The City Summary

For twenty thousand years the city waits, dormant. Jensen and Hutchinson arrive in a rocket, and go out in front of the others. The city detects the odors and deduces that a rocket from another world has landed.

The city's listening devices awake, but the men see nothing - the city seems dead. The city's eyes open. Smith is nervous and finally runs back toward the ship, with the other men running after him.

The city removes the Captain, unnoticed. It dissects him, examining his insides, and reaches its final conclusion. The astronauts are Earth men, enemies of Taollan from twenty thousand years ago.

The city fills the captain with mechanical insides and sends him back. The captain shoots Smith. The captain talks to them, saying that he is the city, built by the race killed off by a plague brought...