"Just one will be needed. We'll use one of the standard solar intake tubes that we're running the station from. There's spare equipment aplenty. But the transmitter-terminal tube will take some building."
"Can we buy one from Terran Electric?"
"Why not? Get the highest rating we can. That should be plenty. Terran probably has them in stock, and it'll save us building one."
"What is their highest rating?"
"Two hundred megawatts."
"O.K. I'll send 'em a coded requisition with my answer to their letter."
"What are you going to tell 'em?"
"Tell 'em not to investigate the energy-gun idea unless they want to for their own reasons," Channing grinned. "They'll probably assume—and correctly—that we're going to tinker ourselves."
"And?"
"Will do nothing since it is an extra-planetary proposition. Unless it becomes suitable for digging tunnels, or melting the Martian ice cap," laughed Channing.