CHAPTER VIII
A SUSPECT TALKS
The next morning Tom was up at the crack of dawn, grimly determined tofind an answer to the earthquake menace. He ate a hasty breakfast, thendrove to his private laboratory at Enterprises. He instructed theswitchboard operator to shut off all incoming calls, then plunged into astudy of the mystifying problem.
Earthquake activity, Tom knew, tends to occur in circular patterns, likebands around the earth--for instance, the circum-Pacific belt, andanother belt extending eastward from the Mediterranean through Asia andon into the East Indies. Often these quake lines are visible as breaksor ruptures along the ground surface, called _fault traces_. No doubt,Tom thought, there were many more uncharted ones.
Could an enemy scientist be making use of these earth faults to producea man-made quake? Tom mulled over the disturbing idea.
"How would I tackle the job myself, if I had to undertake such a projectfor national defense?" the young inventor mused. He felt a growing senseof excitement as an idea began to take shape in his mind.
_What about an artificial shock wave!_
An hour later Bud Barclay walked into the laboratory and found Tomhunched over a jumbled pile of reference books on his workbench.
"What cooks, skipper?" Bud asked.
Tom looked up, his blue eyes blazing. "Bud, I think I may have theanswer!"
Tom got up from his stool and paced about the laboratory. "Suppose theBrungarian rebel scientists have invented some sort of shock-waveproducer--a device for sending vibrations through the earth's crust orthe mantle underneath."
"Okay, suppose they have," Bud replied.
Tom snatched up a piece of chalk and made some quick diagrams on ablackboard. "Just this, pal. Let's say they set up two or three stationsaround the world for sending out such waves in a definite direction.Wherever the wave crosses an earth fault or another wave--_boom!_ Anearthquake!"
Bud stared. "No kidding, is that how those rats triggered off all thesequakes?"
"It must be," Tom declared. "It's the only possible explanation."
"Good night!" Bud gasped weakly. "What a weapon! Just push a buttonevery so often and you could blow up another country bit by bit--and noone could ever prove who was behind the attack!"
Tom nodded. "Enough to make every American shiver, if he only knew!"
"What can we do about it?" Bud asked.
Tom resumed his worried pacing. "I'll have to invent a shock-wavedeflector, Bud. It must be done in a hurry, too. Our enemy may start todestroy American cities as well as vital defense plants!"
Immediately Tom put through an urgent call to an eminent scientist inWashington who was a member of the National Research Council. Quickly heoutlined a plan.
"Tom, I'll talk to the president's special science adviser at once," theman promised. "I'll try to set up a meeting for ten o'clock tomorrowmorning at Enterprises."
Feeling relieved, Tom left the plant with Bud. The two boys drove off toattend church with Mrs. Swift and Sandy. Then, after the Sunday middaymeal, Tom returned to his laboratory to work on ideas for a shock-wavedeflector.
Bud and Sandy, meanwhile, drove to the Shopton Yacht Club to inspect thedamage to the _Sunspot_. Tom had arranged with a salvage crew to tow thedisabled ketch back to its slip.
Monday morning, a sleek Air Force jet transport touched down at SwiftEnterprises. Aboard were a select group of top government scientists.Tom and Bud greeted them as they disembarked on the runway, then drovethem to a conference room in the Enterprises main building.
"I'd say your theory is right, Tom, about the quakes being produced byartificial shock waves," said Bernt Ahlgren, a tall, hawk-faced man witha shock of red hair. He was a member of the Defense Department'sAdvanced Research Projects Agency. "But how do we stop them?"
"I believe they can be damped out by opposing waves," Tom replied. "Thisis assuming that I can design the right sort of equipment to do thejob--and also that we can set up a warning system to alert us of theenemy shock waves in time." The young inventor sketched out the sort ofshock-wave deflector which he had in mind. The government experts werevery much impressed. In the session that followed, the visitingscientists contributed many tips and suggestions. Tom noted them downgratefully.
After a thorough discussion, it was agreed that the Defense Departmentwould set up detectors at fifty check points around the country. Tomwould choose the exact spots. Detection data from the check points wouldbe fed to an electronic computer. The computer would establish thepattern, if any, of incoming enemy shock waves.
Dr. Gregg Miles, a seismologist from the Bureau of Mines, agreed to takeon the job of setting up the check points.
"Thanks for your prompt co-operation," Tom said, smiling gratefully asthe meeting broke up.
