Bud was thunderstruck. “Hey, what goes on here?” he asked Tom. “If your space friends pick up that message, they’ll think it came from you or your father!”
Tom nodded grimly. “I imagine that’s just what the sender wants them to think.”
“You figure the Brungarians beamed it?”
“Who else?” Tom replied with a shrug. “That
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warning call from Warturo is a pretty clear indication of who’s responsible.
Besides, with the duplicate brain in their possession, the Brungarians probably are the only people on earth outside the Swift organization who could fake such a message.”
“The sneaks!” Bud exploded. “But why did they do it? What’s their game?”
“No telling-just yet, anyhow. Maybe they figure the moon orbit will be safer, since it won’t be so easy for observers on earth to watch what they’re up to. It’ll be a simpler orbit, too, for intercepting the rocket. They may even be planning to crash-land the rocket on the moon.”
Tom’s face hardened as he paced back and forth. “Bud, we mustn’t let this happen. We must win that race to the moon!”
Bud stared in angry puzzlement. “Do you mean you’re going to let that message stand-that you’re not going to countermand the orders they just sent?”
Tom plowed his fingers through his hair with a harried gesture. “I’m afraid to, Bud. I’m afraid it might confuse our space friends to the point where they wouldn’t know what messages to trust. They might even give up the whole project and we’d lose all chance of helping them!”
“Mm, I see what you mean,” Bud reflected.
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