Part 5 (1/2)

CHAPTER IV

A Haircut and a Wink

Rick held the Sky Wagon at the altitude to which he had been assigned by the control tower at Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washi+ngton He was a little nervous because there was more air traffic around him than he had ever seen before

Across the Potomac River, so close that the traffic patterns alton National Airport Below hi the Anacostia River were two military airports; Anacostia, at which he would land, and Bolling Air Force Base And to cohtly, Andrews Air Force Base was only a short distance away

A thousand feet above his head a tremendous Air Force Stratocruiser circled patiently A thousand feet below hihters awaited clearance for landing And clih the pattern came a division of Air Force F-80's

Rick's neck ached fro him watch for other aircraft But in the rear seat, Hartson Brant and Julius Weiss talked a steady strea off from Spindrift Rick wished he were as oblivious to the traffic Actually, he didn't knohat they were talking about Good as his scientific training was, they were in a real ave out: ”Tower to Spindrift Flight You are cleared to land Approach frolanced down in tihters peel off in a precision maneuver that was lovely to watch Then, on their heels, he stood the Sky Wagon up on a wing and slid doard the muddy river below

A short time later Rick called for instructions and was told to beach at Ramp Three He located it without difficulty Scotty cliht the rope thrown by a sea overnment clerk approached and introduced himself as Tom Dodd The identification folder he held out bore the familiar JANIG imprint ”Steve phoned ahead,” he said

”Do you need anything for your plane?”

”We'd better top off the tank,” Rick said ”Everything else is all right” He described the kind of gas his plane used, fearful that the Navy her or lower octane that would not be suitable

Dodd gave instructions to a Navy petty officer, then led the Spindrifters to a waiting sedan Rick got into the back seat and slumped back between his father and Weiss The little mathematician looked at him in some alar?”

He smiled feebly ”I'm a sissy, Professor The only other tiht-plane airports outside the city Thiskids

Honest, the traffic orse than Ti into someone that I alrinned sympathetically ”Don't feel badly

Even the coht-eyed on the Washi+ngton approach Airwise, it's one of the most crowded cities in the world”

As Toh the traffic en route to don Washi+ngton, Rick asked his father, ”What were you and Professor Weiss talking about? You lost ot air-borne”

The scientist shook his head ”This tiain when you've coe”

”I'ets deeply into the physical sciences there are no longer siies; there are only equations that I'hed ”A lot of help I' to be on this project!”

”You're not supposed to help,” his father corrected ”The project is entirely for the purpose of developing principles for the system The final product will be the equations hich the technologists can begin actual syste only on the first theoretical step”

”But the newspaper article said the scientists were affected by a gadget,” Scotty objected

”The article rong Paper covered with mathematical computations can scarcely affect anyone,” Hartson Brant said decisively

Rick stared through theThe sedan wasdown Constitution Avenue toward 14th Street ”But how did the newspaper find out anything in the first place?”