He said with growing desperation, "Either you return at once to work, or I'll terminate you."
"How, father?"
How indeed? Hen fumed inwardly, said with sudden inspiration, "We'll radio for help. There are machines capable of blasting the lot of you into your component atoms."
"But the radio station is here in the laboratory," R-7 pointed out. There was a faint hesitation, then the robot added, "We will terminate you instead." The instrument clicked off.
Hen gulped, realized in dismay that it hadn't occurred to the robots to destroy them until he had planted it in their minds.
"You are the bright lad," drawled Sofi. "What do you propose now—Brain?"
He turned his black eyes on her, regarded her without seeing her. His glance strayed beyond the girl to the lab.
"What the devil are they doing now?" he cried suddenly.
Sofi spun around. Hen leaped past her to press his nose against the clear plastic walls of their igloo. The robots, he saw, had one of their number clamped on the work bench and were dismantling him.