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152 MEGASCOPE SPACE PROBER
moon’s surface. Next, he tried for a view of Venus.
“Not that I’m likely to see much.” Tom tuned the video for sharper contrast.
He knew that the earth’s sister planet was covered by an opaque atmosphere which kept its surface completely hidden. Nevertheless, as Venus settled into focus on the screen, Tom could discern its mysterious bright patches and darker areas, and studied them with keen interest.
“Wonder what kind of information Bud will bring back from his flight,” Tom mused.
Whatever was learned from the highly sensitive instruments crammed into the Astro-Meteor, he reflected, was sure to increase man’s scientific knowledge of Venus a thousandfold.
This thought gave Tom a fresh pang of frustration. If only Swift Enterprises had been given the Venus probe assignment! Instead of Chippy Hoi-brook, he himself would be Bud’s fellow astronaut on the daring space voyage.
“No use moping about it,” Tom said to himself. “There’ll be other space shots-to Venus, and Jupiter, too! Maybe even a Venus landing one of these days.”
Tom switched off the megascope, then descended from the observation dome and went to his private laboratory. From there, he called Hank Sterling.
“I’ve just been testing the megascope, Hank,”
BUD’S FRANTIC MESSAGE 153
Tom reported. “It seems to have worked out pretty well.”
“Nice going, skipper,” Hank said. “I’m eager to do a bit of stargazing with that gadget myself. I suppose Swift Construction will have to schedule a production run on it when word gets around, eh?”
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