“All set,” Hank radioed. “Lead the way.”
“Roger!” Tom replied.
28 THE ELECTRONIC HYDROLUNG
Flying at supersonic speed, they reached the area of the lost missile in the South Atlantic soon after lunch. Already on hand were ships of the Navy task force assigned by Admiral Walter to participate in the missile search. The Sea Hound settled down on the surface of the water, while the Sky Queen hovered at low altitude nearby.
Tom contacted the government craft and learned that as yet no sign of the lost Jupiter prober had been detected. Then he made ready to begin his own search.
“Let’s try the Fat Man suits first,” Tom told Bud. Turning to Slim Davis, a Swift test pilot who was in the crew, the young inventor added, “Take over, will you, Slim?”
“Righto.” Slim eased into the pilot’s seat.
“Got a job for me, skipper?” asked Doc Simpson, Swift Enterprises’ young medic.
“Yes. Help the boys, if you like, rig the undersea elevator, and then assemble a tractorized air dome,” Tom suggested.
“Will do,” Doc promised.
A ladder was dropped. Tom and Bud excitedly descended to the Sea Hound.
The search for the lost missile was about to begin!
Once the boys were aboard, the seacopter submerged and dived quickly to the ocean floor. Tom and Bud each climbed into a Fat Man suit and went out through the air lock. The suits, shaped like huge steel eggs with a quartz-glass view plate
UNDERSEA SURVEY 29
for the operator seated within, had mechanical arms and legs.
The boys waddled about, the built-in searchlights of their suits piercing the murky gloom. They saw nothing but the deep accumulation of silt on the ocean bottom, which made the going difficult.
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