"Sure. Ever since we steered the _Empress of Kolain_ out of the grease with the first Station-to-ship beam, all three of the interplanetary companies have been more than willing to co-operate with any of our requests as long as we precede the message with the explanation that it is experimental. They'll do anything we ask 'em to, short of scuttling the ship." "Nice hookup. Hope it works." "So do I," said Wes. "This, I mean. I've got our directional gadget hooked up." "Turn it on." The wailing of the music came in strong and clear. Wes turned the input tube on its support, and the music passed through a loud peak and died off on the far side to almost zero. Wes adjusted the mobile tube for maximum response and tightened a small set-screw. "It's a shame we haven't got a nice set of protractors and gymbals," said Wes. "I had to tear into the desk lamp to get that flexible pipe." "Small loss. She's directional, all right. We'll get the gymbals later. Right now I don't want this turned off because we may hear something interesting--Whoops, it went off by itself!" "Could we dare to hope?" asked Walt. "Let's wait. They'll have to hitch the microphone on--" "Give 'em a half hour, at least." Twenty minutes later, a strange voice came through the speaker. "Dr. Channing, of Venus Equilateral? We have been contacted by your organization with respect to the possibility of your being able to hear the intership communicator system. This seems impossible, but we are not ones to question. The fact that you are in possession of the facts concerning our love of the music of our ancestors is proof enough that you must have heard something. I presume that further information is desired, and I shall wait for your return. This is Ling Kai Chaing, Captain of the _Lady of Cathay_." "We got it!" chortled Don. He did a war dance in the lab, and the rest followed suit. Bits of wire and oddments of one sort or another filled the air as the big, grown-up men did a spring dance and strewed the floor with daintily thrown junk. At the height of the racket, Arden and Christine entered--no, they were literally hauled in, completely surrounded, and almost smothered. Arden fought herself free and said: "What's going on?" "We've just contacted a ship in space." "So what? Haven't we been doing that for months?" "They've just contacted us, too!" "Huh?" asked Arden, her eyes widening. "None other. Wait, I'll get an answer." Don contacted Ben, in the decoupler room and said: "Ben, hang this line on the _Lady of Cathay's_ beam, will you?" "Is that her?" "None other." "Go ahead. She's coupled." Don pecked out a message. "Please describe the intercommunication system used by your ship in detail. We have heard you, and you are, therefore, the first ship to contact Venus Equilateral from space flight. Congratulations." Eight minutes later, the voice of Captain Chaing returned.