II13-1958-TOM SWIFT and His Space Solartron by Victor Appleton II

Author:Victor Appleton II [pseud.] [Appleton, Victor II]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Published: 1958-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

11. A STARTLING DISAPPEARANCE

"NOT guilty, pardner!" Tom grinned.

Chow was baffled. "Well, brand my wild turkey soup, where did this come from?" he muttered, stroking the lizard with his finger. "Poor li'l varmint—I've never seen one so far from home before!"

"Confidentially, it arrived by flying saucer," Bud said with a straight face. As Chow glowered at him suspiciously, Bud exploded with laughter. "Okay, okay. Don't get mad, old-timer. I just borrowed it from the zoology lab!"

Chow was too good-natured to take offense at the joke. Besides, he was touched by the sight of the little reptile from his home range. "Jest for that, I'm a-keepin' this critter for a mascot," he declared. "I'll call him Li'l Ole Alamo."

Tom smiled, patting Chow on the back "You've earned a reward. And now, how about some grub, pardner?"

The stout old Texan beamed. "Comin' right up, boss!"

After a quick lunch of frankfurters and baked beans, Tom prepared to give his second matter-making machine a tryout. The foil reflector was turned to face the sun. As the energy-conversion cells began to produce electricity, Tom fed power to the machine. The laboratory hummed with the tremendous flow of current.

"How's she perking?" asked Bud after several minutes had gone by.

Tom's face wore a pleased grin. "Really pouring out oxygen!" he replied. "Good thing I arranged to pipe it into the station supply tanks, or we'd be space-happy on the stuff!"

"Are you going to try to make solid matter?" asked Ted.

Tom nodded as he studied the wave pattern on the scope and adjusted several tuning knobs. Then he pushed one of the element control buttons. "We'll try carbon first," he explained. "That's a basic element in all organic compounds."

The young inventor stood by tensely as the space solartron throbbed into action. He watched the control dials like a hawk, making frequent adjustments as the needles flickered back and forth.

Minutes crept by...half an hour...then an hour. Finally Tom checked the receiving tank. It contained a thinly sprinkled deposit of a black powdery substance!

"Magic!" Bud exclaimed. "Don't keep us in suspense, Tom. Is it carbon?"

Tom rubbed some between his thumb and forefinger. "Looks like carbon, all right," Tom replied, his heart pounding. "But I'll check to make sure." He tested the substance with his Swift spectroscope, then nodded without speaking.

"You don't look exactly overjoyed," Ted remarked. "This rates a cheer, doesn't it?"

Tom grinned wryly. "The machine works, if that's what you mean. But at this rate of production, it wouldn't do us much good on the moon or on a space cruise."

"How come?" asked Bud. "Too slow?"

"Way too slow," Tom said. "It's the same old problem—not enough power. Which means our real test run will have to wait until Arv gets those energy collectors finished."

Tom concluded his experiments by trying to make two more elements needed in food or fuel compounds—hydrogen and nitrogen. Since hydrogen gas is highly combustible, Tom throttled down the machine so as to produce only a small amount. However, the results showed clearly that the solartron could generate either kind of gas in large quantities.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.