"And so you wilfully destroyed the guard ship that would have turned you back?" "We did. It was a machine, operated by machines. And so far as we knew, it was protecting a race that had died a thousand years before. It was all a mystery and we wanted to find the answer to it." Vor-Dergal and the others accepted the explanation without change of expression. Vor-Dergal resumed: "Three more guard ships appeared when you were near Vendal. In the battle that followed, you severely damaged one of them. And when your ship was finally caught in the guard cruiser's tractor beams, you resisted the robots. When they boarded your ship, you destroyed several of them and were subdued only when the compartments of your ship were flooded with a disabling gas." "That's true," Bob said. "In summary: You deliberately invaded Tharnarian territory, deliberately damaged and destroyed Tharnarian ships, and would have landed on Vendal had the guard ships not prevented it. "Your guilt is both evident and admitted. Are there any extenuating circumstances that have not been presented at this hearing?" "No," Bob said. None had been presented all day for the good reason that there was not a single factor of the circumstances that the Tharnarians would consider extenuating. "Your guilt was evident from the beginning," Vor-Dergal said. "We have spent the past one hundred and eighty days in studying the books and tapes in your ship. What we learned of your history and your form of civilization leaves us no alternative in the sentence we must pass upon you." The chain clinked faintly as Virginia lifted her hand to lay it on his arm and she gave him a quick glance that said, "_Here it comes!_" Vor-Dergal pronounced sentence upon them: "Tomorrow morning, at thirty-three twelve time, you will both be put to death by a robot firing squad." Virginia's breath stopped for a moment and her hand gripped his arm with sudden pressure but she gave no other indication of emotion and her eyes did not waver from Vor-Dergal's face. Vor-Dergal looked past her to the guards. "Return them to their cell." The guards produced another chain, to link their free arms together behind their backs, and they were marched across the room and out the door. Outside, the sun was setting, already invisible behind a low-lying cloud. Bob calculated the designated time of their execution in relation to the Terran time as given by his watch and found that thirty-three twelve would be about halfway between daylight and sunrise. * * * * * Tal-Karanth stood by the open windows and watched the guards return the Terrans to their cell. Extra guards, both robot and Tharnarian, had been posted inside and outside the prison building for the night to prevent any possibility of an escape. Other robots stood guard around the Terran ship, although it was inconceivable that the Terrans could ever overpower the prison guards and reach their ship.