that needle in the Hercules haystack! This orbit-curve trick
must be something Matthews has yet to dream upat least
he hasn’t come to me with it yet, and there’s nothing in the
situation as it stands now that would indicate a closing time
of six months for the case. The computers said it would take
three more years.”
“It’s new data,” Dr. Wald agreed solemnly.
“Well, don’t stop there, in God’s name! Let’s hear some
morel”
Dr. Wald went through the ritual, much faster this time.
“The speaker said:
“Nausentampen. Eddettompic. Berobsilom. Airnkaksetchoc.
Sanbetogmow. Datdectamset. Domatrosmin. Out.”
“My word,” Wald said. “What’s all that?”
“That’s what I was talking about,” Dana Lje said. “At
least half of what you get from the beep is just as incom-
prehensible. I suppose it’s whatever has happened to the
English language, thousands of years from now.”
“No, it isn’t,” Weinbaum said. He had resumed writing,
and was still at it, despite the comparative briefness of the
transmission. “Not this sample, anyhow. That, ladies and
gentlemen, is codeno language consists exclusively of
four-syllable words, of that you can be sure. What’s more,
‘ it’s a version of our code. I can’t break it down very far
it takes a full-time expert to read this stuffbut I get the
date and some of the sense. It’s March 12, 3022, and
there’s some kind of a mass evacuation taking place. The
message seems to be a routing order.”
“But why will we be using code?” Dr. Wald wanted to
know. “It implies that we think somebody might overhear
ussomebody else with a Dirac. That could be very messy.”