“Tom, we just had another radio call from your dad and Ted!”
“I want to talk to them!” Tom cried, springing up from his bunk.
“Can’t do it,” Ken answered. “The call was just like last time. Both Mr. Swift and Ted said a few sentences and then signed off. When we tried to signal your dad, he didn’t respond, or Ted either.”
Tom groaned with frustration. “What did they say?”
“Same thing. They’re on the moon and want you to come and get them. One thing, though,”
MOON SEARCH 127
Ken added, “we got a fix on their signal and it was definitely coming from the moon.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Tom declared. “Pass the word to embark. We’ll unhook the power gatherers. Same crew as before, plus Doc Simpson.”
Everyone responded eagerly. Soon the powerful space craft was zooming moon ward. When it was well underway, Tom ordered his crew to rotate watches-each man to snatch an hour’s sleep at a time.
Later, when Chow was serving cocoa and sandwiches, the intercom buzzed in the flight compartment. “Just picked up another call from your dad, skipper!”
the radioman reported.
“Anything new?” Tom asked tensely.
“He said you’d find him and Ted Spring in the same location where you made your landing on the moon last time. That was all. Then he signed off.”
“Okay. Thanks, Marty,” Tom said. “Keep monitoring the same frequency.”
“Roger!”
Bud flashed the young pilot a questioning glance. “I suppose your dad meant when you and I landed on the repelatron donkeys.”
The “donkeys” were small flying platforms, also nicknamed flying carpets, which Tom had invented for moon transport work on his earlier trip. Each platform was about three feet square, with a housing for the repelatron which held it aloft by force ray. The pilot steered by means 128 SPACE SOLARTRON
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