“Good idea,” Bud replied. “Let me know what makes those babies tick!”
A few minutes later the buzzer sounded in the pilot’s cabin.
“Bud, these crows are fantastic looking at close range,” Tom reported. “But I can’t see what makes them work without taking them apart. Think I’ll wheel one to the physics lab and take a look.”
“Roger,” Bud said, and pointed the ship toward Shopton.
Yawning and stretching his shoulders, Bud rode the controls lightly. The Sky Queen’s smooth flight was relaxing after the afternoon’s excitement.
“Wonder what Tom is finding out about those crows,” Bud murmured. As he was about to pick up the intercom to find out, an explosion rocked the huge ship!
Bud grabbed for the wheel of the yawing plane with one thought burning in his mind. The explosion must have been in the physics lab!
“Tom!” he yelled in horror. “Tom!”
CHAPTER 6
NARROW ESCAPE
FEARING THE WORST, Bud set the Sky Queen on stationary position and hurried toward the laboratory. By this time the ship was filled with an acrid smoke that burned Bud’s eyes and made him choke.
He stopped a split second to grab a gas mask from a wall closet, then raced on. His heart pounding in dreaded anticipation, Bud flung open the laboratory door. The huge place, with its many sections, was blanketed with smoke.
Bud dashed from room to room. His friend was not in any of them.
Furthermore, it was evident from the little damage in the laboratory that the explosion had not occurred there. But where had it been? And where was Tom?
Heartsick, Bud started down the stairs to the hangar deck. The smoke was thicker here. But through it he could dimly make out another gas-masked figure.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150