Tom Swift Jr #34, Chapter 2: SOS from Space!

Bud floored the accelerator and the atomicar sped forward. “We’ll be there in less than five minutes – much less, if I have anything to say about it,” he said grimly.

As Tom watched the speed of the atomicar climb to over 200 mph he spoke up. “What is the nature of the emergency? Has something gone wrong with the Outpost in Space?” Tom was referring to the space station that he had built in low earth orbit to manufacture his solar batteries.

“It’s nothing like that, Tom. It’s your space friends. They’re sending you an urgent SOS!”

Some time previous, a meteor engraved with strange symbols had landed inside Swift Enterprise grounds. Tom and his father had managed to decode the symbols and discovered that they were written by an alien race that apparently lived on Mars. The Swifts were able to find a way to send a message back to their new space friends, and over time the two parties had formed a friendship. At one point the aliens had even steered an asteroid into Earth orbit, which the Swifts had colonized and named Nestria. Occasionally the space friends would request their assistance, although it had been a long time since they had been in dire need.

“Can you relay the message?” Tom asked.

“I’m afraid not. The computer can’t translate it.”

Tom whistled. “It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a message like that. We’ll be there pronto!”

The messages from the space friends were always encoded in a mathematical language that had proven very difficult to translate. Over time the Swifts had learned the meaning of many space symbols and created an electronic brain that could automatically translate the messages. In the event that a new symbol was transmitted, however, the translator would fail and the Swifts would have to decode the message manually.

“How far you do think we are from the compound?” Tom asked.

Bud eyed the odometer, which he had maxed out at 225 mph. “We’ll be there in less than two minutes. You really covered some distance in that repela-suit of yours!”

The young inventor nodded, and then stared off into the distance. His friend could tell that he was already lost in thought. “You know, it’s been a while since we’ve had an urgent request from them. The last time we got an SOS like this was when a plague was decimating their food supply. Do you remember that episode?”

Bud laughed. “How could I possibly forget our first trip to the moon, Tom? Boy, that was an adventure! The Brungarians almost did us in that time. If it hadn’t been for your repelatrons their missiles would have spread our remains all over the lunar surface!”

“And what have our space friends asked us to do since then?”

Bud thought for a moment. “Hmmm. Well, the most recent favor they’ve asked of us was us to go under the ocean floor and retrieve a cache of information. You had to build your subocean geotron in order to reach it.”

“Do you remember what that information was for?”

“I don’t think they were ever very clear on its purpose. Didn’t they say it contained some kind of gas-magnetic-field data? I think they wanted it so they could learn how to survive on Earth. But what are you getting at?”

“Here’s the thing, Bud. We know that at one time they actually lived on this planet, right?”

Bud nodded. “I guess you could say that. We did see remains of settlements on Easter Island, and in the city of gold that you found at the bottom of the ocean. Come to think of it, I think we found some traces of them in that village in Mexico, too – the one where you first field-tested the electronic retroscope.”

“Right. So we know that they used to have a range of settlements right here on Earth. But now, centuries later, they’re trying to learn how to survive in this atmosphere. How can it be possible, Bud, that they no longer have the ability to do a simple thing like set foot on this world, and yet they can move an entire satellite into orbit?”

By this time the sprawling Swift Enterprise complex had appeared on the horizon. Bud slowed the atomicar down and steered it toward the communications center. “I’ll set down inside the walls right beside the center’s parking lot, Tom – this car is registered with the security system and its presence shouldn’t alert your robotic security sentries.”

Tom smiled. “I appreciate it, Bud. I’d rather not be decimated by my own inventions!”

“I always hate it when that happens,” Bud agreed.

After making sure that no innocent bystanders were in the way Bud settled the car down into a parking spot. “But, getting back to your question, Tom, I just really don’t know. Now that you put it that way it does seem strange. Maybe something happened to them since they lived here.”

“Exactly, Bud. Why did they leave? What disaster has brought their once-mighty civilization to its knees – if that is what happened?”

Bud shook his head. “I don’t know, Tom, but there is one way to find out!”

The two of them raced inside the communications center, where they met the lady who had contacted them over the radio. “I’m sorry I couldn’t translate the message for you, Tom,” she began. Tom recognized her as Kathy Foster, the compound’s chief radio officer.

“It’s no problem, Kathy. Say, can you tell Arv to get the repela-suit out of the trunk of our car? It’s the red atomicar that’s parked in the lot outside. There are a few changes I’d like him to make to the production units – tell him I’ll meet with him tomorrow morning to discuss them.” Arv Hanson was a dedicated Swift Enterprise employee who had been with the firm as long as Tom could remember. He was Tom’s chief model-maker and often took Tom’s engineering drawings and used them to produce working models of his inventions.

“Absolutely, Tom. I’ll take care of it right away!”

As Kathy walked off to get in touch with Arv the young inventor looked over the space message that had been picked up by the communications array. Without saying anything he took a stack of printouts from the machine, walked over to a nearby desk, and sat down. He removed a pencil from his pocket and began making some initial sketches on the printouts. Bud sat in silence and watched his friend, but as the minutes ticked by Bud began to realize that Tom was not making progress.

After a half an hour had passed Tom shoved the pencil aside and sighed. “This is a mess, Bud.”

