And the mystery comet, p.1
And the Mystery Comet, page 1
TOM SWIFT
AND THE MYSTERY COMET
BY
VICTOR APPLETON II
Tom Swift Jr. -. 28
The Tom Swift Jr. Series:
1 Tom Swift and his Flying Lab (1954)
2 Tom Swift and his Jetmarine (1954)
3 Tom Swift and his Rocket Ship (1954)
4 Tom Swift and his Giant Robot (1954)
5 Tom Swift and his Atomic Earth Blaster (1954)
6 Tom Swift and his Outpost in Space (1955)
7 Tom Swift and his Diving Seacopter (1956)
8 Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire (1956)
9 Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite (1956)
10 Tom Swift and his Ultrasonic Cycloplane (1957)
11 Tom Swift and his Deep-Sea Hydrodome (1958)
12 Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon (1958)
13 Tom Swift and his Space Solartron (1958)
14 Tom Swift and his Electronic Retroscope (1959)
15 Tom Swift and his Spectromarine Selector (1960)
16 Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts (1960)
17 Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961)
18 Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung (1961)
19 Tom Swift and his Triphibian Atomicar (1962)
20 Tom Swift and his Megascope Space Prober (1962)
21 Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (1963)
22 Tom Swift and his Repelatron Skyway (1963
23 Tom Swift and his Aquatomic Tracker (1964)
24 Tom Swift and his 3D Telejector (1964)
25 Tom Swift and his Polar-Ray Dynasphere (1965)
26 Tom Swift and his Sonic Boom Trap (1965)
27 Tom Swift and his Subocean Geotron (1966)
28 Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet (1966)
29 Tom Swift and the Captive Planetoid (1967)
30 Tom Swift and his G-Force Inverter (1968)
31 Tom Swift and his Dyna-4 Capsule (1969)
32 Tom Swift and his Cosmotron Express (1970)
33 Tom Swift and the Galaxy Ghosts (1971)
From the front: Tom Swift Jr. Realizes one of his greatest ambitions when the U. S. Space agency commissions him to do a comet probe. With his latest invention, the telesampler, Tom hopes to glean unknown scientific facts from the next comet to pass near earth - and even, perhaps, make a manned landing. But his erstwhile enemies the Brungarians are a threat to the daring research project and U. S. Scientific prestige.
Meanwhile, weird unidentified flying objects blazing across earth's skies are causing the U. S. Department of Defense great concern. When Professor Feng, of the University of Heidelberg, gives Tom a strange clue to the UFO's - a clue which dates back to the Middle Ages - the young space scientist is soon caught up in a web o£ danger and intrigue.
How Tom succeeds in solving the complex riddle of the UFO's-just in time for a desperate race with a deadly comet as earth's fate hangs in the balance-makes one of the most tension-packed, thrilling stories in the Tom Swift series.
ILLUSTRATED BY RAY JOHNSON
GROSSET AND DUNLAP © 1966 BY GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.
All rights reserved published simultaneously in Canada
library of congress catalog card number Ac 66-10287
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CHAPTER I
DOOM GLOW
"Look! More fireworks!" Bud Barclay exclaimed.
Dazzling disks of red, blue, and yellow were zooming through the night sky over Lake Carlopa! Bud's pal, Tom Swift, and their two dates stared in astonishment. Tom's blond, blue-eyed sister Sandra murmured, "I thought the show was over!"
The teen-age foursome, which also included dark-haired Phyllis Newton, were at a Fourth-of-July dance on the Shopton Yacht Club terrace. The last skyrocket had exploded only moments before as the band played "Auld Lang Syne."
Now a fresh and startling spectacle was unfolding! Even the musicians stopped playing, awestruck as the brilliant disks swooped, circled, and zigzagged in perfect formation.
Tom's scalp prickled eerily. "Those aren't fireworks!" He gasped. "They're UFO's-unidentified flying objects!"
Phyl Newton shot a wide-eyed glance at the young inventor. "Tom, are you sure?"
"They must be! They certainly weren't launched from the fireworks barge, and they're just like the descriptions in the news stories!"
