“No, it’s not the same as FTL communications. And it’s limited by light speed. Subwave is different only in that it doesn’t use electromagnetic radiation and is therefore less affected by line-of-sight issues. It has completely replaced radio for short-range communication amongst Covenant species.”

“Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox,” Nat muttered.

I glanced at her but decided to stick with the main topic. “Great. Next item. Sheldon is preparing gadgets for each of us. But security is an issue. They’ll be biometrically tied to each of us, but even so, losing one would be bad. Or even letting it be seen.”

“Can they be disguised?” Nat asked.

I gave her the side-eye. “As what?”

“Well, I don’t know. Something innocuous. Jewelry? A phone?”

“So we’d be carrying around three or four phones?” I said. “That would be the opposite of unobtrusive.”

Sheldon interrupted. “One moment, Jack. This could work. I can’t put all of the devices together, but I could create a believable replica phone that would include the communicator, remote, and detector functions, and still operate as your original device.”

“Okay,” I replied, “the disruptors we could carry separately, and we have no use for the medical kit. That just leaves the belt. And I’m not sure about the belt.”

“I could make belts small enough to fit you if I left off the shield device, so they wouldn’t look like Batman’s utility belt.”

Patrick laughed. “Nice reference, Sheldon. You’re really absorbing Earth culture.”

“Or being assimilated by it,” Nat added.

Patrick grinned. “Resistance is futile,” he said.

I made a growling sound. “Focus, please. Sheldon, could you make a belt for each of us anyway? Properly sized, of course. If we do need them, we might need them in a hurry.”

This reminder of the seriousness of the situation was an instant conversation killer. After a few moments, Patrick said, “This is good. This feels like we’re finally being proactive. We may actually be getting ahead of this.”

“Sure,” Nat grumbled, “if you ignore the small detail that we still don’t know diddly about what the Loranna are doing.”

“Patience, my nerdy friend,” said Patrick. “We’ll get there.”

“Nerdy fr— Do you want to die?”

I sighed theatrically and said, “So, to continue … ” and waited a moment for attention. “We need to find out specifically which business or businesses in Tate Park are fronts for the Loranna, and how they are being used to infiltrate our society and cause those global disasters. Then we need to figure out what to do about it. Have I missed anything?”

“That is a very high-altitude summary, but essentially correct,” Sheldon said.

“Can you help out with any more information, Sheldon? Maybe things the Loranna have done before?”

“No, sorry, I don’t have access to every item of Covenant history. A lot of the information in my database is summary only.”