Tom Swift Jr #35, Chapter 12: Prepare to Launch

The flight controller anxiously relayed the information to Mark. Everyone in the control tower watched the radar scope as the Falcon II began slowing down and heading back to base.

“Do you think he’ll make it?” Irene asked nervously.

“I hope so,” Tom replied tensely. “But without accurate telemetry data I can’t tell what’s happening. If the engine shuts down or shows any signs of trouble he’ll have to ditch the jet, and that will make it much harder to figure out what went wrong.”

“The jet appears to still be handling well,” Tom’s father remarked quietly.

“For the moment,” his son replied. “Let’s just pray it stays that way.”

After a few tense minutes the atomic jet came within visual range of the control tower. With emergency response crews standing by the group watched as it came in for a landing. When the Falcon II finally touched down on the runway everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Tom Jr. was the first to speak up. “Tell the emergency crews to take the plane and decontaminate it, and have Mark brought to the infirmary.”

“He’s on his way now,” one of the flight controllers replied.

Tom nodded. He then turned to Irene. “I think all we can do now is wait. Once the ground crew finishes their work on the plane we should be able to take apart the engine and tell what went wrong. At this point I really don’t have any guesses.”

“The radiation leak really concerns me,” Irene said. “Having a shielding failure is one of the worst things that could happen aside from a complete reactor meltdown. I was worried about this.”

“But we will solve it,” Tom Jr. said confidently.

With the crisis behind them the group separated. Irene wheeled Tom back to his laboratory, where he spent the rest of the day examining the blueprints for the Sampson engine. The following day the ground crews finished their work on the plane, and Tom and Irene went to the hangar to investigate the jet’s failure. Since Tom could not walk he stayed on the sidelines and directed a group of workers as they dismantled the jet. Irene pitched in as well, and by the following day they had their answer.

“It was definitely not a parts failure,” Irene explained. “This is a design flaw. The Tomasite shielding just isn’t effective. Oh, it’s shielding all right, but the way the engine is designed the radiation isn’t being completely contained. Radiation is leaking into the interior of the jet. When the plane was going at subsonic speeds the reactor was basically idling so there wasn’t enough radiation to notice. However, once we ramped up the thrust it started registering on the cockpit’s radiation detector.”

“Oh boy,” Tom said weakly. “What a disaster! I am so glad we caught this now.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I made a mistake like that. By the way, how is Mark doing?”

“He’s fine,” Irene replied. “He got a pretty good dose of radiation, but it’s nowhere near a lethal amount. Of course, had the radiation gone unnoticed he would have run into problems pretty quick. Even an hour’s flight at Mach 3 would have made him pretty sick. And if the plane been going at Mach 15 with the supersized reactor wide-open, well – ”

“Right,” Tom said thoughtfully. He stared at the dismantled atomic engine and let his mind wander. “You know, Ace, this isn’t going to be an easy problem to solve. I’m going to need to redesign the shielding entirely. This will take some time.”

Irene smiled. “So you think you can have something ready by this evening?”

Tom laughed. “We’ll see.”

As Irene predicted, the following morning Tom had a new set of blueprints ready. The rest of the week was spent rebuilding the engine. Once again, Tom found himself forced to sit on the sidelines while Irene rebuilt the atomic reactor.

“I think this will work pretty well,” Irene said at the end of another long day. “You had to make some fundamental changes but it really nailed the problem. You have a tremendous ability to rapidly solve problems! I wish I could do that.”

Tom smiled. “I come by it honestly, I think. Dad’s the same way. Did you see how much energy he is getting from his new Tomasite reactor?”

Irene nodded. “It’s amazing! It’s only been two days since he turned it on and already it’s stabilized and running wide-open. I was sure he would need weeks of trial runs before he got it to work, but I was wrong. I just can’t figure out what he’s going to do with that much surplus energy. It’s not like there are power lines stretching from here to Nitro.”

Tom blushed, and Irene looked at him quizzically. “You’re up to something, kid,” the red-headed girl said, wagging her finger at him. “And one of these days I’m going to find out what it is.”

“You certainly will,” Tom promised. “By the way, has Dad said anything else about the power plant he’s building in New York City?”

Irene nodded. “It’s going pretty well. Your Dad hopes to have it up and running by the end of the summer.”

“He’s certainly moving rapidly!” Tom remarked.

“Your dad never was one to let the grass grow under his feet. I’ve heard that he’s already breaking ground on a rocket base at Fearing Island. He’s got his eye fixed on space, skipper, and I think he’s expecting you to lead the way.”

Tom laughed. “One project at a time, Ace. Let’s wrap up the hyperplane first. I’d at least like to reach the horizon before I start exploring beyond it!”

When Irene finished rebuilding the Sampson engine Tom and Irene ran it through a battery of tests. Tom felt particularly bad for endangering Mark Spring’s life and wanted to make absolutely sure that the atomic engine would not leak radiation under any circumstances. After two weeks of exhaustive testing the young inventor was satisfied and scheduled another trial run of his jet.

