“I’m fine, Dad. What happened? Where are Hank and Arv?”
“Hanson got a bump on his head from a flying stone. Sterling’s gone to the plant hospital to have a leg cut treated.”
STRANGE INDIAN STORY 121
“Anybody badly hurt?” Tom asked.
“Fortunately no. And not a soul saw what caused the blast.”
At this moment a security guard came racing up. In his hands were several metal fragments.
“We found these in the blast area, Mr. Swift,” he panted. “They’re sections of casing from a large bomb.”
“Have these pieces been analyzed?” Mr. Swift asked.
“The labs are going over some of the fragments now,” the guard replied. “We think the bomb must have been dropped by a plane that was out of the range of our radarscope.”
Tom and his father exchanged glances. “The Briggin boys?” they were asking themselves.
“Or some crank who is opposed to atomic progress and wants us all back in the Stone Age,” Tom thought ruefully. Aloud he said, “Dad, this plant needs drone protection badly. I’m sorry we were able to bring only one with us. But I’ll drop everything else and get it in the air as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we can order more from Shopton.”
A half hour later Hank and Arv insisted that they felt all right and wanted to help Tom with the task. They followed him to the trailer on which the drone plane rested.
The sleek robot craft was rolled off an incline and along the ground. The three of them pushed it to a wide expanse of clearing.
122 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
A curious crowd of atomic scientists and workmen gathered around to observe as Tom rigged up a portable patrolscope and beeper box for the drone.