Rick watched, pleased. He hadn't told her it wasn't necessary to attach the mask before clearing. She put the snorkel mouthpiece in place, but did not bother to attach the rubber strap to her head. Then, working smoothly but without waste of time, she slipped on the fins and flashed to the surface. The snorkel emerged and she blew it clear, then swam to the beach.
"Perfect," Rick applauded.
"You're a natural," Scotty added.
Barby just beamed.
Jan was obviously pleased at their praise, but she was a little shy, too, so she contented herself with smiling her thanks.
"Aqualung instruction tomorrow morning," Rick said. "Come on. I've worked up an appetite."
That evening Rick began work on the radio circuits, as he had promised Barby. The transmitters would be the easiest part, since he could use the same circuits that had gone into the design of the Tractosaur controls, modified only slightly for use on the highest amateur band. Fortunately, Rick had both an operator's and station licenses as a radio "ham," so Barby's scheme wouldn't mean illegal operation.
The girls wandered into the shop where he and Scotty were at work, but there was nothing exciting about the painstaking work of laying out diagrams, so they soon left.
Scotty paused in his work of assembling the parts they would need. "Rick, how about making transceivers instead of simple transmitters?"
"So we can send and receive on the same unit? We can do it, all right. But why?"