"Meaning me?" he asked.
"Meaning you," I said. "You've been acting like the ghost at the banquet. I don't even know whether I can call you a friend any more. What's the trouble?"
Axel shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said.
"Psychological? Depression?"
He gave me a crooked grin. "I wish it were something like that," he replied. "Trouble is, I know what does it, but I'm damned if I know what it is."
"Animal, vegetable or mineral?" I asked.
He started to get halfway cheerful. "I tried to tell Spartan about it and he accused me of imagining things," he said. "I guess it won't hurt to tell you. I'm getting some stuff on the radio I can't explain."
"Signals? From the earth?"
"Not from the earth. From the general direction of Mars."
The way he said it, it sent chills up my spine and down again. "Somebody's trying to signal us?"