Once more the Gregory party has escaped from Euclidia. It seems a little out of place to escape from the very locality you've come to capture, but sometimes a well-ordered retreat is the best manner of attack. Captain Bradford has discovered exactly where and how he will use his universal solvent to take over the weird underwater colony of Euclidia. But he hasn't any of the materials necessary to compound the formula, and the only way to get them is a quick return to Los Angeles. The Euclidean Girl Submarine Commander has proven a real friend and has taken one of the Euclidean rocket planes. We find the girl commander at the controls now, as the entire Gregory party of seven other people ride with her at a speed of 1,000 miles an hour. They have been in the air four hours since leaving Euclidia and are almost over Los Angeles. I believe, Captain Bradford, that we will be ready to land in Los Angeles in less than 600 seconds. Ten minutes to Los Angeles? Precisely. And we've come more than 4,000 miles in four hours. Well, the wonderful part about it is there's no noise, no sensation. Boy, there was plenty of sensation when that plane like this one went down with us, wasn't there, Tex? Plenty, Jerry, but Elaine seems to have better luck with this one. I think it is not a matter of luck, Captain. Elaine is the finest pilot in the world. Captain, Elaine is the finest pilot in Euclidia. Right, Joan. Yes, Joan dear. The type of flying Elaine has done during the past four hours wasn't luck. I am glad my work as the pilot meets with your approval. It certainly does, Elaine. Oh, Mother. Yes, Joan? Look, look down. Oh, I've been looking. Can't see a thing. Not much visibility. What's our altitude now, Elaine? We have descended to 4,000 feet. 4,000 feet? Well, that must be a very heavy fog below us. It is indeed. And soon it will be all around us. I must descend if we hope to locate Los Angeles. Yes, and after we locate, it's going to be fun to find a place to land there. Surely it will not be difficult. We will have the entire ocean. Oh, no we won't. You just can't flop down the rocket plane anywhere around Los Angeles. Well, you'd have so many people around you, it should be sunk before you could land. That is not reasonable, Jerry. It is to us, Elaine. Our people have never seen anything like this. I'm afraid that won't do, Elaine. We'll have to locate some place where we can get out of this plane and hide away before anybody knows we're home. I cannot help you now. I know nothing of small bodies of water near your home. I got it. Can't we get where to Johnson to meet us? Well, of course, Jerry. But it will have to be some place very near home. Elaine says we'll be over the city in a few minutes. Well, this is close to home all right. If it's big enough, how much water do you need to land this ship in? I mean, how long a body of water? I would prefer a hundred feet. I can land in 80 if it is necessary. 80 feet? But this plane is 65 feet long. Precisely. My helium tanks are full. We will inflate the shell to its capacity using the emergency balloons of fabric. It is possible to settle down almost vertically. You mean you've got balloons hidden in the roof of this thing? And all you've got to do is turn some helium into them? Precisely. Well, golly, whiskers. Yeah, me too, son. Hey, we're losing altitude rapidly now, aren't we? We are. I would suggest that you call your Mr. Johnson at once. Oh, he'll be so surprised. When we talked to him an hour ago, we were a thousand miles from here. Mr. Johnson knows our speed. He will be waiting for the call. Is this radio ready now, Lane? You may proceed. Well, where's your body of water, Jerry? Lake Hollywood. Lake Hollywood? Is that large enough, Tex? Plenty large enough. We've got several hundred feet of water surface there, but it's in a bad spot in the fog. I will not worry about the fog, Captain Bradford. When you assure me we are within reasonable range of this lake, I will take care of the fog. You will what? I will remove the fog from my path. I did not know that was possible. In fact, I am learning that I knew very little of Euclidia. I think we're all learning that, Joan. But how can you do anything about it? Yeah, hold it, Jerry. I'd better get Johnson. CQ, Johnson. Hello, Johnson. Bradford to Johnson. Are you getting me? Go ahead, Bradford. Our signal is strong. Johnson, waiting. Go ahead. We're almost over Los Angeles. Be there in a matter of five minutes or so. Going to land on Lake Hollywood. Rush up there with transportation for eight of us. Keep it quiet. Repeat. Meet you at Lake Hollywood as soon as possible. Transportation for eight. Keep it quiet. Johnson. That's all. Wait, Johnson. Hold on. Waiting. Leave the gates open so we can run into the grounds and into the house on the double quick. We might pick up a curious friend. That's all. Everything will be ready. That's all. Your man Johnson is dependable. Oh, Johnson's a treasure. He thought we were all lost when the island sank beneath that artificial eruption. But when we located him with the radio an hour ago, he was as calm as if we'd just left him at lunch. I would say that Mr. Johnson had never given up hope of news from us. He sure hadn't. And I can't see why. Well, I can. Johnson came down on one of those boats that saw the eruption and sailed away. But Johnson wasn't fooled a bit. He knew that if the explosion had been real, if the island had actually been destroyed, something, some evidence of it would have floated to the surface. What an amazingly simple reasoning. Almost childish. Yet none of us thought of it except Tex. And Johnson. You will learn, Elaine, that Captain Bradford and Mr. Johnson do many amazing things together. That is obvious. One moment. Captain Bradford. Yes? The fog is not solid ahead. I see a tall building. Oh, well, that's the Los Angeles City Hall. We're too low to get over to Lake Hollywood. You take the controls, Captain. Hey, hey, I'm no wizard with these ships. You are familiar with landmarks. I will retard our speed to 100 miles an hour or less. You will fly us into a position over the lake. I will land the