“You heard rightly. I used to have a hobby back on Terra. Super-imposition of recordings. I’d take several records of music, and play them simultaneously, working in various others now and then and thus make a new recording. At times I’d run them in backwards, lyrics and all. So, after awhile, I got pretty accustomed to hearing common English words spoken backwards. And damned if some of the apparently garbled signals didn’t sound familiar until suddenly it struck me. I was just beginning to set them down when, whup! in comes the interference, then they’re straight again, but so faint I can’t make them out.” “Joe,” called Dorothy softly, “are they always in reverse when they’re strong?” “Why—yes, they are.” “Does Edgar know that?” “Nope.” She slid off the table. “I think I’d better tell him before he wastes any more time.” “Hold it a moment,” protested Nick. “I want to see if we can get anything. Is the power on, Joe?” “Yeah. Apparently they stopped just an instant after I rang you.” “Any idea when they might be on again?” “Ought to be a few minutes, Nick. I’ve found that they apparently repeat each broadcast three times with a few hours interval between units of three.” He shoved a slip of paper over to Nick. “Here’s what I’ve managed to make out so far.” Nick picked it up frowning. “Hmm—not much here—it reads ‘horribly warped by effects of motion’ ... then there’s a blank—‘had to stay and one’—damn, another blank.” “That’s where it either faded out or interference came in,” explained Joe. “I see. This is where it reversed, eh? ‘Left and I am’ blank space ‘too slight to lift.’ That’s all.” “Do you suppose,” asked Marquis, “that the phrase ‘left and I am’ might mean that the person sending the signals is the only one left and he’s about at his rope’s end?” “Maybe,” suggested Bob Vickers, “something happened to the crew as a result of their acceleration. ‘Horribly warped by effects of motion’ sounds ominous. Perhaps the crew went bats and they had to land to save the ship. Then something happened to them on the planet so that they ‘had to stay and one’—well, maybe he’s telling about the ghastly fate of one of them.” “What—what about ‘too slight to lift’?” reminded Fred. “As I recall,” said Nick in hushed tones, “there was one outstanding bad point about Dad’s setup. The contracel controls were pretty heavy and it took a strong man to work them alone. If but one man were on the ship, and he sick, or weak from hunger, he couldn’t lift those levers.” He stared a moment, then added, “Particularly if the gravity on whatever planet the ship is were greater than that of Earth.” “I thought the controls were automatic,” protested Dorothy. “They were. But Dad had manual controls installed just in case.” At this point a wild-eyed, disheveled figure burst in upon them. “I’ve found them,” he cried in a high, strained falsetto. “They’re in a tight little orbit around Proxima Centauri.”