“Another thing I’ll insist on is that you don’t go. We have Mother and Sandy to think of, and it’s not right that both of us risk our necks.”
Realizing that it was hopeless to dissuade his son, and realizing the basic fairness of Tom’s position, Mr. Swift did not argue. Bud, Hank, Chow, and Arv immediately volunteered to accompany the young inventor on his dangerous mission.
Tom gratefully accepted their help. He asked all hands to assemble on the Enterprises airfield at six the next morning for the flight to Fearing.
After the others had left, Tom and his father resumed their experiments with Exman. Mr. Swift suggested adding a device to the radio equipment to make it disintegrate if tampered with.
KIDNAPED! 129
“Before those rebel Brungarians can learn the secret of your electronic spy.”
“Good idea, Dad. And how about our doing the job with Swiftonium?” This was an unusual radioactive ore which Tom had discovered in South America.
Mr. Swift nodded as he began work.
Tom watched admiringly as his father reconstructed the radio, coating the entire thing with a Swiftonium compound. He at once placed the set in a small oven which he raised to 50 degrees centigrade.
“When this cools, the set will be stable,” Mr. Swift said. “But if you should move any part of it after it cools, all of the organic parts, like the circuit boards, the insulation, the carbon resistors, etc., will oxidize and disappear as gas. You will not even be able to tamper with a single unit.”
“Wonderful, Dad,” Tom murmured when the device was finished. “I wish I had your know-how in microchemistry.”
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