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165 1947 wave were made in the Pacific Northwest, the govern- ment may have hurriedly set up high-powered radio transmit- ters and sensitive receivers in Washington and Oregon to try to call the aliens and listen for their transmissions to us and to each other. But the 1947 wave soon spread out to cover the entire United States, and so the chances of achieving short- range communication from any one location were pretty small. Still, something had to be done, and done quickly before some "amateur" called them and got a meaningful answer which he then passed along to the press. Since we knew noth- ing about the aliens' methods of communicating, we had to try anything that was suggested, which is a very inefficient way to operate, and probably didn't impress those we hoped would be on the other end of the line. It had to be faced that we were—and may still be—operating from a position of gross ignorance. We didn't know how to communicate or if the aliens had any interest in hearing from us. They might have seen us as no more than the equivalent of white rats in a laboratory: What medical researcher spends much time wondering if the rats are trying to communicate with him? Or it could have been that the vast differences in culture and biology could make communication all but impos- sible even if the attempt were being made, as it has long been with dolphins. But the attempt had to be made, for the potential gain to mankind (to say nothing of the honors that would be heaped upon the first person to talk with an alien) would be so great that to ignore the possibility would be unthinkable. If the aliens use a means of communication that we would consider language, then some really clever people just might be able to manage an elementary translation of a message. But what if they communicate with thoughts rather than words? Or in some manner that no human has ever considered? Then the chances of getting through to them would depend almost entirely on their willingness and ability to get through to us. Their appearance in our skies would probably have been AFTER THE CRASH