Recently a rash of UFO sightings had been reported in the newspapers, but few people had taken them seriously. Tom himself had been skeptical of the reports. Now he was seeing the strange objects with his own eyes!
A hubbub of excitement arose on the terrace as the word spread among the spectators.
"I don't believe it!" A woman cried out. "They can't be from outer space!"
A man's voice blurted, "It's no fake-they're really UFO's!"
Bud - a husky young flier and astronaut who like Tom was eighteen-grabbed Sandy's hand. "Come on! Let's look through the telescope up on the balcony!"
"Good idea!" Tom said. He put an arm around Phyl's waist and they hurried through the crowd after Bud and Sandy.
They had just reached the French doors which opened from the yacht-club ballroom when Tom felt a sharp poke in the ribs.
"Hey, big shot! You're the space know-it-all - where'd those things come from?"
The speaker was a red-haired, freckle-faced youth. Tom recognized him as Ranee Gorman, a Shopton High senior who took every opportunity to needle the young inventor.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Tom said with an even-tempered grin.
"Aw now, quit holding out on us." Ranee tried to detain Tom by clutching the lapel of his sport coat. "I'll bet you scientific masterminds at Swift Enterprises launched those UFO's!"
Tom brushed his hand away. "Guess again, pal. But thanks for the compliment."
Ranee's hooting laugh followed them. "It's probably all that hot air from your genius factory that keeps 'em up there I"
Bud scowled as the foursome hurried toward an inside staircase that led up to the balcony. "That wise guy! Why didn't you sock him, Tom?"
"Forget it. Ranee likes to have his little joke."
"He's just jealous of Tom," Sandy said with a smile of pride at her famous brother.
On the balcony, which was fitted out like a ship's bridge, they found an excited knot of people clustered around the telescope. All were clamoring for a view of the UFO's, which were still wheeling overhead like colored meteors.
Tom's group waited impatiently for a turn at the telescope. Bud grumbled, "Those things will be gone by the time we get a look!"
Just then an announcement came over the public-address system: "Tom Swift, please go to Swift Enterprises at once!"
"I wonder what's up?" Sandy asked.
"We can find out on the way," Tom replied. "Come on, let's go! If we get there fast enough, we may be able to pick up the UFO's on the megascope space prober." This recent invention of Tom's was an electronic telescope of potentially infinite range.
The four teenagers hurried down to the main floor. As they dashed out to the yacht club's parking lot, the weird sky objects continued their brilliant display. The dark blue waters of the boat basin sparkled with the reflection of their dazzling colors.
Tom's party climbed into Bud's red convertible and in a few moments they were speeding off along the highway that led to Swift Enterprises, on the outskirts of Shopton. At this vast, foursquare-mile experimental station, Tom and his distinguished scientist father, Tom Sr., Developed their amazing inventions.
"Do you suppose those UFO's are really from outer space?" Phyl asked excitedly.
Tom shrugged. "It's possible."
"Maybe it's a kookie idea," Bud put in, "but I'm wondering if they have anything to do with that wild rumor we heard today."
"What rumor?" Sandy queried.
The weird sky objects wheeled overhead like colored meteors Tom explained that the Swifts' overseas tele-caster had reported that a fantastic story was circulating among European scientists. The story hinted that an unnamed foreign space power was working on a spectacular comet project-something that would startle the world.
"A comet project!" Sandy's eyes widened. "Like the comet probe you're planning, Tom?"
"Could be, I guess. But the rumor sounded as if it were something a lot more dramatic."
"Jeepers, I hope the Brungarians aren't behind it!" Sandy said worriedly.
"So do I," Tom agreed. The same disturbing thought had already crossed his mind. More than once, spacemen from the dictator-ruled country of Brungaria had done their best to harass and thwart Swift space expeditions, both to the phantom satellite Nestria and the moon.
Tom switched on the convertible's short-wave radio and contacted Enterprises. To his surprise, the plant operator knew nothing about the yacht-club call.
