Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 03 – And His Rocket Ship

170 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP

“She’s straightened out!” Bud cried. “The tracking signals are coming through again from the island.”

After Tom explained to Jones what had taken place, he said to Bud, “We were lucky the ghost wind changed direction so soon, but dodging them is a problem we’ll have to solve before we start carrying passengers. We may have to set up a meteorological station here.”

“The dummy rocket didn’t register any such interference,” Bud observed.

“These storms race wild through the lower ionosphere,” Tom replied. “The dummy was just fortunate not to hit one.”

“Do you think you can figure out a way to protect spaceships against them?”

Bud asked.

“I believe it can be overcome by placing steering jets at different spots in the hull,” Tom replied. “They’ll go on automatically the moment the ghost wind hits the rocket ship.”

“Wish we had a couple of those jets on here right now,” Bud said. “Anyhow, we won’t have to worry about the wind from now on. The air from here up will be so thin that the rocket won’t even feel the storm when it hits.”

Tom suddenly thought of the flight tape-it had probably been thrown out of line by the rocket’s recent tumble in the ionosphere. A glance at the device confirmed his belief and Tom quickly made the adjustment, setting the tape in its proper position.

GHOST WINDS 171

“Just in time,” he murmured as a red light flashed and a buzzer sounded a warning that the first stage was about to detach itself.

“Check time!” came Jones’ voice.

“Eighty-five seconds!” Tom responded. “First booster charge nearly ready to break off!”