Swift said.
Tom nodded, frowning. “There’s no getting
A CRUCIAL TEST 131
around it, Dad. Someone took over the robot controls from inside the plant.
But how?”
Suddenly the young inventor cried, “Dad, the missing relotrol! Maybe it’s been brought here.”
“Impossible, Tom. The only people who enter the plant are known-” He stopped and stared at his son. “You mean we’d better look at the plant’s personnel records?”
“Exactly, Dad.”
Mr. Swift led his son to the security file in the main office.
“I don’t know what we’ll find here,” the elder inventor said. “Every man is a top scientist. Three of them, the greatest in their respective fields. This card, for instance”-he held up a file microcard- “contains the record of one of the greatest physicists of our day, Robert Turnbull.
“The man has a number of research inventions to his credit, including the famous Turnbull Me-sonator. His entire family is scientifically gifted. He has an identical twin brother named Raymond, who is also an atomic physicist. He was a brilliant man but is now mentally ill.”
“What happened, Dad?”
“The old story of a sensitive mind, overworked, I assume. My guess is that Raymond broke down from sheer mental exhaustion during his intensive research work.”
Tom expressed sympathy and asked when the breakdown had occurred.
132 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
“Oh, about a year ago. Just before his brother Robert joined us here at the Citadel.”
At that moment the blinker on the short-wave radio set lighted up. A message from Shopton was coming through.