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CHAPTER FOUR

The See-Ray

Danny rubbed his nose thoughtfully, as he gazed at the image on the screen. “I think you’re right,” he said, slowly. “And you know something else? I don’t think this is a television set.”

“That is correct, my boy,” said the Professor, from behind him.

He had come into the laboratory that instant, with Dr. Tresselt, and he walked over and put a friendly hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Gosh, Professor, I didn’t mean to fool with it,” Danny said. “But it does look just like a portable television set, and I thought—”

“No harm done,” said Professor Bullfinch. “I can understand your confusion. As a matter of fact, I was just about to demonstrate it to Dr. Tresselt, so you’ve saved me the trouble of turning it on.”

He beckoned to the geologist to come closer. “Look here, Alvin. It is set for a distance of twenty-five feet.”

“Oh,” said Danny. “Not Channel 25.”

“No.” The Professor laughed. “So far, this experimental model has a range of about seventy-five feet. What you are seeing now is—um—the kitchen on the other side of that wall.”

Dr. Tresselt stooped to peer into the screen. “Very interesting,” he said. “So this is the C-ray.”

“A little joke of my own,” smiled the Professor. “See-ray.”

“A kind of X-ray, actually?”

“Well, a radiation operating at the same short wave length as X-ray. But I produce it so that a much smaller amount is easily detectable. I can thus time the reflection of the rays almost like—well—radar. As you see, the screen is similar to that of a radarscope. But the sensitivity is so great that I can detect it easily, and thus there is no radiation danger.”

“I see,” said Dr. Tresselt. “The same job with less juice, you might say.”

“Exactly. I thought it might have some value in geology, or mineralogy, since you can, in effect, see right through solid rock with it.”

The geologist shook his head. “We’d have to try it. It might develop all sorts of bugs under field conditions. And I doubt that it would be able to select between layers of, say, limestone and sandstone.”

“That’s why I wanted to show it to you,” said the Professor. “I thought you might take it with you on your next expedition.”

Dr. Tresselt was looking at the screen again. “Whatever else it does, it certainly shows up icebox raiders very well,” he said. “I presume that’s your friend Joe?”

“Yes, it is,” Danny said. “And—well, don’t you think, Professor, that if the machine can pick out Joe and what he’s eating as well as it does, that it could show fossils, or crystals, in rocks?”

The Professor stroked his chin. “Not quite the same, Dan,” he replied. “In this case, the ray is probing through a solid wall to pick up objects in empty space—the kitchen. But Dr. Tresselt isn’t sure it will be able to select objects buried in another solid, like stone.”

“It was good thinking, though,” said Dr. Tresselt. “You certainly are interested in science, Dan. How about you, Irene? Don’t you sometimes feel left out of things?”

Irene looked indignant. Before she could answer, Danny said, “Gosh, no. She knows more than I do about some branches of science. Not very much, though,” he added, hastily.

“I’m going to be a physicist when I go to college,” Irene said. “You know there are women who are scientists—”

Dr. Tresselt lifted his hands apologetically. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. I spoke without thinking.”

Irene looked happier.

“She’s so crazy about science, she even wears it,” Danny grinned.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” said the geologist, looking perplexed. “How can you wear science?”

Professor Bullfinch snapped off his C-ray machine, with a chuckle.

“I think I know what Danny means. Irene has been making up a science charm bracelet. Aren’t you wearing it today, my dear?”

“No, Professor, I forgot it,” said Irene.

“All the charms on it stand for different branches of science,” Danny explained. “She’s got a four-leaf clover that stands for botany, and a lump of iron—one of the elements—for chemistry. What else is there, Irene?”

Irene frowned. “Well, there’s a tiny magnifying glass for microscopy, and a computer switch for mathematics, and a little nut and bolt for engineering, and a dried cocoon for insect studies, and on my birthday my father gave me a tiny gold tag with Einstein’s equation—E = MC2—engraved on it. That’s for physics.”

“What a list,” laughed Dr. Tresselt. “Excellent! Sounds very complete. But what have you for geology?”

“Gee, I haven’t anything yet. What do you suggest?”

“We must try to find her a little fossil, or perhaps a handsome little crystal of some sort, eh, Bullfinch?”

The Professor nodded. Before he could reply, however, Joe came into the laboratory. “Hello, everybody,” he said. “I just came in to say goodbye. I’ve got to go home for lunch.”

Danny looked innocently at his friend. “Hands all washed?” he asked.

“Sure. Why?”

“But Joe—you don’t mean to say you still have room for lunch?” Irene cried.

“Why not?” Joe said, but his face began to turn red.

Danny put his fingers to his forehead. “I am in contact with the spirit world,” he said, in a mysterious voice. “I am now receiving a message from beyond—from a ghost—from the ghost of a roast chicken. It tells me you went into the refrigerator while my mother was out of the kitchen, and that you took a drumstick and ate it…”

Joe gave a long whistle. Then he shrugged.

“Okay,” he said. “I confess. What did you do, peek through the window?”

“Easier than that,” said Danny. “We watched you through the wall.”

“Uh-huh,” Joe grunted. “Why didn’t you walk right through, then, and show me where the mayonnaise was?”

“It’s true, Joe,” said Irene. “Ask the Professor. We watched you with his new C-ray.”

“Nobody’s safe any more,” Joe mumbled. “I always got into trouble with Danny. Now, I can’t even trust the Professor. Next thing you know, there’ll be rays to make sure you do your homework, and rays that make you wash behind the ears—”

“Come, now, Joe,” said Professor Bullfinch, taking out his pipe and filling it. “Things aren’t quite that bad.”

“Not yet, maybe,” Joe said, gloomily. “I should think you scientists could find something better to invent than a ray for spying on a poor hungry kid like me… pale, and thin… just picking up a few crumbs…”

The others burst into laughter. The Professor said, “Joe, I give you my word I didn’t invent the C-ray to make you unhappy. We’ll never use it to watch you again.”

“That cheers me up,” said Joe, looking sadder than ever.

“I hate to break up the National Research Council convention,” said Mrs. Dunn, putting her head into the room, “but lunch is ready.”

Danny said, “Oh, Mom. Do you think Joe and Irene—”

“I’ve already called their mothers,” Mrs. Dunn said, placidly. “There’s enough lunch for everyone. Joe won’t need quite as much as the rest, as he’s already had part of his.”

“Oh, help!” wailed Joe. “How about that? She’s got a C-ray, too!”

Irene sniffed. “Hmf! You ought to know that mothers don’t need science to find out things. You probably left the drumstick on the table.”

“On a chair, as a matter of fact,” said Mrs. Dunn. “And his face is greasy. Come on, everyone.”