The alien waved his hands and made gestures, but there was no recognizable pattern. None of the hand-signals meant anything to the Earthmen.
Blake leaned over and whispered into MacIlheny's ear. "Hadn't we better call the President, Mac? He'll want to know."
MacIlheny considered for a moment, then nodded. "Give him a direct beam on what's coming over this screen. Then give me a pair of earphones connected to his office. I want to be able to hear what he says, but I don't want him countermanding my orders to Major Hamacher."
The alien was still making his meaningless signals when Blake brought in a pair of earphones and clamped them on MacIlheny's head. A throat mike around his neck completed the communication circuit. "Can you hear me, Mr. President?" MacIlheny asked.
"Yes. Your man Blake explained everything to me."
"Got any advice?"
"Not yet. Let's see what happens. By the way, I've given the impression to the rest of the world that it was through your efforts that Number Four avoided crashing; I don't think we'd better let this leak out just yet."
"Right. Meantime, I'm going to try to capture that lad."
"How?" asked the President.