134 SPACE SOLARTRON
“Then Arv was right!” Bud exclaimed. “We’ve walked into a trap!”
Ruefully Tom admitted that this could be true and an attack might be imminent.
“Then let’s clear out pronto!” Bud urged. “Why wait for them to capture us?”
He started to steer off.
Tom grinned wryly through his transparent bubble helmet. “Relax, pal. If they’ve already detected us, there’s no point in trying to sneak off. Now that we’re here, let’s find out as much as we can.”
“Like for instance?” Bud inquired, still feeling that they should leave at once.
“You go over the rocket and see if you can find any markings which might give us a clue to the sender,” Tom replied. “In the meantime, I want to examine these tapes. I have a hunch the pattern is a broadcast every four hours.”
The boys conducted their examination as tensely as if they were handling a time bomb.
“No luck,” Bud reported a few minutes later. “I’ve been over every inch of the hull and motor section. She’s clean as a whistle.”
“Well, I’ve found out something,” Tom said. “These tapes have been spliced.”
“Spliced?” Bud was puzzled. “You mean-”
“I mean these messages are as phony as a nine-dollar bill! They’ve been pieced together out of entirely different conversations.”
“Oh, now I get it!” Bud exclaimed. “They quizzed your dad and Ted for hours, and re-THE HALF-BURIED ROCKET 135
corded every word they said. Then they snipped out a few words here and a few words there, and pieced them together into brand-new tapes.”
“Exactly. So when the spliced tapes are played back, they sound like calls for help.”