Rod turned down a deserted side street, then up another. For the time being, they were lost from view.
Finally, seeing the humans wearily fall behind, he halted.
"How do we leave the city?" he asked.
"We cannnot leave Detroy. We would surely die outside," panted Ralph. "The Capeks destroyed all life and vegetation when they conquered our ancestors; it is a blistering desert everywhere."
Suddenly a horde of machines rolled out of an alley in front of them, cutting off their retreat. Red looked about frantically. There was an open door in a building across the way. He motioned toward it. They ran over. When they were inside, he slammed the door.
He saw to the locks as the mob halted outside, shouting. It was a small, bare chamber, opening into another room at the rear. He looked in; there was no other exit. Except that there were no cabinets, the room was similar to the quarters of 83, where he had first been.
In this brief respite, he found them staring at him again.
"How did you get here?" asked Daro.
And briefly, his words loud above the noise outside, he told them what he knew of his coming and the subsequent happenings.
They listened with sparkling eyes, unmindful of their present insecurity.