He sent out the call letters.
"AX to SP-101 ... AX to SP-101 ... AX to SP-101 ..."
Three times he sent the call, then began sending his message, hoping that his signal was reaching the ship. He couldn't know if they answered. Though the power pack could get out a message over a vast distance, it could not pick up messages even when backed by an SP ship's power unless the ship was only a few hundred miles away.
The power pack was strictly a distress signal.
He didn't know how long he'd been sending, nor how many times his weary voice had repeated the short but desperate message.
He kept watching the heavens and hoping.
Abruptly he knew the SP ship was coming, for the blue ship of the Steel-Blues was rising silently from the asteroid.
Up and up it rose, then flames flickered in a circle about its curious shape. The ship disappeared, suddenly accelerating.
Jon Karyl strained his eyes.
Finally he looked away from the heavens to the two Steel-Blues who stood negligently outside the goldfish bowl.