Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 13 – And His Space Solartron

Tom smiled, patting Chow on the back-“You’ve earned a reward. And now, how about some grub, pardner?”

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96 SPACE SOLARTRON

The stout old Texan beamed. “Comin” right up, boss!”

After a quick lunch of frankfurters and baked beans, Tom prepared to give his second matter-making machine a tryout. The foil reflector was turned to face the sun. As the energy-conversion cells began to produce electricity, Tom fed power to the machine. The laboratory hummed with the tremendous flow of current.

“How’s she perking?” asked Bud after several minutes had gone by.

Tom’s face wore a pleased grin. “Really pouring out oxygen!” he replied.

“Good thing I arranged to pipe it into the station supply tanks, or we’d be space-happy on the stuff!”

“Are you going to try to make solid matter?” asked Ted.

Tom nodded as he studied the wave pattern on the scope and adjusted several tuning knobs. Then he pushed one of the element control buttons. “We’ll try carbon first,” he explained. “That’s a basic element in all organic compounds.”

The young inventor stood by tensely as the space solartron throbbed into action. He watched the control dials like a hawk, making frequent adjustments as the needles flickered back and forth.

Minutes crept by … half an hour … then an hour. Finally Tom checked the receiving tank. It contained a thinly sprinkled deposit of a black powdery substance!

A STARTLING DISAPPEARANCE 97

“Magic!” Bud exclaimed. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Tom. Is it carbon?”

Tom rubbed some between his thumb and forefinger. “Looks like carbon, all right,” Tom replied, his heart pounding. “But I’ll check to make sure.” He tested the substance with his Swift spectroscope, then nodded without speaking.