Spectrum Gadgets

The following is a list of Spectrum Gadgets mentioned in the books.

In Spectrum there is a Gadget room. Ruby enjoys going there quite often when she is alone. To access the gadget room there is a code. The code is the exact time, which Ruby notices because she sees Hitch looking at his watch and typing in a code. Miles Froghorn later changes the code to Ruby's field agent test number: 45902314.

Bradley Baker's Rescue Watch

Main article: Bradley Baker Rescue WatchThis belonged to the legendary Spectrum agent Bradley Baker. It is designed to look like a child's watch with cartoon eyes that follow the hands round. It is kept in a glass drawer in a cabinet in the gadget room until Ruby "borrows" it in Ruby Redfort, Look Into My Eyes.

Breathing Buckle

The breathing buckle is a Spectrum gadget for use in the sea. It can be kept on your belt and if you place it between your teeth you can breathe comfortably for 27 minutes and 2 seconds, but there is no reserve air canister.

In Take Your Last Breath, Ruby deliberately steals this gadget from the Spectrum gadget room because she cannot hold her breath for longer than a 61 seconds. When she took the buckle to the Sibling islands, she accidentally leaves her belt on the boat. Luckily, Clancy takes the belt with him when he enters the island and when the Sea Whisperer drags Ruby into its pool, Clancy throws her the breathing buckle, saving her life.

Limpet Lights AKA Hansel and Gretel Find-Your-Way-Home Trail Glows

Limpet lights are Spectrum gadgets that look like marbles. They are underwater phosphorescent lights used to make a trail and can look like normal sea life unless you know what they really are.

Ruby takes these from the Spectrum gadget room in Take Your Last Breath while she is stealing the Breathing Buckle and considers that the Limpet Lights might help her too as she is not very confident in the dark. She uses them at sea (when she and Clancy are investigating the Sibling Islands) to leave a trail back to the boat when she dives in.

It is unspecified if she manages to retrieve them, but it is unlikely that she does due to the violent currents around the Sibling Islands.

Ruby also uses ground glows which function with two trackers which you attach to the sole of your shoe or shoes. The gadget also comes with mint sized disks which once dropped onto the ground turn invisible until you walk over or near them, with the tracker on your shoe, will glow until you lift your foot off again.

Dog Whistle Voice Thrower

This gadget is a voice thrower cleverly disguised as a silver dog whistle. Where your voice appears to come from depends on which of the holes on the whistle you cover up. If you point the whistle up, then your voice is thrown above you.

In Look into my eyes, Ruby becomes interested in the whistle when she is attempting to return the escape watch to the Spectrum gadget room. After experimenting with the whistle, she realises that it is a voice thrower. She is nearly caught when she calls 'I'm over here' but has to leave before she can return any of her stolen gadgets.

However, the whistle is useful when Clancy has been caught by Valerie Capaldi. Ruby directs her voice behind her, and when Capaldi turns to see who is there, Hitch attacks her.

The whistle has not yet been used in any other books.

Anti-Sting Serum

Every diver has one of these. If you are stung you can quickly drink it to save your life. It is a canister hung on the zip of a suit and it is bright orange with a fly. Each canister has only one dose.

Fly Barrette

Ruby was given this by Hitch to allow him to track Ruby's location. Ruby can be seen wearing it on all the original covers. In Blink And You Die, Olive takes Ruby's fly barrette and uses it for dressing up. Ruby gets it back off her by paying her 25 cents (lucky she didn't pay her $500, lol!).