The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  Project X

  "Heavy water!" Hartson Brant exclaimed softly.

  Rick and Scotty looked at each other blankly.

  And at that moment, Barby completed the connection and called to Steve.He strode to the phone and picked it up. "Who's this? All right. SteveAmes here. Take down these names. Hobart Zircon. Richard Brant. DonaldScott. You'll find full data on them in the files. Prepare travel ordersand get tickets for all three to Hong Kong via the first plane leavingNew York after 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Arrange for a letter of creditin the usual amount on the National City Bank of Washington, and havethe bank make arrangements with all their Far East branches. Put allthree on the pay roll at the same grades they held before. Get passportsfor them with visitor's visas for the Philippines, Hong Kong,Indo-China, Indonesia, Siam, and China. We don't know where they'll endup. Then put all that stuff in an envelope and get it to me here atSpindrift by special messenger ... wait, never mind that. I'll send Mikeback right away, and he can bring it to me. Now read those instructionsback."

  Steve listened for a moment. "Right. Get going. What? Oh, charge thewhole thing to a new case file. Mark it Project X."

  He disconnected and turned to the group. "Now," he said grimly, "let'stalk turkey."

  He nodded at Rick and Scotty. "Zircon said he could leave in themorning, if necessary. That's rushing you a little too much. So I'vegiven you until tomorrow night."

  Rick grinned. Once things started to move with Steve Ames, they movedstrictly jet-propelled.

  "What are we supposed to do?" Scotty asked.

  "Find Bradley. If you can. But don't spend too much time searching.Getting all the dope--and I mean _all_--on that heavy water is thereason for your going out there. If you find Bradley, he can help. MaybeChahda can help, too. But never forget for a minute that tracking downthat heavy water is your mission."

  "If we don't find Bradley, we won't know how to get started," Rickpointed out.

  Steve grunted. "No? If I believed that, I'd have gone somewhere else forhelp. I came here because I knew Spindrift could give me ingenuity aswell as scientific knowledge. And you hadn't better let me down!"

  "We won't let you down," Scotty assured him.

  Barby chimed in indignantly, "Of course they won't."

  Steve smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not afraid of their falling down on thejob. But it's a big one. I'll tell Zircon this when he comes, but youcan be thinking it over in the meantime. You're to find out who isbringing heavy water to the Asia coast and what they're doing with it.You're to find out where it comes from, and why it is being made. You'reto get samples and send them back here. And most important of all,you're to locate and pinpoint for us any industrial plants you find."

  Scotty scratched his head. "Fine. Only let's get back to the beginning.What is heavy water? And why are you so excited about it?"

  "I don't know, either," Barby added.

  Hartson Brant looked at his son. "You do, don't you, Rick?"

  "I know what it is, but I don't know why it's so important to Steve,"Rick said. He had read a great deal about heavy water in studyingelementary physics. It had many uses in physics experiments.

  "Let's see how much you know," Steve directed. "Sound off."

  Rick searched his memory, trying to marshal all the facts he knew."Well," he began, "ordinary water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. Inevery water molecule there are two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.The important part, for what we're talking about, are the hydrogenatoms. Hydrogen is the lightest element, and it has the simplest atom.There's just one proton and one electron."

  He looked at his father, waiting for a nod to tell him he was on theright track. When the scientist nodded approval, he went on.

  "That kind of hydrogen atom has a mass of one, as the scientists say.But there are other kinds of hydrogen atoms, and they are pretty rare,called isotopes. An isotope is just a different variety of the ordinarykind of atom in each element. The thing that makes it different is achange in the nucleus. Well, hydrogen has two isotopes. One kind, whichhas a mass of two, is found in nature. It is called deuterium. Itsnucleus is called a deuteron. Another kind, which can be made in anuclear reactor, is called tritium. A little of it is found naturallybut not enough to count for much."

  He took a deep breath. "I hope I know what I'm talking about."

  "You're doing fine," Hartson Brant said. "Go on."

  "All right. Well, heavy water is made of one atom of oxygen plus twoatoms of deuterium, which is the first isotope of hydrogen. Inchemistry, there's no difference in the way heavy water acts. You caneven drink it. In fact, people do drink it every day, because inordinary water there is some heavy water. I forget the exact figures,but I think that, by weight, there are five thousand parts of ordinaryhydrogen in water and only one part of deuterium."

  "That's right." Steve Ames nodded. "Five thousand to one. Now tell uswhat is peculiar about all isotopes?"

  Rick thought furiously and came up with what he hoped was the answer. "Ithink it's that isotopes aren't as stable as the basic elements. Someare pretty stable, but some are pretty shaky. That's why some of theisotopes of uranium can be split wide open in a chain reaction to makean atomic bomb, and ..."

