A small flicker of flame wafted over the surface of the sphere. Then it lashed out like a whip toward the trembling man. His entire body glowed like a torch, then crumpled to the floor in a heap of ashes.
Scarcely daring to breathe, the captain watched the sphere float over the ashes of its victim for a moment; then, apparently satisfied that the man no longer lived, floated back through the doorway.
Taylor took a deep breath. It might be well if the bomb would explode, but he knew now it had been silenced.
In an insulated panel on the wall were the remains of an electric switchboard. The copper switches were fused, the wires burned through. The huge cables that brought the electric current to the switchboard lay molten on the floor.
The bomb probably was electrical and undoubtedly had been fused like the switchboard.
The captain had one objective now, to get out of the plant before the orange spheres discovered him. He didn't know what he faced, but something told him that it had never faced mankind before. He had no weapon to combat the sphere.
Taylor reached the forge room again. He stepped over more glowing piles of ashes.
Then his ears caught a crescendo of the whispering that he had heard before. He looked behind him. In the doorway was an orange glow. The sphere was coming—looking for him!
Behind the forge was a machine which had been used to operate the crane. Beyond it was stygian darkness. He might hide there.