“But how?” Bud asked.
Tom’s brow furrowed. “Say, I wonder if Exman might understand a direct order?”
Tom backed a few paces away from the space robot, then said in a loud, clear voice, “Come here!”
Exman remained fixed to its spot.
“Move right!” No response. “Move left!” Still no response.
“Guess you’re not getting through, skipper,” Bud commented with a grin.
“No,” Tom agreed. “I can’t predict what kind of energy this brain will respond to. Being only energy, it must respond to other energy and sound is our form of energy. The problem is the same
EXMAN TAKES ORDERS 101
as with radio waves, which are also energy. We must figure out how we can vary the energy, so it can transmit information to Exman.”
“What do we try?” Bud asked. “Or is it hopeless?”
“I’ll try communicating with it via the electronic brain, which I have adapted to fit this problem.”
The boys cleaned up the wreckage caused by Exman in his dawn venturings.
Then Tom went by jeep to the computer laboratory, made connections to his electronic brain, and wired it for remote control. Then he returned to the private laboratory. There Bud watched as he hooked up the leads from the computer to a transmitting-receiving decoder with a short-range antenna.
“Speak, O Master!” Bud said, imitating a squeaky robot voice. “Sound off loud and clear I”
Tom grinned and tapped out a command on the keyboard: Move backward.
Exman rolled backward! Bud gave a whoop of delight.
Tom signaled: Move forward. Obediently Exman rolled toward him.
Stop. Exman stopped.