"We will," said Christine.
Farrell grinned as they left. He looked at Walt, and said: "You will!"
Walt wondered whether he should have questioned Wes about that remark, but he did not. Several hours later, Walt wondered how Wes could have been so right.
Interplanetary Communications, Preferred, started in its long climb as soon as the markets opened, on the following day. Cartright, following his orders and his experience, held onto whatever stock he had, and bought whatever stock was tossed his way. Several times he was on the verge of asking Interplanetary Transport for monetary assistance, but the real need never materialized.
Kingman alternately cursed the whining music and cheered the pyramiding stock. About the only thing that kept Kingman from going completely mad was the fact that the alien music was not continuous, but it came and went in stretches of anything from five to fifty minutes, with varied periods of silence in between selections.
Up and up it went, and Kingman was seeing the final, victorious coup in the offing. A week more, and Venus Equilateral would belong to Terran Electric. The beam from Terra was silent, save for a few items of interest not connected with the market. Kingman's men were given the latest news, baseball scores, and so forth, among which items was another message to Channing from the solar beam project engineer, Addison. They had about given up. Nothing they could do would prevent the formation of ozone by the ton as they drew power by the kilowatt from Sol.
On Venus Equilateral, Channing said: "Ask Charley what his radio frequency is."
Ten minutes later, at the speed of light, the ship beam reached the Relay Girl and the message clicked out. Charley Thomas read it, and spoke into the microphone. The Relay Girl bucked unmercifully, as the voice amplitude made the acceleration change. Then at the speed of light, squared, the answer came back in less than a twinkle.
"Seventeen hundred kilocycles."