human
We're glad you could come, Farid said in excellent English.
gpt
We'll try to make your visit interesting.
human
I don't know whether we'll be of much use, but we're willing to do anything we're told. All we ask is a little chance to see your country.
gpt
You'll have every chance, Dr. Farid told him.
human
Before there is any work for you, Parnell will have to do a pretty thorough analysis of data we've collected. It's a problem that has us ... what's the American expression? Buffaloed?
gpt
That's it, Rick agreed.
human
What kind of problem is it?
gpt
It's what you might call very strange behavior on the part of a hydrogen-line impulse we picked up while calibrating our receiver. Are you familiar with radio astronomy?
human
Not very, Rick admitted.
gpt
I tried to read some of the current literature when I found we were coming, but most of it is over my head.
human
Then I won't bore you with a technical discussion. Briefly, the noise emitted by hydrogen gas in space is very important to us in our analysis of the nature and distribution of matter. This radio noise is, of course, random. Usually when we are examining a hydrogen source we get pretty continuous and regular signals. If we could hear it, there would be a sort of hissing noise. Do you follow me?
gpt
So far.
human
Good. Our problem is that we are picking up impulses. You might even call them signals. They are on the frequency of neutral hydrogen, but it's hard to believe they're natural in origin. We've about concluded that somehow our amplifier system is modulating the incoming hydrogen signal from the antenna. The trouble is, we can't locate the cause.
gpt
Is that why you called Dr. Winston?
human
Yes. He has a reputation for finding bugs in electronic circuits. If he can find this one, we'll be tempted to reward him with a pyramid or something appropriate.
gpt
Better not make it a pyramid, he said hastily.
human
His luggage is limited to sixty-six pounds. They might not let him on the plane with it.
gpt
A happy thought, Dr. Farid said seriously.
human
You have saved us from possible embarrassment. It would be useless to give him a pyramid when his weight limit is thirty kilos, as we call sixty-six pounds.