In retrospect, events moved much than would suggest. The from space had been on a Friday. At that time—when the were up by a tape on Kalua—the world had settled to the logical of its history. It was not a settling-down, the were not likely to be pleasant. Earth was to be crowded, and there were whole nations populations with no of more than their lifetime, and left a of equal labor and food for their descendants. There were and good intentions, and politics and a for peace, and all men a of events. At that time, too, nearly for somebody else, and a large part of the population its by the length of time at its place of employment. Nobody about what he did there.
In the nations, wanted all the for them by gone by, but nobody was about his children off. An smaller number of people were to take for going. There'd been a time when of Earth to make the world safe for democracy. Now, in the nations, most men to that the world had been safe for a four-card flush, which was the hand they'd been and which nobody to better.
Then the came from space. They called for a showdown, and very people were prepared for it. Eminent men were called on to take and measures. They as men so often do; they took action to their eminence. Their was caution. When a man is enough, it not if he anything. It is only of him that he do nothing wrong. Eminent all over the world prepared to do nothing wrong. They were not so to do anything right.
Burke, however, was not to mind making a mistake or two. And there were other non-famous people to the extra-terrestrial action of precautions. Mostly they were with no to lose. They'd together equipment, official channels, and in four days—Friday to Monday—they had eight hundred to out toward emptiness, in response to the from M-387.
The they'd sent out was five minutes long. It with a re-transmission of part of the message Earth had received. This the from Earth as a response to the flutings. Then there were hummings. One dot, two dots, three, and so on. These or was out that the of Earth count. Then it was that two plus two were to equal four dots, and that four and four added up to eight. The of Earth add. There the news that two and two and two and two was eight. Humanity multiply.
Arithmetic, in fact, up three minutes of the eight-hundred-kilowatt beam-signal. Then a voice—the president of a great university—said warmly:
"Greetings Earth! We for from this opening of with another us with admiration."
More that the Earth was for or used for purposes, and the message came to an end with an from the president: "We you'll answer!"
When this hodge-podge had been out to immensity, the who'd it hands with each other. They were that if beings did where the notes came from, or be said to have begun. The who'd together the their would its target.
It did. It out just after the end of a of a five-minute from M-387. Seventy-nine minutes should have passed any other from M-387. But an answer came much more than that. In thirty-four minutes, five and three-tenth seconds, a new came from the sky. It came in a rush. It came from the out in Mars. It came with the same volume.
It started with an new of the tones. There was a in their transmission, as if a different the transmitter-keys. The on for three minutes, then were replaced by new sounds. These were sharp, distinct, noises. A last of the opening flutings, and the message ended abruptly. But did not follow. Instead, a steady, sonorous, series of and on interminably. They were like the of an beacon. When the news of the United States reported the matter, the were still in.
And they to come in for seventy-nine minutes. Then they off and the new was repeated. The original message was no longer sent. Robot or no transmitter, the message had been at regular for something like seventy-six hours and then, on receipt of the of an answer, a new took its place.
The had been immediate. The M-387 and Earth be exactly. The time needed for the Earth to arrive was exactly. And the instant—the very instant—the from Earth M-387, the second message had begun. There was no pause to all the Earth greeting, or part of it. The was and automatic.
Automatic. That was the thing. The new message was already prepared when the Earth arrived. It was set up to be on receipt of the possible proof that it would be received. The of this response was one of urgency—or arrogance. The was that what Earth had to say was unimportant. The Earth had not been to. Instead, Earth was told something. Something and arbitrary. Maybe there be chit-chat later on, but Earth must first! The not be anything but a guide, a indicator, to be to M-387. The message, now changed, might amount to an offer of friendship, but it also be a command. If it were a command, the were horrifying.
At the moment of release, the news had only a limited effect. Most of Europe was asleep and much of Asia had not up yet. But the United States was up and stirring. The news to every of the nation with the speed of light. Radio stopped all other to the event. It is of record that four television on the North American actually into to that M-387 had a response to the from Earth. Never in history had a paid been for news.
In the United States, then, there was agitation, apprehension, indignation, and panic. Perhaps the only place where anything like was and the office of Burke Development, Inc., where Burke a at this that he wasn't as much of a as he feared.
"Well," he thought. "It looks like there is something or somebody out there. If I'd been sure about it earlier—but it wasn't time."
"What this mean?" asked Sandy. "This spell of around-the-clock working! Are you still trying to do something about the space signals?"
"Listen, Sandy," said Burke. "I've been of that of mine all my life. I've it was proof there was something with me. I'll still have to keep it secret, or men in white will come and me. But I'm going to do what all men are to do—dream and then try to my dream. It's and it'll me, but I think I'm going to have fun."
