On the Trail of the Space Pirates, page 109 by Carey Rockwell
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repare the jet boats for flight."
"Aye, aye, sir," came the reply from the Venusian.
The ship bucked under the tremendous power of the braking rockets and came to a dead stop in space. Strong dashed up the ladder to the radar bridge where Roger was still hunched before the radar scanner.
"Any chance of switching the scanner to another frequency and offsetting the effects of the static, Roger?" asked the Solar Guard captain.
Roger shook his head. "I don't think so, sir. The interference would have to be eliminated at its source."
"Well," sighed Strong, "to go looking for Tom without the help of radar would be like looking for an air bubble in the ammonia clouds of Jupiter. And we don't even know if he's still aboard the Avenger or not!"
"You know, sir," said Roger speculatively, "I've been thinking. I might be able to get a fix on this interference."
"A fix? How?"
"By blanking out the radar range, so that it would only work at one point of the compass at one time, then testing each heading separately until the flash appears. When it does, we'd at least know in which direction to blast off and trail Coxine.
"If you can do that, Roger," exclaimed Strong, "it would take us right into Coxine's lap! Do you think you can work it?"
"I can try, sir."
"All right, then," decided Strong. "Astro and I will take the jet boats and go looking around. Meantime, you stay aboard and try to pin point the heading on that flash."
"Very well, sir," replied Roger, and turned to the radar to begin the complicated task of rewiring the instrument.
Strong went directly to the jet-boat deck where Astro was busily preparing the jet boats for flight. He looked up when Strong entered the hatch.
"All ready, sir," he said.
"Very well," said Strong. "I'll take number one, you take number two. We're in section twenty-three of quadrant B. You take section twenty-two and I'll take twenty-four."
"Yes, sir," replied Astro. "Do you th