Free Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space by Victor Appleton II Page B

and Brutus, were already barking, and a glance showed Tom’s mother in her nightgown at the top of the stairs, a look of fright on her face.
    "What is it, Tom?" she whispered.
    "We’ll soon know," said Tom grimly, approaching the front door. "It may be just an innocent caller," he added, seeing her look of concern. But Tom’s own thoughts were less sanguine. He had taken note of the warning dial above the front door. The needle had swung around violently, indicating that the visitor carried metal—possibly a weapon!
    As Tom strode to the door, steps sounded on the porch and the doorbell rang. At least they’re not trying to sneak up on us, he thought. Tom pressed a light switch—it was still early on a clouded winter morning, and the sun had barely touched the sky—and peered into the security eyepiece at the side of the door, which connected to an optical-fiber periscope. In the yellow glow of light outside stood a uniformed policeman—Greg Norcall of the Shopton PD.
    Relieved, Tom opened the door. He started to greet the officer pleasantly but was tersely interrupted.
    "Are you Tom Swift?"
    "You know I am, Officer Norcall. What is—"
    "Then please accept this official court document."
    He thrust a grave-looking document into Tom’s hand. "It’s an emergency summons ordering you to appear before Judge Grover on the twenty-seventh of this month to answer charges of malicious destruction of property!"

CHAPTER 10
A COURT BATTLE
    THE NEWS about the summons served on Tom Swift appeared in the morning edition of the town newspaper, as if it had been leaked to the press in advance. The local superior court, at which the lawsuit had been filed, was packed on the date of the scheduled hearing. The Swift family, Bud Barclay, and Bashalli Prandit arrived to the sizzle of electronic photo-lamps and the loud jostling of a throng of excited television reporters armed with deadly-looking microphone booms. Waiting inside the courtroom was Chow Winkler, who, like Bud and the others, had also received a summons; for the lawsuit involved the destruction of "certain high-altitude balloons and other property of the Quik Battery Corporation"— a reference to the balloon Tom, Bud, and Chow had observed from the Sky Queen on the day of Tom’s fall through the stratosphere.
    Tom and the others declined to make a statement to inquiring reporters as they entered, except to mutter confidently that the matter involved an obvious misunderstanding.
    Although the case was scheduled for one thirty, the court docket was so crowded that by mid-afternoon the case still had not been called. Tom fumed. He had been unable to learn any details of the charges against him and his friends, other than those buried in legalese in the summons itself.
    Bud squirmed and fidgeted. Under his breath he muttered to Tom, "Boy, this is worse than standing by for a rocket take-off!"
    Finally Judge Grover intoned, "Case of the Quik Battery Corporation versus Tom Swift, et cetera, et al, and various subsidiary parties as stipulated. Will the parties please step forward?"
    As Tom rose from his seat, a stranger came bustling up the aisle. He was a stocky man, with a florid complexion and bulging eyes that made him look like a bad-tempered bullfrog. "Fine," whispered Bud under his breath. "We’re fighting a real zoo—gorillas and frogs." Tom responded with a wary chuckle.
    "You are the complainant?" inquired Judge Grover, addressing the red-faced man.
    "That is correct, Your Honor. I am Jaston York, president of the Quik Battery Corporation. As an attorney and member of the Bar Association of this State, I will represent my own company in these proceedings."
    The judge turned to Tom. "And you are the primary named defendant, Thomas Edison Swift, resident of the municipality of Shopton, a single man and prior emancipated minor, eighteen years of age?"
    "Yes, sir."
    The judge nodded. "Of course I already know who you are, Mr. Swift, as I am not a dat-rang’d fool; but