When Jerry Hall, Mrs. Gregory and Captain Bradford started out to search for a little girl on a strange island in the South Seas, Jerry insisted it would be a magic island. Now that Joan, Mrs. Gregory's long-lost little daughter, has been found on the island, and G-47, the mad scientist and his weird colony, are holding Mrs. Gregory, Bradford, and Jerry prisoners, the strange island of Euclidia is indeed almost a magic island. Jerry, Joan, and G-47 are in the voice transmission chamber on the island. Jerry tried to get a message through for help, but G-47 overheard it. He turned a ray gun on Jerry and Joan. Mrs. Gregory's California radio operator is still trying to hear Jerry. What has happened Hall? Cannot get your signal. What has happened J-24? J-12C to J- Enough of that. So you young fools, you would try to warn the outside world of my plans, would you? It might have been better had I used the death ray on you. No, no, I need you both. You have been unconscious for 50 seconds, 10 seconds more and you will revive. Then you will send the message I want you to send. Now, you should regain consciousness in just three seconds. That's funny. I was talking to J-12 in Los Angeles, then the ship went dead. I'll get him again. You will do exactly as I say, young man. Golly, I didn't see you. Say, what did you do to Joan? Joan, Joan, what's the matter? She did not receive the ray from this little toy of mine until after you did. It is just time for her to awaken now. You, you turned the ray gun on Jerry, but he is not dead? No, I used only the 60 second paralyzing ray. What are you talking about? Nothing happened to me. Didn't you see that I was asleep, Jerry? You were mighty quiet and funny, all right. G-47 turned his ray gun on us when he heard you trying to warn your friends in California that you were held prisoner here on Euclidia. I didn't see any gun. I heard something. It sounded like a baby screaming, a little child screaming way off. Then the radio set went dead. The radio set, as you call it, did not go dead. I merely put you to sleep with the 60 second ray. You were trying to deceive me. You bet I was, and I'll try it every chance I get. Do not speak like that, Jerry. G-47 can do with you exactly as he pleases. Let him get busy on his worst then. I'm going to get off this island some way, sometime, and nobody's going to stop me. Ah, you are a fool. Even a brave man knows when to keep quiet. You are as completely in my power and cut off from the world as if you had never known it to exist. This little ray gun is only one infinitesimal part of my equipment for handling fools. Is that the little thing that put us to sleep? This is it. That doesn't look like a gun. It isn't any bigger than a lead pencil. Just the same, Jerry. That little thing will throw a ray across this island and carries enough power in it to paralyze a thousand people. You have learned your lesson well, Cleostre. Ah, Nick's on that Cleostre stuff. Her name is Joan. She's Mrs. Gregley's little girl, and I'll call her Joan. You will learn to call her Cleostre. Her Euclidean name is the only name she will ever need. And it is our wish to know her as the symbol of Cleostratus, the great astronomer of ancient Greece who gave us the zodiac. Well, I'm going to call her what I like. Yeah, and that's not all. That is entirely too much. Silence, both of you. You will now send the message I instructed you to send before. And this time I will stand directly behind you with this little ray gun trained upon you. Go on, Jerry. Do as he tells you. Move the transmission lever there upon the map of California. This is the craziest radio set I ever saw. I push a button and talk to Los Angeles, but I'm talking to a blank wall. Ah, you are talking through a wall, a porous sound wall behind which the directional voice transmission apparatus is located. Ah, the wall is bulletproof, my young fool. So do not waste your time trying to damage the apparatus. Go on. Be careful, Jerry. Do not try to send any message except exactly as G-47 tells you. Oh, I've got enough sense not to want him to put me to sleep again with that thing. Well, here goes. J-24Y to J-12C at Los Angeles. Hello, J-12. Jerry Hall to J-12C. J-12 to J-24. Hello, Jerry. What happened to your signal? You were coming in good, then stopped. I got the word danger. Go ahead, J-24Y. Say there is no danger. Correction on that, J-12C. I said no danger. All is well, but we are off our course. No sign of violence. Stand by for further report. Repeat, J-12C. J-12C to J-24Y. Repeating, no danger. Off your course. No sign of violence. I'm standing by. Okay, J-12. Can you give me your position? No position. No position, J-12. We'll give position later. That is all, J-24Y. That is all. Good luck, Jerry. Johnson on J-12C. Now, how do you shut this thing off? It is off now. The method is no concern of yours. Gee whiz. Things work almost by themselves on Euclidia, Jerry. Too fast to suit me. Now I've got to see Captain Bradford. You may do so. You, Cleostra, will conduct this boy to the captain's cell. Then you will return to your quarters. I would like to visit more with my dear mother. You may see her later. You all will be allowed to see everything, or nearly