"In other words our acquired memories are different." Onin thumbed his huge nose leaving a mossy green stain. "But, of course, we may have been subjected to different training schedules before our--'birth'. Perhaps we had instructors with different backgrounds transmitting through the mentamit." Jay snorted. "Individual instruction? No! Uniformity is the rule for all robots. Any deviation is avoided. A mentamit recording is more probable, teaching the simplest rules of behavior and obedience." Onin's weapon spat its lethal needles in short steady bursts. Jay shifted so he could help his comrade stem the approaching rush of butrads. They came on, out of the grayness, an undisciplined mob, waving clubs and spears as they ran, their purple-rimmed mouths croaking insults. The two expoders slashed at them. Twenty of the hideous brutes fell, writhing and crying out thickly in pain, before the attack fell apart and disintegrated. "Last attack they'll make today," said Jay. He examined the meager supply of needles in his magazine and shook his head. "It's almost night and they stick close to their nests with darkness." Onin looked up from checking his own ammunition. "Almost gone," he said glumly. "Jay," a voice called from below. "What is it, Ina?" "Water's coming into the ship. We're in a foot of water now." Jay turned to the north where the river's invisible course snaked. A brook had rolled muddily past the ship and through the hollow where it lay before from the western mountain slope but now a swollen water stream had joined it. "The Frogs have breached the river and are flooding us out!" he shouted. "Probably they've damned the lower outlet. We'll be under water by morning!" Onin swore in amazement. "They can swim underwater and attack. And with our guns empty...." "We could make a stand up here," Jay mused, "but they'd starve us out. All we can do is slip away in the darkness and hide." Onin looked over the side, gauging the height of the water. "By another hour," he said, "we'd have to wade through ten feet of water." He stood up, flexing his skinny arms. "Better go now." "And have them see us? We've two space suits left intact. They'll serve as diving suits. Using them we can escape unobserved." "I'll get them ready," Onin offered. He started to climb back through the shattered spacer's gaping plates. "Better get the biaton out of that helmet," Jay suggested. "We can make a few hand grenades out of it. We'll probably need some." "We will," agreed the lanky animat. "Our own helmets will supply some more. I'll bring a rod up and we'll get rid of them." * * * * * The dirty gray dawn of Venus caught the little party of humans and animats high up on the slope of the mountain. The fog was thinner here and as the light increased they had come upon a shallow fairly dry cave that opened above a narrow brush-covered bench.