"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 10 - And His Ultrasonic Cycloplane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

"Are you giving up?" George Hedron inquired.
"Not by a long shot!" vowed the young inventor. "Slim, you make a landing
somewhere and I'll try to get through in the Kangaroo Kuh."
The Kub, a midget jet plane, was one of two pint-sized aircraft carried in the
vast cargo hold of the Flying Lab. The other was a tiny helicopter called the
Skeeter.
The jungle terrain below offered few open spaces large enough for landing
the Sky Queen. The nearest spot was a valley, about fifteen miles from the
slopes of the volcanoes. When they reached it, Tom said:
"That'll do. Take over, Slim."
Leaving his copilot at the controls, Tom
BETWEEN VOLCANOES 47
scrambled below to the ship's hangar space. A flick of a wall button opened
the sliding aluminum doors of the rear cargo port.
Slipping into the cockpit of the Kangaroo Kub, Tom locked the canopy and
hastily warmed up the engine.
"All set, Slim," he signaled into his mike.
With a swoosh the Flying Lab nosed upward in a steep climb. Tom fired a
cartridge to release the chocks, and the tiny jet shot from the hangar.
Once air-borne, the Kub was steered back toward the pass. But almost as
soon as Tom penetrated the storm area, he realized that the odds were
hopeless.
Seized by the violent crosscurrents, the small craft was tossed and buffeted
like a feather in a windstorm. Tom felt a wave of panic as the stubby jet failed to
respond to its controls.
"I'd better cut back on the throttle!" Tom said to himself.
As the jet thrust slackened, the plane teetered perilously on the brink of a
stall. Tom waited for the split-second bite as its controls took hold, then hauled
up its nose and "poured on the coal." The Kub zoomed upward like a comet!
"Whew!" Tom felt his heart pounding with relief. "Well, there goes that idea!"
Disappointed but far from defeated, the young inventor streaked toward the
jungle clearing where the Sky Queen had already landed. Slim and his flight crew
had hastily rigged a special arresting gear, so Tom was able to set down the
48 ULTRASONIC CYCLOPLANE
midget jet without trouble and let it roll into the hangar.
"Any luck?" Doc Simpson voiced the question of the whole group as Tom
climbed out oг the cockpit.
Tom shook his head glumly. "Not yet. The Kub wouldn't handle in the storm.
But that doesn't mean we're licked. I'll try again-next time in the copter."
Whirling aloft in the Skeeter a few moments later, Tom headed back to the
extinct volcanoes. This craft responded well on the fringes of the storm, but as
Tom neared the center of turbulence between the peaks, the helicopter began to
shudder violently. Tom's muscles ached from the strain of fighting the controls.
Built for short hops and delicate maneuvering, the Skeeter began to groan
and screech under the battering punishment of the storm winds.
"A couple more minutes of this could tear the Skeeter apart!" Tom realized
grimly.
Discouraged, he gave up and flew back to the landing spot. As the whirlybird
settled to earth, Tom saw Arv Hanson clamber excitedly from the Sky Queen's
hatch and come on a run to greet him.