Wrenching his wrist free, he reeled back and swung, driving the pointed wire clippers into her broken faceplate. Sparks sprayed from her face like a shower of electrical blood, and her robot muscles stuttered and jittered, throwing her into convulsions. Then, as if a switch had been cut off in her computer brain, the android woman collapsed to the deck with a heavy thud.
"Now stay dead this time. Please."
On the control bank, Polly watched a small dial rotate into place as the rocket reached the fringe of the Earth's atmosphere. Already, the air was thin and cold in the open control module.
"Five seconds to primary ignition," droned the loudspeaker voice.
"Joe!" Polly called.
The rocket hurtled toward starry space as a streak of light, then began to separate. With no time to think, Sky Captain reached into the control panel and grabbed the primary wire. With his bare hand, he snapped it free, disconnecting the circuit just as the deadly atomic engines of the third stage were about to deploy. With an explosion of sparks and an overload surge, the control panel burst into flames.
Their job done, Sky Captain and Polly took a second to hold each other close. They watched helplessly, knowing the rocket was about to explode. They might have been doomed, but the Earth would be saved.
Screeching Klaxons sounded as emergency systems engaged. "Warning: System failure! Warning: system failure!"
A high-pitched whirring sound signaled the activation of hydraulic valves. All around the diameter of the control module, new portals sprang open as Totenkopf's emergency systems activated.
"What is it?" Polly asked, dreading any last-minute surprise the mad genius might have left for them.
A series of small portals spun open in the wall next to them. Sky Captain looked at the nearest hatch, then grabbed Polly. "I don't think Totenkopf wanted to take any chances." They both dove forward.
The small dial on the control panel ratcheted into place, initiating primary ignition. Then the ascending rocket ship exploded in a terrific fireball.
36
A Fireball in the Sky. A Rescue in the Clouds. The Last Photograph
The hovercraft transport shot away from the island and over the ocean. Dex looked up at the fading fiery contrail of the rocket as it rose toward space, and then the ship bloomed into a dazzling cloud of smoke and expanding debris.
The two old Unit Eleven scientists cheered. "Sky Captain has done it! The Earth is saved."
Dex gaped in surprise and dismay, unable to say anything for several seconds. Long after the flash, the rumble of the incredible blast reached them. He swallowed hard. "He was a hero to the end…" Nothing could have survived such an incredible blast.
Letting the hovercraft coast above the choppy waves, he removed a pair of binoculars he had found in a storage compartment. Apparently, Dr. Lang and Dr. Schmidt had liked to cruise over the island jungles to do prehistoric bird-watching.
Dex hefted the binoculars, focusing the lenses as he searched the sky in vain. The black clouds of ignited rocket fuel spread out as shrapnel from the vessel tumbled like meteors toward the ocean. As he swung his view slowly from side to side, an ice ball formed in his stomach.
But then he saw a tiny dot, a small object drifting down from the center of the explosion. Dex caught his breath, twisted the focusing rings, and finally spotted a small armored life pod. The pod drifted gently to Earth, held up by the scorched and ragged silk of a wide parachute.
Aboard the battered flying fortress, a young Royal Navy ensign stood on the flight deck, scanning the clouds through his own pair of binoculars. He grinned and jabbed his thumb upward. "I see them, Commander! They're alive!"
Franky Cook waited next to him, her posture perfect. She wore a clean uniform now and had straightened her cap and her eye patch. She nodded, but restrained herself from showing anything but a cool hint of relief.
She moved to the controls of a radio set and sounded a general announcement that reverberated throughout the drifting air base. "Ready assault and rescue teams. All hands on deck."
By now, most of the fires had been extinguished on board the aerial fortress. Casualties had been tallied, and the wounded taken to the sick bay. A great deal of damage had been done to the runways, and many of the Royal Navy's attack planes had been destroyed. But Franky no longer had any doubt that they could complete the obliteration of Dr. Totenkopf's remaining robots. The machine menace would be eradicated.
"Increase altitude," she called out. "Let's get out of these clouds so we can all see what we're doing."
The deck of the flying fortress teemed with activity. Her crew scrambled to mount a retrieval mission for the descending life pod. Heavily armed attack planes launched from the runways and streaked toward the mysterious island to continue mop-up operations. The giant conning tower of the flying fortress broke through the clouds, displaying the two-story-tall numeral 1 emblazoned on its front.
Franky stood on the deck, watching her loyal fighters complete their tasks smoothly and efficiently. From a cottony mass of cumulus to the east, another conning tower appeared, this one sporting the high numeral 3 on its side.
"All reinforcements have arrived as expected, Commander," the ensign said.
She smiled as a third conning tower came into view, joining the other two flying fortresses. Number seven.
The three massive hovering cities clustered together, an airborne military that could stand against the worst enemies of humanity. Wave after wave of aircraft launched from the decks, streaking away to complete their mission.
The rendezvous with Franky Cook and her flying fortress could wait. Dex changed course and maneuvered the hovering freight transport around the island toward the descending life pod. The two old scientists stood at the side of the hovercraft, watching the bright parachutes. The life pod splashed down safely in the water.
Overhead, swarms of fighter planes from the Flying Legion blackened the sky as they converged on Totenkopf's island. Thousands of aircraft filled the air with the ominous buzzing hum of a wasp's nest. The first wave broke off, and bomber squadrons descended to obliterate the target.
As Dex approached the bobbing life pod, he was startled to see giant prehistoric creatures swimming by. A spiny dorsal fin broke the water, leaving a great wake. More and more of the beasts evacuated, finding safety in the depths of the ocean.
A firestorm erupted in the center of the island as the first sequence of carpet bombing began. Military aircraft accelerated upward as a second squadron came behind them, dropping enough explosives to sterilize the landscape.
"We know Totenkopf's machines have independent programming," Dex said. "They can repair and rebuild themselves. We can't leave even two pieces of metal bolted together." Later, when survey crews combed the island, they weren't likely to find anything more than hardened puddles of slag.
The hovercraft reached the bobbing life pod. The fabric of the parachute bunched around the metal vessel, drifting like seaweed. The hatch was already open to give them fresh air, but as Dex approached he saw that Sky Captain and Polly remained inside the vessel, locked in an exhausted embrace.
Hearing the hovercraft outside, the two quickly pulled apart, but Polly was still grinning. She reached into the cramped confines of the life pod and retrieved her camera. "One shot left, Joe."
"Better not waste it. What are you waiting for?" He looked out at the attacking planes of the Flying Legion and the exodus of creatures that had never before been seen by man.
Polly raised her camera and framed the smoldering island. Nearby, prehistoric monsters swam from shore. A brontosaurus raised its long neck and looked right at her. The whole spectacle seemed to be closing in on her from all points of the compass. It was an epic vision.