From this point on, a considerable portion of the message could not get through, apparently due to some ethereal disturbance; a turbulence, somewhere off in space, which Olinski labelled as "very spotty."
Suddenly, the engineers' efforts to re-contact Mars were successful. Fading and fluttering, the dots and dashes of the code began once again to register on the receiving machine. Transcribed by Henry on the blackboard, although piece-meal, the message was fairly intelligible, and really contained more startling information than the first part. It read thus:
"If thou desireth greater knowledge of our planet and people, look for our ship in the sky. Search carefully, on your mountain-tops and in the valleys. Fourteen suns have passed since the ship, launched in the darkness of an equatorial solar eclipse, was caught up in a cloud of cosmic bodies streaming over our planet. The key of knowledge thou wilt find in this ship ... scroll written by young priest-astronomer, darling of the gods, who first deciphered code of your strange language.... Our astronomers study your planet diligently through holes in your clouds.... They see great bluish masses ... can this be water?..."
The second part of the message quickly fading out, Henry's presence of mind did not forsake him in this emergency. Immediately, he began to dictate a reply to the Martian message, which Olinski quickly coded and transmitted, with breathless interest on the part of the audience.
In this Mars-bound reply, Henry laid strong emphasis on the "ship," mentioned by the Martians in their message, concluding as follows:
"Explain more fully about the ship in the sky. We have no knowledge of this. Meteors by the thousands have been spraying the Blue Sphere for many days. This stream of meteors may be the same swarm that your own planet encountered, fourteen suns ago. Answer immediately."
But no answer came.
Highly agitated, and believing himself to be on the brink of a still greater discovery, Henry rushed again to the microphone, and immediately broadcast a world-wide appeal for assistance in finding the Martian "ship," which he described as a rocket. Then, as a cheerful glow of anticipated success diffused itself all over him, he offered a reward of $25,000 to any trooper, or constable, from Tokyo to Timbuctoo, or to any one, in any part of the world, who found the "ship."
"This so-called ship," he explained to his audience, visible and invisible, "is most likely a metal rocket, which the Martians have catapulted into the sky during a solar eclipse and meteoric display. Their two tiny moons are so close to the surface of Mars, and their speeds are so great, that along the Martian equator there are three or four total solar eclipses every day.
"Apparently, they have taken advantage of one of these eclipses, in their astronomical calculations, in directing the rocket earthward. It may have been driven, by some mighty engine, beyond the planet's weak pull of gravity, into this very same cloud of cosmic bodies that are at present showering the earth. The 'fourteen suns,' mentioned in their radio message, really mean fourteen days. Their day is but a half hour longer than our own. Making all allowances, it would take a rocket, catapulted from Mars, about two weeks to travel through space, and reach the earth."