Leading the way into the communications compartment, he asked the radio operator to contact Harlan Ames at Enterprises. A few moments later the security chief"s voice came over the set: "What"s up, skipper?"
"Ted"s worried about his mother and Ray," Tom explained. "Have you heard anything from them since they left Shopton?" he asked, as Ted bent forward to catch the answer.
"I talked to Mrs. Spring last night," Ames re-
75.
76 .
ported. "She said she"d just had another phone call from Hampshire."
"From Hampshire?" Ted broke in anxiously. "But how did he find out she was there?"
"Frankly, I don"t know," Ames admitted. "Maybe from that same spy who sneaked into Tom"s office. So far I haven"t spotted him."
"What did Hampshire say?" Ted asked.
"He made no threats," Ames answered. "Just laughed about how we"d failed to outwit him. He said to Mrs. Spring, "Here I am trying to do you a favor, and you run away from me!" "
Tom and Ted were startled. "Do you think that they"re in any danger?" Tom asked Ames.
"Definitely not," the security man replied. "I had two guards fly up there this morning. The men are in constant touch with us here at the plant. As I told you, there are no motor roads leading to Bluejay Lake-and if any unidentified plane should appear, the guards will notify us at once."
Ted brightened immediately when he heard these arrangements. After sending a message to be relayed to his mother and Ray, the two youths signed off. "I"d give a lot to know how Hampshire got Mother"s phone number," said Ted.
"It"s just possible he made a wild guess," Tom suggested. "He may know of the secluded cottage and figured it"s a good hiding place just as Ames did."
As the boys left the radio compartment, Ted BLACKOUT! 77.
asked, "What"s the first step on your program, Tom?"
"To a.s.semble my matter-making machine and run off another test."
The various parts and suba.s.semblies of the machine had already been unloaded from the Challenger. With the help of Ted and Bud, Tom set them up in his private laboratory, which occupied one whole spoke of the s.p.a.ce wheel.
"How about your power hookup?" Bud asked.
"I"ll use a bank of solar batteries," Tom said. "They"ll stay right on the line so the sun"s rays will be constantly recharging them."
Within an hour, the matter-making machine was ready to operate. Sandy and Phyl and Mr. Swift came to watch as Tom closed the main switch. With a loud hum, the current throbbed into action. Tom grinned as he saw the needle swing upward on the main ammeter.
"Good?" asked Sandy.
"Very good!" Tom replied. "This setup gives me much more current than I had at the Citadel."
Soon he was able to draw off a steady flow of gas from the machine. "Pure oxygen-and plenty of it!" Tom exulted, after testing the gas with a Swift spectroscope. "I think this machine is ready for a tryout on the Challenger!"
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Phyl, looking at Tom proudly.
"Amazing!" was Mr. Swift"s verdict. "If the 78 .
machine works this well aboard the Challenger, you should be able to undertake any sort of s.p.a.ce expedition."
Sandy smiled affectionately at her brother. "I knew you could do it. Have you named the new machine yet?"
Tom shook his head. "You give it one."
"How about s.p.a.ce solartron?" Sandy suggested.
"Um, that sounds good," Tom mused.
"It"s much better than matter maker," Phyl declared. "I suppose it means "maker of matter through energy gathered in s.p.a.ce from the sun." "
Tom laughed. "You couldn"t be more right, Phyl. And from now on it"s the s.p.a.ce solartron."
Bud spoke up. "Living in s.p.a.ce seems to have improved Sandy"s brain.
Maybe you"d better not go home again." He closed his eyes and shielded them with one arm to shut out the withering look he received from Sandy.
After Tom and several of the men had disa.s.sembled the machine again, Tom supervised the job of setting it up aboard the s.p.a.ceship. "We"ll connect the output pipe directly to the ship"s air-conditioning system," he told Bud and Ted.
This time, the electric current to operate the solartron would be drawn from the ship"s powerful energy-conversion cells. These cells produced electricity by photochemical action of the sun"s rays which were gathered and focused by dish- shaped reflectors mounted on the s.p.a.ceship"s cabin.
Bud and Ted were to be Tom"s only compan- BLACKOUT! 79.
ions for this first test cruise. "Good luck!" the girls radioed from the s.p.a.ce station, as the young inventor prepared to take off.
"Thanks!" Tom replied into the mike. "Keep your fingers crossed, and maybe we"ll bring you back some Stardust!"
He switched on the repelatrons, released the magnetic grapples, and sent the Challenger zooming off in an orbit far above the s.p.a.ce wheel.
"Ready, pals?" Tom asked. "Here"s where we give the new machine the acid test."
He warmed up the solartron, turned off the regular air supply, and flipped a switch to feed oxygen from the machine into the ship"s air-conditioning system.
Several moments went by as the boys waited, a trifle nervously. Would the machine fail and their oxygen supply be completely cut off?
Finally Bud relaxed and slapped Tom on the back. "Well, we"re still breathing." He chuckled. "Chum, it looks as though your machine"s making the grade!"
Thrilled with excitement, Tom turned the controls over to Bud and went into the adjoining starboard compartment which contained the ship"s pumping and air- conditioning equipment. Here he checked the various dials and valves on his matter-making machine. His new invention seemed to be working perfectly.
"With luck, we can plant a colony on the moon within a year!" Tom thought as he returned to the flight compartment.
80 .
"Must be good news from that look on your face," Ted remarked, grinning.
