Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 24 – And His 3D Telejector

Ames and N orris exchanged startled glances.

144 3-D TELEJECTOR

Bud put in, “Are you saying that the Green Orb life was helping Group Q by supplying them with information?”

“That’s right-with Mulver acting as a human radio receiver. Once the Orb life sensed that they were getting through to us, they began sending Group Q a regular stream of messages.”

“Wait-let’s get one thing clear,” Tom said. “Why is the Orb so afraid of my TV

probe?”

Kessler shrugged. “That’s another mystery. Even Group Q’s top brains can’t figure it out. They think the Orb had Swift Enterprises marked out for some reason all along.”

“So this unknown form of life enlisted Group Q in a plot to sabotage the probe-is that it?”

“Exactly,” said Kessler. “They offered a plan to get us into Enterprises to steal yours and your father’s scientific secrets by substituting me for Dr. Grimsey.

In return we were to wreck your TV project.”

“Which you hoped to accomplish,” Ames said, “by wiping out everyone involved in the project-Tom, Dr. Grimsey, Felix Wong, and Hanson.”

Kessler went on, “They even transmitted a chemical formula to cause an unknown disease.”

The Swift house, Kessler added, turned out to be too well protected to risk entry. But Flamm had shadowed Tom’s three co-workers and had had no difficulty breaking into their homes and injecting them with the chemical.

ROUNDUP RAID 145

Grimsey had been picked as the easiest one to impersonate because of his bushy hair, beard, and spectacles. Group Q would have used plastic surgery to achieve a double for him. But Kessler’s height and features seemed similar enough to carry off the masquerade with a wig and false beard, especially since Grimsey would emerge from the hospital changed slightly in appearance and voice by illness.