“I’m afraid the change of climate may be pretty hard on the dogs,” said the colonel with a worried look.
“Tell you what,” said Tom. “We have plenty of room in our low-temperature lab at Enterprises. It’s as big as an airplane hangar. Why not arrange kennels for them in there?”
The Indian approved of this idea. When the plane landed, he transported the wobbly huskies to the low-temperature laboratory. Tom’s workmen hastily built kennels for the animals and set up comfortable quarters for the Alaskan to watch them.
The next day, Tom’s improved atomic drill was moved from the Swift Construction Company plant to a huge shed on the grounds of Swift Enterprises.
Here the pile was installed and the finishing touches put on the borer.
Now, under Hank Sterling’s watchful eye, the blaster was raised off the ground by powerful chain
128 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER
hoists and dollies slipped underneath. Then the whole assembly was pulled out of the shed by a big, rubber-tired tractor and hauled to the testing ground.
“So yo’re finally gonna test out this here monster bug, eh?” asked Chow, as he watched the preparations.
“That’s right,” Tom said. “Keep your fingers crossed and let’s hope she comes through with flying colors.”
“Son, I’ll do more’n that. I’ll keep everythin’ crossed, includin’ my eyes!”
A crane lifted the blaster off the dollies and eased it into position on the launching platform. Elaborate precautions had been taken to guard against dangerous radiation. The platform was surrounded by Tomasite shields, and a special blower duct had been set up to draw off the hot gases.