Bud gave a yip of excitement. “What’s a little old neck matter in the forward march of science?”
The two boys climbed into a jeep and drove across the grounds of Swift Enterprises, the experimental station where Tom and his famous father developed their new inventions. Gleaming white, ultramodern buildings, for every scientific purpose, were spread over the four square miles of Enterprises. The entire area, crisscrossed by white airstrips, was enclosed by a high concrete wall.
“What ship are we taking up?” Bud asked.
“A Pigeon Special,” Tom said, referring to a two-seater pleasure craft produced by the Swift Construction Company, owned by Tom’s father.
They pulled up in front of a small hangar and went inside, where a crew of mechanics was getting the plane ready for flight.
4 THE RACE TO THE MOON
“Where’s the repelatron?” Bud asked.
“Installed in the luggage space behind the seats. Its antenna, or directional radiator, projects out from under the fuselage.”
In a few moments the plane was rolled out on the airstrip and fueled. The boys climbed in and donned their headsets.
“Going to use the repelatron for vertical takeoff?” asked Bud.
Tom shook his head. “We’ll take off conventionally and then switch over.”
Soon the sleek two-seater was gathering speed as it rolled down the runway.
Seconds later, the boys were airborne. Below, the flat-roofed laboratory buildings and workshops gleamed in the warm morning sunshine.
Tom waited until they had climbed to ten thousand feet. “I want enough altitude so I can restart the engine if anything goes wrong,” he said. “Here goes!