"May we amend that?" asked Franks. "They are equipped with radio. But the things are used only in landing operations where the distance is measured in miles, not Astronomical Units." "O.K.," smiled Channing. "It's turned off during flight and we may consider the equipment as being non-existent." "And, according to the chart, we've got to contact them before the turnabout," offered Arden. "They must have time to deflect their course to Terra." "You think of the nicest complications," said Channing. "I was just about to hope that we could flash them, or grab at 'em with a skeeter. But we can't wait until they pass us." "That will be the last hope," admitted Franks. "But say! Did any bright soul think of shooting a fast ship after them from Canalopsis?" "Sure. The answer is the same as Simple Simon's answer to the Pieman: 'Alas, they haven't any!'" "No use asking why," growled Franks. "O.K., Don, we'll after 'em. I'll have the crew set up a couple of mass detectors at either end of the station. We'll triangulate, and calculate, and hope to hit the right correction factor. We'll find them and keep them in line. You figure out a means of contacting them, huh?" "I'll set up the detectors and _you_ find the means," suggested Don. "No go. You're the director of communications." Don sighed a false sigh. "Arden, hand me my electronics text," he said. "And shall I wipe your fevered brow?" cooed Arden. "Leave him alone," directed Franks. "You distract him." "It seems to me that you two are taking this rather lightly," said Arden. "What do you want us to do? Get down on the floor and chew the rug? You know us better than that. If we can find the answer to contacting a spaceship in flight, we'll add another flower to our flag. But we can't do it by clawing through the first edition of Henney's 'Handbook of Radio Engineering.' It will be done by the seat of our pants, if at all; a pair of side-cutters, and a spool of wire, a hunk of string and a lump of solder, a--" "A rag, a bone, and a hank of hair?" asked Franks. "Leave Kipling out of this. He didn't have to cover the entire Solar System. Let's get cooking." Don and Walt left the office just a trifle on the fast side. Arden looked after them, out through the open door, shaking her head until she remembered something that she could do. She smiled and went to her typewriter, and pounded out a message back to Keg Johnson at Interplanet. It read: "CHANNING AND FRANKS AT WORK ON CONTACTING THE EMPRESS OF KOLAIN. WILL DO OUR BEST. VENUS EQUILATERAL." * * * * *