"Not if we want to keep track of those sneaks. And I
think I see a way to do it."
"How?"
"So far, I have been thinking about refining our own search sonar." Tom
explained that the new system he had in mind would send out a _complex_
pulse--that is, an underwater sound wave with many harmonics instead of
a single tone, sharp-peaked sound impulse.
"This will make it less likely that their antidetection gear will absorb
all of it," Tom went on. "What's not absorbed will return as an echo.
I'm also going to modify our receivers. But I've still not worked that
out."
Bud nodded, his forehead puckered in a look of concentration. "So--?"
"So our sonar picks up all that hash, and by means of a computer setup
filters out the sub's real echo from the shadow reflections."
"Hey! Sounds pretty cute," Bud said.
Tom broke into a dry chuckle. "Right--_if_ I can do it." After that job,
Tom added, he hoped to adapt his own antidetection methods to make
hydrolung wearers safe from underwater detection. "And if the Jupiter
prober hasn't been found by that time, Bud, I'm going to request the
Navy to let us take over the search alone."
Bud gave a whistle of excitement at the possibility of new undersea
adventures ahead. "Count me in, pal!"
The two boys broke off their conversation a short time later and went
back to the Administration Building for lunch with Tom's father.
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