Tom Swift and His Megascope Space Prober (18 page)

"Holding steady,
Highroad
?" Tom radioed via the PER.

"Like a rock," Bud called back.

Down they plunged like twin falling stars!

No one spoke as the tense moments ticked by. The calculations of surface temperature held up—never reaching a danger state. Mountains and rivers shot past below like a swiftly unfolding relief map. The coastline of Florida took shape ahead on the far horizon.

"
Canaveral locked on
," came a radio voice from far away. "
Landing is go.
"

"Roger, Canaveral!"

Then they were easing into the final descent onto the special pad Astro-Dynamics had constructed at Cape Canaveral for the return of the Venus probe. Tom was able to manipulate the repelatron beams to bring the
Highroad
close to the ground—and allow it to settle down gently on its own landing thrusters.

After checking with Bud and his cheering crew, Tom switched his PER over to the Enterprises unit. Mr. Swift’s voice shook with emotion. "I’ve just seen a miraculous rescue, son—over your own invention."

Wild newsmen and TV cameras greeted Tom and his crew. "AD’s public relations officer will give you a rundown on what happened," he said tersely. "Right now we’re too concerned about members of the
Highroad
’s crew to say more."

Bud and the others debarked shakily, still weak from oxygen deprivation. Then Holbrook was carried out by medical personnel, wild-eyed and strapped down securely. "We have a good idea what happened to him," Bud commented after being greeted emotionally by Tom, Chow, and Hank. He continued: "It seems ol’ Chippy’s been roller-coastering on tranquilizers and performance-enhancing drugs for months, stuff the medics couldn’t detect. He got in touch with his inner drugstore, but fell apart under stress."

Back in Shopton, it didn’t take long for the tender mercies of the Swift family to bring Bud back to his usual energetic self. "Okay, so I’m back. Got a new project coming up?" he asked Tom a few days later. "I’m feeling rusty. You know how much I like a challenge!"

Tom grinned. "You and me both! But if it’s a challenge you’re in the mood for, I have two of them all ready for you, flyboy. Here’s the first!"

Tom inserted a small disk into a player. "We received this in the mail yesterday," he explained.

The voice from the speaker was all too familiar. "And now the world cheers another triumph by the great Tom Swift. Allow me to add a cheer of my own. I still do admire you in many ways, Tom. Indeed, I have considered asking you to become a part of my little family, you and your friends. There are now three openings. But no, of course not. You have your own peculiar notion of right and wrong, good and bad. And so, inevitably, we who seek the future must clash. Very sad, very sad.

"But perhaps I shall tell you one thing, my young man. Is your conscience troubled by what happened to poor Roland Galaspain? Then do realize your innocence. He had repaired the flaw in your machine before the demonstration. But he underestimated my own attitude toward those who take what I sell without proper compensation. He tried to cheat me. So I cheated him of life. Most fitting.

"No matter. We two live to play again, you and I. And as I say goodbye for the briefest moment, I leave you one last tantalizing comment:
the snakeman has now shed his skin!
"

Bud was pale and shaken as Tom removed the disk. "What does he mean, genius boy?"

"Who knows?" The questions and the threat hung in the air. The near future held a strange, deadly sequel for Tom and Bud, a battle far from Earth with
The Asteroid Pirates
in which an unexpected Tom Swift invention would play a key role.

"What was that about a second challenge?" Bud asked Tom.

"Just this," replied the young inventor with a broad smile. "Dad got the call this morning. Astro-Dynamics has cancelled their Venus probe project, and NASA wants Swift Enterprises to take it over!"

"You’re not kidding?
Jetz
!" Bud pounded his friend on the back and shouted excitedly, "Venus, here we come!"