"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 01 - And His Flying Lab" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

"Do you think this was rocketed into space by creatures on another planet,"
Hank asked, "and that they were trying to send a message to Earth? It might
even have been meant for you Swifts."
"If so, the meteor was launched with pin-point precision," Tom remarked.
"Have you any idea what those symbols mean?" Hank asked.
"I believe they're a code expressed in equations," Mr. Swift answered.
He and Tom pulled notebooks from their pockets and began to do some
figuring. After covering a page, Tom looked up, a baffled expression on his
face.
"It will take more than one notebook to work this out," he said. "It will have to
wait. I want to find out if the earth tremor damaged the Flying Lab."
He hurried up the ladder, followed by his father and Hank. The Swifts retraced
their steps to a
4 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB
building near the private entrance. Its roof was large and flat and only a few
feet above the ground. Once more Tom took the electronic key from his
pocket and flicked it to another combination.
The door to the underground hangar opened. He and his father descended
the long, wide stairway of burnished steel.
Before them on the underground floor stood the Flying Lab, its tremendous
silver body and V-swept wings almost filling the hangar. At first glance, no
damage was apparent, but Tom went methodically from section to section
before he was satisfied that no harm had come to his prized ship.
Meanwhile, Mr. Swift had gone to the private office in the underground
hangar, which he shared with Tom, to continue working on the mathematical
puzzle which had come hurtling out of space. In this office the Swifts' most
valuable plans were kept and secret conferences were held. Tom arrived
presently to report that the Flying Lab had not been damaged.
"If she weathered that earth tremor," Mr. Swift remarked, "she certainly is a
sturdy bird. You can be proud of her, Tom."
"But even with the atomic engines and jet lifters, she'd never be able to stay in
flight without your wonderful invention, DadЧthe one Mother named after us."
"Oh, you mean the Tomasite plastic," Mr. Swift said. "Anyway, encasing the
nuclear reactors with it is better than the old-type lead and concrete
A MESSAGE FROM SPACE 5
shields, and I believe it will absorb the radiation more effectively."
Mr. Swift took great delight in the fact that Tom, from earliest childhood, had
shown all his father's flair for invention. As soon as the boy was old enough to
study science, his father had been his teacher. As a result, Tom was known
as one of the best-informed young inventors in the entire country.
Furthermore, because of his great interest in flying, Tom had become an
expert pilot and had learned everything there was to know about the building
of aircraft. A few months before, he had surprised his father with the idea of a
flying laboratory to use in experiments.
For several years Mr. Swift had been convinced that both the ionosphere and
the earth's depths held valuable secrets which could be useful to man. When
Tom had shown him plans for the Flying Lab, he had urged his son to build
the mammoth ship without delay.
"Did you figure anything out of those symbols?" Tom asked his father.
"Not yet. This quadrant within a quadrantЧ"