  A chill ran through him. His mouth opened. He knew! He knew why heavywater had Steve Ames all excited. He choked:

  "Hydrogen bombs!"

  Scotty and Barby gasped. Steve Ames and Hartson Brant smiled.

  "It's true that one of the possibilities in building a hydrogen bombconcerns deuterium," the scientist said. "But I scarcely think that'sthe case here. How about it, Steve?"

  "Possible, but extremely improbable," Steve agreed. "What I'm mostinterested in is a use for heavy water Rick hasn't mentioned. Know whata nuclear reactor is, Rick?"

  Rick nodded. "It's what the newspapers usually call an 'atomic pile.' Wehave quite a few in this country, I think. The Atomic Energy Commissionsaid quite a while ago that they used a nuclear reactor with uranium asa fuel to make plutonium, which is the artificial element that can beused in atomic bombs. Besides uranium itself, that is."

  "That's right. What I'm interested in is the fact that heavy water canbe used as a neutron moderator in a reactor."

  Rick looked blank. Steve was talking way over his head. Hartson Brantsaw his son's bewilderment and explained: "You've probably heard thatthe uranium in a reactor is encased in blocks of graphite, which issimply carbon, Rick. It prevents the neutrons from the uranium fromsimply running wild. Well, heavy water can be used for the samepurpose."

  "Exactly," Steve said. "So you see, I'm not afraid of the possibility ofhydrogen bombs as much as I am of the possibility that somewhere in Asiais a nuclear reactor. Until we get international agreement on atomicweapons, we simply have to keep track of atomic developments everywherefor our own protection. If there's a new country going in for atomicresearch, and it can build a reactor, it might also be able to build anatomic bomb. Now, don't forget I said heavy water is a legitimateindustrial product. We certainly can't object to a nation'smanufacturing it. We wouldn't want to. But when it turns up in an oddcorner of the world, I think we'd better find out why. If it's apeaceful reason, we'll mark it down and then forget it. If not, we'llmake a report to the United Nations."

  "Why not report it right now?" Barby asked.

  "Good question. The answer is, we're not sure. Remember Carl Bradley wasunsure enough to ask for help. If we got up before the UN and startedhollering and it turned out to be plain water, we'd look prettyfoolish."

  "I don't even know how we'd begin," Scotty muttered. "How do you starton a job like this?"

  "You'll start by being innocent tourists," Steve said. "You and Rick arestudents on a holiday, with Zircon, your uncle, as guide and tutor.You'll be interested in a number of things, including hunting. That willgive you a good excuse for barging around the country if you have to.But you won't be able to decide what you want to hunt." Steve grinned."You'll decide after you find out where y
ou have to go. And you'd betterlearn about Asiatic game animals. For instance, if the trail takes youto Indonesia, you may want to hunt the hairy Sumatran rhinoceros. In thePhilippines, you'll hunt timarau, which are a special breed of wildwater buffalo. In China, around the coast, you can hunt tigers. InMalaya, if the trail does take you down to Singapore, you can hunttapir. Same for Siam. In Indo-China you can hunt tigers. Inland inChina, toward the Tibetan border, you'd better be hunting bharals."

  "That's a wonderful name," Barby said quickly. "What are they?"

  "Another name for them is blue sheep," Steve told her. "They'rebluish-gray, shading to white in the under parts. The horns are unusual,because they curve outward from the sides of the head, then down andbackward."

  Hartson Brant paused in the act of filling his pipe and asked curiously,"How do you know so much about Asiatic animals, Steve?"

  Steve laughed. "Because I used the same gag once myself." He started forthe door. "Talk it over, and think up any questions you can. I won'tpromise to know the answers, but I'll try. I've got to get Mike startedback to Washington to pick up that stuff."

  When he had gone, Barby looked enviously at the two boys. "In my nextreincarnation," she announced, "I'm going to be a boy. I don't see why Icouldn't go, too. A girl would make the group look even less suspicious,wouldn't it?" She scanned the three faces eagerly, then sighed. "Allright. I knew it wasn't any use."

  "Never mind, towhead," Rick said. He always hated to see Barby's wistfulexpression when he and Scotty were going somewhere. "Maybe next time."

  "Not if next time is another job like this," Hartson Brant disagreed. Hestudied his pipe stem, his forehead wrinkled thoughtfully. "I'm notquite sure why I didn't object to Rick and Scotty going."

  Rick demanded swiftly, "You're not going to object, are you, Dad?"

