Free Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite by Victor Appleton II

prefer not to confirm it until—and unless—it was a complete success. The new democratic government has not completely broken with its predecessors."
    "Report whatever looks interesting," Tom directed Bud and Jatczak.
    "Righto, skipper," Bud replied.
    "Let me know if you spot any love-starved space sirens," said Rafe. He winked in the direction of Violet Wohl, who turned away disdainfully.
    Tom guided the spaceship closer to Little Luna, whose gravity was too slight to sustain the craft in an orbit. Bud and Jatczak hastily set up a tripod-mounted telescope and scanned the surface of the satellite. A strange panorama passed before their eyes. Rocky and barren, pockmarked and forlorn, the little world was devoid of life. The rugged terrain was indented with yellow craters and broken by upthrusting crags of gray, pink, and blue. The sharply curving horizon had a sawtooth outline.
    Presently, as Tom cruised northward, they passed from the sunlit zone into the nighttime portion. Yet even in the dim light, details of the terrain were visible.
    "Fortunately, there’s enough earthshine to light up the satellite," commented Dr. Jatczak with his eye to the telescope.
    "Earthshine? What in the name o’ coyotes is that?" Chow queried.
    "Sunlight reflected back from the earth."
    Chow beamed. "Then most of it’s comin’ from Texas!"
    The others chuckled and Tom drawled out of the side of his mouth, "Well, brand my panhandle if it ain’t!"
    After circling the satellite several times, the travelers could find no sign of any earlier landing by a spaceship.
    Bud gave a whoop of triumph. "Yippee! We’ve won the race!"
    The crew joined in a ringing cheer, as the men shook hands and slapped one another on their backs. "Never bet against good old Yankee know-how!" exulted Jason Graves. "Wish I had a cigar."
    Jubilant, Tom nosed the Titan in still closer and began to descend toward a relatively flat area that Bud and Dr. Jatczak had noted, which was almost precisely at the moonlet’s north pole.
    "Looks a bit small for a ship this size," commented Col. Northrup. "But you’re the captain, son."
    Tom did not respond, and Bud, in the copilot’s chair, called out, "Ten thousand feet to touchdown point."
    Suddenly a buzzer sounded.
    "What’s that?" asked Gabe loudly. "Incoming call?"
    "It’s one of the automatic alarms," muttered Hank Sterling.
    "Y-you mean there’s a problem?"
    "Tom’s compensating now."
    Tom and Bud were making rapid adjustments to the controls. The pallor of their faces told the onlookers that something unexpected had happened.
    Hank approached next to Tom and quietly let him know that he was standing near, ready to help.
    Not looking up, Tom said in a low voice, "I can’t figure what’s happening. We’re accelerating toward the surface."
    "Another computer glitch?" Hank asked.
    "No," replied the young astronaut. "This time it has nothing to do with the ship. Some sort of force is pulling us downward, and it’s getting stronger by the second. If I can’t pull the ship free— we’ll crash!"

CHAPTER 7
A GRAVITY MYSTERY
    TOM SWIFT’S words carried to the rest of the cabin. "It must be those alien cronies of yours!" rumbled Jason Graves. "They’ve induced us to send an expedition up here just to destroy us!"
    "Knock it off, Graves," commanded Kent Rockland.
    "Let’s refrain from causing our captain any distraction," added Kutan.
    Rafael Franzenberg elbowed his way to Tom’s side, nudging Hank out of the way. "Tom, let me see the nano-interferometry readings!" he demanded. Without question, Tom brought the data up on a monitor. "As I thought—the radar bounceback is getting red-shifted. That means—"
    "Gravity!" exclaimed Tom unbelievingly. "We’ll have to flip and fire the main thruster!"
    "Everyone strap in!" bellowed Bud.
    Assuming that the miniscule gravity of Little Luna would require only a slight nudge of power to ease the Titan to a gentle landing, Tom had been heading down nose-first, planning to