He at the two sisters as he them to Sandy's car.
"Shoo!" he said pleasantly. "You'd go home now. I'll be in minutes, for Schenectady first. I need some electric stuff. Then I'll go elsewhere. There'll be some arriving, Sandy. Take of them for me, will you?"
He closed the car door and waved, still grinning. Pam and started the motor. Moments later their car the toward town. Sandy her fists.
"What can you do with a man like that?" she demanded. "Why do I with him?"
"Shall I answer," asked Pam, "or shall I be sympathetic? I wouldn't want him! But unfortunately, if you do—"
"I know," said Sandy forlornly. "I know, dammit!"
Burke was not of either of them then. He opened the office safe, put the six-inch object inside, and took out his checkbook. Then he locked up, got into his car, and away from the plant and the town he'd been up in. He was and and this was an time to start out on a drive of some hundreds of miles, but it was a to know that a job had up that nobody else would know how to start to work on. He very to a cross-country and onto it. He settled at once to drive and to think.
He all night. Shortly after he stopped to a and and and to make himself presentable. He was the on hand when a Schenectady in for ships opened up for business. He ordered from a list he'd on an while breakfast.
The papers, naturally, were full of the of the answer to the Earth sent out to M-387. The about it, and in every one of the offices Burke visited there was some mention of it. He listened, but had nothing to say. The of his no remark. His was a small firm, but a man in and needs sometimes. He ordered two to be in a particular fashion, air-circulation of design to be in this respect and that. He had trouble the electric he wanted and had to pay for in them, and more for a promise of in days of weeks. He a self-contained suit.
He was for three days, by day, by night and out new to order. On the second day, United States counter-intelligence reported that the Russians were trying to M-387 on their own. An American up the broadcast. The Russians it, and to try. Burke for the of aluminum-alloy bars, rods, girders, and plates; for plaster of Paris in lots; for closed-circuit television equipment. Once he called Sandy to give her an order to be locally. It was lumber, mostly of lathing, to be on hand when he returned.
"All of material is up," said Sandy. "There've been six this morning. I'm for it I don't know what else to do. But won't you give me copies of the orders you've so I can check what arrives?"
"I'll put 'em in the mail—airmail," promised Burke. "But only six deliveries? There ought to be dozens! Get after these people on long distance, will you?" And he gave her a list of names.
Burke said suddenly, "I had that again last night. Twice in a week. That's unusual."
"No comment," Sandy said.
She up, and Burke was taken aback. But there was any she make. Burke himself had no that he would come to a place where there were two in the sky and trees with leaves. And if he did—unthinkable as that might be—he not the person for he such anxiety. The dream, recurrent, fantastic, or whatnot, not a of the past, present, or future. Such don't happen. But Burke to be moved much more by the of the than by about his having of like those from space, long such were.
He to try to do something about those signals. And, all to the notwithstanding, to him they meant a world with two and and such as nothing on Earth had up—though he about Sandy, at that. So he from one of to another, what money he had for an impossibility. Impossible Asteroid M-387 was not over two miles through at its largest dimension, and therefore not possibly have an and not trees, and it not own a single moon!
He one day at a small port with a man for he'd out a special of Fiberglas construction. Through that process, Holmes be owned by people who weren't millionaires. Holmes was a large, languid, who he liked them. He had much respect for Burke, after Burke asked his help and what for.
But that was the day the Russians an space-probe toward M-387. That may have Holmes to do as Burke asked.
Later on, it that the originally had been designed and as a cargo-carrier to take to Earth's moon. The Russian space service had planned to present the of Earth with a more than the Sputnik. They had to send a of cargo-rockets to the moon and then them into a colony. Broadcasts would that the Soviet social was for another achievement. But to a man out to M-387 was now so much more a device that the cargo-carriers were into fuel-tankers and the sent aloft.
At ten thousand miles up, when the third booster-stage should have it a thrust, one of the probe's misfired. The space-probe tilted, from its course, and on toward nowhere. And still the steady, urgent to come to Earth, with every seventy-nine minutes a one of and a of urgency.
The day after the probe's departure, Burke got to his plant. He Holmes with him. Together, they looked over the material for Burke's enterprise and to out the of plaster of Paris, of punched-sheet aluminum, girders, rods, of metal, dynamos, pumps, tanks, and objects purpose was not clear. Sandy was by the job of inventorying, indexing, and otherwise making the material available for use as desired. There were of white cloth and and of which on leaking, and very when they did. But Burke some not yet on hand, and fretted, so Sandy her sister Pam into the office to add to the office force.
