Tom heaved a sigh of relief. “Just what I suspected, Harlan. But I’m glad you checked.”
Both the station crew and Tom’s group from the Challenger cheered when they heard the news.
“Next time I fall for one of their tricks just bop me,” Bud apologized.
“We all fell, except Tom,” Ken Horton added.
Though relieved, the young inventor was still
142 THE RACE TO THE MOON
worried. He might have missed a signal from his space friends due to jamming by the Brungarians. “I’d better check with them, too,” he decided.
Using the wheel’s powerful space transmitter, Tom beamed out a code call, asking his space friends to let him know their plans. An air of suspense pervaded the station as the men awaited the reply.
“Better relax,” Tom said wryly. “This may take a while.”
“Is it true that you have a zoology lab here in your space station?” Anton Faber inquired.
“Indeed we do,” Tom told him. “We use it for space medicine experiments, in studying the effects of vacuum, cosmic radiation, and lack of gravity on various types of living creatures. Perhaps you and your colleagues would like to see it?”
“Da iawn!” Evan Glennon agreed. “Very good!” And Jerry Walden also expressed interest.
Tom led the three animal experts into one of the lab compartments and introduced them to the technicians on duty. The visitors were amazed by the wheel’s research facilities. Soon all three men became engrossed in a discussion of serums and other measures which might aid the diseased animals.
Meanwhile, time passed slowly for the rest of the group. “This waiting gets me down,” Bud grumbled after several hours had gone by.