"Considering all, you've done admirably. But balancing the device in the tower, and hooked into the circuit as an integral part is another thing. Come, Than. We shall close the line for an hour whilst replacing the tube." "Is that permissible?" "At this time of the night the requirements are small. No damage will be done; they can get along without us for an hour. In fact, at this time of night, only the people who are running the city will know that we are out of service. And it is necessary that the tube be maintained at full capability. We can not chance a weakened tube; it might fail when it is needed the most." Than carried the tube to the top of the tower, and Altas remained to contact the necessary parties concerning the shut-off for replacement purposes. He followed Than to the top after a time and said: "Now disconnect the old tube and put it on the floor. We shall replace the tube immediately, but it will be an hour before it is properly balanced again." It was not long before Than had the tube connected properly. "Now," said Altas, "turn it on one-tenth power and we shall align it." "Shall I use the meters?" "I think it best. This requires perfect alignment now. We've much power and considerable distance, and any losses will create great amounts of heat." "All right," said Than. He left the tower top to get the meters. * * * * * Barney Carroll spoke into a conveniently placed microphone. "Are you ready?" he asked. "Go ahead," said Christine. "We're waiting," said Jim. "You're the bird on the transmitter," said Barney to Jim. "_You_ make with the juice." Power rheostats were turned up gingerly, until Jim shouted to stop. His shout was blotted out by cries from the other two. They met in Barney's place to confer. "What's cooking?" asked Jim. "The meters are all going crazy in my end," said Barney. "I seem to be sucking power out of everything in line with my tube." "The so-called relay station is firing away at full power and doing nothing but draining plenty of power from the line," complained Christine. "And on my end, I was beginning to scorch the wallpaper again. I don't understand it. With no receiver-end, how can I scorch wallpaper?" "Ask the Martians. They know." "You ask 'em. What shall we do, invent a time machine and go back sixty centuries?" "Wish we could," said Barney. "I'd like to ask the bird that left this textbook why they didn't clarify it more."