noon
`` Yes . Yes , '' Fay replied to them in turn . '' ... Nine ... ten ... '' Again he grinned and twitched . `` Time for noon Com-staff , '' he announced staccato . `` Pardon the hush box . '' He whipped a pancake phone from under his coat , clapped it over his face and spoke fiercely but inaudibly into it , continuing to semaphore . Suddenly he thrust the phone away .