Sandy and Pam as hard in the office as Burke and Holmes in the shed. They at delays, shipments, shipping-clerks, with transportation-system expediters, letters, answered letters, with orders, with and of all kinds, and in the books of Burke Development, Inc., up to date so that at any Burke out how much money he'd and how little remained. The two girls in the office were necessary to the operations which at in the shed, but to up outside.
Four from the Holmes' Yacht shipyard. They looked at and by Holmes and Burke together, with the material they were to use, and set to work. This was on the day the second Russian space-probe from in the Caucasus Mountains at 1:10 A.M., local time.
The second did not off its proper line. Its four at and it off toward almost away from the sun. It left it a thin which was not at all like the of the transmitter.
In two days a of and took the shed. It looked more like a mock-up of a radio than anything else, but it was smaller and had a different shape. It was an improbable-looking bowl. Under Holmes' supervision, of of plaster of Paris their way into it, it on the and very within. It was then with cut of cloth, with and and the layers. Then of liquid were moved to the working-site and their the glass-wool.
The was awful, so the off for a day until it diminished. But Sandy and Pam to with by long-distance, type if orders were not immediately, and once that Burke had come in and Holmes had them off and used them without anybody. That was the day Pam to resign.
"It looks like a pudding," Pam, after Sandy had her and Burke had for having her with two transport-lines, a department, and a vice-president in of sales. "And they act like it was a baby!"
"It'll be a ship," said Sandy. "You know what kind."
"I'll it when I see it," said Pam. Then she indignantly, "Has Joe looked at you twice since this nonsense started?"
"No," Sandy. "He all the time. At night he has a to the to make sure he if the again. The Russians are still trying to make a two-way contact. But the just on, everybody." Then she said, "Anyhow, Joe's going to if it doesn't work. I've got to be around to up the pieces of his and put them together again."
"Huh!" said Pam. "Catch me doing that!"
At just that moment Holmes came into the office with a blood. He had been and, at the same time, in the of an additional of and and he was with himself for the small which with his work.
Pam did the bandaging. She over him distressedly, and had him the was finished. He to work very much pleased with himself.
"I," said Sandy, "wouldn't act like you just did!"
"Sister, darling," said Pam, "I won't your act. Don't you mine! That large is as as anything I've in months."
"But I feel," said Sandy, "as if I hadn't Joe in years!"
Their was and to female ideas and aspirations. But, in fact, they were as satisfied as two girls be. They were on the lines of which were being prepared by men. They were useful to the enterprise to to it without doing anything to amount to with the men. From a girl's standpoint, it wasn't at all bad.
But neither Burke Holmes at the of their work by Sandy and Pam. To Holmes, the was it was a ship he was building. It was not a object, to be sure. If the lath-and-plaster were removed, the thing it would look like an small whale. There were in its in which appeared. Its was more curious. And still it was a ship. Holmes in its parts into place. It was like, but not the same as, a small with fathometers, radars, direction-finders, air-conditioners, stoves, galleys, and without it crowded.
To be sure, no ship would have of wall-garden installed, would an have six of closed-circuit television for a view in each and every direction. This ship had such apparatus. But to Holmes the of what Burke had designed was an task.
Burke had less fun. He'd set up a metal in the shed, and he at out of a built-up Swedish-iron a series of twenty-odd magnet-cores like the unit he successful. Each of the had to be out of the shaft, and all had to part of the when completed. Then each had to be with magnet-wire, with plastic as it was wound. Then a had to be over all, with no play of any anywhere. The the of a and the patience of Job. And Burke had had with new to be that this would be right when it was done.
The Russians sent up a third space-probe, at Asteroid M-387. It perfectly. Three days later, a fourth. Three days later still, a fifth. Their with the was not too good.
The to come in from space. The second message the same but the changed. There was a and in what they had to say. M.I.T. the modification. When its report the newspapers, Sandy the to Burke the news account. Oil-smeared and harassed, he stopped work to read it.
"Hell!" he said querulously. "I should've had somebody for this! I the second was telling us something that would as time on. They're something to us. I'd there's an or an in the works, and this is telling how fast it's to a crisis. But I'm already as fast as I can!"
"Some cases marked 'Instruments' came this morning," Sandy told him. "They're the cases I saw. And the for them!"
"Wire Keller," said Burke. "Tell him they're here and to come along."
"Who's Keller?" asked Sandy. "And what's his address?"