everything, on Euclidia. When you have made up your almost negligible mind to the fact that you will stay here, your interests are here now. In the meantime, go and see your dear captain. Make all the silly plans you can think of to escape. They will exercise your minds and furnish amusement to me. Go. Enough of this. I will see you when I want you. I will see you again. I don't like that guy. No one does, but it is not safe to show it. Now come, Jerry, and I will take you to the captain. Then I must go to my own quarters. I'll see you after a while and tell you some more about California and the rest of the world, huh? Tell me this, Jerry, as we walk to the captain's cell. Your name, Jerry Hall, what does it mean? What does it mean? Yes, it must have a meaning. Well, it means that my mother's and father's name was Hall, and they called me Jerry. But that means nothing. Means plenty to me. But on Euclidia, all the names mean something. One of these days you're going to quit worrying about what things mean on this spooky island, and it is a spooky place. Look, here we are walking on something that looks like concrete or stone, but our shoes don't make a sound. That is not strange to me. I have seen how they make the noiseless rock, the transparent steel, and the invisible cloth. Golly, whiskers, when we get off this island, we'll show the rest of the world a lot of swell tricks. I wish, Jerry, I wish you would not speak of getting off this island. You're only wasting your breath. You don't think we're going to get off, huh? I know you will not, and you will only make it dangerous for all of us if you try. Wait till Tex Bradford and I get down to figuring this out, and we'll make it dangerous for anybody that tries to keep us from going. There's Captain Bradford's cell. I must leave you here. Where? I don't see any cell. You do not look closely, Jerry. There's nothing but a blank wall in front of us. And if you look carefully at that wall, you will observe that you can see through it, and Captain Bradford is sitting in a little cubicle of a room. Oh, God, I'm getting tired of all these tricks. Why don't they have windows and doors like anybody else? Doors and windows are not necessary when you can see and talk through steel walls. I guess you're right. Hey, Tex, Captain Bradford. Yes, Jerry? Come over to the wall so I can talk to you. You may step nearer, Jerry, but do not touch the wall. The walls are charged with electricity, huh? Yes, and the power is enormous. That's why these walls make such good cells. Stop. You weren't near enough now. Hello, Joan. How are you and Jerry getting along? This Jerry of yours, I like him. He is a very nice but very foolish boy. Oh, she's worried, Tex, just because I don't let old G-47 bluff me. I'm afraid it's no bluff, son. Better lay low and do what he says. I must go now. When can I see you again? I will come to you when I have permission. Oh, darn the permission. Steady, Jerry. Joan's right. We're just trying to go against the rules here. We have a plan. I'm sorry. I'll see you later, Joan. Goodbye, Jerry. Be careful what you do. Goodbye, Cleostra. You don't like that name much, do you? Oh, it's all right. I don't like it because old Geometry gave it to her, I guess. Well, now that we have a minute to ourselves, let's see what we've learned about our situation here. The more we learn about it, the worse it gets. Where's Mrs. Gregory? She's in the room where they make dresses in 300 seconds, wherever that is. Well, as long as they don't injure any of us, we have a chance. Not much. I tried to cheat on a radio message to Johnson, and old G-47 turned a ray gun on me. Did he hurt you? No. Just put me to sleep for exactly one minute. Then when I woke up, he had me believe in I'd better not try it again. Did you get through to Johnson at all? Yeah. With the old guy shoving his gun in me, in my back, I had to tell Johnson all was well. That we were off our course but in no danger. And that we didn't know our position. Good boy. That helps a lot. How could it? I didn't have time to show you all the things we have on that yacht. And you didn't see any of our equipment at the Gregory home. But Johnson knows it's impossible for us not to know our position. As long as we have current enough on board to send him a message. And in an hour, he'll have our position all figured out. How can he do that? Just as we did on the yacht one. No, I'd better wait for another time to review that. The chances are, in fact, I'm sure that every word we've said has been overheard by someone. Then we've already said too much. Yes, I know it. But we've got to talk some time. And what we've said so far is no more than G-47 has figured out for himself by now. Is there anything that guy doesn't know? There is one thing he can't touch, Jerry. What's that? He can't read your mind. The man is no magician and he's no trickster. Though he is probably the greatest scientist the world has ever known. Or failed to know. Everything he produces is an exact science. And if we can only figure out how to get our thoughts to each other, without speaking or writing them, we can... What's the matter? Tex? I... I feel dizzy in my head. Oh, Tex! Tex! What's happening to you?
