Hank Sterling2 squeezed the young inventor's arm. "You know Bud's high spirits, skipper," he said. "He may have taken off on some crazy lark3."
"Sure! A whale hunt, maybe!" Arv Hanson wisecracked, trying to lighten the gloom.
Tom forced a grin, but he remained heavy-hearted as they neared the base. His only hope now was that a radio message from the jetmarine might have been picked up while they were gone.
As soon as the seacopter was moored4, Tom leaped ashore5. The crewmen on the docks had no news to report, so Tom piled into a jeep with Arv and sped off to the Fearing communications center. Hank remained aboard the Sea Hound to secure all gear.
Churning along the graveled road, Tom and Arv passed the launching area. Huge, needle-nosed cargo6 rockets and the mighty7 spaceship Titan loomed8 against the sky. Tom's moon-voyaging Challenger and his more recent space craft the Cosmic Sailer were also based there.
"Going to alert the Navy for a search?" Arv inquired as they reached the communications building.
Tom nodded and braked the jeep to a screeching9 halt. "Coast Guard too. They can pass the word to commercial shipping10 to be on the lookout11."
A telephone rang as he hurried into the office.
Tom grabbed the phone. His face widened into a grin. "Bud! You seagoing jet stream! What happened?"
Arv grinned, too, in relief.
"Your antidetection gear worked so well we vanished right out of the ocean!" Bud replied with a chuckle13. Turning serious, he reported how his jetmarine had trailed the mysterious intruder and how he and Mel had captured the two Brungarian frogmen and their shore contact.
"But here's the catch," Bud went on. "When we took off again in our hydrolungs to go back aboard ship, the jetmarine was gone!"
"Maybe she's trailing the enemy sub," Tom conjectured15.
"That's what I'm hoping," Bud said uneasily. "Trouble is, our subs aren't armed, and who knows about that Brungarian job? The way they sling16 missiles around, anything could happen if she spots the jetmarine."
Tom frowned. "I'll organize a search right away. Where are you calling from?"
"Police headquarters at Sandbank."
"Okay. Take it easy, and I'll send a whirlybird to pick you up," Tom promised.
"Right!" Tom hung up and gave Arv Hanson a quick briefing.
Then he phoned the base airfield18 to dispatch a helicopter. He also contacted the nearest Coast Guard station and put through a long-distance call to Navy Headquarters in Washington to request help in searching for the jetmarine. Finally he and Arv headed back to the submarine docks in the jeep.
A flurry of activity followed as Tom detailed19 ships for the search and rounded up crews. He was interrupted by a phone call in the loading shed. It was the control-tower operator.
"What bearing?" Tom demanded excitedly.
"One-seven-six." Tom was about to hang up and grab a pair of binoculars21 when the operator added hastily, "Wait! It's responding to our radio challenge!... That's ours, all right!"
Tom dashed out of the shed and scanned the sea to the southward. Sure enough, a jetmarine had surfaced and was speeding toward the sub docks. Minutes later, Tom was shaking hands warmly with Zimby Cox and Mack Avery.
"Is Bud okay?" was Zimby's first question.
"Right! I just heard from him," Tom replied. "He and Mel captured those enemy frogmen and a copter's on the way to pick them up. What happened to you fellows?"
Zimby confirmed Bud's guess that they had taken off in pursuit of the enemy craft.
"We figured Bud and Mel could make out on their own," Zimby explained. "And we thought the sub's course or actions might tip us off to its nationality. Also, if it tried any sabotage22 or mine-planting, we could radio the Navy."
Instead, Cox went on, the mysterious craft had proceeded to a point about ten miles offshore23 where it rendezvoused24 with another submarine.
"And get this, skipper!" Mack Avery put in. "The other sub was undetectable! We were close enough to get a peek25 at it, but we couldn't ping it on the sonarscope."
"That figures," Tom said grimly. "Those frogmen were apparently26 Brungarians."
Zimby Cox related that a man had transferred from the undetectable submarine to the one they had been following. The first sub had then headed out to sea, as if to cross the ocean back to its home base. The other had departed on a course toward the South Atlantic.
"Probably back to the lost missile area. At least that's the way we figured it," Zimby added.
"And neither sub spotted you?" Tom questioned.
Zimby grinned wryly27. "We might not be here if they had detected us. But I'm pretty sure they didn't. Anyhow, they gave no sign."
Tom was doubly elated at the news. His antidetection gear had evidently worked perfectly28 in a showdown test with the enemy, even at close range. Moreover, if the second sub was returning to the South Atlantic, it seemed likely that the enemy, too, had not yet located the precious missile with its data from Jupiter.
"You guys rate Navy medals," Tom told Zimby and Mack jubilantly. "Come on back to Shopton with me and I'll buy you the juiciest steaks in town!"
Before leaving the base, Tom called the Coast Guard and the Navy to cancel his search request. He also telephoned a full report on the enemy submarines to Admiral Walter.
