Can you give him some kind of camera he can use to let us examine it?” Toj’s expression relaxed slightly. With a quick nod he dove into his tiny engineering office, returning just as Edro Jans hesitantly approached the hatch to the compartment.
Kas caught sight of the small man. “Ah, Edro. Just the man we need. It appears someone has bugged us. Or perhaps bombed us. You’re just the man to help us find out.” He pointed out the object.
Edro’s eyes widened as the job was explained to him, but he merely bobbed his head in assent. Toj presented a small box, two centimeters square that he attached to Edro’s shipsuit. A fine wire protruded a few centimeters from the box. Toj pulled the end of the wire, which unreeled smoothly, and attached the end to the back of Edro’s index finger.
“‘Tis a camera,' he explained. 'Th’ wire has the lens, and is wound on a reel inside. When ye get back there, just point at anythin’ you want us to see. We’ll get a magnified view. You won’t. Sorry.”
“Toj will tell you where to point,” Kas said. “He’ll have to try to figure out what the hell it is.” He hesitated. “Edro, it could be a bomb. Be very careful.”
The little man’s eyes widened even more, but his lips tightened and he bobbed his head briskly. “Yes, sir,” he murmured so quietly that Kas had to strain to hear him.
Edro examined the area thoughtfully, then lay on the deck on his back and slid beneath the generator. After considerable squirming, his head and right arm appeared on the other side, framed by cables. He extended the arm and a magnified image of the object appeared on the screen. It was a box about five centimeters square and two deep, but on the screen it looked huge.
“To your left then, and a bit down,” Toj directed, and the image obligingly slid to one side and downward. “Good. Good.” Toj said. He touched a dial and the perspective approached the object even closer. “There’s summat’ looks like a wire on the right end o’ the thing,” he said. “Get as close to it as ever ye can ‘thout touchin’ it.” The camera zoomed in, and Toj nodded with satisfaction. “‘Tisn’t a bomb,” he reported.
Kas's shoulders slumped in relief. He frowned. “Can you tell what it is?”
Toj shook his head. “Not from here. Edro, trace ‘long the wire as far as ye can.” The screen image bobbed as it followed what looked on the screen like a cable, but was actually a hair-fine wire.
Finally Toj sat back. “‘Tis some sort of communications device, I’d wager,” he said. “There’s nothin’ more I can tell ‘til we get it out.” Without waiting for a reply he disappeared once more into his engineering office, reappearing almost instantly with a thin-bladed plas scraper. “All me other scrapers‘re metal,” he shrugged. “I cu’d be wrong about it not being a bomb.” He smiled as Edro stiffened. “Don’t worry Edro,” he said mildly, “‘Tis just a precaution. I’m sure it’s not a bomb.”
He handed the scraper over the generator casing, placing it in Edro’s hand. Then he resumed his place in front of the screen. “Captain, would ye be reachin’ over the generator and grabbin’ hold o’ the box? Edro can only get one arm in there, and he’ll have to scrape it off the generator casin’.”
Kas reluctantly stretched over the casing and managed to grab the object with three fingers. If it was a bomb and it detonated, he and Edro would be pulped.
“Right, Edro,” Toj said, “begin slidin’ the scraper under the box. There should be nothin’ but adhesive under there. Be goin’ slowly, and if ye feel any other resistance, stop immediately.” He couldn’t see Edro’s answering nod, but the camera showed the scraper sliding slowly beneath the box.
Finally the box came free, and Kas said “Got it.” He held it in his hand, still stretched over the generator, awaiting further instructions. He was relieved that there hadn’t been any loud noises, but was uncomfortably aware that they weren’t safe yet.
He felt the big engineer lean over behind him and a ham-sized hand gently removed the box from his hand. He released it with a sigh of relief, and scrambled out of the way.
“Edro?” Toj asked, “are ye still there? Can ye drop the scraper and give me pictures of the wire again?”
There was a muffled sound of assent from behind the generator, and the image on the screen once more showed the wire.
