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

On the third day after the disappearance, Tom was trying to eat some breakfast, although he had no appetite, when a radioman came rushing into the mess compartment.

“Hey, skipper!” he shouted, waving a sheet of paper. “We’ve just had word on your father!”

Tom sprang from the bench, amid a babble of excitement. “Word from where, Steve? What’s the news?”

108 SPACE SOLARTRON

“I don’t know who sent the message,” the radioman replied. “The sender didn’t identify himself. Here, read this!” He thrust the paper into Tom’s hand.

Tom read the message aloud to the eager crewmen: TOM SWIFT, OUTPOST IN SPACE. YOUR FATHER AND COMPANION

ARE SAFE. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW.

“See! I told you, pal!” Bud exclaimed. “Your dad and Ted must be with the space people!”

“I’m not so sure, Bud,” the young inventor replied slowly. “They’ve never communicated with us before in our own language.”

“They’ve never had your dad aboard their spaceship before,” Bud pointed out. “He probably worded the message for them.”

“Could be,” Tom muttered. “If so, let’s hope he signs the next one in person before I go off my rocker wondering what’s happened!”

To keep his mind off his worries, Tom plunged back to work on his solartron.

He made several more experiments in his laboratory and then asked Arv and Bud to help him install the machine in the Challenger.

“We’ll try it out with the energy collectors,” Tom told them. “If the setup works okay, we can start planning for a moon expedition.”

“Lead on, Moon Boy!” Bud whooped.

Within two hours, the matter maker had been torn down and reassembled on board the space-MESSAGE FROM NOWHERE 109