"I want another relay tube. I'm going to use it for a directional input-beam, aligning it in the same way that Jim Baler and Barney Carroll did their first find. The one that sucked power out of the electric light, turned off the city hall, and so on. Follow?" "Perfectly. Yes, I've got a couple of them. But they're not connected like Walt's set-up was." "Well, that three-tube system was built on sheer guesswork some time ago. We can tap in the relay tube and haul out a set of cables that will energize the first relay tube. Hang her on gymbals, and we'll go hunting." "Shall I have Freddy return?" "Yes. We'll have Walton's gang build us up about six of these things just as we have here." "That won't take long," said Walt. "They're working on the tuning disks now, and we should have 'em by the time that Freddy gets back here." "But this wild and woolly music. It's alien!" Wes turned from the teletype and dug in the cabinet for the extra relay tube. He up-ended the chassis containing Walt's set-up, and began to attach leads to the voltage supply, cabling them neatly and in accordance with the restrictions on lead-capacities that some of the anodes needed. "It's alien," said Wes in agreement. "I'm going to shut it off now whilst I tinker with the tube." "Wait a minute," said Don. "Here comes Jim. Maybe he'd like to hear it." "Hear what?" asked Jim Baler, entering the door. "We've a Sirian Symphony," explained Don, giving Jim the background all the way up to the present time. Jim listened, and then said: "As an engineer, I've never heard anything like that in my life before. But, as a student of ancient languages and arts and sciences, I have. That's Chinese." "Oh no!" "Oh yes. But definitely." "Ye gods!" "I agree." "But how--where--" "And/or when?" Channing sat down hard. He stared at the wall for minutes. "Chinese. Oh, great, slippery, green, howling catfish!" He picked up the phone and called the decoupler room where the messages were sorted as to destination upon their entry into the Station. "Ben? Look, have we a ship beam on anything of Chinese registry?" Ben said wait a minute while he checked. He returned and said: "Four. _The Lady of Cathay_, _The Mandarin's Daughter_, _The Dragoness_, and _The Mongol Maid_. Why?" "Put a ship message on each of 'em, asking whether they have any Chinese music aboard." "And then what? They can't answer." "Make this an experimental request. If any of them are using any recordings of Chinese music, tell them to have their electronics chief replace the phonograph pickup with a microphone--disturbing absolutely nothing--and to reply as if we could hear them. Get me?" "Can you? Hear 'em, I mean." "We hear something, and Jim says it's Chinese." "It's worth a try, then. See you later." * * * * * "Will they?" asked Jim, interested in the workings of this idea.