STEEP AND SHARPLY ANGLED ROCKY HILLS stood guard to the deep narrow valley in Germany. The sun was rising but the black ground and scanty vegetation of this part of the badlands called The Dark Canyon stamped the atmosphere with darkness and danger.

     The Hive, a dome-shaped iron building, lied solitary on the valley's artesian basin of porous rock, between layers of hard rock trapping bubbling, polluted water.

     Smoke billowed from it, blanketing the building with crawling fumes. The huge door slid open with techno hissing, revealing a 20-foot robot.

     The robot had a spherical head the size of a Volkswagen Beetle with an expressive face of two protruding round eyes and a wide-grinning mouth. Its wiry body looked like an electric post with mechanical arms and feet. As a whole, the robot was more like a humongous version of a child's stick figure drawing.

     But inside its head was Earth's greatest menace. A man who had neither peace nor ease. A man who couldn't rest until he sowed devastation and reaped power.

     Dr. Killro controlled the cockpit. He spoke with a gratIng mechanical buzz. "In time, Moon Dragon, in time."

     Everything had changed, except the heart of men.