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.