"That's odd," Tom muttered aloud with a puzzled frown as he turned off the set. "Stop to think of it, though, the plant would have called me over my pocket pencil radio."
"Then who did call you?" Bud asked.
"Don't know. May have been Dad or Harlan Ames." Ames was the chief of Swift Enterprises' security staff.
Presently the high walls of the research station loomed ahead through the darkness. The guard at the entrance snapped a friendly salute and the massive, electronic-controlled gate swung open to admit the convertible.
Inside lay a sprawling complex of modern laboratories, workshops, and hangars. Slender steel radio masts rose against the night sky, topped by red aircraft obstruct ion lights.
Bud sped through the plant grounds, crisscrossed by ghostly white runways, and parked near the Main Building. The observatory dome at the top was open with the latticed, tubular antenna of the space prober poking out of the viewing slit.
Tom noticed a gleam of light from the office which he shared with his father. "I'll bet that's Dad up there now," Tom said. "He must have been the one who called me. Bud, why don't you take the girls up to the dome and I'll meet you there after I check with him."
"Okay. Don't gab too long, genius boy."
A few moments later Tom stepped off the elevator and hurried to the Swifts' double office, leaving his dark-haired pal to ascend to the observatory with Sandy and Phyl.
The office door opened as Tom turned the knob, and the lights were on, but he was surprised to find no one inside. The huge, luxuriously furnished room had deep-pile carpeting, comfortable leather lounge chairs, a conference table, and broad twin desks for father and son at opposite ends. Arranged about the office were models in metal and plastic of the Swifts' inventions.
"Maybe Dad's up in the dome, too," Tom thought. "I'll see if he left a note on my desk."
As he strode across the room, the lights suddenly went out! Tom froze to a halt. Was someone else in the office, or had the lights failed accidentally?
There was a strange glow from the top of his desk. Tom walked cautiously toward it, then gasped at what he saw. In glowing yellow fluorescent paint on his black-leather desk blotter was a crude drawing of a comet with the warning: DOOM TO TOM SWIFT!
The young inventor heard a slight noise behind him as he bent over the desk. He stiffened with a sudden sense of danger.
As he straightened up and whirled around, a hard blow caught him on the side of the head. Tom sank to the carpet with a groan!
CHAPTER II
THE FLYING GOAT
WHEN the elevator reached the observatory dome, Bud and the girls saw a tall man standing at the console of the space prober.
"Hi, Dad!" Sandy hugged her father. "We thought you were down in your office."
Mr. Swift turned in surprise as he switched off the megascope. Trimly built, with close-cropped graying hair, he looked like a slightly older Tom Jr. "Well! This is an unexpected pleasure!" Returning Sandy's hug, he smiled at Phyl and Bud. "What brings you youngsters up here at this time of night?"
Excitedly the three told about the UFO's.
"Are they still visible?" Mr. Swift asked.
"We hope so," Phyl said. "We could still see a flare of light in the sky from the direction of the lake." Sandy added, "From up here, the view should be perfect!"
Mr. Swift eagerly tuned the prober circuitry and rotated the dome to train the antenna toward Lake Carlopa. But the prober viewing screen showed only the night sky, with no trace of the dazzling colored disks.
"They're gone!" Sandy wailed in disappointment. "We're too late!"
Mr. Swift called the regional Air Traffic Control facility, and asked if they had had radar contact with the strange objects. The chief controller told him that nothing had appeared on their scopes other than normal traffic.
"Tough luck." Bud grimaced. "Speaking of being late, I wonder what's keeping Tom." He strode to a wall phone and rang the Swifts' office. No one answered. "Must be on his way up."
But after ten minutes Tom still had not appeared. Nor was there any response when Bud had him paged on the public-address system. Mr. Swift did not know who had called Tom at the yacht club.
Phyl giggled. "Maybe he's dozing off after all the excitement."
"More likely he has his nose buried in some book on fifth-dimensional astro-whizzics," Bud joked. "We may have to drag him out bodily."
Mr. Swift closed the observatory for the night, and all four went down to the office. They found the door unlocked but the office dark.
