The mechanism explained. "Our galaxy is much older than yours. A large number of its suns are old, red, dying. The worlds of our dying suns have been growing colder and colder. Upon many of them even we machines can no longer exist. We wish to get some new suns to replace the dying ones in our galaxy. We saw across space that your galaxy has many hot, young suns, and we have come to get some of them." We were stupefied. "You are mad!" I said finally. "How could you hope to move suns from our galaxy to yours?" "We can do it quite simply," the machine affirmed. "These dark stars can be propelled anywhere we wish and we need only approach a sun with one of them, project toward that sun a powerful attraction-beam such as we are equipped to produce, and then head our dark star back toward our galaxy dragging the sun with us." I heard with increasing stupefaction. "And you've come with these twenty dark stars to rob us of twenty of our suns!" "It's impossible!" Jhul Din exclaimed. "Not these machines or any one else could ever tow away suns like that!" "It's not impossible," said Korus Kan tensely. "They can do it if they have such equipment as they say." "We can do it, yes, and we mean to do it," the machine affirmed. "Already we approach your galaxy, and when we reach it each of our dark stars will attach itself to a sun and we will start back with these twenty suns toward our galaxy. We will return again for another twenty suns and will continue this until our galaxy has sufficient hot, young suns to keep all our worlds warm. "If you do not oppose us, no one in your galaxy will be harmed and we will allow the worlds of the suns we choose time enough to be evacuated of their inhabitants. But if you do oppose us, you will find it useless, for we machines are mighty and no mere living creatures can hope to resist us. You will only sacrifice yourselves in attempting resistance." [Illustration: "We machines are mighty. You will only sacrifice yourselves in attempting resistance."] The cold, logical statement of the machine stung me to fury. "Do you imagine for a moment that we are going to allow you to come out of space and rob us of our suns at will?" I cried. The mechanism's reply was completely unimpassioned. "You will gain nothing by resistance," it repeated. "When we have taken what suns we need, you will still have thousands of suns left." "You'll take no suns at all from our galaxy!" I answered. "You'll find that we are not such powerless creatures as you machines imagine." The cowled machine ignored my threat. "You will return to your galaxy," it told me, "and will tell your peoples what we have said. Make clear to them that if they do not resist us, no one will be harmed when we take the suns we need. But tell them also that if any of them oppose us we will annihilate them." A burning resentment at this mechanical thing's cold arrogance welled in me, but I retained enough reason to choke it down.