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

“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Chow. “A special feast for the smartest young inventor on earth or in space!” He lifted the dish covers, one by one, and displayed his culinary triumphs.

Tom smiled and thanked Chow gratefully. He tried to eat with a show of appetite while the

MESSAGE FROM NOWHERE 113

cook stood beaming over him. But after the Westerner left the compartment, the young inventor barely picked at the food. All his fears and worries over the fate of his father and Ted Spring seemed to come crowding back on him.

“Am I doing the right thing not telling Mother?” Tom fretted. Yet he dreaded the thought of breaking the news to her. “I’ll talk it over with Ames again,” he decided.

Shoving his tray aside with the food less than half eaten, Tom hurried down to the radio compartment. In a few moments he made contact with Harlan Ames at Enterprises.

“Hi, Tom! I was just going to call you,” the security chief said. “I have some news.”

CHAPTER XIII

THE SECRET FORMULA

“NEWS about Dad?” Tom asked eagerly.

“Not directly,” Ames replied, “but it may have some connection with your father’s disappearance.”

“Let’s hear it!”

Ames’s news concerned the Enterprises Journal. When the first issue was sent out to a restricted mailing list, one of the scientists who received a copy had phoned in a surprising bit of information. He pointed out that a certain formula which appeared in one of the articles had nothing to do with the subject matter of that particular article.

“I checked back on the formula,” Ames continued, “and it turned out to be part of the circuit design for your new solartron.” He read off the formula.