“Take ‘er away, skipper!” Hank radioed. “And good luck!” This time the ground crew had retired to concrete bunkers at a safe distance.
“Here we go!” Tom told his companions.
The girls watched in fascination as the element selector lights came on and Tom manipulated the controls. As he cautiously opened the power switches, the ship rose like a huge majestic visitor from another planet.
The ground fell away below them. Soon the whole of Fearing Island was no more than a speck on the waters lapping the Atlantic coast. Higher and higher they zoomed till the earth’s curvature became noticeable. On the eastern rim they could make out the shores of Europe, clouded by drifting blankets of mist.
“My goodness,” Phyl murmured in an awestruck voice, “I never in my life imagined I’d see anything like this!”
“Good way to learn geography, eh?” Bud quipped. But he too was impressed by the ease and smoothness of the ship’s action. “Tom, this has rocket flight beat to a frazzle!”
Tom smiled, pleased with the performance of his new invention. He was busy at the controls, always trying to produce the maximum lift with the least amount of power consumption. As the ship got above the atmosphere, Tom reduced the force on iron and aluminum and increased it on nitrogen and oxygen; he also adjusted the effect on hydrogen.
“Let’s try a little globe-trotting,” he said,
96 THE RACE TO THE MOON
as he swiveled the radiators for forward motion.
Like a circling comet, they glided eastward over the face of Europe, then down across Africa, and back into full view of the continents of North and South America. By the time Tom began the return descent to Fearing, both Sandy and Phyl were breathless with excitement.
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