Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 05 – And His Atomic Earth Blaster

204 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER

“What’s wrong?” exclaimed Bud, who was walking beside him.

“The blaster! I forgot to shut it off!”

“Holy smoke! By this time, it must be halfway to China!”

Breaking into a run, the boys dashed up to the control station. Inside the cave, Tom grabbed the signal tape that was steadily issuing from the electronic brain, and began to scan the loops and reels that had already fallen on the floor.

“Bud!” he shouted triumphantly. “The blaster’s working perfectly! It’s down five miles now!”

Pulling on the earphones, Tom established contact with Stations One and Two. The technical crews were still on the job. Then he sent Bud back to the camp again to recall Voorhees to his post.

All thought of the volcano was forgotten as Tom focused his attention on the progress of the blaster. Watching the dials carefully, he made occasional slight adjustments of the controls from time to time, as the electronic brain reeled out a steady record of the drill’s progress.

Meanwhile, Voorhees was keeping check on the rising heat measurements as the blaster bored deeper and deeper into the earth.

Working in eight-hour shifts around the clock, Tom and his men kept track of the blaster as it dug deeper and deeper and deeper into the earth.

MOLTEN TRIUMPH 205

Five days later, Voorhees announced, “Two thousand degrees Fahrenheit, Tom!”

“Wow!” gasped Bud. “How deep is the blaster now, genius boy?”

“It’s down over two hundred miles!” replied Tom.

A feeling of tension spread through the camp as the men gathered around the control post.