Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (15 page)

"Go on high-rad alert," ordered Tom. "The objects that make contact must contain granules of antimatter—
antimatter bombs!
"

"Okay... now the spaceship is accelerating away, turning nose-up and straight-lining off into space. I’m looking at their tailjets," reported Rockland breathlessly. In a moment he added: "Out of sight now."

"What about the damage? Injuries?"

"No, no reports of injuries. Huge smoking craters, though—man, it looks like the ground turned molten on all sides! The blasts knocked down a few of the storage modules and equipment sheds."

"I’d say they’re trying to terrorize you," stated Tom.

"I’d say they’re succeeding!"

Tom drew a hand across his wet, pale forehead. "Look—change of orders. Forget sending scouts to the cliff. Evacuate the whole base! You know the location of the energizer chamber, Kent. Take refuge there. Use the smaller transport vehicles for those who can’t walk, but stick to the shadows and deep canyons. The spaceship is sure to be back, and they’ll be tracking you. In fact, that may be their strategy—to get you running, and then follow you to the Space Friends’ excavation. But the Lunite veins in the rocks will de-focus Li’s radar sweeps and blur out― "

The young scientist-inventor suddenly jumped back with a wince as the PER speaker emitted a deafening screech—followed by dead silence.

"What’s goin’ on?" asked Bud fearfully. "
Can’t
be interference or jamming—not the PER."

Tom didn’t answer immediately, trying several times to reestablish contact. But nothing came back from Little Luna. There was no longer a connection between the Private Ear Radio and its distant counterpart. "It’s not a problem with the quantum link," he stated quietly, setting down the unit.

It was one of the communications staff who spoke. "Mr. Swift, do you mean ... "

"He means something’s happened to the mechanism itself,
up there
," grated Bud. "To the unit on Nestria—or the operator!"

TOM AND BUD knew well that the Black Cobra’s sudden departure from the area of the base was only strategic and temporary. They realized that bombing could resume at any time. Yet even though a further attack had been feared, the blow had come so suddenly that Tom and his companions were stunned. By the evidence of the silent communicator, one conclusion leapt out at them that had to be squarely faced.

It had happened.
Apparently Nestria had fallen to the enemy!

"Those sneaking rats!" Bud exploded.

"Why couldn’t the base have been armed?" raged one of the listeners. "A few missiles and those nice Swift electric weapons could have blasted that ship into space dust." The man turned accusingly toward Tom. "But no! You peace-loving scientists can’t be bothered with ― "

He stooped as Bud stepped forward with doubled fists and a fierce glare. "That’s
all
, Graddford! Tom and his Dad have their reasons!"

Tom gave a quiet response to the man. "Jeff, turning Little Luna into an armed camp was out of the question. When we first claimed the asteroid, our government pledged that it would be used as a peaceful scientific base for the benefit of all mankind." Then he sighed deeply. "And also—it’s not our way. That’s true."

"I’d say the scientific peace treaty has been broken," muttered Jeff Graddford.

"Which makes this sneak blitz all the dirtier. Come on, Bud." The young inventor motioned for his friend to follow after him. In the elevator, Tom said: "Don’t hold Graddford’s reaction against him. His wife is up there."

Bud nodded. "What can we do, Tom? Let’s face it—if the Cobra bombed the main building, Rockland and most of the leadership could be dead. The pirates win."

"We don’t know what happened up there, Bud," Tom pointed out as the elevator halted. "It could be something as simple as a component failure in Kent’s PER. And even if there
was
another attack, there could be survivors."

Wordless, they caught one of the ridewalks. After a moment, Bud asked Tom their destination. "Hank Sterling’s shop," he replied. "I want to meet with him, and with Arv and Art Wiltessa."

"An idea?"

"An idea. Believe it or not, flyboy, during those hours while we were being flown to Argentina, this brain of mine was toying with an invention."

Bud smiled. "Yep, that’s Tom Swift!"

The young space explorer met with Hank, Arv, and Art. Diagrams and formulas flowed from his pen and screen-stylus. Bud could understand little of what was said—but he did understand the nods. When the others left, hasty and determined, he gave his friend a look of polite inquiry.

