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

Queen, heading straight toward the camera just before the balloon was rammed."
    A buzz of interest and excitement rose from the courtroom. York turned his red, perspiring face triumphantly toward the judge. "If Your Honor will examine these photographs, you will see that there is no doubt whatsoever about the truth of my charge!"
    Judge Grover took the photographs and studied them for several moments. When he looked up at Tom, his expression was grave. "Young man, these photographs certainly have a kind of ipso facto force in bearing out Mr. York’s accusation. Do you still deny the charge?"
    "May I see the pictures?" Tom asked. The judge handed them over, and Tom glanced through them quickly. "These are the ones I’ve examined previously. I don’t deny that that’s my plane. The answer is quite simple, Your Honor. When I first saw the balloon, I realized that it was not the ordinary type used for weather signals. So I steered toward it for a closer look. That’s evidently when these pictures were snapped."
    York laughed harshly. "Don’t think you can squirm out of this!" he said, shaking a fat finger in Tom’s face. "Whatever your motive, these images prove that you approached close enough to cause the balloon to explode, and my company expects full compensation and punitive damages, and an injunction to make sure—"
    Judge Grover rapped his gavel for order, and replied, "No need to read the laundry list, Mr. York. If you got your camera back safely and developed these pictures, how can you claim the experiment was ruined?"
    "Yes, well, I’m sure the court realizes that it’s not the camera I’m talking about! It’s the other instruments and our proprietary battery materials. The payload parachuted to earth, but from a much greater altitude than planned, as we had programmed the balloon to drop the payload package during its descent phase. Practically everything aside from the camera was completely smashed—and all of it was high-priced scientific equipment!"
    "Got it," declared His Honor. "As you have asked for punitive damages, do you allege that this was a deliberate act?—I know you do, of course, as it says so right here, but let’s get going on that part of it."
    There was silence; this question seemed to flummox York for a moment. "Surely it is evident on the face of it that Mr. Swift behaved recklessly in virtually buzzing my test balloon, Your Honor."
    "Does the defendant have a response?"
    "The fact is, my plane didn’t really approach the balloon all that closely," Tom replied. "In fact, my associates here will be glad to testify that I was concerned about not interfering with the experiment."
    Bud and Chow nodded vigorously.
    "Nods don’t count," commented the judge brusquely. "However, Mr. Swift has not yet solicited actual testimony from Mr. Budworth Newton Barclay and Mr. Charles Ollaho Winkler, so the point is moot. Two most unusual names."
    Suddenly an idea occurred to Tom. With a quick shuffle he counted the number of photographic prints. Then he looked at the witness, who still occupied the stand. "Mr. Haley, I’m familiar with several types of high-speed, high-definition electronic cameras, and the special orientation marks on these prints make me think they were taken by a Mondo-Basso camera, manufactured in Milan, Italy. Am I right?"
    The spider-thin technician gulped and answered, "Yes, sir, that’s what it is—the top of the line."
    "Well then, that kind of camera records hundreds of images per second," Tom said.
    "Do you dispute that statement, Mr. Haley?" asked Judge Grover.
    "No; that’s true."
    "Then given your expertise as entered into the court record by the claimant, I shall accept that statement as evidentiary in and of itself." The judge turned again to Tom. "And your point, Mr. Swift?"
    "Well, Mr. York has only brought to court a handful of these images, all of them apparently consecutive. But that’s misleading!" declared the young inventor confidently. "Truly