Suddenly Tom stopped with a gasp. A body was lying in the shadows between two parked cars!
Heart pounding, Tom dashed toward the still figure. Bud stirred and moaned faintly as the young inventor bent over him.
Tom hurried back to the car and returned with a flashlight and first-aid kit.
Squatting down, he examined his friend. The glow of light revealed a black-and-blue swelling on Bud’s jaw.
Then Tom saw something else. A small square 107
108 3-D TELEJECTOR
of cardboard showing a bright-green globe was lying on the youth’s chest. It had been torn from a matchbook advertising the Green Orb diner!
Tom slipped an arm under Bud’s head. The copilot’s eyelids flickered. Tom waved spirits of ammonia under his friend’s nose and soon Bud was able to sit up.
“Wow! … Is my jaw still in one piece?”
“Seems to be. Who clipped you?”
Bud looked sheepish as he told his story. Tom was puzzled over the man’s laughter at Bud’s reply to his query about the Green Orb.
“That sounds as if he was afraid you knew something, Bud-and then decided you didn’t after all,” Tom said slowly. “Any idea why?”
The copilot shook his head. “All I know is I goofed and got kayoed.”
Tom frowned thoughtfully as he helped Bud to his feet. “Take a look at this,”
he added.
Bud stared at the matchbook cover. “The Green Orb! I suppose that was a parting wisecrack!”
Tom agreed but said, “What shook up your attacker was when you claimed to know all about the Green Orb. Then he tested you by asking how much you knew. You said it was a good place to eat and hear things. Right?”
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