"No--don't loose a single beam," I commanded. "There are a hundred of them to our one." The flying-mechanisms came rapidly up, swarmed in a crowd around our descending cruiser. There was something chilling and uncanny at the sight of the metal machines acting with apparent volition and intelligence. They seemed watching us, but made no move to attack us. I had a lively sense, though, that they were only waiting for an untoward movement on our part to leap upon us. "Keep descending," I told the pilot. "They're not going to harm us at present, apparently." "There's a clear space down there to the left that looks like the center of activities, sir," the pilot reported to me. "Land there, then," I directed. The spot on the dark-star's surface toward which we now descended was a clear circle surrounded by hosts of machines. As our ship slanted down toward it, with the flying-mechanisms keeping in a close swarm around us, I turned. "Jhul Din, order every one in the ship to don space-suits," I commanded. "There is no atmosphere on this world." * * * * * Jan Allon turned to me and saluted. "We have landed, sir." "I am going to emerge. Korus Kan and Jhul Din and five of the crew will accompany me," I said. "The rest will remain in the cruiser and in case of accident to us will attempt to escape with the ship." With my two officers I went down from the bridge-room to the lower deck. "Open the space-door," I ordered. The heavy door swung, and with Jhul Din and Korus Kan and our five followers I stepped out onto the dark-star's surface. We looked about us. We stood in an unimaginably weird and alien scene. A thick twilight lay over everything, but half-way up to the zenith in the black heavens glittered a great swarm of stars. It was our galaxy, toward which these dark-star worlds were rushing. All around us in that twilight, surrounding with their hosts the clear circular space in which our cruiser had landed, towered the mighty machines. They were now motionless, as though they were watching us. With a chilling of my blood I knew that they _were_ watching us. Across the circle from us loomed a huge panel, and beside it great levers and wheels. Near this stood a half-dozen curious, squat, cowled mechanisms resting each on three metal limbs. Korus Kan touched my arm, whispered. "Dur Nal, that panel and the levers--they must be the controls by which this dark star is propelled and steered through space!" "We'll go over toward them, then," I said. "If there's any center of authority, it will be there." As we neared the huge controls a stir went through the machine-giants around the clearing, menacing, watchful. "By the suns, these cursed machines are all _alive_!" muttered Jhul Din. We stopped before the six cowled mechanisms that stood by the controls. Some instinct told me of power, of authority, concentrated in them.