"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 12 - In the Race to the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

change."
With a whispered "I'll be back," Tom dashed off to his laboratory to pick up
some special tools he wanted to take back to Shopton with him. The room, unlike
many of the other laboratories, had windows in it. As Tom glanced out of one, he
saw a blurred object streak by.
It traveled with an ear-splitting whine, leaving a white vapor trail! An instant
later a second object passed over the island-clearly outlined against the rosy
glow of the setting sun. This too left a vapor trail!
"Missiles!" Tom gasped. "Who's firing them?"
He rushed toward the laboratory door. But halfway there, a strange
drowsiness came over him.
"Wh-what's happening to me?" he thought frantically. His limbs were so weak
he could hardly move.
He rubbed his hands across his eyes and staggered another step or two.
Then his legs gave way and he sank to the floor, unconscious!
All over the rocket base, the same thing was happening. Crewmen and
technicians, as well as Bud and the two girls at the tracking center, slumped and
fell, as if fast asleep!
Automatic alarm sirens wailed across the island. A strange cargo plane was
approaching! Even with the control-tower personnel knocked out, the
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landing-forcer system worked and the cargo jet was taken under automatic
control.
Blazing floodlights stabbed the sky and locked on the cargo jet as it swooped
down for a landing. Figures clad in space suits stepped out of the mystery aircraft
onto the island's airfield.
One of them, evidently the leader, turned to the others.
"Now go for the electronic brain," he ordered, "and any other of Tom Swift's
inventions that you can pick up in twenty minutes!"
CHAPTER V
TOM'S PRISONER
EVERYTHING went like clockwork as the raiders commandeered jeeps and
trucks, and fanned out over the island. Three of the space-suited figures seized
Tom's newest electronic brain and hauled it back to their waiting aircraft. Others
began a systematic search through every building on the base, scooping up
whatever instruments or devices caught their eyes.
One of the raiders reached Tom's laboratory. Ignoring the young inventor
who lay sprawled on the floor, he made a quick survey of the room's contents,
deciding what to take.
Suddenly a whistle blast shrilled over the island. The noise seemed to pierce
the fog that filled Tom's brain. Groggy and still half asleep, he opened his eyes.
Meanwhile, the creature in the space suit had snatched up one of Tom's
prized inventions-a small electronic oscillator gun. He started to hurry out of the
laboratory, in answer to the
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THE RACE TO THE MOON
whistle blast. But as he stepped over the young inventor's body, Tom
reached up and grabbed his ankle. With a sudden jerk, he sent the raider
sprawling!