After hanging up, Tom decided29 on another move. "Our antidetection gear seems to have panned out pretty well," he told Hank. "I think we should make use of it right away. By sending that jetmarine to the South Atlantic, we might get a line on enemy activities down there."
Hank was in favor of the idea. He volunteered to prepare the jetmarine for a cruise and take off from Fearing that very night.
"Thanks," Tom said with a parting handshake. "Keep us posted if you learn anything."
Meanwhile, Bud and Mel Flagler had arrived at the base by helicopter. They and their two shipmates flew back to the mainland with Tom and Arv for a celebration dinner in town.
The next morning found the young inventor hard at work in his private laboratory. He was tapping his head with his slide rule and frowning at a blackboard scrawled30 with equations when Bud dropped in for a visit.
"What now, inventor boy?" his copilot asked. "Don't you ever give that brain of yours a rest?"
"Oh, hi, Bud!" Tom looked around absent-mindedly. "I'm just trying to figure out a way to crack the Brungarians' antisonar system."
"Good night!" Bud sank down on a lab stool. "You've come up with a way to make our own subs undetectable. Isn't that enough?"
Tom shook his head. "Not if we want to keep track of those sneaks31. And I think I see a way to do it."
"How?"
"So far, I have been thinking about refining our own search sonar." Tom explained that the new system he had in mind would send out a complex pulse—that is, an underwater sound wave with many harmonics instead of a single tone, sharp-peaked sound impulse.
"This will make it less likely that their antidetection gear will absorb all of it," Tom went on. "What's not absorbed will return as an echo. I'm also going to modify our receivers. But I've still not worked that out."
"So our sonar picks up all that hash, and by means of a computer setup filters out the sub's real echo from the shadow reflections."
"Hey! Sounds pretty cute," Bud said.
Tom broke into a dry chuckle. "Right—if I can do it." After that job, Tom added, he hoped to adapt his own antidetection methods to make hydrolung wearers safe from underwater detection. "And if the Jupiter prober hasn't been found by that time, Bud, I'm going to request the Navy to let us take over the search alone."
Bud gave a whistle of excitement at the possibility of new undersea adventures ahead. "Count me in, pal!"
The two boys broke off their conversation a short time later and went back to the Administration Building for lunch with Tom's father.
Mr. Swift greeted them with a smile as they entered the big double office. "Glad you could join me, boys! Chow's laid out quite a feast for us today."
Three places had been set at the conference table, and an appetizing repast of sizzling ham and sweet potatoes waited in covered dishes on a lunch cart nearby.
Tom switched on the videophone screen to a private channel to catch the noon news while they ate. The newscaster wore a look of excitement as he spoke35 without pausing for the usual commercial.
"The Brungarian government has just scored a propaganda bombshell!" he reported. "In a news announcement released less than half an hour ago, they stated that their Navy has perfected an undetectable submarine!"
The Swifts and Bud froze, openmouthed, at the newscaster's words.
"No need to tell you what this could mean to American security," he went on. "If enemy subs slipped through our continental36 defenses, their missiles could devastate38 the United States with scarcely an instant's warning! The whole country's been rocked by the announcement. An official comment by our Defense37 Department is expected at any moment."
Mr. Swift nodded. "It's a great propaganda stroke. But I wonder why they've chosen to reveal their secret at this time."
Tom said thoughtfully, "Dad, do you suppose they've realized the fact that we know about their antisonar gear?"
"Could be, son. They may figure that since the secret is out already, they may as well play it up for all it's worth." The elder scientist paused and frowned. "Or it might be intended to force our hand."
"You mean in hopes of getting us to reveal whether or not we have an antidetection system ourselves?" As his father nodded, Tom scowled40. "If so, that sub yesterday may have been observing our tests."
The telephone rang and Tom leaped to answer it. The caller was Dan Perkins of the Shopton Evening Bulletin.
"You can guess why I'm calling, Tom," the editor said. "How about a statement from you Swifts on this Brungarian sub story?"
"We found it very interesting," Tom said politely but noncommittally. Parrying further questions, he hung up as soon as possible.
Mr. Swift approved Tom's policy of silence. Almost immediately the phone began ringing again with a succession of calls from other newspapers and wire services. Tom dashed off a brief, general statement and instructed Miss Trent to give it to all further callers.
"Maybe this is a good time to make a private announcement to you fellows," Mr. Swift said to the two boys, his eyes twinkling. "Do you recall my telling you that Doc Simpson had isolated41 an unknown vitamin from the space plants? Well, we've now discovered that this vitamin can condition the human body to stay under water indefinitely. Doc is putting some up in capsule form."
"Dad, you've helped overcome one of the big problems in our search for the lost missile!" Tom exclaimed.
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1
bleakly
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| 无望地，阴郁地，苍凉地 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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9
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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14
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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15
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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airfield
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| n.飞机场 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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sabotage
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| n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏 | |
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offshore
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| adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面 | |
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rendezvoused
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| v.约会，会合( rendezvous的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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peek
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| vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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wryly
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| adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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32
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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devastate
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| v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒 | |
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39
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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40
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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42
whoops
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| int.呼喊声 | |
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