"We can’t wait any longer," Tom declared. "If there’s even a slim chance of rescuing our men and women, we have a duty to act now!"

"Lead on, Tom," said Bud. "Maybe we can even find some way to stall-out the Cobra’s takeover. So what gets us through the barrier?"

"An invention," Tom explained. "Not a new one—an improvement on the magnetic deflector. I’m calling it a magnetaser."

"Got it. Some kind of magnetic laser, right?"

Tom nodded, eyes looking off into the mental distance. "Something you can aim and focus like a laser. The basic principle is completely different, though. Ever hear of monopoles?"

"Sure, genius boy. I used to play it all the time as a kid."

Tom paused, blank—then broke into a laugh. "I’m talking about
magnetic monopoles
, pal! The basic equations of electromagnetism allow for the possibility that there could be distinct, localized ‘magnetic charges’ just like electrical charges. Think of them as ‘north’ or ‘south’ poles existing separately on their own, rather than paired up at opposite ends of a magnet."

"Okay. I’m thinking."

"Monopoles don’t seem to exist in nature," Tom went on. "At least they’ve never been detected—one theory says they sort’ve short themselves out almost instantly, like a shoe knot when you pull one of the laces. But I think I’ve hit on a way to generate ‘virtual’ monopoles artificially, using the magnetic deflector’s projected flux-field."

"Well," said Bud, "with all those complicated scientific words, it sure
ought
to work!"

"If I’m right, the magnetaser will push the anti-Diracinium particles aside completely. We’ll have a safe gap to go through."

Bud grinned. "Just like the hole we went through in that electrified fence!"

"That’s the idea, flyboy," Tom grinned back.

It was a fantastically difficult challenge for Tom Swift Enterprises, achieved in a fantastically brief time frame in the life-or-death desperation of the moment. With every passing hour weighing heavily, Tom and his engineering team designed and tested the vital invention, even as Art Wiltessa strove to construct the special carrier vehicle Tom had envisioned. This small, two-pilot craft would have the magnetaser output antenna mounted on its nose like a bizarre hood ornament, yet would be kept extremely narrow to more adroitly pierce the Great Wall. Tom named the vehicle
Unstoppable
—hoping the optimism in the name would prove well founded.

The spacecraft and the magnetaser were constructed in modular sections, each one ferried by jet to Fearing Island for assembly immediately upon its completion. The last such flight was undertaken by Tom and Bud aboard the
Sky Queen
.

"We can’t launch from Enterprises," Tom had explained to his father. "The repelatrons aboard the
Unstoppable
are too small and weak for a ground takeoff. The
Challenger
will carry us up into orbit, and then we’ll make for Nestria under our own power."

"A fine approach, son," Mr. Swift had agreed. "I’ll inform NASA and John Thurston of your plans."

"Thanks, Dad. Er—
after
we get back to Earth, of course."

"Obviously!"

Landing on Fearing, Tom and Bud were met on the airfield by Amos Quezada. "The
Challenger
’s ready for immediate takeoff," he reported. "Your pilot confirms that the
Unstoppable
is battened down in the vehicular hangar." Tom gave a brisk nod.

There was a moment of taut silence. Quezada knew Tom was weighing the terrible risks he and Bud would be facing together.

"The asteroid pirates have to be stopped," Tom said huskily. "It’s the only choice."

Tom and Bud sped to the launch area, where the spaceship had a dedicated pad coated with a specially formulated material to which its repelatrons had been precisely attuned. The
Challenger
, oddly shaped but always imposing, loomed in the glare of floodlights like an enormous gyroscope. Bob Jeffers and several other crewmen, all volunteers, were aboard and waiting.

Before proceeding, Tom mustered his crew on the command deck. "I guess you all realize we’re taking off on a dangerous mission," he told them. "If my magnetaser doesn’t work, you know what will happen when we hit the antimatter barrier around Nestria. Small as it is, the total conversion of the
Unstoppable
’s mass to energy would be felt everywhere from here to the moon. Even on the far side of the earth, the
Challenger
could be affected by the energy wave."

"We’re not going to go running off toward Mars, Tom," declared Bob. "Danger or not, the
Challenger
’s going to stay close enough to come running if you need us after you lower the barrier."

