Ron grasped the microphone stand in a fierce, white-knuckled grip and leaned forward to adjust the volume of the receiver with his other hand. He couldn’t control the shakiness in his voice as he spoke. “Clonar—we never expected to hear from you again! Have you been trying to reach us for very long? This is Ron Barron. Go ahead, Clonar.”
He switched over to receive and, once more, through the hissing star noise, he heard his friend’s voice. “Yes, I’ve been trying to reach you for many days,” said Clonar. “My only hope was that you were working with the communication system I gave you. Only by throwing in an interference stream did I have any chance to bring myself to your attention. Are you able to hear me?”
“Yes,” said Ron. “It’s very faint, and there’s a lot of noise, but I can make yo
