For several months the Swifts had been in communication with beings on another planet. It had all started when a meteorlike object, etched with strange mathematical symbols, had landed on the grounds of Swift Enterprises. Tom and his father had successfully decoded the message, and had developed a device with an oscilloscope-type screen for picking up other messages. With a powerful transmitter, Tom and his father had beamed back messages of their own.
Not long before, Tom had voyaged to the phantom satellite which the space beings had moved into orbit about the earth. They had done this in the hope that Tom could set up an earth-type atmosphere for them to try living in before visiting earth itself. But, although Tom had succeeded in creating such an atmosphere on Nestria,
the unknown space beings had been frightened
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12 THE RACE TO THE MOON
away from the asteroid by the Brungarians, and had not yet returned there to complete the planned experiment.
“What were the details of the message, Dad?” Tom asked eagerly.
“That’s just it-there are none,” Mr. Swift replied. “You see, only part of a message was picked up on our new electronic brain.”
This machine, the Swifts’ latest invention, monitored the space lanes at all times. Whenever a message was picked up from the space scientists, the brain translated it into English. The device could also code a written message into mathematical symbols and beam them to the Swifts’ mysterious planet friends.
“Did the space people say why they needed help?” Bud put in.