plane. Okay, skipper. How far are we from the lake, Captain? Only a few miles. Cut the speed as much as you can, will you, Elaine? I am doing so. And I will begin to use helium in the shell. After I attain 100% buoyancy, the speed may be negligible. Boy, oh, boy. I hope we don't wind up on Lookout Mountain. I'm taking no chances, Jerry. I can get an occasional glimpse of Riverside Drive down there. I'll follow it around behind the hills. That's the easiest way to get in. Are we not in great danger of being seen from the ground? Well, I should think so, but we can't do anything about it. We are making no sound, and we will not attract much attention merely passing through openings in this fog. Yeah, I guess we're all right there. Yeah, nobody could get a second look at us anyway. We're nearly there, but it cuts speed some more. I am doing so. Johnson can't possibly get to the lake from my home in this length of time, Tex. He won't be far behind us, and remember that we're not down the lake yet. The fog is thicker here, is it not? Sure is. I can't see any holes in it now. Well, I've got the general direction of the lake spotted, but I'll never hit it exactly in this step. Well, what did you say about controlling the fog? I will use the fog ray. That will give us perfect visibility from this plane to the ground in a circle 100 feet in diameter. Gee, can you do that? I said I would do it. Well, isn't it time to try it, Tex? I don't like to use it until we absolutely have to. That circle cut out of the fog is going to attract the attention of anyone we fly over. There is no other course, Captain. You cannot land in this fog. You're right, June. I guess turn on Skipper. I am doing so. I never saw anybody who could be doing what people want you to do before they want it like you can. I have been well trained. June, Jerry, look down. Mother, we can see the ground. Sure can. The ray is not perfectly focused for this altitude. I will clear it up. No, no, don't. That little haze along the ground may be our greatest protection. I can see what I want. And I'm way off my course. Are we in danger, Captain? The only danger we're in is that of going to San Francisco. We're miles over into the valley. I can't get used to the speed of these things. We are now making only 80 miles an hour. What's that fog, Tex? You can't gauge your speed through that stuff. Here, I'll cut it around hard. At 80 miles an hour, we should be over the lake in a couple of minutes. Is the lake entirely surrounded by mountains? They're not exactly mountains, June. Just hills. But even so, it would be a little embarrassing to fly into one. No danger of that with this fog cleared away under us. Yeah, doesn't do any good straight ahead, though. Don't eat it, son. I know every wrinkle in this terrain. We'll slip in over the lake with 100 feet to spare. That should be ample. Perhaps. But it is not a great deal. No, June dear, but we haven't a great deal of time, either. Remember that it would defeat our purpose to be discovered at this time. It would appear that this local fog is most fortunate. It sure is. All right, Elaine, take it over. There's the lake right under us. Oh golly, now we overshot it. That is of no moment. I will circle down and remain within this radius. Are we going to land smoothly? There is no reason why we should not. Why do you ask? Well, the rest of our crew aren't any too comfortable crowded into that front compartment. Gee, that's right. You know, we ought to tell them we're going to land so they can brace themselves. That will not be necessary. I will now cut off all power. Can we just drift down to the lake surface? Precisely. May I make a suggestion? You may. As soon as you are stabilized over the lake and within 100 feet of the surface, would it not be wise to allow the fog to surround us again? That would remove any possibility that we are being observed from the shore of the lake. Good idea, Joan. How about that, Elaine? I will stop the fog ray. We are now directly over the center of the lake and less than 100 feet above it. Isn't there any wind which might blow us slightly off the landing? None. I will now release the helium balloons from our upper surface. Boy, we sure stopped going down. Not entirely, Jerry. We are descending slowly. What a novel way to land a plane. Why shouldn't this prove practical for our own planes, Ted? It would. And after we take care of those Euclidians, we'll put a lot of these ideas to work in our world. We are nearly to the surface. Hey, any minute now we'll hit. Get set, everybody. No preparation is necessary. We are going to land on the surface. We are going to land on the surface. We are going to land on the surface. No preparation is necessary. The landing will not disturb you. And that fog is so thick we can't see a thing. And nobody can see us. Good thing they can't. Boy, what a story this would make in Hollywood. I suppose it's silly, but I'm getting a little nervous. We should soon be down. We are resting on the surface of the water. Down? But Elaine, I couldn't even tell when we landed. Naturally not. The helium balloons compensated perfectly for our landing. Can you taxi over the shore without making any noise? Easily. But would it not be well to wait until we know where Mr. Johnson is? I know where he'll be. At the dam on the south end. Then I will use small jets of gas and feel my way slowly to the south end. Golly, we're home. We're here, Mrs. Gregory. Yes, Jerry, we're home. And less than four and a half hours ago we were over 4,000 miles from here. It is indeed remarkable. But one thing is not clear to me. What's that, Joan? This bog will not remain here. How will we hide the rocket plane? Oh, yeah, that's right. After we leave it, I will flood the outer shell. The plane will sink in the lake and remain in perfect condition and safely hidden until we want it again. Well, it looks as if our troubles are nearly over. Yes, they are for the moment. But we still have the little matter of going back to Euclidean, capturing those men and doing that in a matter of hours. That we will be able to do. I will now land you at the south side of the lake.
