"And I heard you and Scotty," Rick agreed. "All three units work fine.
Have you switched them off?"
Barby reached up and seemed to pat her hair slightly. "I forgot," she
admitted. "Now it's off."
Rick looked at Jan. "Could you hear me through Barby's phone while I
was talking?"
Jan shook her head. "No, I couldn't. I was listening, too. These are
wonderful, Rick."
He smiled his thanks. "One interesting thing, though. I should have
known, but it didn't occur to me. The receivers are directional."
"What's that?" Barby asked.
"Directional. The antenna is a tiny coil. When it's broadside to the
incoming signal, the volume is loudest, but when it's end on, the
volume is much less. So, if you can't hear well, just turn sideways.
Turn until the signal is loudest."
Scotty took his transceiver from his pocket and examined it with
pride. It was no larger than a pack of playing cards, and its
sensitive microphone was incorporated right into the case. The tiny
antenna was a piece of stiff steel wire only two inches long. The
whole gadget fitted easily into an inside coat pocket without a
noticeable bulge.
Barby's rig was slightly different. The antenna ran along one edge of
the plastic strip. At one end the microphone was in contact with her
head just above the ear, allowing for transmission of voice by bone
conduction, a new method developed by the United States Air Force. At
the other end of the band a tiny speaker made similar contact. Rick
had worried about the effectiveness of both mike and phone, since he
had never used the types before, but the design had turned out very
well.
"Pretty neat if we do say so," Scotty admitted modestly.
"For once I agree with you," Barby said generously. "Now what, Rick?
There isn't anything more to do, is there?"
"Not on these." But there was more to do along other lines. He was
waiting for word from JANIG. Barby and Jan disappeared and returned in
a few moments with iced drinks. The boys accepted them gratefully. It
was a warm day.
"How about a swim?" Scotty suggested.
Rick was about to point out that they might have work to do when Joe
Blake, the JANIG agent in charge at the laboratory, hailed him. Rick
ran to meet the agent.
"The boys on the mainland didn't turn up a thing," Blake reported.
"They searched from a half mile south of the pier to a half mile
north. No pram anywhere."
Rick snapped his fingers. "I had a hunch they wouldn't! Okay. I'm
going to take off right now and search the coast. If that pram wasn't
connected with the attack on Duke and Jerry, I'll eat it."
"Good luck," Blake said. "Let me know if you need any help."
Rick hurried back to the porch. The JANIG scout team had reported
early in the morning that the pram was gone from the pier. They had
been covering the Whiteside area most of the night, searching for
some sign of the pair that had attacked Rick's friends, but had turned
up nothing suspicious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account