By phone Mr. Swift told Tom he had checked and 184 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
rechecked security at the plant. There was no leak. The reason Stan Lee had fallen must have been because of a fault in the control system. Tom flew out there at once in a jet to test the small robot again. It worked perfectly!
“I can’t understand what happened before,” he told his father, puzzled about the whole episode.
He returned to Shopton and immediately began putting the final touches on his giants’ heads. When the two robots were completely assembled and ready for work, he called Chow in.
“You get the first view, ‘pardner,’ ” Tom said to him.
The Texan stared, speechless. He wagged his head and scratched his bald spot. At last he said:
“Tom, these here are too human lookin’ for comfort. Why, brand my cow skulls, that giant’s actually eyein’ me!”
In each “eye socket” Tom had fitted a lens for the two television cameras.
Below them and centered in the nose position, Tom had mounted the forward transmitting antenna. For a mouth, the giant had a rectangular-hinged panel, which, when opened, showed several knurled knobs for making adjustments in the electrical circuits within the robot’s body.
“An’ look at those lil ole ears!” Chow marveled. “Kin he hear with ‘em, Tom?”
“He sure can.” The inventor laughed. “They’re microphones.”
A CLEVER FOIL 185
These sensitive, multidirectional installations bulged from baffle enclosures on both sides of the head.
“There’s just one thing missing, Tom.” said Chow. “Hair. The giant’s balder’n I am. Not a hair on his head.”