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

114 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP

“I’ve seen to that,” Tom assured him, “with my anti-G neutralator. And by the way, how is work progressing on the other passenger rockets?”

“On schedule,” the older inventor replied. “After your first flight, we’ll know whether to make any changes.”

Tom immediately called a conference of his top men and relayed his father’s message.

“It’ll mean extra work to head off this rival Dad speaks of,” Tom told them.

“We’ll see to it that you’re the first one to reach space!” Sterling declared, and there was unanimous agreement on the part of the others. “I know it will depend on how fast we can all pull together,” he added. “What do you say, fellows?”

“Let’s go!” Hanson urged. “We’ll work all night if necessary.”

Feverish preparations continued for several hours until Tom called a halt. But everyone was up early the next morning and the work continued. As the noon hour approached, Bud urged Tom to go home with him for lunch and a little rest.

“After my morning’s work,” he said, “I could eat a whole side of beef topped off with an apple pie.”

“If you do, you’ll put a lot of excess weight in that rocket,” Tom needled him.

To their surprise, it was a fish dinner that Chow set before them. The irrepressible Bud winked at Tom and then began to tease the cook.

“Chow,” he said with a sober face, “I take it that you got a new batch of electric eels?”

A STARTLING ASCENT 115

“No. I caught this here haddock with a lil ole fish pole,” he confessed.

Bud feigned a look of disgust. “Chow, you didn’t use a rod!”