Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates Read Online Free PDF

The up-and-down tones, giving it that ‘singsong’ quality, modify the meaning."
    "Then you don’t have anything?" Tom asked, disappointed.
    "I may . It doesn’t make much sense. But it’s the only possibility that makes any sense at all."
    "Go ahead."
    "I think the fellow may have said: Beware the Black Cobra! "
    Tom and Bud exchanged startled glances. The looks expressed dismay at the sudden recognition of an alarming possibility! " Beware the Black Cobra ," Tom repeated. "Is that the whole thing?"
    "Yes—but ... " The young engineer hesitated as Tom and Bud waited impatiently. "The form is idiomatic. The ‘beware’ isn’t just your garden-variety ‘be careful’. It’s more urgent, like a warning shout. Like what you’d yell out at someone if you saw that a cobra was about to strike!"
     
CHAPTER 5
INTERRUPTED WARNING
    AS TOM turned to leave after thanking Felix for his translation, ominous but vital, Bud held back for a moment. He felt a need to break the grim mood. "Say there, Felix, how’s the ol’ romantic life going?" he asked jokingly, referring to a subject of recurrent concern to the Chinese-American.
    "Alas, it is in the hands of my honorable ancestors."
    "Got a date lined up yet?"
    "Are you asking me out?"
    "No."
    "Then no."
    As Tom drove the nanocar across the grounds, Bud observed: "Bet you and I are thinking the same thing, Tom."
    "He did say he was shedding his skin."
    It was while developing his spectromarine selector that Tom had first been told of Comrade-General Li Ching, a traitor to his native China who had fled into hiding with a treasure trove of military and technical secrets. Nicknamed "the snakeman," he had made himself the imperious head of an international syndicate of scientific thieves and murderous agents from many countries. It was during Tom’s deadly struggle with the man in the course of his recent exploit with his megascope space prober that he had been sent the cryptic message that this new development seemed to explain. Tom continued: "It hangs together pretty well, don’t you think? Evidently our recovering the stolen stealth drone inspired him to adopt new methods."
    "Or at least a new monicker," Bud noted wryly. "And hey!—remember that energy burst you and Hank Sterling detected out in space? When you were trying out the Private Ear gizmo in the Space Kite?"
    "I know what you’re getting at, flyboy. Li could have been testing some sort of energy weapon, which he’s now used against the Nestria delivery rocket!"
    "Right, from his ship, the Fanshen . Sounds like he’s our enemy," agreed Bud. "Tsu may have been a turncoat, and the Chinese guys chasing him must be Li’s cronies."
    Tom nodded thoughtfully as he braked in front of the Administration Building. "Bet you’re right, pal. But what about that warning phone call we received? We need more answers, and I think I know how to get them."
    Up in the spacious office he shared with his father, Tom activated his computer and accessed his personal journal. The journal was stored on a protected server; yet protected or not, he knew that an ultra-secret U.S. government agency, which Tom had come to call Collections, somehow monitored the connection. One of its agents, "the Taxman," had frequently responded to his inquiries.
    After establishing his identity and signaling his desire to contact the agency, he typed: " A man has been shot by unknown pursuers while trying to warn me of someone called ‘the Black Cobra’ ."
    The reply appeared on the monitor almost immediately.
OLD NEWS
    " Li Ching? "
BINGO
    " Is he behind the problem with Nestria? "
    To Tom’s surprise, there was no immediate answer. "Maybe he doesn’t know, for a change." Bud murmured over his pal’s shoulder. "Er, if you heard that, Mr. Taxman, no offense intended!"
    At last a message appeared.
NEW YORK CHINATOWN
86 CHATHAM SQUARE
SUITE 313
TRANS-PACIFIC IMPORT COMPANY
FRIDAY 2 PM
    " What about my question? " Tom typed. " Does Li Ching have designs on