“Not now,” said Tom, and hung up.
Bud, who was scheduled to test-fly the graphicopter, went off to the hangar. Tom remained in the lab, puzzling over the aluminum “birds.”
He noticed that they were cut in several different patterns. Did their shape have any significance? he wondered. Could they represent some kind of religious symbols or totems that might mean something to a native African?
“Seems pretty farfetched,” Tom concluded.
Giving up on the mystery, Tom hopped into a jeep and sped back to Enterprises’
main building. He had decided to plunge ahead on the African project as quickly as possible.
First, an on-the-spot survey of the jungle terrain would be needed. Tom had dictated some brief plans for the trip to Miss Trent that morning after his return from Newark.
“I’d better look them over again and make sure I haven’t forgotten anything,” he said to himself.
When he reached his office, Tom went to his current-project file, which was still unlocked, to take out the folder on Ngombia. To his surprise, 44 REPELATRON SKYWAY
it was not there. Tom buzzed Miss Trent on the intercom. “Do you have the Ngombia file?” he asked.
“No, I put it back after transcribing your notes,” she replied.
“Doesn’t seem to be here.”
Miss Trent came into the office. “I’m sure I replaced it,” she murmured as she leafed through the file drawer. “Oh, here it is-filed under the M’s.”
Her face was puzzled as she handed the folder to Tom. “That’s strange,” she remarked. “I’m sure I put it back in the right place.”
Tom’s blue eyes flashed with sudden interest. “Are you positive?”