sonarscopes and a fingertip control to all units. Power was supplied by a Swift solar-charged battery. On the other wrist, the hydronauts wore depth-gauge calendar watches.
THE DROWNING ROMAN 7
Pouches on their thighs contained sealed recording instruments, and Tom also carried detonators for sound-channel testing by SOFAR-Sound Fixing and Ranging.
The boys left their hoods-with built-in transparent face masks and sonarphones-unzipped and hanging down over their chests so they could talk freely before submerging. As they left the lab, Bud exclaimed, “Hey! Look who’s herel”
A blond girl with laughing blue eyes called from a parked car, “You didn’t think we’d let you go without a final send-oE?”
She was Tom’s teen-age sister, Sandy. Their distinguished scientist father, Tom Sr., was at the wheel with Mrs. Swift beside him. In the back seat were “Uncle Ned” Newton, manager of the Swift Construction Company, with his wife and daughter, Phyllis-Tom’s favorite date.
The two boys managed to squeeze in, and Ames followed their car in the jeep.
When they arrived at the south dock, where many of the Swifts’ submarine craft were berthed, a roar of excitement rose from the newsmen and base personnel. Television cameras were maneuvered into position and microphones were thrust close to Tom’s and Bud’s faces.
“What about your provisions for the trip?” a newsman inquired.
“Our suits are of double-walled cellular plastic and contain food in liquid form,” Tom explained. “We’ll draw through feeding tubes.”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127