"I was thinking—"
She hurried across the room. I swung on the Botz signaling apparatus. It was connected. Within a moment I had it humming. The fluorescent tubes lighted with their lurid glare; they painted purple the body of the giant duty-man who lay sprawled at my feet. I drew on all the ship's power. The tube-lights in the room quivered and went dim.
I would have to hurry. Potan could shut this off from the main hull control room. I could see, through the room's upper trap, the primary sending mirror mounted in the peak of the dome. It was quivering, radiant with its light-energy. I sent the flash.
The flattened, past-full Earth was up there. I knew that the western hemisphere faced the Moon at this hour. I flashed in English, with the open Universal Earth-code:
"Help! Grantline."
And again: "Send help! Archimedes region near Apennines. Attacked by brigands. Send help at once! Grantline!"
If only it would be received! I flung off the current. Anita stood watching me intently. "Gregg, look!"
She had taken some of the glass globe-bombs which lay by the foot of the ascending ladder. She held some of them now.
"Gregg. I threw some."