The Haploids by Jerry Sohl

Author:Jerry Sohl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1952-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

"This is Bill Skelley," Captain Tomkins said, indicating a large, raw-boned man Travis recognized as the radioman he had talked with earlier in the day.

"Seems the information I gave you came in handy," Bill said, putting some shielded wire on the stake truck parked in front of the radio shop.

"That's right," Travis answered.

"That's Thornton Rhoades—we call him 'Thorny'—and Bob Donn up there on the truck," Bill said, indicating two men who were moving radio equipment up near the cab of the truck. The men nodded to Travis. "We about ready, Captain?"

"If you are," Captain Tomkins said. "Think I'll ride with you in the back of the truck, if you don't mind. The three men in each police car can take care of themselves. They know what to do."

Captain Tomkins climbed aboard with Travis and Bill. Thorny drove. In a few moments the stake truck, sandwiched between two police cars, sped through the downtown streets. The captain, Travis, and Bill hung on to the sides of the truck as they wound in and out of traffic, sirens on the police cars screaming. The truck rumbled and jerked and Travis hoped the radio equipment was standing the ride better than he was.

"Where we headed?" he shouted to the other two hugging the side of the truck near him.

"The country," Bill shouted back. "Too many buildings and antennas around here."

Travis glanced at the equipment. A few batteries, an outfit that looked like a public address system and a circular aerial. It was mounted on a box that he guessed was a gadget to move it in various directions. When they got to the boulevard leading out of town it was smoother riding and they could talk in a more normal tone.

"What's that round antenna?" Travis inquired.

"Rotating loop," Bill said. "Standard RDF stuff."

"RDF?"

"Radio direction finding. When we get to a spot we want we'll set it all up. Lines of force—the interference we've been hearing—will cut the loop, creating electrical energy in it. Fortunately, it's a vertically polarized wave we're after."

Travis nodded. "That's good, eh?"

"It's like a wire you run across a magnet and it lights a lamp," Bill explained. "Only our current is weaker. We'll have to amplify it. We'll keep turning the loop until we get a maximum signal and a minimum signal. The pointer on that loop is going to show us from what direction it's coming."

Travis nodded again.

"You watch when we get started. Thorny and Bob will wear earphones to check the interference by listening. But we also have a cathode ray tube—see that tuning eye?—to tell us when we hit the high and low." He pointed to a round eye on the amplifier.

"We may have to vary the size of the loop if we run into trouble, but judging by the kind of wave, I don't think we'll have to. The interference sounds like simple high voltage. It probably sweeps across the entire band—we know already it's on the broadcast, FM and TV bands because we've heard and seen it.

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