* * * * * Crawford grinned. "I didn't realize I moved my audience so." Dr. Shalt laughed. "What Colonel Meadows says is true. I'm _very_ interested in your vocal range. While you rehearsed I tested the quality and sound of your tone." He stopped, looked around the room until he discovered Spud where Crawford had put him on the chair. He walked over to the dummy and touched the wooden head with his hand. "Actually it's a _second voice_, that sound and vibration you use for Spud. It's perfect, perfect for what I need, that second voice." Dr. Shalt put the dummy back in the position he had found him in, reached into his pocket and brought out a small glass-enclosed instrument which he held in front of him. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, approaching the dressing table. "Never saw it before," Crawford said, examining the gadget. A small arrow flickered nervously within a glass cage. "It's called a Voice Oscillator," explained Dr. Shalt. "It's sensitive to the slightest tonal inflection. We use it to measure the pitch and volume of a human voice." "What's all this got to do with me?" Crawford asked. "This--we want to use the voice of Spud for an experiment. A very important experiment. With your permission, we'd like to do it immediately." "I'm afraid that's impossible," said Crawford. "I have a show in about--" "Our equipment is all set up," interrupted the doctor. "The entire test will take forty-five minutes. We'll have you back in no time." Crawford frowned. He was tired and he'd looked forward to relaxing a while before the show. "Couldn't we make it some other time," he said. * * * * * The Colonel spoke then. "Robbie, do you remember reading four years ago that our radar system was able to beam signals to the moon and have them returned?" "Sure," said Crawford. "It got a big play in all the newspapers." "Well, our scientists are now ready to conduct a similar experiment," said Colonel Meadows. "This time to Mars." "To Mars!" repeated Crawford, wondering what it had to do with him. "Only this time we plan to send a _voice_, a human voice that can travel through interstellar space," said Dr. Shalt. "But that's impossible!" Crawford exclaimed. "With the average voice, yes," said Dr. Shalt. "Cosmic disturbances would drown out a normal voice amplified a thousand times beyond its regular frequency. But a voice in a higher octave--like your second voice ... Well, we believe there's a certain resonant intonation which can be curved and regulated in any direction, in the voice you use for your dummy." Crawford nodded. "Spud's voice contains that quality," continued Dr. Shalt. "I believe it can reach Mars and bounce back. I'm asking you to be the first man ever to throw his voice to another planet."