The psychologist looked up, and his eyes were tired. "I know it," he said calmly. "Listen to this." He started the machine playing the new tape.
Johnny listened to it through. The voice that came out was high and wavering. It shook, it chattered, words were indistinguishable. It was thin with tension, and it rang in Johnny's ears with unwanted familiarity.
"What's it sound like to you?" Lambert asked when it had finished.
"Like Mitch's voice," Johnny admitted reluctantly.
"It did to me, too. What do you think it is?"
"Don't know," said Johnny shortly. "Might be a pilot whose plane is shaking apart."
"No."
"I don't know."
Lambert sat back down behind his desk and sucked on his pipestem. He regarded Johnny impassively, seeming to consider some problem remote from the room.
Abruptly, he stood again and went to the window, watching the ant-like activity around the base of Ship II.