Captain Bonnet pointed to a small globe painted with a map of the world. His finger touched a dot in the South Pacific near the Antarctic continent at 60 degrees south latitude and 120 degrees west longitude. "That's Dougherty Island," he said. "Between that island and San Francisco are 6,300 miles of empty Pacific ocean. We're going to try to land near Dougherty Island at a speed so fast we'll barely touch the surface of the water. But as we touch the water, the frictional heat of the sides of our space ship will transform the water instantly into steam. The steam will cushion our ship against shock and decelerate us rapidly--but not too rapidly for endurance. The stop will be rough, but we can take it. We ought to be able to stop in 6,300 miles." "Whew! A steam landing!" * * * * * Captain Bonnet kept his hands on the control, ready to use a few drops of precious fuel to keep the craft in its spiral parallel to the surface of the earth. The earth seemed to float upward slowly to meet the space ship. The interior of the craft grew uncomfortably hot, but the cooling system worked. A vast expanse of white appeared directly below the craft. It was the South Polar ice cap. "We're over James Ellsworth Land," the captain said, checking his position. "That's about twenty-three degrees east of the longitude of Dougherty Island. That's lucky." "Lucky?" said the lieutenant. "We can circle the earth once, drop our message over some city and get back on the right longitude," the captain explained. "It'll take us about an hour and a half at our present speed to make the circumnavigation. In that time the earth will turn twenty-two and one-half degrees beneath us." The Pacific ocean flashed beneath the craft. The ship struck the continent on the coast of Mexico and skirted above eastern Texas. Over Kansas City, Captain Bonnet jerked a lever to release the message of the beleaguered Venusian garrison. The lieutenant watched it fall slowly down toward the ground. Then he groaned. "We've failed!" he said. "The parachute dropped in the Missouri river! The last chance to save the garrison is lost!" Captain Bonnet turned to his companion. "It isn't the last chance--if our landing works!" The craft soared northward into Canada, passing some distance west of Hudson Bay. It crossed the Arctic sea, reached Siberia and then zoomed southward, flying dangerously close to the tall peaks of the Himalayas. Each minute saw it moving closer to the earth. The craft shot across the Indian Ocean and entered the Antarctic again. The Antarctic continent was reached near Douglas Island and it crossed Enderby and Kemp lands toward the pole. The metal monster was scarcely two thousand feet high as it soared over the South Pole. The loss of the natural elevation of the polar plateau left the ship about the same distance above the surface of the earth as it approached the ocean again.