Thorn stopped speaking. His face froze as he pulled out the thing he had felt in his pocket. It was a tiny metal sphere, only a half-inch in diameter, With a minute aperture in it.
"An Ear,” exclaimed Sual Av appalledly.
Thorn dropped the thing like a poisonous snake and ground it under his heel. His dark face was grim as he looked down at the shattered fragments of the Ear.
The thing was a super-compact and super-sensitive audio transmitter. It picked up all sound in its immediate vicinity and broadcast it electro-magnetically, for a short range. Both police and criminals of the system used Ears for eavesdropping at a distance.
"Someone slipped it into my pocket in the Council House!” Thorn rapped. “See if there are any more."
But a swift search of their clothing and of the cabin disclosed no more Ears.
"Whoever put that Ear in my pocket suspects us!” Thorn said grimly. “And whoever it is knows now from our talk that we came here after the secret of Erebus, that we're after the radite!
"Thank heaven,” he added tightly, “that we didn't give away the fact that we want the radite for Earth, that we're Earth agents."
"This is bad, John,” said Sual Av, his ugly face sober. “Who do you think suspects us? Lana Cain herself?"
"If it were she, or someone loyal to her,” rumbled Gunner Welk, “she'd have sent men here to seize us by now!"