microscope. There were also machine tools, an electric furnace, and racks of hardware and metal stock, as well as a generator.
“Quite a layout, eh?” Wayne boasted.
Bud gave an angry cry and pointed to a far corner of the huge lab. On the floor lay the fuselage of the shot-down magnetic homing pigeon, partly disassembled.
“Pretty smart, that little sabotage device you put in,” Wayne said to Tom. “It fouled up the atomic power plant just enough to destroy your secret magnetic-field controls for the plasma.” Wayne chuckled. “But this time we won’t have to risk another explosion, trying to figure out how it works.”
“Meaning what?” Tom asked coolly.
“Meaning noxv we have the inventor himself-you-and you’re going to put it back in perfect working order!”
“And suppose I refuse?”
Wayne’s blue eyes hardened. “I wouldn’t if I were you. Not if you and your chum hope to get out of here alive.” He paused and bit off the tip of a fresh cigar.
“When your midget atomic power plant’s working again and you’ve filled me in on all the details, maybe we can make a deal. Until then, you’ll both stay locked in here.”
Wayne and Gursk moved toward the door. “That shaft leads up to ground level, by the way,” Wayne added, pointing to an opening in the roof.
162 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
THE AMIR’S MINE 163
164 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
“We’re trapped, skipper!”
Tom’s brain was already working at top speed. “That’s what they think!” he retorted grimly.
Back at the base camp, as afternoon wore into evening, Billing, Hank, and the others tried repeatedly to make radio contact with the two boys. Darkness fell, with still no report. Hank took the Sky Queen out on a hasty search, but was forced to give up.