“Do you think the message got garbled?” Bud asked.

Tom shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I understand some of these symbols, but a lot of them are entirely new, and they’re arranging them in an unusual manner. It’s definitely an urgent message, but I can’t make any sense out of it.”

“Why not ask for clarification?”

Tom smiled wryly. “I’ll give that a shot, Bud, but do you know what usually happens when we ask them for clarification?”

Bud nodded. “Yeah, I know. We get told there isn’t any other way to phrase it.”

“And they’re probably right, too. It’s incredibly difficult to transmit non-mathematical ideas using only mathematical symbols. In a way it’s amazing we’ve been able to communicate as well as we have.”

“You really should teach them English, Tom!”

Tom laughed. “I tried that with Exman, remember?” Tom was referring to a being made entirely of energy that was sent to Earth by the space friends. The being had remained with Tom for a while and learned a great deal their planet before he was sent back into space.

Bud stood up and stretched. “True, true. Say, I’ll go send that message asking for clarification. If they send anything useful back I’ll let you know.”

Tom nodded. “In the meantime, I’ll go get in touch with my dad. If anyone can help me decode these symbols it would be him.”

As Bud walked off to send the message to their space friends Tom reached over on the desk and activated the videophone. Swift Enterprises had their own private TV network that they used to communicate with the many branches of the company. This time Tom was attempting to get in touch with the Citadel.

A few minutes later Tom’s father appeared on the videophone. “It’s good to see you, Son.”

“It’s good to see you too, Dad. How is your fusion project going?”

Tom Sr. smiled. “Outstanding! Even better than I hoped. The production reactor is online and exceeding our expectations. I’ve received word that our colony on the Moon has been able to start mining commercial amounts of helium 3, and Ned Newton has already started receiving orders!”

“That’s terrific! I think you’ve opened a new chapter in history. These reactors will provide clean, safe, dependable energy for millions of people!”

Tom Sr. nodded. “I’m sure they will, but I suspect you didn’t call me to congratulate me on the success of my project! What’s on your mind?”

Tom Jr. tapped a few keys on the videophone. “I’m sending over a message that we just received from our space friends. I think they want our help, but I’m having trouble trying to decode the message. I was wondering if you could help me work through it.”

A few moments later Tom saw his father walk out of sight and return with a stack of paper. As he thumbed through them he began nodding his head. “I see what you mean! This does look like a challenge. Let’s work together on this and see what we can find out.”

Bud returned a few minutes later. “You’re out of luck, skipper. The space friends said they’ve told us all they can. It’s up to you to work it out!”

Tom Jr. nodded. “Then I guess we need to get at it, Dad. Bud, this could take a while.”

Bud nodded. “I’ve got some errands I need to run. I’ll be back around 8pm to check on you two. Don’t make any trips to space without me!”

The two Swifts spent the next several hours working out the content of the message. At around eight o’clock Bud walked back into the communications center. When Tom Jr. saw him he put his pencil back down, and then stood up and stretched.

“So how goes it, genius boy?” Bud asked.

Tom sat back down in the desk chair and sighed. “I think we’re close, Bud, but we’re still missing something. There’s a whole section of numbers here that we haven’t been able to make heads or tails of.”

His father nodded. “Let’s go over what we do know. I think we both agree that the main part of the message can be translated as follows:”

SPACE FRIENDS TO SWIFTS. WE NEED YOUR HELP ON A MISSION OF DIRE IMPORTANCE. OUR RACE IS BEING THREATENED WITH IMMINENT EXTINCTION. OVER TIME WE HAVE LOST THE ABILITY TO LEAVE OUR WORLD AND OUR BIOSPHERE IS ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE. IN ORDER TO SURVIVE WE NEED YOU TO RETRIEVE A DEVICE THAT WE BUILT LONG AGO AND BRING IT TO US ON MARS. THE DEVICE CAN BE FOUND AT –

Tom Jr. nodded. “Which is followed by the coordinates. What puzzles me is that we’ve received coordinates from them before. But these numbers are like nothing I’ve ever seen. There are too many of them!”

A voice suddenly boomed out over the videophone. “Well, brand my boots, what’s goin’ on here?” Tom Jr. saw Chow Winkler, Swift Enterprises’ stout cook, walk into view. The Swifts had met the good-natured cook years ago when Tom’s father was building the Citadel, and he had been a loyal companion on many adventures ever since. Chow was wearing an incredibly flashy shirt, with crisscrossed red and yellow patterns that were highlighted with sequins. Chow’s weakness for bright shirts was a constant source of humor among Enterprise employees.

Tom Jr. smiled. “Chow! It’s good to see you again. How’s the southwest been treating you?”

Chow grinned. “It’s been swell bein’ down here again with your dad, Tom. I sure miss Shopton though! Yer dad tells me he’s about wrapped up his work and we can be heading back home tomorrow. But say, what’s all this about your space friends? Are they askin’ us to go out in space and run a mission for ’em?”

Tom Jr’s eyes suddenly got wide. “That’s it, Chow! You’ve done it! These aren’t coordinates for a location on Earth. They’re for a location in space!”

The young scientist quickly scribbled some equations on a piece of paper. His jaw dropped. “Why, if my interpretation is correct, I think our space friends want us to retrieve something they left on a planet hundreds of light-years away!”