As the shock of the blast died away, scientists and crewmen came rushing from the nearby buildings. They ran to aid the four victims, who lay momentarily stunned. Fortunately, none of them had any serious injuries.
“Wow!” said Bud in a dazed voice, as someone helped him upright. “Am I still in one piece?”
“Must be,” joked Chris Barlow, a reactor technician. “I don’t see any loose fragments lying around.”
Nearby, Dr. Arndt Henry, the chief atomic scientist at the Citadel, was apologizing to Tom.
36 SPACE SOLARTRON
“Sorry, skipper, I should have warned you beforehand that this area was off limits. But I thought you were still in the infirmary. We were carrying out an underground test.”
He now turned to the other boys and Chow. “Surely you saw the sign posted in your dorm?”
Sheepishly Bud confessed they had failed to read the bulletin board. Chow, having recently arrived, had not seen the notice.
“It sure has taught me a lesson,” Bud remarked woefully.
“Come near bein’ a short cut to the next world!” Chow grunted as he staggered to his feet.
Ted grinned wryly. “Guess we’re tougher than we thought, fellows.”
Reassured that no one was injured, the group dispersed. At the lab a few minutes later, Tom started to make preparations for a test of his matter-making machine.
“Nice job you fellows did,” he congratulated Bud and Ted after checking the cooling apparatus for the aluminum bars.
“Maybe we’d better stand well back-just in case,” Bud said half-jokingly.
“Suit yourself.” Tom smiled. “Here goes!” He closed the switch, feeding power to the machine, and adjusted the control knobs.
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