"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 07 - And His Diving Seacopter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

"But he's a topnotch scientist himself!" Bud pointed out. "He wouldn't stoop to
such a thing."
"That's just it." Tom frowned. "He's a man with a fine reputation in research. I
just can't believe he would do such a thing!"
Munson Wickliffe presided over a well-equipped laboratory in the nearby
town of Thes-saly, where he kept a corps of eager young scientists working
around the clock. He was affluent, and had a reputation beyond reproach.
"Just the same, you should pay him a visit," said tall, handsome Mr. Swift,
whom Tom greatly resembled.
"Okay, Dad. I'll find out what I can."
"And I'll pass the word to our security division," Bud offered.
The two eighteen-year-old companions hurried off. Bud headed for the
plant's security building,
4 DIVING SEACOPTER
where he reported the theft to Harlan Ames, the chief officer. Tom hopped
into a jeep and roared across the grounds of the experimental station-a vast,
four-mile-square enclosure of flat-topped modern buildings and gleaming white
airstrips.
At the north end of the station, Tom climbed into his heliplane and whirred
aloft. A few minutes after landing on Wickliffe's airstrip he was ushered into the
president's office.
Wickliffe, a six-foot, slender man, with sparse black hair and wearing
glasses, stepped from behind his desk to shake hands. "Hardly expected to see
you again so soon, my dear fellow. Please sit down. What has brought you
here?"
As Tom politely explained about the missing space dictionary, Munson
seemed to freeze. He glared at the young inventor coldly. "Are you by any
chance implying that / might have taken your code book?" he snapped.
"Not at all, sir," said Tom. "But since you were in the office before the
dictionary disappeared, we wondered if you might have noticed anything to give
us a clue as to who the thief might be."
"Well, I can't! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some important work of my
own to take care of," the man replied icily.
Tom flushed. "I'm sorry to have bothered you," he said, rising. "Dad and I feel
this is a very important matter."
When Tom returned to Shopton, he gave his
THE STOLEN CODE 5
father a quick report on the unsatisfactory interview.
"Too bad Wickliffe took the wrong attitude," the elder inventor said. "Leaves
us as much in the dark as ever."
"Have you started working on another dictionary, Dad?" Tom inquired.
"Yes, I'm writing down all the symbols and meanings that I can recall or find
in my notes. May help us a bit, though it won't be complete. Suppose you put
down all you can think of. We certainly were foolish not to make duplicate copies
of our computations."
As he spoke, Bud walked in to report that the security police were launching
a full-scale investigation of the theft. Then, trying to cut through the gloom, he
turned to Tom and asked:
"Genius boy, any new inventions up your sleeve?"
Instantly Tom's eyes twinkled. "Well, it's a little too big to go up my sleeve,