latches that supported the cargo section suddenly sprang open like a crocodile's jaw releasing its prey.
'Danger. Core separation engaged.'
Sky Captain grabbed Polly and held her tight as they stood suspended over the drop-off. The sound of heavy iron support girders creaked under the strain. Magenta lights flashed in warning. 'Hold on!'
The center core explosively separated from the main body, throwing Polly and Sky Captain to the narrow catwalk. They sprawled on the latticework bridge and fought to hang on as the cargo section fell away. Empty air roared through the gaping hole where the iris floor had been. They could see the Earth speeding away from them: the vast ocean, the small patch of Totenkopf's island, even the curvature of the horizon.
Once jettisoned, the cargo section tumbled grace fully. Several seconds later, giant chutes deployed to catch the thousands of animal specimens and bring them to a safe landing.
Without the added weight of the lost section, the rocket suddenly and dramatically accelerated. The sounds around them were deafening. 'We're picking up speed!' Sky Captain shouted.
Polly felt nauseated by the frightening drop below. 'I wouldn't want to fall now…'
'I didn't want to fall before.'
'Thirty seconds to primary ignition,' said the voice on the loudspeaker.
Sky Captain and Polly looked aghast. Their time had been cut in half. They crawled across the catwalk, pinned in place by the incredible acceleration.
He caught her again as the rocket began to shake violently. The thick girders that supported the interior of the control modules bent under the strain; one sheared in half, showing bright metal. 'Come on, only a little farther.'
They both struggled to their feet. Giant arcs of pent-up static electricity burst across their path, leaping from one contact point to another. Falling debris blocked their way. The hovering monitor robots swirled around like leaves in a tornado, smashing into each other, colliding with the curved walls. Three of them were sucked through the bottomless hole of the floor far below.
'Twenty seconds to primary ignition.'
With the groan of a mortally wounded animal, one of the metal crossbeams supporting the domed roof burst free of its anchor. Rivets shot out like bullets, ricocheting against the hull. Sky Captain ducked as one whizzed past him. Dragged down by the shuddering acceleration, the huge metal girder swung down toward them, smashing into the catwalk just behind Polly's legs. The impact was like the blow of an executioner's ax; it sliced the metal bridge in half. The catwalk began to collapse.
Trying to run faster than the falling bridge, Sky Captain pulled Polly along to the edge of the control deck. They both leaped to safety just as the catwalk buckled, twisted, then detached. It swirled as it tumbled away through the open floor, hurtling toward the Earth in a violent flash.
'Ten seconds to primary ignition.'
As Sky Captain and Polly got to their feet again, another concussive force knocked them to the metal deck. But they kept inching toward the system terminal with only seconds to spare. Reaching up toward the bank of lights and toggles, Sky Captain hoped he could remember the right sequence from the rocket ship's design specifications.
Then one of the hovering monitor robots swung close to him, darting toward his head. Sparks of blue electricity zapped at him, defensive measures meant to keep anyone from tampering with the systems. Sky Captain ducked as the static bolt hit him. The floater robot was like an angry hornet defending its hive.
Polly locked both of her hands together in a double fist and swung at the hovering machine. She smacked it like Babe Ruth hitting a home run. The metal robot spun out of control, bounced against the nearest wall, then dropped. As it struggled to reset its levitating engines, the machine tumbled into the roaring updraft and then fell out of the bottom of the rocket.
Polly looked at her smarting, bloodied knuckles. 'I think I broke my hand!'
Sky Captain reached the controls and threw a switch. Nearby, a section of the floor panel recessed and then slid open to expose the underwiring connected to the main system station. There, protected and suspended in a glass container, hung the two vials of Dr. Totenkopf's genetic experiments.
Knowing he had done the first step correctly, Sky Captain darted his gaze back and forth across the control panel. From the emergency tool pouch inside his pilot's jacket, he withdrew a pair of small wire clippers. He had enough training and experience to do fast, necessary repairs on any plane in the Flying Legion.
This time, though, he wasn't trying to fix anything. He steadied his hand, placing the clipper blades over a single wire. He looked at Polly. They shared a silent moment, knowing they would not survive this act of heroism.
Finally, she said, 'You can't wait, Joe. We have to do this — '
'I missed you, too.'
Polly swallowed hard, choked with emotion. She nodded. He fit the clipper blades around the primary wire and started to squeeze.
With a darting blur, another hand seized Sky Captain's wrist, preventing him from cutting the wire. Startled, he and Polly both whirled to see the hideously exposed metal-and-circuitry face of the mysterious android woman. Her black garments were torn and melted away, leaving her synthetic body partly exposed. Bits of machinery showed through the peeling plastic flesh.
Sky Captain let out an angry groan. 'Why won't you die?'
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
