Tom shook his head worriedly as he took off the goggles. “Both times it seemed to happen just as the reply was coming through from the space station.
There is no possibility that their signal was too strong-in other words, that the explosion was caused by overloading the receiving circuits.”
“Are you implying that an enemy intercepted the message and sent some sort of ray that caused the set to explode?” Bud demanded.
Tom’s face showed clearly that Bud had pinpointed the suspicion in the young inventor’s mind. “Could be.”
Bud was worried by this latest development. “Skipper, suppose I hop up to the space wheel and talk it over with your dad. He may be able to help us detect any enemy moves.”
“Good idea, pal,” Tom agreed. “The sooner the better, I’d say.”
The boys exchanged a quick handshake and affectionate shoulder slaps.
Then Bud hurried out to one of the Enterprises hangars to ready a helijet for the flight to Fearing Island. This was the Swifts’ rocket base, just off the Atlantic coast. From there, Bud would board one of the regular cargo shuttle rockets operating between the space station and Fearing.
Tom, meanwhile, plunged back to work on his shock-wave deflector.
At ten the next morning he called in Hank
76 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X
Sterling and showed him a set of completed drawings.
“Hank, you did a fast job on the container for the brain,” Tom began apologetically, “but you’ll really have to burn out a bearing on this one!”
Hank grinned. “I’m geared to action. Say, what do we call it, anyhow?” he asked.