Joe obeyed. The aluminum fish dangled. The line slanted astern from the wind. It made a curve between the pole and the aluminum plummet, which was hollow in the direction of the plane’s motion. The pilot squinted down and began to swing in a wide circle around the spot where an apparently dead man had been sighted, and above which puffs of smoke now floated.
Three-quarters of the way around, the random clickings suddenly became a roar.
Joe said: “Hey!”
The pilot swung the plane about and flew back. He pointed to the button he’d pushed.
“Poke that when you hear it again.”
The clickings.... They roared. Joe pushed the button. He felt the tiny impact.
“Once more,” said the pilot.
He swung in nearer where the dead man lay. Joe had a sickening idea of who the dead man might be. A sudden rush of noise in the headphones and he pushed the button again.
“Reel in now!” shouted the pilot. “Our job’s done.”
Joe reeled in as the plane winged steadily back toward the Shed. There were puffs of smoke floating in the air behind. They had been ranged on at the instant they appeared. Somebody back at the Shed knew that something that needed to be investigated was at a certain spot, and the two later puffs of smoke had said that radioactivity was notable in the air along the line the two puffs made. Not much more information would be needed. The meaning of Braun’s warning that his tip was “hot” was definite. It was “hot” in the sense that it dealt with radioactivity!