if the signal came in on an odd frequency or from a long distance. Let's
beam back at the same direction and intensity and see what happens."

Tiger took the earphones and speaker, and turned the signal beam to
coincide with the direction of the incoming message.

"We have your contact. Can you hear me? Who are you and what do you
want?"

There was a long delay and they thought the contact was lost. Then a
voice came whispering through the static. "Where is your ship now? Are
you near to us?"

"We need your co-ordinates in order to tell," Tiger said. "Who are you?"

Again a long pause and a howl of static. Then: "If you are far away it
will be too late. We have no time left, we are dying...."

Abruptly the voice message broke off and co-ordinates began coming
through between bursts of static. Tiger scribbled them down, piecing
them together through several repetitions. "Check these out fast," he
told Jack. "This sounds like real trouble." He tossed Dal another pair
of earphones and turned back to the speaker. "Are you a contract
planet?" he signaled. "Do we have a survey on you?"

There was a much longer pause. Then the voice came back, "No, we have no
contract. We are all dying, but if you must have a contract to come...."

"Not at all," Tiger sent back. "We're coming. Keep your frequency open.
We will contact again when we are closer."