"And by then," Drake said, "it'd be too late. Eakins figured it out before the Quedak got him. That's why he told us not to send any messages." Cable looked dubious. "But why did he want us to take the transmitter?" "So that _he_ couldn't send any messages after the bug got him," Drake said. "The more people trampling around, the easier it would be for the Quedak. If he had possession of the transmitter, he'd be calling for help right now." "Yeah, I suppose so," Cable said unhappily. "But, damn it, we can't handle this _alone_." "We have to. If the Quedak ever gets us and then gets off the island, that's it for Earth. Period. There won't be any big war, no hydrogen bombs or fallout, no heroic little resistance groups. Everybody will become part of the Quedak Cooperation." "We ought to get help somehow," Cable said stubbornly. "We're alone, isolated. Suppose we ask for a ship to stand offshore--" "It won't work," Drake said. "Besides, we couldn't ask for help even if we wanted to." "Why not?" "Because the transmitter's not working," Drake said. "You've been talking into a dead mike." "It's receiving OK," Cable said. * * * * * Drake checked to see if all the switches were on. "Nothing wrong with the receiver. But we must have joggled something taking the transmitter out of the ship. It isn't working." Cable tapped the dead microphone several times, then put it down. They stood around the receiver, listening to the chess game between the man in Rabaul and the man in Bougainville. "Pawn to queen bishop four." "Pawn to king three." "Knight to Queen bishop three." There was a sudden staccato burst of static. It faded, then came again in three distinct bursts. "What do you suppose that is?" Sorensen asked. Drake shrugged his shoulders. "Could be anything. Storm's shaping up and--" He stopped. He had been standing beside the door of the shed. As the static crackled, he saw the bird of paradise dive for a closer look. The static stopped when the bird returned to its slow-circling higher altitude. "That's strange," Drake said. "Did you see that, Bill? The bird came down and the static went on at the same time." "I saw it," Sorensen said. "Think it means anything?" "I don't know. Let's see." Drake took out his field glasses. He turned up the volume of the receiver and stepped outside where he could observe the jungle. He waited, hearing the sounds of the chess game three or four hundred miles away. "Come on now, move." "Give me a minute." "A minute? Listen, I can't stand in front of this bleeding set all night. Make your--"