"It is." Tom grinned back. "If my first solar-tron can make oxygen this well, my next model should be able to produce anything we need for an extended s.p.a.ce voyage!"
For over an hour the travelers cruised the s.p.a.ce lanes, meanwhile eating the sandwiches and cocoa which Chow had prepared for them.
"Guess we may as well go back, fellows," Tom decided at last, satisfied with the results so far.
Neither of his companions replied. Surprised, Tom glanced at them, and noticed for the first time that both appeared drowsy. Bud was slumped in the copilot"s seat, apparently almost half asleep.
"Hey, fly boy! Wake up!" Tom gave him a gentle shake.
To his amazement, the copilot"s head lolled back. Bud"s eyes flickered queerly and his breathing seemed heavy and labored. As Tom stared at him, he heard a loud thump. Springing up from his seat and whirling around, he saw that Ted had collapsed on the deck!
"What"s wrong?" Tom gasped. He moved to a.s.sist Ted and discovered to his horror that his own legs felt weak!
After staggering a few steps, Tom had to lean against the bulkhead to support himself. His head was spinning and he felt slightly nauseated. Something must be wrong with the oxygen supply!
"I- I"d better switch to the regular system,"
BLACKOUT) 81.
Tom muttered. But his words trailed off. He seemed overcome by an urge to sleep. As he reached for the air-conditioning switch, he slid to the deck in an unconscious heap!
Some time later, Tom was awakened by a loud voice crackling over the radio. He was still too groggy to make out the words. By the time he gathered his wits, the voice had ceased.
"Where am I?" he wondered. Gradually he remembered how both his companions had lost consciousness. "I must have blacked out too!"
With a tremendous effort of will, he struggled to his feet and looked at the switch for the air-conditioning system. He had managed to turn it on part way.
Now he flicked it to maximum. Then he got water from the scuttle b.u.t.t and ammonia smelling salts from the first-aid locker. He went to work on Bud and Ted.
As the moments went by, Tom"s head cleared. Soon his two companions regained consciousness.
"W-what happened?" Ted murmured groggily.
"Not sure yet," Tom replied, "but I suspect something went wrong with the solartron"s oxygen supply. Here-drink some more of this water."
As soon as Bud and Ted were back on their feet, Tom hurried to check his matter-making machine. When he returned to the flight compartment, Bud flashed him a questioning glance.
"Figured it out yet?"
Tom nodded grimly. "According to the spectroscope, the machine was producing a one-hun- 82 .
dred-thousandth of one per cent of carbon monoxide. Not fatal, but enough to knock us out!"
After radioing word to Horton and Mr. Swift, who had been calling them frantically, the boys returned to the s.p.a.ce wheel.
"Oh, I"m so glad you"re all right! You had us terribly worried," Phyl greeted them.
"Slight foul-up on my s.p.a.ce solartron," Tom replied. He gave his father a complete report and added, "The machine was operating slightly off frequency, but I believe I"ve corrected the circuit design so it can"t happen again."
To lighten the boys" spirits, Sandy put in teas-ingly, "Where"s that Stardust you promised us?"
"Have to take a rain check on that, Sis," Tom replied with a wry grin.
"Speaking of Stardust," Mr. Swift remarked, "I"m engaged on a rather interesting experiment myself with cosmic dust."
The boys, who had known Mr. Swift was working on a mysterious project of his own, were eager to hear more. The scientist explained that he was developing a plan to fuse the tiny particles of cosmic dust in s.p.a.ce into a ma.s.s large enough to form an "island in the sky."
"If my plan works," he told the others, "it will enable us to form s.p.a.ce platforms or asteroids anywhere in the solar system."
"What a setup!" Bud burst out. "Why, with s.p.a.ce islands like that, we could set up way stations en route to every planet!"
"Exactly." Mr. Swift nodded. "Even more im- BLACKOUT! 83.
portant, the technique would give our country a most valuable means of controlling s.p.a.ce in the interests of peace."
"You"re right, Dad," said Tom, deeply impressed. "That"s the most important goal we can aim for."
During the next two days, Tom began work on his second matter maker.
Besides being much more powerful and efficient than his first machine, the new model would be able to produce many other elements besides oxygen.
"How soon will it be finished?" asked Sandy eagerly, as she watched her brother wire the electronic control panel.
Before answering, Tom ran off a quick series of calculations on one of his amazing miniature computers which Bud had dubbed "Little Idiots." Then he jotted down a correction on his blueprints.
"The design"s complete right now, Sis," he replied. "However, the castings and some of the larger parts will have to be made back at Enterprises. The energy collectors to provide power for the machine are being made there, too."
"That means we go back to Shopton?" put in Bud.
Tom nodded. "The girls and you and I leave tomorrow. I"ll radio ahead so work can be started on these other parts immediately. The blueprints can be televised."
Next day, the four young people took off in the Challenger. "Too bad we have to leave all 84 .
those handsome outpost engineers behind." Sandy sighed and gave Phyl a mischievous twinkle.
Bud winked at Tom. "Lucky thing we"re taking the girls home, skipper, before they get spoiled completely."
Tom chuckled. "Good idea for us to see that they get their feet back on the ground!"
As soon as the Challenger landed, Tom and his friends took off for Shopton.
The young inventor hurried to consult Arv Hanson about progress on the energy collectors.
Arv shook his head grimly. "Sorry, skipper, we"ve had bad luck. The printing plates we made for the luxium and conductate leaves were mysteriously damaged. It may have been sabotage!"