Tom’s young face showed his gratitude. "If we get through safely, there’s still the Black Cobra and his spaceship to contend with. You may be part of a mop-up operation. Would anyone like to back out?"

The crew stood facing him calmly. None spoke or stepped forward.

"Quit wasting our time, Skipper," Bud wisecracked. "Let’s get this crate in the air!"

Tom grinned. "Okay. Man your stations."

Minutes later, the
Challenger
was soaring aloft into the night sky. The earth dwindled rapidly under the surging thrust of the repelatrons. Soon the astronauts were entering the fringes of space. The blue-black darkness deepened, rendering even more brilliant the myriad stars dotting the deadly void, a void in which mankind now had begun to spread its vices and rivalries.

Tom and his companions said little. Each was taken up with his own thoughts as the ship raced outward. Its home planet was now a huge globe with a tapestry of oceans and continents dimly illuminated by moonglow—from two moons.

The ship raced onward toward a high parking orbit on the side of the earth away from the asteroid, crossing into sunlight. "Orbit locked," Jeffers reported. "Go do it, guys!"

Wearing full space gear and helmets for extra protection against radiation, Tom and Bud elevatored down to the ship-wide vehicular hangar, which was halfway filled with the
Unstoppable
. They slowed their pace for a moment, looking at the craft. She was needle-shaped and wingless, the bulge of the pilot cabin at the extreme aft. Tom’s magnetaser, by contrast, was mounted at the tip of the
Unstoppable
’s nose. The arrowlike form of the magnetic deflector, with its triangular head, now pierced an interlinked pair of tubular loops set at right angles to one another.

"Looks like a mighty powerful good luck charm," Bud stated.

They boarded and sealed the hatch. The big hangar door in front of them rolled upward. Tom activated the
Unstoppable
’s bank of small repelatrons, which were concealed within her hull, and the craft darted forward across the landing deck and on into space.

Rounding the bright horizon, they turned nose in the direction of the small blob of light that was distant Nestria.

The rugged moonlet took on its spherical form as they approached, wreathed in a thready haze of air and dotted with clouds drifting between the bare mountaintops. Tom checked the range dial constantly as they neared the danger zone. Presently Bud saw him switch on the magnetaser system as he cut all forward drive. "We’ll coast through unpowered," murmured Tom.

A faint high-pitched hum, conducted through the metal skeleton of the
Unstoppable
, could be heard in the cabin above the regular sound of its air recirculators. The intense forces emanating from the magnetaser could not be seen by human eyes, but the youths saw the outline of the field, like a teardrop with a flaring tail, on a special monitor.

"All nominal," reported Tom. "Power steady."

Bud threw a strained glance at the young inventor. "Are we hitting the antimatter barrier?"

Tom shook his head. "Not yet. About another minute and a half."

But in less than that time there was a change. Sparks and lightning-like flares of white-violet light began to sparkle around the magnetaser’s arrowhead. "Loose atoms at the margins filtering through," Tom explained. "Even the magnetaser can’t ward off absolutely everything. Our Inertite will protect us against energies at that level."

"Oh, I wasn’t worried, pal," said Bud, making no attempt to sound convincing.

In a moment the monitor dials began to waver. Tom looked up at his chum. "This is it. We’re entering the thick of the barrier. Now it’s all up to fate and the magnetaser."

Would it enable them to pierce the barrier safely?

Tom Swift’s invention had a startling, dramatic effect on the Great Wall as they plunged into it. A weird, luminous miasma coalesced in front of their prow, brilliantly glowing in neon colors and spreading miles off into space in all directions. Immediately in front of them, like the center of a cyclone, a dark hole had opened up. Centered in the gap was the expanding globe of their destination.

The tension became almost unbearable as the seconds ticked by and the space cloud crackled, visually, with energy. At last Bud heard Tom give a slow sigh of relief.

"Okay—at ease, spaceman," he told his copilot. "We seem to be getting through in one piece!" As Tom spoke the storm of light suddenly faded away. They were through!

Bud Barclay let out a joyful whoop. The barrier breakthrough had filled him with fresh spirit. "So much for the Great Wall!" he cheered.

Tom was not in any mood for cheering. "So much for the
easy
part," he noted soberly.