Above the mountains across the channel, the sky was rose-colored with the fading daylight. A tiny gray shape showed there, silhouetted against the clouds. It was moving. They watched it, breathlessly. "A Frazia plane!" Rogers murmured. It circled like a giant bird. A patch of lighter sky behind showed it more plainly after a moment. It _was_ a Frazia plane! It was closer than they had thought, but it seemed to be flying north, away from them. "Which one is it?" Loto whispered. "Father, which one is it?" But that they could not tell. George, or Toroh? One of them had returned. The plane was flying lower, circling again. The dimness absorbed it; then it reappeared. It seemed now to be flying crazily. "_Out of control!_" Loto whispered in horror. "_It's falling!_" The plane turned over, fluttered down, was swallowed by the shadows of the distant mountains. CHAPTER TWELVE The interior of the plane was glowing. The familiar humming sounded. George and Dee had started back into time. "Dee! Dee! You all right?" Her wan smile reassured him. "Where are we?" "Going back into time," he said cheerfully. The dials were beside him. "Nearly forty years from where we started already. You'll feel all right soon." "I am all right," she persisted. "I mean, George, are we still in the cavern?" The question brought an idea to George that made his heart race. They _were_ still in the cavern, at a time forty years previous. What was the cavern like then? Suppose its entrance was closed? How could they get out? Through the windows nothing could be seen but blackness. George hesitated. "Dee, can your thoughts still reach Azeela?" "Yes," she said. "She was frightened for me. She knows now we are coming after her. She and Toroh are past one hundred years." "Still going?" "Yes." "Where are they in space?" "She says in the air, over the Orleen Cavern. She thought it best to show Toroh how to fly the plane; she was afraid to remain underground." "So am I," said George. "We'd better get out." There were headlights on the plane; their glare showed the tunnel. George started up the Frazia motors, slowly; they rolled forward, faster as they left the tunnel-mouth and took to the air. The scene was that familiar grayness, new to Dee. Beneath them lay the island with the blurred, gray city to one side. "Over Orleen," George mused. "We must get there quickly. Further back in time the city will not be there--we might get lost in space." At an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet they flew swiftly westward. Orleen was there when they reached its space; the dials were beyond two hundred years. "Azeela is here," Dee announced. "She says the city is dwindling." "What do her dials say? Will Toroh let her look at them?" "Yes. She is very careful. He suspects nothing. She says the dials are nearly two hundred and thirty years."