skyward.

"There goes the battery!" Taylor muttered.

The others were roused by the explosion. Orkins sobbed hysterically. Masters, Pember and Norden watched the roaring flame.

"We'll never escape them!" Orkins moaned. "They'll find us sooner or later. They can sense us."

"They're not infallible," Taylor said. "Remember I got away from them in the tunnel." He turned knowingly toward the others.

"Perhaps, if we dug a cave--"

"Sure!" said Masters. "It's a good idea."

"Yes, sir!" Pember said with a nod. He pulled his trench tool from his pack and handed it to Orkins. "Maybe you'd like to dig, Mr. Orkins. It'll keep your mind off them things."

Orkins seized the small shovel almost instantly. Taylor half-smiled. He had made the suggestion for Orkins' benefit. The cave probably would never be finished. One deep enough to offer a refuge for five men could hardly be dug in a practical length of time.

Dawn was not far off and the spheres were drifting over the town.

Already streets were filled with panic-stricken people. The appearance of the strange b.a.l.l.s of fire brought residents from their homes in the middle of the night. Some fled in terror, believing a new type of raider had been invented by the enemy.

Others stood watching.

The spheres circled. Taylor watched them, realizing he could do nothing to stop what would happen. There was no way to warn these helpless people that the spheres dealt death in a most sudden and violent form.

Something nagged at Taylor's mind. Why had the sphere gone out when he crept into the tunnel? What had caused it to die? Had the sphere been grounded, trying to reach him under the surface of the earth? Not likely, otherwise the creatures would not be able to attack a man standing on the ground. The bolt, besides, was not electricity, like lightning, but heat, which is not grounded easily.

Where had the spheres come from? They surely were not of this world. On the basis of biological evolution they could not be the children of any life known to science. Had they evolved suddenly, by accident? Some scientists thought all life had grown by accident; the right combination of circ.u.mstances had occurred and a chemical action had followed. Had the right combination for the spheres come about as the result of the war and the releasing of untold amounts of energy?

But even if life had begun on earth by accident, all other types had taken ages to develop. These spheres, thinking creatures, could not have evolved overnight.