Two hours later Tom was busy repairing the space prober when Bud came into the observatory.
“Got it fixed yet, Tom?”
“Just about. This time I’m installing an input-limit control.”
“What’ll that do?” Bud asked.
“Cut off power automatically in case the input voltage rises too high. It may not be needed, but I still don’t know what caused the trouble.”
Soon Tom had the prober ready to operate. He trained it for a view of the Green Orb, switched on power, and tuned the circuits carefully. In a moment a clear picture came on the screen.
“Hey! That green space spook isn’t glowing any more!” Bud exclaimed.
The screen suddenly went dead.
“The input-limit control just cut out,” Tom explained. “This is getting interesting, Bud.”
Tom reset the control. This time he tuned down the signal amplifier. The picture on the screen was dimmer but clear enough to see.
To the boys’ amazement, the Orb was now glowing with green brilliance!
Bud gasped. “It’s all lit up again!”
SPACE DUST 19
“And see how that greenish fog is writhing! The atmosphere is in a state of turbulence.”
“How do you explain it, Tom?”
The young inventor paced back and forth in the observatory dome. “Bud, I can’t explain it-yet. But what’s happened makes me think two things. First, that glow is caused whenever our prober beam strikes the Orb.”
“How come?” Bud asked.
Tom shrugged. “There may be a photochemical reaction in the Orb’s atmosphere. Second-the power surge that overheated the set last night is also a reaction, which is caused when our picture signal is reflected back from the Orb.”
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