Leak?
Bottle! Bottle! Bottle! It was a frog-like, unvocal expletive.
Comprehension dawned. Capt. Wilkins nodded and started to turn away. Major Winship caught his arm and nodded his head toward the loose jack.
Oh.
Capt. Wilkins nodded and smiled. He reached across and plugged the speaker in again.
"... Freedom 19! Hello, Freedom 19! Come in!"
"We're here," Major Winship said.
"All right? Are you all right?"
"We're all right. A-Okay." Major Winship, mindful of the extent of his potential audience, took a deep breath. "Earlier this morning, the Soviet Union fired an underground atomic device for the ostensible purpose of investigating the composition of the lunar mass by means of seismic analysis of the resultant shock waves. This was done in spite of American warnings that such a disturbance might release accumulated stresses in the long undisturbed satellite, and was done in the face of vigorous American protests."