the decking to hang over the vessel, its smoke casting a pall that extended out of sight. Indy shot half the roll in his camera, then grabbed a headset and mike and clamped it on his head.
'Will, this is Indy. You got me?' 'Right. Go on.'
'Do you have that ship below us in sight?' 'We have had for quite a while.
I've never seen anything like it. It's absolutely gargantuan. And that deck. You could land anything on it. If that's what it's for.'
'Never mind that right now. But you're right,' Indy said in a rush. 'Look, I want you to swing out to the side, use as much cloud cover as you can, and then I want you to make a run on that thing from its right side—'
'Starboard, yes.'
'Hang the starboard! Just come up from astern along the right side, got it?
And when you do, give us all the speed this bucket's got. As soon as you clear the bow, break away sharply for a mile or two, and then climb as fast as you can.'
Will and Rene were already following his orders; as they continued their exchange, the Ford dropped its nose, Indy felt and heard an increase in power, and the wind howled louder as their speed increased. 'Take her down as fast as you can, Will. And be ready for anything, understand?'
'What in the devil are you expecting down there?' 'We may have company. If we do we'll be getting pictures of it from back here.'
'You expecting—' Will Cromwell halted his words for several moments as the Ford slammed into turbulence, shaking the airplane as if it were bouncing over railroad ties. Then they were out of the rough air. 'You expecting aircraft this far out in the ocean?' 'No.'
'Then what, man?'
'You'll know when you see it. I'll stay on the intercom with you all the way through.' Indy hung onto a seat brace as the Ford's nose swung violently from side to side, then straightened out again. 'Can't you go any faster?'
'Certainly. But we won't have any wings to pull out of the dive. Never fear, we're flying faster than old Mr. Ford ever dreamed.'
The trimotor came out of a screaming, curving descent, and as they leveled out Cromwell poured full power to the engines. As fast as they were flying, they seemed to be crawling against the huge structure of the ship plowing through the sea. Indy and Gale snapped pictures as fast as they could. They saw men, tiny stick figures against the backdrop of the massive vessel. They were almost to the bow when Jocko rushed to Indy's side, shouting over the roar of engines and wind.
'Company! Behind us to our right!'
'What is it?'
'You were right, Boss. Them are crazy things out there! They look like discs!'
'Gale! Save your film! Get over to the other side. There'll be something coming past us on our right, moving fast!
Go, go!'
He was back on the intercom. 'Did you get that up front?'
'What's back there, Indy?'
'Jocko called them discs. They should go ripping right past us. They'll have to go far ahead of us. Will, the moment you see them break in front of us, give me everything you have for a climb. Get us into some clouds as fast as you can.'
'Right, Guv.' Put on the pressure cooker and Cromwell was Mr. Smooth himself. . . .
Indy scrambled to the opposite side of the cabin.
There they were!
Two of them.
Golden disc shapes coming up behind them at tremendous speed. They'd pass the Ford like it was going backwards. Gale was snapping pictures as fast as she could; Indy had his camera ready and started moving film through it. He couldn't take time to look for details. There'd be time for that later when the film was processed and he could study the prints.
He saw a blur of movement from his right, and sunlight splashed off bronzelike metal. The 'disc' was more in the shape of an oval with a central circular bubble cockpit, and he'd bet his bottom dollar it was armor glass made specifically for strength. Despite the speed with which it hurtled past them, he had a moment to see that the glass dome wasn't glass all around, but sheets of flatpaned glass buttressed with metal stringers. It looked almost archaic against that oval shape.
The oval flashed out of sight. Indy tore off his headset and ran to the cockpit.
'Get right behind that thing!' he shouted to Cromwell.
'Hang on!' Cromwell shouted back, working the controls in a wild skidding maneuver to place them directly behind the path the disc had flown. Moments later Indy
smiled grimly to himself. It was exactly what he'd expected. But he'd chew all that over later. For now it was important to execute that timehonored maneuver of getting the blazes out of here while the getting was good.
'Will, climb. Climb as fast as you can and get us into some clouds. Head for Scotland, but do whatever you need to do to stay in the clouds.'
As he spoke Will was coming back on the yoke, the throttles rammed forward for maximum power to haul the Ford up and around in a climbing turn.
'Indy, the way those things move, they'll be coming around right at us and—'
