Annie was within. She was lying straight as a board on a small bunk. Hunter called to her, but she could not hear him. She was obviously still under some kind of hypnotic spell. She wasn't going to be much help in her own rescue.
The cell door was locked. Hunter looked back at the mass of sprawled arms and legs on the floor and knew it would be impossible for him to find which guard had the keys. And while Zoloff was still remarkably holding his own, that might change at any moment. But how could he get into the cell to rescue Annie?
His mind went back to when he first landed in this weird place — how the rocket ship's door nearly came off in his hand. And later when the tin men's spears had gone through the fuselage. And how these so-called soldiers were so easy to defeat — when there wasn't an unlimited supply of them, that is.
That's probably when it finally sank in what this place was all about. It wasn't about armies, or prisoners, or observatories, or castles in the sky. It was about weakling soldiers, damsels in distress, and worlds to be saved. It was Adventure Land! A place custom-made for heroes.
So he looked back at the cell's bars and thought, What the hell? He put his hands on them and with all his strength began to pull on them. They parted like rubber.
Hunter was soon inside. Annie was still out of it, eyes wide open, looking into space. Hunter tried to revive her, but no amount of gentle shaking would do the trick.
He tried to lift her off the bunk, but she was literally stiff, so much so he could never have gotten her through the space he'd created in the bent bars. What's worse, outside he heard indications that the tin men might be turning the tide in the battle against the doctor.
Time was running out. He had to get Annie up and moving. So he did what he thought any hero would do: he kissed her, long and hard on the lips. She woke right away, took one look at him, and jumped off the bed. She was quickly glued to his side once again.
He carried her out of the cell just as a few of the wimpy soldiers were getting their footing back. Holding Annie with one arm, Hunter began punching the recovering soldiers with the other. Between these blows and a revived Zoloff, they were able to knock over the lot of them again.
"Time to go!" Zoloff announced. Annie squeezed Hunter, showing her full agreement.
But Hunter stopped them both in their tracks. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" he asked.
Father looked at daughter, and daughter looked back.
"Your boyfriend," Hunter had to remind them. "I thought he was locked up here, too."
They all turned back toward the second cell. Once again, Hunter quickly parted the pliable bars. Lying on a bed inside, stiff as a board, apparently suffering from the same hypnotic spell was a tall, dark, and handsome man, approximately Hunter's age.
"Please, we must revive him!" Zoloff said, suddenly up to speed again.
Hunter laughed. "Don't look at me."
Annie timidly left his side, walked quickly into the cell, and planted a kiss on the sleeping man that lasted no more than a tenth of a second. The man leaped off the bed, hugged Annie, hugged Zoloff, and shook hands heartily with Hunter.
"Buck Gordon, at your service!" he said with a bow.
Then he took a look at the guards who were recovering yet again — and suddenly bounded from the cell. Hunter, Annie, and Zoloff started off after him.
"Maybe he knows the way out!" Hunter cried.
"Or he's running away," Annie replied. "Again…"
They ran. And ran. And ran…
At points along the way they actually lost sight of Annie's husband-in-waiting. The corridors were murky and winding, with only a few odd torches available to light the way. They were also covered with great swatches of torn, dingy silklike material, held together by long pieces of silver twine, remnants, no doubt, of the palace's former glory. Between the dirty silk's ghostly flowing and the darkness in the hallways, it was impossible to determine if they were running up or down. Every so often they would hear the unmistakable clanking of the tin soldiers in pursuit. But with just a little more effort, those sounds were quickly left behind.
Finally they reached a ramp of sorts that went nearly straight down. At the end of it was a huge door built not into the wall but into the floor. They all skidded to halt in front of it.
"I heard them talk about this door," Buck said. "As a way out, in case anything happened up above."
It seemed a little too pat for Hunter. But then again, what didn't in this crazy place?
He studied the handle on the hatch. It looked old and elaborate and immovable. Yet when Annie simply reached down and gave it a twist, it opened easily.
Everyone stepped back and let Hunter actually pull the door open. As soon as he did, he was hit with a great burst of air. It stunned them all. Hunter instinctively moved the others back. Then he took a look at what was beyond the door. The simple answer was: nothing.
They were looking down through a cloud to the rough terrain of the strange little moon about a half mile below.
"Damn," Hunter breathed. "This place does ride on the clouds!"
At that instant, they heard the unmistakable clanking of the palace soldiers coming toward them.
"We're trapped!" Zoloff cried.
Hunter was still looking down through the hatch at the ground below. This was weird. He'd seen just this type of thing at least once before.
"They'll kill us all this time!" Annie cried. But Hunter didn't think so. He figured it was about 2,000 feet to the ground, maybe less. And what was the most heroic thing he could do at the moment?
"Get some of that stuff off the wall!" he yelled to the others. "Some of those cords, too!"
Hunter wasn't really sure how to make a parachute. But how hard could it be? Lots of fabric, lots of cord to serve as the control lines, lots of time before the plodding soldiers finally tracked them down.
They all worked quickly, gathering the silk and attaching the cords. They soon had two huge things that looked like parachutes, sort of.
That's when they heard the soldiers at the top of the ramp. The clanking was at first loud but quickly became almost deafening. There were hundreds of the metal men coming at them now. Hunter didn't hesitate. He put Zoloff and Buck together under one chute and with little ceremony, pushed them through the opening.
Then he grabbed Annie and stepped into the abyss himself.
The two parachutes worked like a charm, of course. They rode the gentle air currents, expertly spiraling to the ground below. Zoloff and Buck came down in a bit of a heap; luckily, a soft meadow was their landing pad. Hunter and Annie came in standing up. As soon as their feet hit the ground, the silk chute fell down around them, covering them. Annie took the opportunity to plant a passionate, tongue-lashing kiss on Hunter that ended only when the chute finally passed over them and blew away.
Hunter tried to stay cool, but it was not an easy thing to do with such a gorgeous girl in his arms. He looked back up at the aerial palace. Never did he think he'd find a floating city here. They moved down the meadow to a grove of trees. It gave them both cover and shade. They sat down and got their heads together.
The adventure now seemed complete. Buck was rescued, and Annie was safe. Hunter thought it was time to get to the business of his being here. He pulled Zoloff aside and explained how he'd learned about this place and how it was important that he complete his mission. Zoloff could only shake his head though. Such things still did not compute. Hunter retrieved the Mad Russian's image again and once more asked Zoloff if he had ever seen or heard of the man.
Try as he might, the good doctor just could not reply.
The disappointment must have shown on Hunter's face, because Zoloff asked him, "Your visit here has not been a success then?"