“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!”

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.

“Hey, how about that?” Bud exclaimed happily.  “It really savvies those electronic brain impulses!”

“And minds them—­which is equally important,” Tom added.

A moment later the brain energy seemed to become impatient.  It spurted off in its wheeled container toward a laboratory workbench.

Crash! A rack of test tubes went sailing to the floor with an explosion of tinkling glass.

Stop! Tom signaled frantically.  Again Exman obeyed the order.

“It’s like a mischievous kid,” Bud said.

Almost as if in defiance, Exman scooted off in another direction.  Then it stopped abruptly and swiveled around, one of its antenna arms knocking a Bunsen burner to the floor as it did so.

Come here! Tom signaled.  As the culprit approached, he added sternly, Stop where you are.  And stay there until you receive further orders.

This time Exman stood patiently, awaiting the next signal.  Bud got a brush and dustpan, and the boys cleaned up the broken test tubes and replaced the burner on its shelf.

Then Tom began feeding more complicated instructions to Exman through the electronic brain.  He guided him through a number of dancelike movements and other drills, and got him to send out a wave of heat which the boys could instantly feel.  Tom was even able to make the robot aim its wave energy so as to short-circuit a switch on an electrical control panel.

Tom was both pleased and excited.  “Bud,” he exclaimed, “the brain reacts as quickly as that of a highly intelligent being!  Just imagine—­without any sort of decoding equipment, it can pick up and understand the radio signals I beam out to it!”

“What we need now,” Tom went on, “is a simple language to get our ideas across to Exman without having to use the electronic brain all the time.  That means I must find a way to give Exman senses as we humans have—­smell, touch, sight, hearing, taste.  Then it could receive the same reactions we do and talk directly to us!”

“Sounds like quite an order,” Bud said wryly.  “Speaking of which, how about us phoning Chow an order for breakfast?”