Tom Swift and His Giant Robot by Victor Appleton II Read Free Book Online

of you, genius boy!"
    Tom laughed and was about to make a joking reply when suddenly a shout rose from somewhere in the auditorium, immediately joined by others in a swelling chorus of alarm.
    He and Bud ran to the curtain, where they collided with Sandy and Bashalli, who were running backstage in a panic.
    "Tom! Bud!" they cried. "The auditorium’s on fire!"

CHAPTER 7
PERILOUS POWDER
    TOM WHIPPED open the curtain and looked out into the auditorium. Thick smoke was pouring down from a ceiling vent. As he watched, he could begin to make out orange-yellow flames behind the vent grating.
    The vent was situated above the main exit door, which led into the lobby. The overflow audience was trying to back up into the auditorium again, but the patrons were squeezed ever tighter together and mass panic was setting in.
    Suddenly the shouts became a terrified roar. An entire section of the ceiling collapsed downward in a rush of sparks, and the audience surged backwards in fear of their lives.
    "Everyone! Listen!" cried a commanding voice. It was Tom’s father! "Walk up onto the stage and through the back door! Just walk —remain calm."
    This seemed to help the situation. Tom and Bud boosted the thronging audience members onto the stage at either side of the central steps, and Sandy and Bashalli herded them toward the backstage exit.
    Suddenly a woman’s shrill scream ripped the air! "Linda! Oh no!"
    Clambering up on the stage, Tom saw the cause instantly. The falling ceiling had set an entire section of seats aflame. Next to the wall, beyond the blazing seats, a little girl huddled paralyzed with fear. She was trapped between the fire and the unyeilding wall!
    Too terrified to cry out, the little girl, Linda, pushed herself closer to the auditorium wall, shrinking back from the heat. The flames were leaping halfway to the roof, and there was no place to run.
    Suddenly, as if a new nightmare had commenced, a huge eerie shadow seemed to pass through the hedge of flame! The monstrous shadow, ten feet tall, staggered forward and stretched out a pair of tremendous arms—arms which terminated in great vicelike claws. But the claws were safely closed, and the arms scooped the little girl up off the floor and held her high, carrying her over the hungry flames and setting her down gently on the stage next to her tearful mother.
    Tom Swift stepped away from Robo Boy’s control console. "Is she all right?" he asked.
    Too overcome to speak, the mother could only nod gratefully.
    Sandy hugged her brother with tears in her eyes, and Bashalli kissed his cheek and whispered, "You see, you are a hero!"
    "Not me," returned Tom. "Robo Boy!"
    Predictably, the Shopton Courier was ablaze with news of the event the morning following. The story included the Mayor’s words of thanks, and photos of Tom, the Robot, and little Linda. It was also disclosed that the Fire Department had attributed the fire to a short-circuit in the air conditioning system.
    "And not a ghost in sight!" remarked Tom, showing the front page to Bud as they sat in Tom’s laboratory at Swift Enterprises.
    "Yeah," Bud retorted, "but remember, Skipper, you can’t always see a ghost!"
    Robo Boy stood against the wall, his exterior newly cleaned of soot and his charred "head" discarded. Tom had swung open the hinged plates covering the robot’s thick arms and legs, revealing a complicated assemblage of cylinders that slid into one another telescope-fashion.
    Bud eyed Robo Boy’s insides with curiosity. "His insides look as complicated as a real person’s! So what are you working on, Tom?"
    "His muscles, basically," the young inventor responded. "I want to see if I can give him smoother, stronger, quicker movements."
    "You’ll make a ballet star of him yet!" Bud chuckled. "How do his muscles work, anyway? Those tubes look more like hydraulics than electric motors."
    "Let me show you," said Tom, motioning for Bud to stand still. Tom walked across the lab to a counter, the top of