As dawn broke, Professor Jameson collapsed, and even as 29G-75 stooped to help him and ascertain the extent of his trouble, he, too, lost his ability to move!
He stood quiet and useless on his four metal legs above the fallen body of the professor. Each of the two machine men carried the head of a companion.
"This looks to be the end," said 6W-438. "We still have today. Shortly after dark, if our calculations are not wrong, the nova will take place."
The sky above them grew brighter. Idle and impassive, they watched the birds commencing to fly far up the side of the nearby mountain. The sun, that dangerous furnace which was destined to explode before another full rotation of Ajiat, crept over the horizon. Doom shone upon the machine men.
Somewhere not far from that flaming, incandescent mass, the vast conglomeration of meteoric fragments sped like a racing powder train on a grim errand to purge all the worlds of that system of life, spreading an all-destroying heat wave to the outermost realms of the farthest orbit with the speed of light.
A small swarm of birds caught their attention. The Quari had evidently sighted them and were descending to investigate.
"This time they will find no resistance," said the professor.
"Do you think they will carry us away?"
"It is doubtful—when they find that we are not good to eat."
The birds were acting strangely, as if they were fighting over something among themselves. Their manner of descent was strange, too. The machine men had never seen them come down so directly before. Generally, they flew down in long, swinging loops. This time, their turns were shorter and took less distance.