"We should thank you, Tom, for coming up with a plan to cope with thisfiendish threat," Ahlgren replied. The others heartily agreed.
Shortly after lunch, Tom was hard at work in his laboratory when thetelephone rang. It was Chief Slater at Shopton police headquarters.
"You'd better get over here fast, Tom," Slater said. "Samson Narko isready to talk!"
Tom needed no urging. "Right, Chief!"
As he drove into Shopton, Tom wondered what the Brungarian agent wouldreveal. Was it possible that he might tip off the whole secret behindthe destructive man-made earthquakes?
Chief Slater was waiting in his office. "Narko showed signs of crackingthis morning," Slater told Tom, "so I notified the Central IntelligenceAgency. They're flying a man up here--in fact he should be here by now.Narko won't talk till he arrives."
"How come?" Tom asked.
"Narko wants a bargain," Slater explained. "If the government willpromise to deport him at once without trial, he'll spill what he knows."
Tom whistled. "I sure wouldn't want to be in _his_ shoes when he getsback to Brungaria! His bosses aren't stupid. They'll know he must havemade a deal to get off scot free!"
Just then a taxi from the airport pulled up outside police headquarters,and the CIA official was ushered into Slater's office. He proved to beJohn Thurston.
"Narko's waiting in his cell," Slater said, after an exchange ofhandshakes. "Let's hope he hasn't changed his mind."
The Brungarian spy rose from his cot as the turnkey unlocked his celldoor.
"You are from Washington, eh?" Narko said to Thurston. "Very well.I presume the police have told you my offer. Is it a bargain?"
Thurston was poker-faced. "You know the penalty for spying!" he snapped."In your own country it would mean death. Why should we let you off?"
Narko's calmness evaporated. Beads of sweat burst out on his forehead.
"I have done no harm and I know little or nothing of my superiors'plans!" the spy said excitedly. "Why should I lie to you with my life atstake? After all, I am only an insignificant agent. But one importantthing I do know--and this I will reveal if you promise to deport me atonce!"
Thurston eyed him coldly. "Very well," the CIA man decided. "You have myword."
Narko sat down on his cot, breathing heavily. Then he looked up at thethree Americans. "Your nation's capital, Washington, D.C., is going tobe blown up!" the Brungarian asserted.
His words struck like a bombshell. Chief Slater and John Thurston staredat Narko in open-mouthed astonishment.
Then Slater scowled. "What a preposterous story! I suppose they're goingto fly a plane over and drop an atom bomb--just like that!" He snappedhis fingers.
Thurston was also inclined to doubt Narko's story. Any such bold move bythe Brungarians, he declared, would amount to an act of war.
"It is the truth!" Narko shouted. "Do not forget--you have made apromise."
Tom Swift did not share Chief Slater's and Thurston's skepticism.Narko's words had chilled him with dismay. He called the other two asideand gave them a quick whispered briefing on the theory he had discussedwith the government scientists, asking them to keep it confidential.
If the Brungarians indeed had a means
of producing artificial shockwaves, Tom pointed out, they could easily destroy Washington without theslightest risk to themselves.
Both Thurston and Chief Slater were alarmed. Turning back to Narko, theygrilled him for clues. But it seemed obvious that the Brungarian wastelling all he knew--or, at any rate, all he intended to reveal.
"We're wasting our time," Thurston said finally, with a look of disgust."But I made a promise in the name of the United States government andthe promise will be kept."
Turning to Chief Slater, the CIA man added, "Turn him over to the FBIand have them take him to New York. I'll arrange for a seat on the firstplane for Brungaria."
Tom drove back thoughtfully to Enterprises. Bud was waiting in hislaboratory with news.
"Your dad went from Washington to Fearing Island and has gone up to yourspace outpost," Bud reported. "He has to do some experiments for thegovernment project he's working on."
The outpost was a space station which Tom Swift Jr. had built 22,300miles above the earth. It was a production factory for his famous solarbatteries, and also an immensely valuable setup for space research andexploration.
"Think I'll radio Dad and let him know what's going on," Tom decided."He may have some good suggestions. He usually does!"
Tom warmed up his private transmitter-receiver and beamed out a codecall through the automatic scrambler. Seconds later, the loud-speakercrackled in response.
But just as the outpost operator's voice came through, the radio setexploded in Tom's face!