Tom Swift Jr #35, Prologue: A Ghost From The Past

A bolt of lightning flashed across the dark sky, briefly distracting Tom Swift Jr. from the blueprints he had been reading. The nineteen-year-old scientist looked out his laboratory window and quietly watched the thunderstorm rage outside. The Citadel was located in southern Arizona and was bone-dry for most of the year, but Tom had visited the lab on one of its rare rainy days. Looks like quite a storm out there, the young inventor thought to himself. But at least there’s peace in here. I could use a little of that after what I’ve been through.

It had been a long day for Tom, and he was glad to at have a moment of respite. The famous inventor was curled up in an overstuffed easy chair, browsing through the contents of an old yellow binder. Every now and then he would stop on a page and smile. The documents he had in his hands were bringing back memories, and it didn’t take him long to get lost once more in his thoughts.

The past few months had been particularly stressful for him. Ever since he returned from his first interstellar voyage he had been trying to put together an expedition to Neptune. It was there that he had been forced to abandon the Challenger after it was all-but-destroyed in a fierce battle with the Space Legion, and his thoughts had been there ever since. Tom had created many amazing inventions in his career, but the Challenger had a special place in his heart. It was the Challenger that took him to the moon when when he was racing against odds to beat the Brungarians. It was the Challenger that had taken him to Venus as he fought to save Bud Barclay’s life. It had even taken him hundreds of light-years into deep space during his successful attempt to save an alien race on Mars. But now the ship of his dreams was slowly orbiting the great gas giant, waiting for its creator to come and rescue it.

He would have been out there and back by now but the rescue attempt had proven more difficult than he had first imagined. Since there was no viable way to tow the enormous ship back to Earth, he decided to mount a mission to repair it in space – or at least patch it up enough to fly back to Earth. This translated into a lot of sleepless nights as he worked to gather the necessary parts and manpower. The mission was complicated by the fact that a group of aliens on Mars wanted to go with him to establish a colony there, and that meant an enormous amount of coordination had to take place. His space friends were eager to help, but he had never been involved in an interplanetary joint venture before, and was rapidly learning that he’d much rather leave business management to his father and just stick to inventing. And, if all that wasn’t enough, Tom had also run into serious difficulty when trying to perfect his latest invention, the claytronic stones.

The combined stress eventually proved too much for Tom and he decided to flee his home in Shopton, New York and seek a little solitude in his private laboratory at the Citadel. The facility had been built by Swift Enterprises years ago to manufacture plutonium, but fusion technology was quickly making nuclear fission obsolete. While it was still a viable business, Tom knew that the plant’s days were numbered. As lightning flashed across the Arizona sky Tom gazed out the plate-glass window, browsed through the old binder, and became lost in a sea of memories.

After several hours of bliss the young man was rudely interrupted with a person materialized in the middle of his laboratory. Startled, Tom quickly set the binder down and leaped to his feet, and then smiled when he saw who it was.

“Bud!” he said, walking toward the individual. Bud Barclay had been his best friend and loyal companion through many adventures. The two had battled vicious enemies at the bottom of the sea, in the depths of space, and in the jungles of South America. As much as Tom was enjoying his solitude he valued the presence of his friend.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Tom asked, as he shook his hand and offered him a seat. “I thought you were on Fearing putting the last touches on the rescue mission. Aren’t we supposed to leave next week?”

Bud nodded. “Well, I was, but then I had a question to ask you, and nobody knew where you were. I’ve spent hours trying to track you down! Do you realize that I was about to file a missing persons report?”

Tom laughed as the two friends sat down. “I haven’t been gone that long, fly boy. But you’re right – I suppose I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”

Bud grinned. “All you have to do is disappear for a few minutes and the whole world falls apart! But I don’t blame you, skipper. I’ve been trying to get you to take a vacation for months. It’s about time you started taking my advice!”

Tom stretched out in the chair and relaxed. “And so I’ve done exactly that! It’s been nice and peaceful here this evening, with no one to pester me but the wind and the rain. In fact, I bet you’d still be looking for me if I hadn’t installed Transmittatons everywhere. If you ask me that device makes it entirely too easy to zip from place to place. A man can hardly get a moment’s peace anymore!”

“Matter transmission is the best thing you’ve ever done, Tom. Do you know how long it would have taken me to fly from Shopton to the Citadel? But thanks to your genius, I can just press a button and – whammo! – here I am. Going to the Citadel was a nice touch, by the way. We’re hardly ever here. I even checked out Nestria and the Outpost in Space before I thought of your old plutonium plant.”

Tom smiled. “You really have been everywhere! Man. But we have been here occasionally, you know. Back when I was working on my Giant Robot we were here all the time. But I suppose that was quite a few inventions ago.”

Bud nodded. “I remember that! Those were good times – I still can’t believe you got that ungainly contraption to play tennis. Although you know, maybe we’d spend more time here if it wasn’t named the Citadel. Do you realize what a terribly unglamorous name that is?”

Tom laughed. “You and your penchant for renaming things! Do I have any inventions left that you haven’t suggested renaming? I don’t know what’s gotten into you.”

Bud smiled. “Hey, what’s a sidekick for other than offering brilliant and witty suggestions? But, seriously, Tom. Why not call it Atom City or something? You could have people lining up to come out here! We could charge admission or something after the plant gets mothballed.”

Tom glanced at the binder on the table, and a soft look appeared on his face. “If anything, Bud, it should have been named the Irene Goddard Research Institute. If it wasn’t for her Dad never would have survived to build this place. The Citadel wasn’t our first nuclear project on this particular piece of real estate, you know.”

Bud saw the folder on the table and picked it up. “Project Desert Eagle! Wow – now there’s a blast from the past. You quit giving your inventions cool project names shortly after I came on board.” Tom’s friend looked at him and smiled. “So that’s why you’re here. You’ve been thinking about the hyperplane project, haven’t you?”

Tom clasped his hands together and nodded. “You really can’t blame me, you know. It was my very first invention after I graduated from school. I’d have to say that it was my biggest success and my most dismal failure. It was the start of my career as an inventor, and it came closer to destroying Swift Enterprises than anything else I’ve ever done. But I have to say I owe it all to Irene.”

“And your trusty sidekick,” Bud quipped. “But say, I don’t think I ever heard the whole story. I only got involved at the very end, when you decided to invade Brungaria all by yourself.”

Tom nodded. “I remember that. The whole incident was so classified that I don’t think even Sandy has heard the real story. But – since you were involved – how would you like to hear the whole story?”

Bud settled down into the chair with glee. “Sounds like a blast, skipper! I’m ready for a long tale of science and adventure.”

Tom smiled. “It all started on the day my father perfected tomasite…”