Chief Slater nodded. “Just about the right height.”
“But who was the dirty rat?” Bud growled. “And why is he out to get you?”
Tom shrugged ruefully. “Wish I could tell you, chum. My crystal ball is a bit clouded.”
Both Chief Slater and Harlan Ames promised to check out every possible lead. Tom, meanwhile, decided to put the whole matter from his mind and resume work on his latest project. Late that afternoon, Mr. Swift dropped into Tom’s private laboratory. Bud was there, bent over his friend’s drawing board, watching Tom sketch out ideas for his revolutionary new space telescope.
RAY-GUN SNIPER 19
“How’s your ‘Window on the Universe’ coming, son?” Mr. Swift inquired, his eyes twinkling.
“Still in the planning stages,” Tom replied, “although I have my high-gain signal amplifier worked out.”
Bud grinned. “It’s still sort of a Greek puzzle to me, skipper. You mean this rig will let us see things in the universe that are way beyond range of the biggest observatory telescopes?”
Tom nodded. “I hope so. Actually it won’t give us light images of heavenly bodies such as we see with an optical telescope. Instead, we’ll be scanning outer space with a high-powered radio signal -and the reflected signal will ‘paint’ a picture electronically on a cathode-ray tube.”
“I get it,” Bud said. “Like seeing a transmitted picture of the star on a TV
screen, eh?”
“Right.”
“An exciting idea,” Mr. Swift said enthusiastically. “Imagine peering into every corner of the universe-seeing stars and galaxies we never dreamed of before!
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