"It's not like Tom to go off without locking up." Mr. Swift frowned and called, "Anyone in here?" He switched on the lights to make sure.
Both Sandy and Phyl cried out in alarm. Tom lay sprawled unconscious near his desk!
They rushed toward him. As Mr. Swift examined his son, Tom's eyes flickered and Sandy hurried to bring spirits of ammonia from the first-aid cabinet. Presently Tom revived enough to tell what had happened.
Grim-faced, Mr. Swift said, "Switch on the patrol scope, Bud, while I call Security!"
Any intruder not wearing a special electronic wrist amulet designed to trap the radar impulses would show up as a blip on the various scopes installed about the research station. But Bud reported there was no indication on the screen.
"Wouldn't there be an automatic alarm if someone broke into the grounds?" Sandy asked.
"Only in the security office." Bud explained that the plant-wide alarm system had been disconnected recently to keep from warning any intruder that his presence had been detected.
Phil Radnor, Ames's blond, barrel-chested assistant, soon arrived with two security guards. "Whoever did it must be an employee," he declared.
Tom exchanged a worried glance with his father. "That's hard to believe, Rad."
"It's the only answer-unless one of the amulets has been stolen." Picking up the telephone, Radnor issued orders that a thorough search of the grounds and buildings be made.
Mr. Swift insisted on taking Tom to the Enterprises infirmary. Doc Simpson, the young plant medic, found no sign of serious injury.
Next morning at home Tom and his father talked over the night's events while Mrs. Swift, a slim, pretty woman, served breakfast.
"Those UFO's were really spectacular, Dad!" Tom said. "What's your opinion about them?"
"The whole thing seems fantastic, but we'll have to reserve judgment," Mr. Swift replied. "By the way, I've some news that may interest you, son. Last night I sighted a new comet."
"That's great!" Tom exclaimed. Since these heavenly bodies that sweep around the sun with glowing tails are named after their discoverers, he added, "Congratulations on Comet Swift!"
Mr. Swift smiled. "It's not official yet. I notified the Harvard Observatory, but of course it'll be a while before other observatories can confirm the sighting with ordinary telescopes."
Tom's eyes blazed with eager interest. "Do you think the comet may be suitable for my probe?" Recently the government had commissioned the famous young astronaut to carry out a scientific space probe of the next comet to pass near earth. Tom even hoped for a manned landing.
Mr. Swift replied, "My guess would be no, but it's hard to say until I've enough data to plot its orbit." Glancing at his watch, he switched on the TV set. "Wonder if there'll be any word on that rumored foreign comet project."
The morning news show came on the screen. The newscaster told about the weird colored disks seen over Lake Carlopa, then went on: "An even more startling story comes from overseas. Reliable sources report that Brungaria is planning to create a spectacular man-made comet! An official spokesman would not confirm the report, but he did say that if such a comet were launched, any probe of it by another country would be considered an unfriendly act."
Tom gasped. "Was that crack aimed at us?"
"Hmm." Mr. Swift's face wore a worried frown. "As far as I know, we're the only ones who are planning a comet probe - and Brungaria would certainly enjoy making trouble for the United States."
Mrs. Swift murmured, "Goodness, I hope not."
Tom patted her hand and grinned. "Don't worry, Mom - it's probably more of their phony propaganda. Anyhow, they can't put a 'Keep Off' sign on natural comets."
Nevertheless, both Tom and his father were concerned. As they drove to the plant, Mr. Swift mused aloud, "If the Brungarians have the scientific capability, there's no doubt that launching an artificial comet would be a valuable space experiment."
Tom commented, "Also a great publicity gimmick to show the world what space hotshots they are." He was silent for a moment. "Dad, you don't suppose that 'Doom' sign was a warning from the Brungarians?"
"I'm wondering the same thing," Mr. Swift confessed worriedly. "If so, it means that an enemy agent has access to Enterprises."
When their car pulled into the experimental station, an excited knot of employees were gathered around the Main Building.
Tom slid out from behind the wheel. "What's going on, Sam?" He asked a lab technician.
"Take a look up there-on top of the dome!"
