"Nothing,--that's the hell of it. I've been kicking myself for not
figuring it out before. That gadget's nothing but a fined-up subetheric
communicator. We used them before the Lorcom was developed. There's an
explosive charge, but the arming mechanism was burned off. And that's
it."
"Not quite," Fiske said. "There was a direct neural connection. And
that's why they fight as a unit. A ship's commander would have complete
charge of his ship like a brain with a hundred bodies--and he's
probably hooked up with a squadron C.O. And the squadron C.O.--what a
system!" Fiske cut off and twisted the selector.
"Communications!" he said.
"Aye sir."
"Contact Chief Engineer Sandoval, tape his data and send it to Prime."
"Sorry sir--can't be done!"
"What!"
"Yes sir--there's an interference blanket in Cth that you can't drive
anything through. I've been trying to raise Base for an hour."
"When did this come on?--Why wasn't I informed."
"It came on about an hour ago, and you were busy. We've never had
anything like this before, sir. I thought I'd try to punch a beam
through it before I quit."
"All right--break out the message torps--tape the data and send them
off."
"But--"
"That's all, Lieutenant--get cracking."
"Aye sir."
"Well--that's a new wrinkle," Fiske observed. "They've figured out our
Lorcom--and we're jammed."
Pedersen looked up from the control board. "Hmm--doesn't smell so good.
They wouldn't jam us unless they had something else up their sleeves.
They're figuring on stopping us, no doubt."