Free Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector by Victor Appleton II Page A

helium-extraction encampment. Tom planned to set up two further repelatrons. The hydrodome-bubbles produced would slightly overlap. Based on the mapping survey, they would cover about twenty percent of the sunken city, enough for this initial exploration.
    Walking straight through the surface of the bubble with no resistance, the four Fat Men, joined by Arv and Hank, jetted over to the Deepwing, resting a ways along the periphery of the site. They set up the Deepwing ’s freighted repelatron, then proceeded on further to the Fathomer. Within the hour, all three repelatrons were up and running, the resulting airspaces enclosed in domes of fine, invisible filaments. Necessary to stabilize the airspaces, the filament barriers flowed effortlessly around people or vehicles.
    Crewmembers poured out of all three submersibles, and a sound of muffled cheering drifted across the ancient ruins. As the aqualamps were ineffective inside the airspaces, a bank of Swift Searchlights was set up at each mantacopter location, bathing the scene in daylike radiance reflecting back from the inner surfaces of the hydrodomes.
    "Welcome to—er, welcome to what?" Bud interrupted his high-spirited cheer at midpoint. "What do we call this burg, anyway? Greater Downtown Atlantis?"
    "Tlaan," stated George with a sly glance at his friend.
    "I’m tellin’ you, Tulayon!" thundered Ham joshingly.
    "Well, these ruins aren’t the whole sunken island, just a city or town," Tom pointed out with a peacemaking grin. "Let’s call the site Aurum City— ‘aurum’ means gold."
    Satisfied, Bud cheered: "Welcome to Aurum City!"
    The pillared temples and once-magnificent buildings made a breath-taking sight, even though they were now encrusted with barnacles and other sea growths, and mostly shattered to rubble. But a few structures still stood proudly here and there.
    A thrill of awe swept over Tom. "Just think, Bud," he murmured, "we’re the first humans to set foot in this city in thousands of years!"
    "Gives me goose bumps!" Bud admitted. "But skipper—do you hear something? Tell me it’s just my juvenile imagination, not skeletons climbing out of bed!"
    The air seemed full of faint, dull sounds, like whispers and distant mutterings, punctuated by an occasional muffled shout. Tom looked puzzled for a moment, then broke into a grin. "We should’ve expected it, pal—with no water around, everything is less buoyant. Aurum City is just settling in bit by bit, that’s all."
    "I can understand. After a few thousand years, you’ve got to stretch a little!"
    Excited and fascinated, Tom and Bud left the vicinity of the Fathomer, passing from the relatively bare landing area into grounds strewn with drying ruins and bits of the sea-bottom environment that the retreating waters had left behind. Eyes wide with awe the two boys strolled up one of the ancient streets, now rank with slime, ocean vegetation, and rippled hillocks of sand and loose rock. Stately columns lined the avenue on either side, the encrusted ghosts of ancient ambition.
    "I wonder what that was," Bud remarked as they stumbled and crunched along. He pointed toward a once-splendid building, approached by wide stone steps leading up from the street. "City hall, maybe?"
    Tom eyed the structure with keen interest. "Looks as though it might have been a palace," he commented. "Or maybe the main city temple."
    As the boys turned off the avenue for a closer look, neither noticed that one of the cracked columns had begun to tilt on its base. But a moment later, Tom, warned by some sixth sense, glanced back toward Bud, who had paused to examine a heap of rubble. His face blanched in horror.
    "Look out, Bud!" he shrieked.
    The column was toppling straight toward them!

CHAPTER 10
SPLASH ALERT
    SPRINTING BACK, Tom grabbed Bud’s arm and yanked him out of the way in the nick of time. The wayward column landed with a rumbling crash, missing the boys by a fraction of an inch. The loud sound it made was answered