But only a brief glimpse of her went over the airwaves. In that same instant Larry had flicked the switch back to the camera centered on him and was shouting, "Shoot us down! This is a trap. It isn't the fleet. It's the ene--" Pwowp was speaking swiftly into the inter-fleet microphone, giving orders to the robots to destroy the land-based defenses. 2615 was leaping at Larry, and scooped him out of view of the camera with a force that crushed and bruised. Split seconds were vital now. Success or failure depended on those split seconds. The loudspeaker bringing the Earth broadcast said, "Something is happening in the flagship. Something is--" The voice ended abruptly, but the viewscreen brought the video broadcast for another moment--a view of part of the robot fleet, pale beams lancing downward toward Earth. It showed one ship exploding in a blinding flash as one Earth weapon fired before being destroyed. The screen became blank. Larry lay where he had fallen, a glazed light in his eyes. Stella was running to him, bending beside him. Vilbis was laughing. "If only we got through in time," Larry was saying over and over again. * * * * * Pwowp glanced over his shoulder at 2615. "It's done," he said. "Thanks to your quick action they were confused just long enough. We lost only five ships. Now we want the Earth's surrender. Get in front of the camera and let them see you. Demand their surrender." Pwowp turned back to the controls, adding, "I'll tell our fleet in space to come ahead and mass for the landing." 2615 boldly took his place before the video camera, in full view of everyone watching a tv set on Earth. The glittering lens eyes of the robot--a free robot--would crystallize _fear_ into something almost material in substance. Pwowp adjusted the microphone of the sub-ether transmitter so that the fleet now coming toward Earth could listen. "Robot 532-03-2615 speaking," it said. "All Earth land weapons have been destroyed. In five minutes I will issue orders to my ships to destroy one government capitol city after another, one each five minutes, until Earth surrenders unconditionally. The Earth Government has five minutes in which to surrender without further loss of life and property." "What are your terms?" a voice asked almost before the robot had finished. "Unconditional surrender--to me." There was a pause of only thirty seconds. "Granted," the voice said. "What is the next order of business?" It was fast. But all planets had prepared for just this eventuality, even as all cities had prepared for bombing. It was interstellar war, with weapons of infinite destruction threatening from the skies. "Prepare to receive without incident the landing parties now waiting in space," 2615 said. In the sub-ether the robot's words flashed instantly to the planetoid, the fleet coming in from space.