Part 17 (1/2)

The hands would seize and pile them, ready for processing by Tom's giant robot.

”I'll do it first thing tomorrow,” Tom promised.

At ten the next morning he was calling back. ”Dad, the sets are being loaded on two planes right now,” he reported.

The cargo s.h.i.+ps were warming up on separate runways. The second set of the mechanical arms and hands was being run out to its plane on a flatcar.

”Take-off time is in ten minutes,” Tom told his father. ”Slim Davis is piloting one plane, Binky Jones the other.”

”I'll keep in touch with them,” said Mr. Swift, signing off.

After the take-off, Tom went to his lab to make final adjustments to the lens mirrors of the giant ro- 174 .

bot's camera ”eyes.” It was midafternoon when Mr. Swift radioed his son that the cargo planes were overdue.

”Our radio operator here lost contact with them over an isolated area,” he reported, giving Tom the location. ”I'm afraid they're in trouble.”

Tom went into action. Picking up the intercom, he called Bud, Sterling, and Hanson.

”I'm taking off on a search flight,” he told them. ”How about meeting me at the Sky Queen and going along?”

Hank Sterling and Bud were at the Flying Lab's hangar five minutes after the report had been received. The ground crew, following a prearranged emergency procedure, had the s.h.i.+p fueled, above-ground, and ready for a take-off. When Tom and Hanson arrived, the young inventor explained to the others the reason for the hurried trip and added: ”I have the exact position of the missing planes at the time contact was broken.” He held up a map. ”The tower has marked the beam they were supposed to follow after that point.”

”I'll call the tangents, boy,” Bud offered, swinging up through the belly hatch of the Flying Lab.

Sterling and Hanson took observational posts, while Bud plotted the route that would carry them along the precise course taken by the missing aircraft.

Tom gave the elevators a quick lift. This was no time for gentle flight maneuvering. Tom was in a TWIN TROUBLE 175.

hurry and called upon the Sky Queen for every bit of thrust its engines possessed. Pushed to the limit, the Flying Lab shrieked across the sky at more than twelve hundred miles an hour.

This rate of speed was maintained until they approached the locality from which the cargo planes had last reported. Here Tom throttled back while the observers scanned the terrain with high-powered binoculars.

The land was desolate. Several times the intent group thought they had the planes spotted. But upon descending for a closer look, they discovered that shadows from rock formations were what had fooled them.

Almost at the point of discouragement, Bud suddenly spotted a sight that left no doubt in his mind. A silver ”T,” formed by the wings and fuselage of one of the cargo planes, was bobbing up and down in his binoculars.

”There's one of them, Tom!” he called excitedly. ”Move in for a better look.”

The lifters dropped them to within five hundred feet of the ground. Below was a scene that made the Swift group gasp angrily. One of the mechanical hand- and-arm sets was being loaded aboard a trailer truck by a group of men. They were working with great haste, gesturing and glancing up constantly at the huge Sky Queen now threatening overhead. Other men were backing a cab up to the trailer.

”They're stealing it!” Hank shouted.

176 .

”Not for long!” said Tom.

The Flying Lab s.h.i.+fted its position until it was hovering directly over the men on the ground. Tom released the throttle. Blasts of flame and heat poured

TWIN TROUBLE 177.

from the jet lifters, scattering the men before a withering rain of exhaust.

At the same time, the plane shot up a thousand feet. Before the group on the ground had recovered from the first attack, Tom was dropping down for a second try at scaring them off. This time the drivers and their helpers scrambled for the cab and raced away over the desert, abandoning the trailer, the stolen cargo, and the plane.

178 .

”We did it!” Bud chortled.

Rather than pursue the thieves, Tom decided to land and search for a trace of the pilot and crew. The Sky Queen came to rest in a large open s.p.a.ce near the trailer. Hanson and Sterling darted over to inspect the mechanical arm. The set seemed none the worse for having been moved.

Meanwhile, Tom and Bud went ahead to the plane. ”It's Jones' s.h.i.+p,” Tom said, noting the serial number on the wing.

An ominous silence hung over the area. There was not a single sound from the plane.

”Where's the pilot?” Bud asked fearfully. ”And what's happened to the crew?”

CHAPTER 22.

A CLEVER FOIL.

THE HATCH of the cargo plane gaped open and the loading ramp was down. Tom and Bud hurried inside, going at once to the control cabin. The pilot was not there.

”Bud, look!” Tom cried, pointing to a pair of earphones. ”They're stained with blood!”

Worried, the two boys rushed to the navigator's compartment. Scuff marks on the floor indicated that someone had been dragged out the door.

Tom and Bud separated and made a frantic search of the plane. In the main cargo hold, Tom found the limp body of Jones sprawled out, face down. Near him lay the other two members of the crew.

At this moment Bud rushed in. ”Are they-”

Tom was already examining Jones. To the inventor's relief, the pilot was breathing, though his pulse 179.

180 .

was slow. A huge lump near the base of his skull gave mute evidence of a vicious blow.

”He's alive, thank goodness,” Tom reported to Bud, who was kneeling beside one of the other men.

''This fellow too,” Bud said.

The third crew member was also found to be alive. All three had been cracked on the head from behind.

”We'd better carry them to the Sky Queen,” Tom suggested.