"What's all this got to do with me?" Crawford asked.
"This—we want to use the voice of Spud for an experiment. A very important experiment. With your permission, we'd like to do it immediately."
"I'm afraid that's impossible," said Crawford. "I have a show in about—"
"Our equipment is all set up," interrupted the doctor. "The entire test will take forty-five minutes. We'll have you back in no time."
Crawford frowned. He was tired and he'd looked forward to relaxing a while before the show. "Couldn't we make it some other time," he said.
The Colonel spoke then. "Robbie, do you remember reading four years ago that our radar system was able to beam signals to the moon and have them returned?"
"Sure," said Crawford. "It got a big play in all the newspapers."
"Well, our scientists are now ready to conduct a similar experiment," said Colonel Meadows. "This time to Mars."
"To Mars!" repeated Crawford, wondering what it had to do with him.