This mammoth, atomic-powered airplane had been Tom's first major
invention. A three-deck craft, it was equipped with complete laboratory
facilities for research in any corner of the globe. Jet lifters in the
belly of the fuselage enabled the craft to take off vertically and also
to hover.
As Tom supervised the loading of the equipment, a foghorn voice boomed,
"'Mornin', buckaroos!"
The chunky figure of Chow Winkler came into view. Formerly a chuck-wagon
cook in Texas, Chow was now head chef on Tom's expeditions. As usual, a
ten-gallon hat was perched on his balding head and he was stomping along
in high-heeled boots.
"Wow! A shirt to end all shirts!" Tom chuckled.
"Real high style, eh?" Chow twirled about to display his latest Western
creation. The shirt seemed to be made of silvery fishlike scales, which
glistened like a rainbow.
"I figured as how this was just the thing fer an ocean jaunt," Chow
added with a grin. "How soon do we take off, boss?"
"As soon as we get the rest of this gear stowed," Tom replied.
Twenty minutes later the _Sky Queen_ soared toward the ocean. Soon they
came in sight of Fearing Island rocket base, a few miles off the coast.
Once a barren stretch of sand dunes and scrub-grass, the island was now
the Swifts' top-secret rocket laboratory, guarded by drone planes and
radar.
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