Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 12 – In the Race to the Moon

The three specialists now prepared to tackle the job of treatment, giving a needle injection to each animal.

Feeling that he had done all he could, Tom decided to leave the space zoo.

He asked Bud to remain and help in any emergency that might arise. Tom himself was feeling anxious about the Brungarians’ next move.

In the outer passageway, Tom donned his space suit and waited. Before long, Hank opened the sliding panel by repelatron beam and Tom emerged into the space void.

Already the moon had shifted considerably. Soon they would be exposed once more to the direct rays of the sun, which meant the Brungarian rocket ship would regain its normal power supply and mobility.

Returning to the Challenger, Tom found his crew anxiously waiting to learn what had tran-MINIATURE MONSTERS 177

spired aboard the space ark. He found it hard to repress a smile at their gasps of disbelief when he described the queer animals aboard.

“This time I’m plumb sure yo’re pullin’ my leg, boss!” Chow Winkler declared.

Tom chuckled and shrugged. “Wait and see.”

Meanwhile, they were all uneasy about the Brungarian craft which hung suspended above them like a waiting stroke of doom.

“We’d better do something soon, skipper,” Hank advised. “If we stall around too long, we may find ourselves at their mercy.”

Tom frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I have an idea, Hank. So far we’ve been using just enough repulsion force to keep them from falling back on the moon. Let’s try giving them a full dose. We might be able to force them beyond the umbra and too far out of range to harm us.”