"At 7-G we should match that seven hundred in about four hours."
"And then go on decelerating so that they'll catch up?"
"No," said Walt. "I used the max figure and we can assume that they aren't going that fast, quite. At the end of four hours, we'll turnover and wait until they heave in sight again and then we'll do some more oscillating. We can match their velocity inside of ten hours, or Franklen will get fired."
"If I don't," promised Franklen, "I'll quit. You can't fire me!"
"We should be able to contact them by radio," said Walt.
"Their beam is off," said Bren.
"And they are using the landing set," called the radio man, "It's Channing. He says: 'Fancy meeting you here.' Any answer?"
"Just say, 'Dr. Channing, I presume?'"
Channing's voice came out of the ship's announcer system as the radio man made the necessary connections. It said: "Right—but what kept you so long?"
"Our boss was away," said Walt. "And we can't do a thing without him."