Professor Harringway deduces the craft must have come from Venus. The spool itself is determined to be a flight recorder and is partially decoded by an international team of scientists led by Professor Sikarna and Dr. Tchen Yu. When radio greetings sent to Venus go unanswered, Harringway announces that a journey to Venus is the only alternative. The recently completed Soviet spaceship "Cosmostrator", intended to voyage to Mars, is now redirected to Venus, a 30-to-31 day journey. During the voyage, Sikarna works diligently to translate the alien message using the spaceship's computer.