Colin and General Banning stood at the shoulder of the radio operator in Gila Base IV Central Control. It was just past midnight. Banning's fatigue was evident; Colin, having been involved a shorter time, still looked reasonably fresh. Monotonously the radio tech droned: "Gila Control to _Phoenix I_ come in please. Gila Control to _Phoenix I_ come in please. Gila Control to _Phoenix I_ come in please." After every third repetition of the chant, he switched to Receive and briefly listened to the buzz and crackle from the overhead speakers. "Gila Control to _Phoenix I_...." "Is he still transmitting the distress code?" Colin asked. "Yes, sir," the tech said. "But he could still reply if he wanted to. Distress operates from a separate transmitter on a single fixed frequency. The ordinary transmitter isn't tied up." "Is he receiving?" "I think so. When we gave him the 'Message coming' impulse, he switched to receive. That was hours ago." "Maybe he's tuned to the wrong frequency," Banning suggested. The tech looked up in surprise, then resumed his respectful attitude toward the brass. "No, sir. His rig is a self-tuner. The signal automatically tunes the receiver to the right frequency. He's getting it, all right." "In other words," Colin said, "your voice is being broadcast on the ship's speakers." "As far as I can tell." "Mm." Colin leaned back against a chart table and pulled on his pipe for a few moments. "Please go on, sergeant," he said finally. "Keep trying. But change the patter to 'please reply,' would you?" "What difference does that make?" Banning asked. "That's what 'come in' means, anyway. Same thing." "Just an idea," Colin said. "Why don't you get some rest? You look beat." "What kind of an idea?" Banning said, rubbing his forehead. "Can you get a couple of cots brought to your office?" "Yes, but what's your idea?" "Come on along and I'll tell you about it," Colin said. They left Central Control, with the voice of the sergeant sounding behind them, "_Gila Control to Phoenix I please reply. Gila Control...._" Reaching Banning's office, Colin sent one of the ubiquitous armed guards after two cots. "You can't shoot all your energy at once," he pointed out, when Banning protested he didn't need the sleep. "If we're going to get Harkins out of that ship, we're going to have to stay in pretty good shape ourselves." "All right," Banning grumbled. He made coffee on the hot plate from the bottom drawer of his desk, grinning at Colin like a small boy caught stealing cookies. "I like a little coffee once in a while," he explained unnecessarily. When they had settled themselves with the coffee, Banning asked, "All right, now. Why'd you change 'come in please' to 'please reply'?" "It's less ambiguous," Colin said. "'Come in please' could mean several things." "So? Anybody with as much radio experience as Harkins knows what 'Come in please' means."