52 MEGASCOPE SPACE PROBER
paraphernalia. As usual, when on one of his inventive spurts, Tom worked at feverish speed.
The new radios, like his space telescope, had extremely sensitive amplifying circuits that would have to be supercooled by liquid helium. This meant that the circulating tubes and housing must withstand ultra high pressures.
“That’ll make it tough to keep the sets very light in weight,” Tom mused.
Suddenly the answer came to him. “Durastress! Why didn’t I think of that before?”
Durastress was a plastic he had invented that had fantastic properties-far stronger than any metal of comparable lightness. Tom had used it to contain the revolutionary atomic dynamo in his triphibian atomicar.
The plastic could be worked easily, and Tom soon had the radio housings and helium coils constructed. Next would come the job of installing the electronic circuitry and chassis.
As the radio sets neared completion, Tom slowed down the pace of his work.
Again the problem of the ray-gun attack, the unsuccessful attempt to ambush him, and the vanished hunter’s boot recurred, and kept dogging his brain.
Once more, Tom tried to push the matter out of his mind, but failed. He slumped down on a lab stool to think it all out if possible.
Presently a new thought occurred to him. Could the explosion of the helium machine in
STOLEN CLUE 53
France have had anything to do with the mysterious attacks? What if Gaspard-or whoever else was responsible for the possible theft of his design –
blamed Tom Swift for the failure of the demonstration?
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