protested Don. "I was with you before Primo and the other roboes and knew Shiela then. She—she had consciousness and reason even before then, Doctor Stone."

The older man nodded. "Until Primo's disclosure, Donald, concerning how he obtained his, I was somewhat nonplussed about Shiela. She was modelled after the daughter my wife and I would have liked to have had but never could. All the care and love that a father and a scientist could pour into his effort, went into the creation of Shiela."

"But her inner personalities, what about that?"

"It's apparent to me now. During a later experiment with radiation, at which time she was helping me, a shield broke down and bathed Shiela almost to the point of burning her. Fortunately, I had been behind even another shield or would have been instantly killed. It was shortly after that that I noticed the change in Shiela; my wife and I were so overjoyed that we determined to pass her off as our very own daughter."

Both men sat silently, each lost in his thoughts. "You loved her very much, didn't you?" asked Don of the older man.

"As much or more than if she had actually been my own daughter."

"I know how you feel," Don said softly. "And I can understand now why she's been so evasive with me during the past few weeks. Before that I—we had sort of planned...."

"I know, Don," the scientist broke in. "She told me." They arose slowly, the thought of Shiela tying them closer together than ever before, and started for the house.

4

Sporadic raids by the roboes still continued and it was obvious, by the list of supplies they had stolen, that their attempt to escape into space would shortly be made. The military forces had shot hundreds of searcher rockets into an orbit around Earth whose sole purpose would be to seek and destroy any ship attempting to slip through to outer space. They had been so designed that, once having reached their pre-determined orbit, their rocket thrust was broken off and would be reactivated only when directed by radar from the ground or when the metallic bodies of the fugitive ships passed nearby.

Evidence of a super weapon possessed by the ancients now became concrete enough that General Adams proclaimed it a military secret; a team of scientists, headed by Dr. Stone, was put on it. Don neither noted nor cared that the general had seen to it that he was barred 

 Prev. P 18/23 next