“You’re a lifesaver, Dad. Thanks.”
After signing off, Tom radioed Princetown and requested soldiers to patrol the skyway day and night until the protective repelatrons could be added. An official promised immediate action.
Next day, after all the wrecked transmitters had
142 REPELATRON SKYWAY
been repaired or replaced, Tom laid a fresh span of Durafoam over the three-mile gap in the skyway.
The following morning, after the soldier patrol had arrived, Tom took off by atomicar with Chow and Bud to return to the hot-mud bog. En route, Tom radioed the Flying Lab to join them.
“Any ideas on how to lick this mud problem?”
“Not yet. I want to analyze the stuff first.” Tom frowned as he set the atomicar down neatly alongside their campsite near the bog. “My hunch is, Bud, there’s some kind of intense chemical reaction going on deep under the mud, which keeps it seething-maybe even an atomic reaction.”
Tom’s hunch was proved correct by a radiation counter. The mud near the surface showed faint, but not dangerous, traces of radioactivity.
As soon as the Queen hovered into view overhead, Tom climbed aboard, taking a sample of the mud. Bud accompanied him to the ship’s laboratory. Here the young inventor began making a number of chemical tests. When he heated some of the mud to incandescence and examined it with a Swift spectroscope, Tom’s face became puzzled.
“What’s the answer?” Bud asked.
“Its spectrum is unusual, Bud. And the frequency shift at peak intensity doesn’t seem to follow Wien’s displacement law.”
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