  "No, Rick. If we hadn't been on other expeditions and in some toughspots together, I surely would. But I know you two are able to take careof yourselves. And so is Zircon. Only keep in mind that you may bedealing with an entirely new breed of cats, unscrupulous men whowouldn't hesitate to put you out of the way without a moment'shesitation. So be careful. Be very careful. Don't take risks that aren'tessential to your job. And do what Zircon tells you to withouthesitation. He's knocked around in some pretty rough corners of theworld, and I don't know a man who is better equipped for this kind ofjob, unless it's Carl Bradley."

  The warning sobered Rick even more. Apart from what his father had said,he knew it was also what the information could mean to the security ofthe country that had prevented the scientist from making a singleobjection to their going.

  "We'll take no risks we don't have to," he promised. "We'll move as ifwe were walking on eggs, Dad."

  And Scotty echoed the promise.

  * * * * *

  Nothing remained but to wait for Zircon and make definite plans. Steve,who had risen early in order to get to Spindrift first thing, walked outto the orchard with Dismal for company and stretched out under a treefor a nap.

  Rick and Scotty couldn't possibly have napped, so they went up to Rick'sroom and began to pack. That took little time, since they would travelby air. Scotty took his rifle out of its protective case and cleaned it,then tried on the infrared telescope. He removed from the 'scope themasking bits of cardboard Rick had used to convert it to a camera viewfinder, thus making it a telescopic rifle sight once more. It fittedperfectly.

  "You taking the movie camera along?" he asked.

  Rick thought it over. "Guess I will," he said finally. "Tourists aresupposed to have cameras. I'll take the movie instead of the speedgraphic. And I can take along infrared film as well as regular colorfilm. If anyone asks, I can say I want movies of the animals you andZircon shoot. Then all three of us won't have to take guns."

  "Better finish putting the lenses into those sunglasses frames then,"Scotty said.

  "I'll do it right now. It won't take long." A thought struck Rick. "Whatwill Zircon do for a rifle?"

  "He'll have to borrow one, and an ordinary one won't do, either. Ifwe're supposed to be hunting big game, he'll need one bigger thanmy .303." Scotty frowned thoughtfully. "How about Captain Douglas? Heused to be quite a hunter. You've seen the African trophies in hisoffice at the barracks."

  Captain Douglas was commanding officer of the Whiteside State PoliceBarracks, and a good friend of the boys. He and his officers hadco-operated with them in rounding up the Smugglers' Reef gang.

  "Give him a phone call while I finish putting these lenses in," Ricksuggested.

  "Good idea." Scotty went to phone.

  More and more Rick was realizing the magnitude of the job they hadundertaken. He hoped fervently that Chahda would know something usefulin case they failed to locate Bradley.

  In a moment Scotty stuck his head in the door. "I've got the captain onthe phone," he said. "He's got a .45-90 we can borrow, and, bless hisheart, he didn't ask where we were going. When can we pick it up?"

  Rick thought it over. "I'll have to fly to the airport and pick upZircon in a little while. Tell Captain Douglas I'll buzz the barracks onthe way over. Ask if he can possibly deliver it to me at the airport. Ihate to bother him, but I won't have a car to go get it." Rick's littlecub airplane was the island's fast messenger-passenger service.

  "Okay." Scotty disappeared down the hall again for a few moments andthen returned. He took a seat in the leather armchair. "He finally didget curious. Wanted to know if we needed that caliber rifle to shootJersey mosquitoes. I told him we were going on a trip and that Icouldn't say anything more about it. So he said he'd lend us the gunonly on condition that we tell him the story when we got back. I said wewould, if we could."

  "He's the best," Rick said. "But he knows we've done some hush-hush workfor the government, and don't forget he's an ex-Marine. He wouldn'tembarrass us by asking too many questions."

  Scotty nodded. "Wait until you see this rifle. A .45-90 is a regularcannon. It'll knock down anything smaller than an elephant, and it'llknock down one of those, if it hits the right spot."

  "That's just Zircon's size," Rick said, grinning. The scientist was ahuge man who towered over the rest of the staff.

  * * * * *

  Later, Zircon dominated the library as Steve issued final instructions.The scientist's booming voice had phrased questions for an hour, untileven Steve looked weary.

  "This winds up what I have to say," he told them. "Mike should be backwith your tickets, passports, and letter of credit in another hour. I'llgo back to Washington and issue instructions via the State Department toall of our ambassadors and consuls in the area. They'll know what'shappening and why you're there, but no one else on their staffs will. Goin to see each one whose country you enter. Make a lot of noise. Insiston seeing the chief. Hell know your names and he'll do everything hecan. Bradley is supposed to check in with each embassy or consulate inthe same way. They'll be your points of contact in case he shows upagain. File reports when you can. Hand them to the ambassador or consulof the country and no one else."

  Steve stopped for a moment, then his warm grin flashed. "This is goingto be tougher than beating the Whispering Box gang. I know you'll comeback with the answers, but be sure you have whole skins when you do!"