To Tom’s surprise Mark once again volunteered to test the rebuilt Falcon II, claiming that he had the utmost confidence in the Swifts and that problems were just part of the territory. Tom reluctantly agreed, and one bright morning in early June the Falcon II once again climbed into the skies. To Tom’s great relief the test was a success! No radiation was detected in the cockpit, and when the emergency personnel scrubbed the plane down after it landed they were unable to find any signs of a radiation leak.

Tom continued to test the jet for the remainder of the month, but at last he was satisfied that he had fixed the radiation problem. In order to celebrate his success the Swifts had a cookout at the Institute one fine summer evening. Chow eagerly volunteered to do the cooking. As always, the happy-go-lucky cook provided far more food than the Swift family could eat. Thick grilled steaks were piled high on picnic tables, accompanied by grilled corn, baked potatoes, yeast rolls, and fresh green vegetables.

“This is delicious, Chow,” Tom said, as he helped himself to a second steak. “You really know how to cook!”

“Aw, shucks, ‘twern’t nothin’,” the cook replied. “I jes’ hate to see a growin’ boy go hungry. You hardly ever eat anything, son. It’s no wonder you’re as skinny as a bean pole.”

Tom thought back to all the meals the loyal cook had brought into his lab that had gone uneaten. He turned red. “Sorry about that. I just get caught up in inventing sometimes.”

“I can tell,” Tom Sr. remarked, smiling. “Your atomic engine is a wonder! It is truly a marvel of the age. By the way, Ned was delighted to receive the blueprints. I think Hank Sterling is already working on a plan to mass-produce it.”

“Ned will have the actual jet soon,” Tom Jr. said. “Mark Spring is going to fly it to our California testing center tomorrow morning.”

“Now that there’s a real shame,” Chow interjected. “I was hopin’ I’d get to fly it.”

Tom’s eyes grew wide. “You mean to tell me that you’re a pilot?”

Chow nodded. “Well, o’course, son. Who d’ya think was acting as copilot the day we met? ‘Twern’t anyone on that old bucket but Thorndyke and me. I’ve been flyin’ fer years.”

Tom shook his head in wonder. “I had no idea! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Chow shrugged. “You never asked.”

Tom’s father laughed. “Is there anything else we should know about you, Chow?”

The balding cook thought for a moment. “I always did want to be a spaceman,” he replied. “‘Course, I figger it won’t be long before you Swifts go gallivantin’ off into space. When you do you’ll need a cook. Otherwise you gents are liable to starve to death.”

Tom Jr. smiled. “Don’t worry, Chow. If we ever do make it up into outer space we’ll be sure to bring you along. After all, we can’t leave an old friend like you behind!”

Irene spoke up. “You mean when you make it into outer space,” she corrected. “I will have you know that it is a foregone conclusion.”

“I don’t know,” Tom teased. “I might decide to become a submariner instead. They say there’s a lot of interesting plant life at the bottom of the ocean.”

“Oh, sure,” Irene said dismissively. She pointed to the full moon that was on the horizon of the darkening sky. “Just look at that orb over there, skipper. You can’t honestly tell me you wouldn’t like to be standing on that cratered surface, looking up at the Earth high in the sky.”

“She’s got a good point,” Tom Sr. replied. “I’ve done a lot of exploring in my life, but I truly believe that in this modern age the real adventures are just beginning. Who can even imagine what mysteries can be found on the planets, or the stars beyond them?”

Sandy spoke up. “I wish Phyl could be here,” Tom’s sister said. “She’s missing all the fun.”

“Why didn’t she come?” Irene asked. “I mean, school’s out for the summer, and we’ve got plenty of room. I miss her too. Us girls haven’t been out shopping together in ages.”

“I can answer that,” Tom Sr. said. “Remember, the government considers the Institute to be an ultra-sensitive facility. There are very few organizations that are allowed to conduct atomic experiments on the scale that we are doing here. It was very, very difficult for me to persuade the government to allow my wife and daughter to be here. Trying to get a pass for Phyl was simply not going to happen.”

“What a shame!” Irene said. “I know we can’t all be nuclear physicists, but she did enjoy hanging around Swift Enterprises. She’s got to be lonely with all of us away from Shopton.”

“On a more positive note, I believe our work here is wrapping up,” Tom Sr. said. “My nuclear experiments have been completed successfully and construction on Tom’s hyperplane begins in the morning. By early August it should be ready to fly.”

“I should be fully recovered by then,” Tom Jr. remarked. “I am really ready to start walking again. Not being able to work on the Falcon II has been aggravating. I miss being hands-on.”

Tom Sr. spoke up. “Speaking of being hands-on, there’s something I need your help with, Son. I know you’re busy but if you could spare a few evenings over the next couple weeks I would really appreciate it.”

“I think we can work that out,” Irene said. “What’s up?”

The two Toms exchanged glances. Irene raised her eyebrows. “Oh, it’s that project. The one you won’t tell me about. I should have known.” She sighed. “You do realize that the suspense is killing me, right?”

