"Here are the preliminary plans for the celebration," said Mella to President Tremorten three months later.

Tremorten scanned them quickly. "That's almost a complete reconstruction of Gattshier's downtown! We'll have to pull out all the stops to get it done in time."

"I'm sure you can manage it. Even though it is grand, it isn't complicated."

The president switched to another screen that showed a list. "You're inviting everyone?"

"All my disciples, all my Mellanines, all of them! This is our victory feast, Victoro! All our enemies have been crushed under our feet. We stand alone. I am the true god."

He bowed his head. "May your reign last forever." Straightening up again, he said, "What of the Astro robots? Isn't there still a danger from them, Holy One?"

"Come now. They are just a handful in number. Annoying, yes, but they are not a threat to us. After all, have they ever come out and attacked us? No. Do not worry about them. Just implement the usual security measures. That will be quite sufficient."

"At your command." Tremorten bowed again, and Mella's image vanished.

The president then stared at the spot where his master's projection had just stood. The Holy One had given up on the robots? That didn't sound right. Ah, of course it didn't: he must be preparing something secret for them. He strolled over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey, and held it up in a toast: Great is the Holy One!

Orkan stared down from the clouds of the overcast night sky at the prison camp with his super-vision and checked out the defences. "They've got tanks and big guns this time," he radioed to the rest of the androids, who were hidden in among the surrounding trees. "And some of those guns are plasma!"

"That'll be no problem if we're underground," replied Flin-bik.

"Just the same," broke in Astro, "they're ready for us."

"Okay," radioed Orkan. "Let's get going. Just so I can keep everybody straight: astros tunnel under the heavy weapons and knock them out; then, once that's done, lunas attack the command centre and barracks."

"Roger," came back numerous times from the androids, and the operation began.

"Hey," radioed Orkan after a few seconds. "I've lost contact with the astros!"

"I can still talk to Flin-bik," replied Mee-spen.

"And I can reach Tan-bon," radioed Ish-pah.

"They've got something under the surface," Orkan radioed. "Mee-spen, tell them all to stop digging, and get Flin-bik to come back. I'll monitor when I can read him again."

"Roger," she replied.

"There," Orkan radioed when Flin-bik came back on. "Now check for what's doing the blocking."

Flin-bik dug around. "It's a two-centimetre-thick steel plate, ten centimetres below the surface," he reported after a minute."And yeah, it appears to be a batch of plates welded together under the entire camp."

"Meant to stop the tunnelling. Boy, they must have spent a fortune here! Okay, change of plans: We'll just cut the plate beneath the building with God's people in it with our hand rockets, and carry the whole bunch away like that. They won't be expecting that, I'm sure."

"No doubt," linked Maz-ven. "Just don't get too cute."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, then radioed, "Let's get on it, 'droids! I'll direct you from here."

Two hours later, Astro stuck his head through a hole just made in the floor of the 'unholy ones' dormitory, and, synthesizing a gruff man's voice for effect, shouted into the quiet room, "Alright, you crumbs! On the floor, now! Hut! Hut! Let's move it!"

There was some grumbling as the lighter sleepers woke up the others in the dark, but they quickly obeyed the sudden command.

When everyone was in position, Astro radioed, "They're ready."

Numerous exclamations and squeals broke out when the building suddenly surged into the air. By the time the soldiers were able to react, it had disappeared beyond the trees.

With a little camouflage, it served very well as a livestock shed out at the new farm, and the cots that came with it helped the people get by until proper beds could be built.

"Astro," said Orkan the next morning. "I picked up an interesting news item while the other astros were cutting that plate last night."

"Oh yeah? Let's see it."

Orkan got the computer-screen generator while the rest of the androids gathered around to see.

Once it was hooked up, an announcer appeared and said, "Today, the Holy One, Dr. Cedillo Mella, President of the World, and Prophet of the Divine Spirit, has announced that in two months time he will be holding a grand celebration for all of his disciples in Gattshier, the recently-declared capital city of the nations, on the second anniversary of his ascendancy. The highlight of the festivities will be the public execution of all remaining unholy ones, those who have stubbornly defied all efforts at retraining, and remain unrepentant in their false beliefs. ..."

The screen shut down, and Orkan said, "The rest of it was pretty boring, but I knew you'd want to see that part."

"We can't let him do that!" shouted Sheh-va, jumping to her feet. "We've got to save them now!"

"Yes," said Astro. "We do have to do something, that's for sure, but it's going to take planning. There's still a lot of them out there, and we've only got two months. Anybody got any ideas?"

"Can we step up our breaking into the prison camps?" asked Bir-git.

