two o'clock
The highway repair robots had simply disappeared . In Egarton , a village about fifteen miles from the city , an organizer -- 5A -- appeared about noon and left soon after followed by every android in town . By one o'clock every radio station in the country carried the story and the national guard was ordered out . At two o'clock Washington announced that the Army would invade Carron City the following morning . The Army would put an end to the strike , easily enough . It would wiped out every android in the neighborhood , and probably a good many human beings careless enough to get in the way . I sat hoping that the 5A 's would give in , but they did n't .