Tom felt a pang of fear. Had Ted succumbed to the dreaded “space sickness” which often struck new recruits on their first trip into the void?
CHAPTER IX
BLACKOUT!
STEPPING over to the young cadet, Tom laid a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Feel all right, Ted?” he asked.
Ted looked up, forcing a smile. “Sure, skipper. I-I’m just a bit worried about my folks, that’s all. Haven’t heard a word from them since they left Shopton.”
“We’ll check right now,” Tom promised. “Come with me.”
Leading the way into the communications compartment, he asked the radio operator to contact Harlan Ames at Enterprises. A few moments later the security chief’s voice came over the set:
“What’s up, skipper?”
“Ted’s worried about his mother and Ray,” Tom explained. “Have you heard anything from them since they left Shopton?” he asked, as Ted bent forward to catch the answer.
“I talked to Mrs. Spring last night,” Ames re—
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ported. “She said she’d just had another phone call from Hampshire.”
“From Hampshire?” Ted broke in anxiously. “But how did he find out she was there?”
“Frankly, I don’t know,” Ames admitted. “Maybe from that same spy who sneaked into Tom’s office. So far I haven’t spotted him.”
“What did Hampshire say?” Ted asked.
“He made no threats,” Ames answered. “Just laughed about how we’d failed to outwit him. He said to Mrs. Spring, ‘Here I am trying to do you a favor, and you run away from me!’ “
Tom and Ted were startled. “Do you think that they’re in any danger?” Tom asked Ames.
“Definitely not,” the security man replied. “I had two guards fly up there this morning. The men are in constant touch with us here at the plant. As I told you, there are no motor roads leading to Bluejay Lake-and if any unidentified plane should appear, the guards will notify us at once.”