Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 20 – And His Megascope Space Prober

The medic made a brief examination and agreed that Bud’s injury was not serious. The boys left and stopped at Ames’s office.

“Good news! We have a clue!” the security chief greeted them jubilantly. He showed the boys a dirty scrap of paper, using a pair of tweezers to handle it.

The paper bore a scribbled notation: H2 for He. TS.

“Hydrogen for helium-Tom Swift!” Bud exclaimed, translating the message at a glance.

“Where did it come from, Harlan?” Tom asked excitedly.

“Radnor found it on my desk after I took off to warn you at the lab,” Ames said. “There was a lot of excitement around here when I couldn’t get through to warn you. Whoever left this managed to slip in unnoticed.”

“Probably the same person who phoned in the anonymous tip-off,” Tom conjectured.

Ames nodded. “He must have found this paper and doped out what it meant.”

“But who wrote it in the first place?” Bud demanded angrily. “And if the phone tipster left this in your office, Harlan, he must be someone who works right here at Enterprises!”

94 MEGASCOPE SPACE PROBER

“No doubt about that,” Tom agreed. “We already know from that lock business that some employee is involved in a plot against me. But judging from the phone call, he won’t go along with anything too deadly. As a matter of fact, he may not even know who wrote the note.”

“Or he may know but be afraid to expose the person masterminding the plot,”

Ames put in.

“In any case,” the security chief went on, “the note gave the tipster a definite clue. It may bear fingerprints of the writer or the mysterious informer who delivered it to my desk. The paper itself can be analyzed to trace the manufacturer and seller. This might turn up additional leads.”