Tom Jr. grinned. “Of course! That’s half the fun right there.”

Irene looked at him sourly. Everyone laughed.

As predicted, construction on the hyperplane was completed by the end of July. Tom had hoped to wrap up the project quickly, but designing the enhanced Sampson engine proved to be much trickier than he originally thought. He struggled for weeks to find a light, compact, and yet powerful design that could provide enough thrust to accelerate the plane to Mach 15. Once the engine was built he had to perfect the plane itself, and once again he found himself faced with a bracing challenge.

But late one evening in July he found himself in his father’s laboratory, talking with his dad. The two of them had been at work for hours. A large machine filled most of his father’s laboratory and father and son were sitting beside it, waiting for it to complete its work. Tom Jr. had finally recovered from his injuries and was able to walk around with no wheelchair in sight.

“I really think I’ve got it,” Tom Jr. said. “I realize there’s a lot we don’t know about hypersonic flight, but if my calculations are correct the plane should be stable. All the tests we’ve done indicates that this really should work.”

Tom Sr. nodded. “I agree, Son. I believe it is time to test your plane and see how it behaves.”

“And that will happen two days from now, Dad. In just two days the Eagle will take to the skies for the first time. I can hardly wait.”

Tom’s father looked at the machine in front of them. He had a distant look in his eye. After a few minutes he brought himself back to the present. “I’m glad we decided to do this,” he said at last. “This is one thing that’s always bothered me.”

“I had no idea it would take this long,” Tom Jr. replied. “Or be so expensive. I dramatically underestimated the complexity of making diamonds.”

Tom Sr. smiled. “It’s ok, Son. The ability to manufacture diamonds will be invaluable. There are many industrial uses for diamonds, especially if we can manufacture them cheaply and in sizable quantities. This is a process that was worth perfecting. Your design is quite brilliant.”

“Of course, we couldn’t have done it without your reactor,” Tom Jr. pointed out. “It takes a tremendous amount of energy to do this.”

“Energy the diamond makers obtained from bolts of lightning,” Tom Sr. said, remembering an adventure from his early days. “We’re not creating diamonds in quite the same way they did, but at least we don’t have to depend on thunderstorms. Today we can harness the power of the atom.”

His son glanced at his watch for the upteenth time. Tom’s father saw this and smiled. “Just give it a few more minutes. The batch is almost done.”

“I know,” Tom replied. “It’s just getting close, that’s all. I really want to propose to Irene after the hyperplane makes its first test flight, and that’s just two days away. Even if this batch is good it’ll be tough for the jeweler to polish the diamond and get it set in a ring in that amount of time. I really thought we would be done weeks ago.”

“Large diamonds are much harder to make than small ones,” Tom Sr. pointed out. “We’ve been able to make microscopic diamonds for months. Scaling the process to make large, jewel-quality gems has been tough. But we’ve been getting some pretty good batches over the past couple days.”

Tom Jr. stood up and began pacing around the room. “Do you think she’ll like it?” he asked.

“I have no doubt,” his father replied. “You didn’t go out and buy a diamond for her, Son. Instead you created one using your ingenuity and skill. The ring will mean far more because she will know you went through enormous trouble to create it just for her. She will adore it. Besides,” he said, his eyes twinkling, “I think she’ll be glad that you finally asked her. She’s not quite as patient as your mother.”

“I guess not,” Tom Jr. said, grinning. “But I wouldn’t want her to be any other way.”

A few minutes later the machine finished its work. Tom Jr. carefully opened a heavy metal panel. After putting on protective gear he reached inside and removed a hard, black cylinder. He carefully transferred the cylinder to another machine, where his father began dousing it with chemicals.

“It’s still pretty warm,” Tom Jr. remarked.

“As you would expect,” his father replied. “The heat and pressure it takes to make diamonds is extraordinary. I don’t know how we would have contained that much pressure without Tomasite. Now all we need to do is dissolve the excess carbon and see what kind of diamonds we created.”

Tom watched anxiously as his father processed the hardened carbon cylinder. After an hour’s work a small pile of dirty pebbles rested in a glass dish. Tom picked up the largest one and held it up to the light. “It’s beautiful,” he said at last.

Tom Sr. examined the diamond over his son’s shoulder. “That’s probably at least three-quarters of a carat. Of course, the processed stone will be somewhat smaller.”

“But it’s big enough to work,” Tom breathed excitedly. “I can’t believe it. We did it!”

Tom Sr. clapped his son on the back. “Yes we did, Tom. If you’d like I would be happy to take the stone to the jeweler first thing in the morning. I can even pick it up for you so that Irene won’t be suspicious. With luck you should have it just in time.”

Tom Jr. handed the diamond back to his father, smiling happily. “This is great! Thanks, Dad. That would be wonderful. The hyperplane will fly in two days, and then I’ll give the ring to Irene and ask her to marry me. Boy, that will be a great day!”

“A day to remember,” Tom Sr. said. “A day you will never forget.”