"Ben? Look, have we a ship beam on anything of Chinese registry?"
Ben said wait a minute while he checked. He returned and said: "Four. The Lady of Cathay, The Mandarin's Daughter, The Dragoness, and The Mongol Maid. Why?"
"Put a message on each of 'em, asking whether they have any Chinese music on board."
"And then what? They can't answer."
"Make this an experimental request. If any of them are using any recordings of Chinese music, tell them to have their electronics chief replace the phonograph pick-up with a microphone—disturbing absolutely nothing—and to reply as if we could hear them: Get me?"
"Can you? Hear 'em I mean."
"We hear something, and Jim says it's Chinese."
"It's worth a try, then. See you later."
"Will they?" asked Jim, interested in the workings of this idea.
"Sure. Ever since we steered the Empress of Kolain out of the grease with the first station-to-ship beam, all three of the interplanetary companies have been more than willing to co-operate with any of our requests as long as we precede the message with the explanation that it's experimental. They'll do anything we ask 'em to, short of scuttling the ship."