“For all we know, entirely different forms of life-forms which we can’t even imagine-may have developed to exist under conditions on Venus. Nature is too vast and wonderful for puny creatures like us to say flatly that it can’t do certain things.”
“I see what you mean, Tom.”
“Another thing,” Tom went on, “how do we define life? As a form of energy?
Well, there’s energy in the form of vibrations in all things, even inanimate objects such as a stone. So by that definition, there must be ‘life’ on Venus.”
“Okay, I’m convinced,” Bud said. “I must admit,” he added with a grin, “you and your inventions have already made chumps out of too many experts who claimed ‘It can’t be done!’ “
Tom burst out laughing. “That’s my pal talking! Let’s just hope this space-kite project doesn’t make a chump out of yours truly!”
92 COSMIC ASTRONAUTS
Tom labored over his cosmic reactor for the next two days. When it was finished, he and Bud put on space suits and set up the device on the outside of the outpost’s hub. Even a low input of cosmic radiation proved enough to give a small but measurable push to the whole space station.
Both boys were flushed with excitement when they returned inside the station and described the results to Ken Horton.
“It works-definitely,” Tom reported.
“You’re telling me!” Ken chuckled. “I thought for a while you were going to knock us right out of orbit.”
Tom and his fellow astronauts embarked aboard the cargo rocket the following morning and returned to Fearing Island. After transporting his reactor to Enterprises in a cargo jet, he turned it over to Arv Hanson. Both the kite fuselage and the gravitex, Tom learned, had been completed.
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