Read "Operation: Outer Space" by Murray Leinster online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Cochrane said kindly into the vision-beam microphone to Earth, "Cancel section C, paragraph nine. Then section b(1) from paragraph eleven. Then after you've canceled the entire last section -- fourteen -- we can sign up the deal."
There was a four-second pause. About two seconds for his voice to reach Earth. About two seconds for the beginning of the reply to reach him. The man at the other end protested wildly.