Tom gasped, then broke out laughing. “Dad, you’re right! I’ll bet when its body tilted over, the
112 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X
brain wasn’t sure whether the gyro would keep it from being wrecked. It just shows Ole Think Box is getting more human all the time!”
Bud ventured to pat Exman on its “back.” “Relax, kid,” he said with a chuckle.
“You’re among friends and we wouldn’t dream of letting you get hurt. You’re too valuable!”
Mr. Swift stroked his jaw thoughtfully. “Valuable, yes, if we can only get it to communicate. Tom, I believe the first project we should work on is a way to make Exman talk.”
After the debris had been cleaned up, the two scientists pulled up stools to the workbench and began to discuss the problem. Bud, seeing them absorbed, and realizing the discussion would soon be far beyond his depth, snapped a grinning salute at Exman and quietly left the laboratory.
“Dad, the toughest part won’t be the speech mechanism itself,” Tom pointed out. “There are several ways we could handle that-by modulating a column of air, for instance, or by some sort of speaker diaphragm. The real stumper will be how to teach him our spoken language.”
Mr. Swift nodded. “I’m afraid you’re right. If the inhabitants of Planet X
communicate tele-pathically, or by some sort of wave transfer, they may have long since forgotten any concept of a spoken language.”
The Swifts batted several ideas back and forth. Then Tom snapped his fingers.
DISASTER STRIKES 113
“Wait, Dad! We have the answer! The electronic brain!”