"Perlacs? Are those the furry creatures with the lights on their heads?"
"Yes. We call them that because Perlac is the name they give to the world. They have warred on us for generations. We number a mere five hundred, and they are thousands." Donli looked worried. "And now that the robots are active again, we are in even more danger."
"We saw one of those metal giants," Janus exclaimed, "just a few minutes ago!"
"Yes, we saw it too. We came up just as it was stalking away. It's the first we've ever seen, but we have heard much about them; the stories have been handed down. There is supposed to be a great temple on the dark side, where the robots are housed."
"More of them?" Mark exclaimed. "I hope they stay over there, then!"
Donli shook his head. "This I know: if the robots are roaming again, as they did many years ago, none of us will be safe."
"Then let us go to your city," Brownell put in. "We should be able to lift gravs now, if the Tuner hasn't been damaged."
It hadn't been. In a few minutes they were winging low across the plains to the horizon.
The city bore the unusual name of "Frell", and lay semi-circularly at the foot of a sharply rising hill. People were seen, men and women alike, working in the surrounding fields.
Donli led them through the main street. The buildings were of a dark substance that might have been earth compressed to concrete hardness. They entered the most imposing of these buildings, and thence to a huge room which was almost the size of a theater on Earth.