"Sometimes I think so, sometimes not," he replied with a heavy sigh. "The signals—if that's what they are—are still very weak."
"Damn it, Axel," I said, "it's ridiculous. If anybody were trying to signal us from Mars, it would mean they knew we were on our way."
"Maybe they do," he said tersely.
It was so damned fantastic, I hardly knew what to say. "But how?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said, "but they could have radio, even radar—and they could be a million times better than ours."
We talked about it for about an hour and Axel couldn't add anything to what he'd already told me, which wasn't much.
During the next few days Gail exerted herself trying to restore a friendly relationship between Morrie and me. I think it was more because Morrie wanted to win her approval than for any other reason that she succeeded, partially.
When we were off duty at the same time, she'd bring us together and try to engage us in conversation. The only trouble was, we'd run out of anything to talk about.
"If we could only invent a game!" she exclaimed in one of her desperate moods.
"Charades?" I asked.