“Lintner?” Tom was surprised. “He’s not working on this project, is he?”
“No, but he pointed out that Bob Dowell had brought his dog into the photographic lab the day it happened. Bob wanted to use him as a subject for some high-speed camera experiments,
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Amby said the dog may have broken loose and knocked the plates down.”
“What do you think?” Tom asked.
Arv Hanson shrugged. “Bob says the dog was never out of his sight and that Amby’s just trying to make himself look smart. I suppose it could have happened, though.”
Tom frowned thoughtfully, remembering the mysterious eavesdropper who had knocked over the bottles in his office. Could it be that the same person was responsible for both accidents?
“Oh, well,” he decided finally, “we can’t let the accident stop us. Get busy on some new plates, will you, Arv?”
“We’re already working on them, Tom,” Hanson reported. “We’ll rush the job through as fast as we can, but it’ll probably be a couple of days before the sheets are ready.”
“Okay, do the best you can.”
At lunchtime in the company cafeteria, Tom related the incident to Bud.
“Does that mean your work is stalled until the energy collectors are ready?”
Bud asked.
Tom shook his head as he spooned up the last of his oyster stew. “No, I’ll go back up to the outpost and finish work on my second machine. I believe I can rig up a temporary power device. Want to come along?”
“Try to leave me behind!”
By midafternoon, the castings and other parts which Tom had requested by radio were finished. These were loaded aboard a cargo jet which Tom LARIAT LIFELINE 87