"Communications effective?"
"Why—yes sir. Sergeant, prepare space-radio for message—"
"No, no." Doug waved the sergeant back to his post. "Just—checking, captain. How long since the last overhaul of your unit?"
"Why, at the prescribed overhaul date for the entire ship, sir. I believe about four months ago, sir."
"Don't you know, captain?"
"Four months ago, sir."
"I see. If I may inspect the unit, captain."
"Sergeant! Prepare communications for inspection!"
He had no way of knowing how unorthodox his procedure was, only that while aboard the ship, at least, his rank was the final law, and that they would never land on Venus. Yet, these were intelligent men, of the same high caliber as those Earth-bound in the headquarters units. He must be cautious.
Within minutes, the complex communications assembly had been bared, and its circuits were half-mystery to him. Yet the fundamentals would be the same, as they had been with the equipment he had ordered to build the second Contraption. Only the shapes, the sizes, the juxtapositions different.