"A single command, and the I.C.B.M. will plunge down, destroying this crater and everything in it."
Taylor said nothing.
"Watch again!"
The missile came down gently as a feather. Every missile in the crater wheeled about, tapered noses pointing at the pale crescent Earth overhead.
"A single command and life on Earth could be annihilated. You believe?"
"Yes," said Taylor grimly. He wondered why they allowed him to remain alive—to cry at the wake of the human race. Perhaps in their terrible mechanical pride they wanted a human witness to the destruction they would wreak....
"Why do you think we fled here?" rang out the voice.
"Your mission is destruction. You were being held in check. You decided to go ahead with your mission on your own."