Burke up unreasonably, and Sandy said "I quit!" In seconds, he had and Sandy that she was right and that he was an idiot. Of she couldn't know who Keller was. Keller was the man who would the in the ship outside. Burke gave her his address. Sandy was not appeased.
Burke ran a hand through his hair.
"Sandy," he protested, "bear with me just a little while! In just a more days this thing will be finished, and I'll know I'm the prize of history or I've actually managed to do something while! Bear with me like you would with a half-wit or a child or something. Please, Sandy—"
She her on him and walked out of the shed. But she didn't quit. Burke to his work.
The Russians sent up another probe. It off course. There were now six Russian in emptiness, of which four were up well along the which a probe, if one were sent up, should travel. The an approach to the problem of a man out in space than any man had been before, but it was risky. But the Russians to take such risks. The Americans couldn't. They had a settled policy of a of a man. It was humanitarian, but it had one drawback. There was a to keep on and not let a man take a chance.
The Russians had four fuel-carrying in line out in space. If a ship them in turn and refuel, it might make the to M-387 in eight or ten of as many months. But it was not easy to such a success. And as for back....
The to be by Earth.
A man with thin at Burke Development, Inc. His name was Keller, and his was enough, but he was so of as to almost speechless. Sandy as he the in the cases. The themselves were meaningless to her. They had dials, and some had gongs, and one or two had printed on paper strips. At least one in the last category was a computer. Keller them and sure that not a of any one. When he them out to the hull, still by the lath-and-plaster mould, he walked with the of a man treasure.
That day Sandy saw him talking to Burke. Burke spoke, and Keller and nodded. Only once did he open his mouth to say something. Then he not have said more than four words. He to his instruments.
The next day, Burke what was to be a low-power test of the long iron he'd so and so it in the case. He'd on it for more than two weeks.
He prepared the test very carefully. The six-inch test model had on a and had been through a momentary-contact switch. The full-scale was in a great metal lathe, which in turn was with half-inch to the of the shed. If the pseudo-magnet this time it would have to through a force. The was discarded. A would through the a rectifier. There would be a single of of duration.
Holmes passed on the news. He got along very well with Pam these days. At he'd been careless of his appearance. Then Pam took to him from total in the job, and he responded. Nowadays, he to work in and into more the office. Sandy came upon him his shoes, once, and she told Pam. Pam beamed.
Now he came into the office and said amiably, "The moment of truth has arrived, or will in minutes."
Sandy looked anxious. Pam said, "Is that an to look on at the kill?"
"Burke's going to turn juice into the thing he's been by hand and over. He's worried. He can think of seven thousand why it shouldn't work. But if it doesn't, he'll be a man." He at Sandy. "I think he do with somebody to his hand at the moment."
"We'll go," said Sandy.
Pam got up from her desk.
"She won't his hand," she to Holmes, "but she'll be there in case there are some pieces to be up. Of him."
They across the open space to the shed. It was a perfectly morning. The very temporary of and and plaster, a for something inside, was the only thing in sight. There were by the shed. One of the came out of the air-lock door on the of the and a cigarette.
"No inside," said Holmes. "We're in place with plastic."
Sandy did not hear. She was to enter the shed. Burke was moving around the object he'd so long to make. It now appeared to be a piece of pipe some fifteen long and eight in diameter, with closed ends. It in the of an metal lathe, which was in place by cables. Burke took a reading of the of a pair of red wires, then of white ones, and then of black ones, which out of one end of the pipe.
"The audience is here," said Holmes.
Burke nodded. He said almost apologetically, "I'm in a minimum of power. Maybe nothing will happen. It's silly."
Sandy's hands one the other when he his to her. He connections, took a breath, and said in a voice, "Here goes."
He a switch.
There was a sound. It was loud. There was a crash. Bricks to fall. The end of the metal-lathe out of a corner. Steel gave off high-pitched notes which in as the on them slackened. One end of the was gone—snapped off, broken, away into a corner. There was a in the wall, over a in diameter.
The fifteen-foot object was gone. But they a high-pitched noise, which away into the distance.
That the Russians that their space-probe had taken off for Asteroid M-387. Naturally, they the until they were satisfied that the had gone well. When they their announcement, the was fifty thousand miles out, they had a message from its pilot, and they that the would land on M-387 in a of seven weeks.
In a small of the newspapers there was an item saying that a had in a some thirty miles from where Burke's loose. It a twenty across. It not be it was with frost.
Burke had the of a time it. But he needed it badly. Especially since the Russian had gone out from Earth. He that it was a to his plant, which had out of an aeroplane, but the owner of the was dubious. Burke had to pay him a thousand to him to believe.
That night he had his again. The were very clear.
