Colborn finished dealing with his own problem downstairs, and returned his attention to Westervelt. He requested a repeat.
"I said that Joe went around the corner to check the power," babbled the youth. "What do I do if a space call comes in? He said to watch the set."
"Oh," said Colborn. "You see the little red, star-shaped light at the left of the board under the screen?"
"Yeah, yeah! It's out, Charlie!"
"Well, it should be. It's an automatic call indicator set for our code. If it goes on, it shows you're getting a call even if you have the screen too dark or the audio too low to notice. So you look for a green one like it on the other side...."
"Yeah. I see it."
"You push the button beside it, and our code goes out automatically to acknowledge. Then you push the next button underneath, which puts out a repeating signal to stand by. Got that so far?"
"I got it," said Westervelt. "Then what?"
"Then you go scream for Joe at the top of your lungs. That covers everything. You are now a deep-space operator. Just don't touch any of those buttons until you get a license!"
"But, Charlie—!"