"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 16 - And the Cosmic Astronauts" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

The heliplane followed as the other jets and
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seacopters swarmed to the scene. Within moments they sighted the lifeboat,
wallowing oarless in the blue swells below. The Sea Hound descended to the
water and began taking the castaways aboard.
Tom hovered the heliplane low over the sea-copter and said, "Take over,
Bud!"
"Roger!"
Tom dropped a nylon cable ladder from the cabin and climbed down to the
Sea Hound's entry hatch. Mr. Swift followed.
Aboard the seacopter, Captain Church and his crewmen were already being
served mugs of steaming coffee. Although unshaven and somewhat grimy, they
looked none the worse for their brief ordeal.
"Thank heavens you're all safe!" Mr. Swift exclaimed. His eyes glowed with
relief as they swept over the grinning, grateful mariners.
Both Tom and his father shook hands warmly with everyone. "Feel up to
giving us the story?" Tom asked Captain Church, lean and young looking for his
forty years.
"As much as I know," the captain replied. "It happened just before we
changed watch at eight bells yesterday evening. A group of planes, without
markings, zeroed in on us and dropped at least three bombs."
The bombs, he went on, had burst just above deck, sending out a cloud of
steam and fumes which overpowered everyone aboard. When the
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captain and crew revived, they found themselves adrift in a lifeboat in broad
daylight, without oars, and the Sea Charger nowhere in sight.
"Then you have no clue as to who these-these sky pirates might have been?"
asked Mr. Swift, his brow furrowed in angry puzzlement.
"None at all, sir," Captain Church replied.
"We'd better notify Security at once!" Tom decided.
On the seacopter's radio the young inventor quickly made contact with
Harlan Ames. After reporting the rescue of the Sea Charger's crew, Tom relayed
Captain Church's story.
Ames was baffled. "Sounds fantastic," he commented. "I've already alerted
the Coast Guard and the Navy," he went on. "Both merchant shipping and
commercial aircraft have been given a description of the Sea Charger and
instructed to keep a lookout, but no word yet."
"Good enough, Harlan. We'll keep in touch." Tom signed off.
After a quick conference, the Swifts decided that the rescued mariners
should be flown back to Fearing for a medical checkup. Meanwhile, Tom and
Bud would transfer to the Sea Hound and lead a systematic search for the
hijacked experimental ship.
"I believe our aircraft should fan out and make a northerly, or perhaps
northeasterly, sweep of Atlantic waters," Tom mused.
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"Why so?" Mr Swift asked.
Tom pointed to a map spread out on the Sea Hound's chart desk. "Captain
Church radioed his position based on a time-and-drift estimate from the spot
where the attack occurred. Right?"
The captain nodded.