“All right,” Toj said, “I’ll be slowly pullin’ th’ box out. I think the wire’ll come with it. Edro, watch the wire right careful. If it begins t’ tighten, yell. Yell loud!” Very slowly, he began withdrawing the box. The wire followed smoothly. Finally, the wire’s end became visible on the screen, and Toj was able to straighten, holding the small box with the long, trailing wire.
He carried the box to a workbench, being careful not to kink or strain the wire. When Toj gently placed the box on the workbench, Kas suddenly realized that he hadn’t been breathing for at least a minute. His breath whooshed out, and he gulped his lungs full.
The big man’s shoulders slumped in obvious relief as well. He had reached for a magnifier, and was carefully examining the box, when Kas heard a muffled “Hmph!” from behind the generator.
Kas and Toj exchanged guilty glances, and then went back to the generator. “Edro?” Kas called. “Are you all right?” Scuffling and muffled sounds came from behind the generator. Edro’s feet were kicking wildly. Finally the words — or, rather word — became clear. “Mfm… Stuck!”
Kas and Toj exchanged grins. Kas stuck his head over the generator just in time to hear “Suit caught!” A quick glance at Toj revealed a broad grin. Yes, Toj had heard.
Toj reached down and grabbed the two kicking feet sticking out from beneath the generator. He gave a mighty tug. There was a ripping sound, then Edro came sliding out with enough velocity to slide almost across the compartment, his torn shipsuit flapping.
The small man came boiling to his feet, his wizened face scarlet with fury. He started toward Toj, fists bunched.
The big Bulworther held up his hands in surrender, fighting to control his laughter. “Nay, Nay, m’man,” He rumbled. “Ye’ve no quarrel wi’ me an’ no call t’hurt me. Ye’ve done good work this day. Not so, cap’n?”
Kas nodded. “Very good work. Without you, we’d have had a lot more trouble than we did — and we didn’t know it wasn’t a bomb.” He struggled to control growing laughter. “But… But you came squirting out of there like a cork from a bottle!” Unable to control it any longer, he dissolved in laughter, accompanied by the bass roar of Toj’s huge laugh. Edro stood for a moment, fists clenched. Then, slowly, the fury drained from his face, and in moments he, too dissolved into laughter. All three roared, and if their laughter held a tinge of relieved stress, well, so what?
As they began to sober, their attention returned to the mysterious object they’d found. “How long before you can tell me something about it?” Kas asked.
The big man shrugged. “Yon Edro’s the expert on communications stuff. Wi’ his help, could be we’ll know sommat in a few hours. Y’agree, Edro?”
The small comm tech flushed with pleasure at being asked, but he nodded enthusiastically. The two turned to the workbench and the mystery, their captain forgotten.
Kas started from the compartment. At the hatch he stopped and turned. If there ever was an odd couple, he thought this was it. Toj, two meters tall and a meter wide dwarfing his companion, some hundred-twenty centimeters tall and only massing about fifty kilos. He shook his head and headed for the bridge.
It was several hours later that Toj and Edro came onto the bridge. “‘Tis right I was, Skipper,” Toj rumbled. “It’s a communications device.”
“Beacon,” put in the laconic Edro.
Toj nodded. “Aye. ‘Tis a beacon indeed. It’s inactive for the now, but send it a signal on the right frequency and she’ll sing like a banshee.”
Kas frowned. “Any indication who placed it?”
“Not Fleet,” muttered Edro.
Toj nodded. “Nor is’t Imperial at all, we’re thinkin’. Could be it's Alliance, but ‘tis true it could as easily be from one of the Independents or even the damned Glory fer that matter.”
Kas hesitated, thinking. “That means a spy at the Fleet Yard on Prime.”
Rom snickered from his station. “Surely that doesn’t surprise you, Cap’n?”
Kas smiled sourly. “Not really. All right, let’s see. Whoever it was knew that we’d be sending a ship after the Rekesh, and that it wouldn’t be an obviously military ship. So they had their agent plant one of these beacons on any non-warships that came to the Yard. Then they have their pickets or customs cutters broadcast the trigger frequency.”
Toj nodded enthusiastically. “Aye! Use a frequency that nobody else uses, and nothin’ happens ‘til a ship wi’
