Bud was delighted to hear of the arrangement when he came into the laboratory a while later. The boys talked over their dance plans for a few moments, then Bud asked:
“How’s our underwater talkie system coming?”
Tom scratched his jaw thoughtfully. “A bit tricky but not too difficult,” he replied. “It’s mostly a job of adapting the sonarphone arrangement from our Fat Man suits-in miniature.”
A tiny mike, Tom explained, would be installed on the inside of each face mask, with its output feeding to a sonar transducer on the exterior. The receiving transducers would feed from amplifiers to earphones. The hookup would be powered by the solar battery in the hydrolung power unit, by connecting wires through the breathing tube.
“That’s neat, Tom,” Bud said. “Need any help?”
“You can mold us a pair of new face masks-big enough to cover the earphones,” Tom suggested. He handed Bud a penciled sketch from the workbench, adding, “Then drill the holes for the mikes and earphones-the dimensions are
80 THE ELECTRONIC HYDROLUNG
there on the drawing. But watch it so you don’t crack the plastic.”
While Bud complied, Tom began assembling the tiny electronic parts. In two hours the gear was ready for testing.
Tom wiped his perspiring forehead and gave Bud a grin of satisfaction. “Go get your swim trunks, fly boy. Let’s give it a tryout in the tank.”
“Swell idea! Be back in a jiff!”
After a quick change, the boys strapped on the new hydrolung equipment.
Before adjusting his face mask, Tom mentioned that he had inserted scrambling circuits into the communicators to foil any enemy eavesdroppers.
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