I think you've hit the nail on the head with your analysis of the four
measures of !%!.  They refer to the 9th, 26th, 44th and 63rd tones
in the sequence, which would seem to translate as 'time is 9 time-
units, time is 26 time-units, time is 44 time-units, time is 63
time-units'.  Sort of an interstellar "At the tone, the time will
be..."

I think your analysis confirms my conjecture that "!-!" represents
the TC unit for measuring the "thing" that comes between the '!'
tones.  With respect to '!Q!' I think the corrected transcription of
Message 4 now reads:

     G V !Q! V G
     G W !Q! P QBQ P !Q! W G

I would read this as saying "1 is the unit of numbers," just as
(I strongly suspect) '@' is the unit of distance, '%' is the unit
of time, and '$' is the unit of velocity.

I can't wait for Message 5.

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