“The site is near Fearing Island-about fifty feet in depth,” he added.
38 THE ELECTRONIC HYDROLUNG
“You may have a tough time finding gardeners, Dad,” Tom pointed out. “Men can’t work that far down for very long at one time.”
“It’ll be a problem,” Mr. Swift conceded. He finished his coffee, then looked up with a twinkle in his eyes. “How about figuring out a solution for me, Tom?”
“A new kind of air lung?” Tom was intrigued!
CHAPTER IV
AERIAL ATTACK
“YES, son,” Mr. Swift went on. “What’s needed is a new type of breathing device-one that will eliminate bulky air tanks and permit a skin diver to stay down for long periods.”
“Quite an order, Dad.”
Grabbing a pencil, the young inventor began sketching. In both his Fat Man suits and his osmotic air conditioner, Tom had already perfected ways of drawing oxygen from sea water.
“But a small gadget for skin divers,” he said, “will take a fantastic job of electronic miniaturization.” After a pause he added, “It could really speed up recovery of the Jupiter prober, though.”
Lunch over, Tom hopped a jet scooter and sped off to his private laboratory.
The modernistic glass-walled structure-designed by Tom himself -had every tool of modern scientific research, from electronic microscope to helium cryostat.
39
40 THE ELECTRONIC HYDROLUNG
As always, whenever he was absorbed in a new idea, Tom was eager to get to work. “Let’s see what I’m shooting for. A small container, slung around the diver’s neck? … No, too dangerous. Better hook it to his weight belt, with a tube to his face mask.”