Quickly Tom explained his plans and said he wanted to put a walking robot aboard the Sky Queen as a decoy.
“I hope the scheme will work,” Hanson said. “But watch out, Tom. This Briggin gang will stop at nothing!”
Hanson led the way to a room where the midget robots were kept.
Chow gasped. “Well, brand my circus side show!” he exclaimed. “These ole dwarfs look mighty real ‘cept for their funny box haids!”
“Wait until you see them work,” Bud said. “How about an exhibition, Arv?”
Hanson went to a control panel and dialed one knob after another. At once the little mechanical men began to perform. One walked, one raised and lowered its arms, still another turned its head from side to side and completely around.
Chow stared, dumfounded. “You didn’t even wind ‘em up,” he cried in disbelief.
“No, they’re radio controlled,” Tom answered.
34 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
“By the way, Arv, I want to take along a portable control panel on the Flying Lab to work Walter, the walking robot.”
Hanson promised to have everything ready by four o’clock that afternoon and Tom said he would pick up Walter and the control panel himself.
Tom’s next stop was at the Enterprises radio station, where he had a long talk with George Billing, the manager.
They decided to use a system of triangulation. It was arranged that Billing and his assistant would drive two radio-tracking trucks one hundred miles in different directions from Shopton. Both vehicles would be equipped with high-frequency signal detectors to trace the direction of the source of any instructions an enemy might send the crow. Another operator would remain at the Enterprises tower for the third detection point.