Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X
ng board back into its wall slot, the young inventor h
ve were Bud Barclay, Ames, and George Dilling, the Swifts' communications chief. They were joined moments l
r.'s and Tom Sr.'s inventions. He was not only an expert craftsman, but,
, skipper?
all this a council o
might hijack the brain energy to be sent from Pla
overwhelmingly powerful," Tom went on. "Well, just suppose that our Brungarian pals fi
thing like that might make even a
went on, it might turn out to possess superintelligence. Gifted with all the scientific
ct weapons or space craft powerful enoug
ere grim-faced
than any chance of their coming u
" Hanso
s up to us to make sure the Brungarians don't sw
e capable of such a stunt?
ced in the fields of rocket guidance and t
y at the young inventor. "Got
ybe our best bet is first to find out all we can about the lines of
on at once and talk to the FBI and Central Intelligence. Their job would be to garner a
as you get a genera
mised to do so, and
ided upon, Tom resumed work on his sketches. Although both the problem and
n units would give the brain a way to exert force when it wanted to act. These were devices which Tom
the brain's own energy was very small. Lastly, there would have to be a c
sketch. He was mulling over the idea when Chow Winkler and Bud Barclay w
t of such a contraption "coming to life." "S
d. "Good n
ke in over the wall intercom. It was the operat
r has been felt over in Medfield. There's a big plant there that makes rocket nose cones. A mobile TV crew's
Another quake
channel. Soon a picture appeared on the screen. It was a panoramic shot of a landscape
id. "As you can see, the rocket-plant personnel and the people of Medfield are making despe
speeding along the ribbonlike roads with
at tall stack just over the plant-see how it's starting to
d like toy houses built of cards, while at the same time huge rocks
dismay. But a moment later the picture on the TV screen
r must have been knocked out by the quake. We return you now to our regul
m turned off the set. "I sure hope all o
quickly to a section dealing with known earthquake faults and the dis
skipper?" Bud
asn't in a patterned zone any
y. "You mean this here ole earth we live on is g
office. "It just seems queer to me that both of those
ions listened as he put through a call to the FBI in Washington. W
just happened at Medfield and the earlier one at Faber Elect
tage. Things are pretty hot around here since that news on Medfield came in, so I can't talk much rig
when Tom reported his conv
"Any ornery varmint that'd cause an earthqua
said. "But how do w
home with Tom. Both Mrs. Swift and Sandy we
s. Swift pointed out, "Enterprise
apprehensive. Any large-scale sabotage plot would be almost certain to in
ud that they drive to the nearby State Police post. Here he c
uest in mind?" Cap
ound activity in the vicinity of Shopton?" Tom said. "There would have to
unds like a big job, but I'm afraid you're rig
Bud put in. "Those two quakes
were covering the outlying roads that converged on Shopton. Firemen and Chief Slater's town police f
er as a house-to-house search was conducted
re Bud stopped with a state troo
s prowlin' aroun
nically. "We have orders to search ever
rickety stairway. A moment later Bud stumbled and gave a yell.