"That's not a good idea," said Orkan. "You saw what the last one was like. There's probably going to be deaths—especially ours—if we start rushing things now. So it's safe to assume we can't save them all."

"But there's going to be their deaths for sure if we don't try," said Sheh-va.

"Maybe there's another option," Astro said after a brief silence from the group. "An opportunity. But I won't say what it is right now—I've got to do some research. Keep thinking though, and please share any ideas you may have: the crazier, the better."

Astro sat alone and naked on the ledge of Mount Wildfield. His feet dangling over the edge, he stared at the setting moon.

"God," he said to the surrounding darkness. "Will it work? I'll only do it if you say it will. There's no point otherwise."

"Hello my astro," said Luna, who stood glowing beside him. She covered him with a shining white blanket which filled his heart with peace, then sat down beside him and put her arm around him.

He touched her hand. "Hi."

"Your idea will work. In fact, it's the finishing touch to God's plan that's been unfolding since before your father made you."

Nodding, he said, "So it's my best destiny after all."

"Yes. God is very satisfied with everything that you've done up to now, so don't let anything get you down."

"I'll do my best."

"Of course. As always, I'll be waiting for you."

Astro was suddenly alone again in the night, but he knew that that blanket was still covering his heart, and that Luna would always be right beside him. Satisfied, he lay down and fell asleep.

The four-month-old luna, Pree-ghen, stared up at the moon in the early evening sky.

"What are you thinking about, Grand-daughter?" Flin-bik asked her, making her jump.

"Oh, I didn't hear you coming," she said. "I'm thinking, Zog and Dragon's child: is it an astro? It should be grown up by now."

"You're free to go and find out, if you want."

"I guess."

"Inco#ing!" crackled on their radios.

"We hear you," Flin-bik replied. "Who are you?"

"'#win-t#."

"Sorry, couldn't read you. Come on down and tell us."

"R#ger."

An hour later, the new android, dressed and no longer armour-black, said, "My name is Twin-ta, second child of Zog and Dragon."

"And you're bald," said Pree-ghen, plainly disappointed. "You're not an astro."

"Of course. That's why I'm here: to see Berq'an."

"I'll ... I'll go get him," she said, and ran off toward the north field, where Berq'an was helping with the crops.

"I could have radioed," Twin-ta said.

"Let her go," Flin-bik said. "After all, you just broke her heart. She was hoping for a wedding."

"I can imagine, but I'm glad that at least there's another android like me."

"I hear we've got a lunatic visitor," said Astro, strolling over from the androids' house. "Hi, I'm Astro."

"You're Astro?" Its eyes widened. "Wow!"

"Now, now, don't get all gushy. I'm just an android."

"I know that, but you ... They told me ... Um. Gosh. Astro."

Berq'an suddenly dropped from the sky. "Pree-ghen just told me!" It gazed happily at Twin-ta. "You're bald."

"You too," replied Twin-ta. "Want to link?"

"Let's do it!"

As soon as they grabbed hands and linked, energy suddenly jumped from one to the other, and rings formed on their left hands.

Berq'an stared at its new ring. "We're married?"

"You can't be," said Astro. "You didn't say the promises."

It held up its hand. "But I've got a ring. See?"

Astro studied it for a moment. "It's gold. Wedding rings are silver." Looking up, he said, "Release the link." They did. "Are you still linked?"

"Yeah!" shouted Twin-ta. "This is so cool!"

"I've got it," said Astro. "I know what your destiny is."

"What? Tell us," said Berq'an.

"Remember how worried you were about being out of communication with the lunatics a while back?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're the solution. Married androids stick together to have families. You're not married, so you can live apart and still enjoy each other in your mind and heart."

"Okay ..." said Twin-ta. "I'm not following you."

"Think of it this way: What if one of you stays here, and the other goes to the moon?"

Twin-ta's face lit up. "You 'droids can communicate with the lunatics through us!"

"Exactly. You two can be our long-distance connection."

Berq'an abruptly shed its clothes and turned to Astro. "'Bye. I'll be in touch." It shot into the sky.

"What happened?" Astro asked, as he stared after it.

"It's always wanted to go to the moon," Twin-ta said, "and I always wanted to see ..." It looked away shyly. "... um, you, so the choice was easy."

Astro held out his blue hand for a link. "Come on; I'll introduce you to everyone."

"Thanks!"

Three and a half weeks later, Twin-ta stared at Astro as they shared a link before sleep time. "I just noticed: You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Yup. Mella's second anniversary's coming up in a couple of days in Gattshier, and I've got to do something for it."

"What?"

"It's my secret for now, but you'll find out very soon."