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Down on the Earth, in the White House study, the President and his advisers were listening in horror to the voices of the astronauts over the radio.
'They're coming at us in droves!' Shuckworth was shouting. 'They're bashing us to bits!'
'But who?' yelled the President. 'You haven't even told us who's attacking you!'
'These dirty great greenish-brown brutes with red eyes!' shouted Shanks, butting in. 'They're shaped like enormous eggs and they're coming at us backwards!'
'Backwards?' cried the President. 'Why backwards?'
'Because their bottoms are even more pointy than their tops!' shouted Shuckworth. 'Look out! Here comes another lot!' BANG! 'We won't be able to stand this much longer, Mr President! The waitresses are screaming and the chambermaids are all hysterical and the bell-boys are being sick and the hall porters are saying their prayers so what shall we do, Mr President, sir, what on earth shall we do?'
'Fire your rockets, you idiot, and make a reentry!' snouted the President. 'Come back to Earth immediately!'
'That's impossible!' cried Showier. 'They've busted our rockets! They've smashed them to smithereens!'
'We're cooked, Mr President!' shouted Shanks. 'We're done for! Because even if they don't succeed in destroying the capsule, we'll have to stay up here in orbit for the rest of our lives! We can't make a reentry without rockets!'
The President was sweating and the sweat ran all the way down the back of his neck and inside his collar.
'Any moment now, Mr President,' Shanks went on, 'we're going to lose contact with you altogether! There's another lot coming at us from the left and they're aiming straight for our radio aerial! Here they come! I don't think we'll be able to...' The voice cut. The radio went dead.
'Shanks!' cried the President. 'Where are you, Shanks?... Shuckworth! Shanks! Showier!... Showlworth! Shucks! Shankler!... Shankworth! Show! Shuckler! Why don't you answer me?!'
Up in the Great Glass Elevator where they had no radio and could hear nothing of these conversations, Charlie was saying, 'Surely their only hope is to make a reentry and dive back to Earth quickly!'
'Yes,' said Mr Wonka. 'But in order to reenter the Earth's atmosphere they've got to kick themselves out of orbit. They've got to change course and head downwards and to do that they need rockets! But their rocket tubes are all dented and bent! You can see that from here! They're crippled!'
'Why can't we tow them down?' Charlie asked.
Mr Wonka jumped. Even though he was floating, he somehow jumped. He was so excited he shot upwards and hit his head on the ceiling. Then he spun round three times in the air and cried, 'Charlie! You've got it! That's it! We'll tow them out of orbit! To the buttons, quick!'
'What do we tow them with?' asked Grandpa Joe. 'Our neckties?'
'Don't you worry about a little thing like that!' cried Mr Wonka. 'My Great Glass Elevator is ready for anything! In we go! Into the breach, dear friends, into the breach!'
'Stop him!' screamed Grandma Josephine.
'You be quiet, Josie,' said Grandpa Joe. 'There's someone over there needs a helping hand and it's our job to give it. If you're frightened, you'd better just close your eyes tight and stick your fingers in your ears.'
11
The Battle of the Knids
'Grandpa Joe, sir!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'Kindly jet yourself over to the far corner of the Elevator there and turn that handle! It lowers the rope!'
'A rope's no good, Mr Wonka! The Knids will bite through a rope in one second!'
'It's a steel rope,' said Mr Wonka. 'It's made of re-inscorched steel. If they try to bite through that their teeth will splinter like spillikins! To your buttons, Charlie! You've got to help me manoeuvre! We're going right over the top of the Transport Capsule and then we'll try to hook on to it somewhere and get a firm hold!'
Like a battleship going into action, the Great Glass Elevator with booster rockets firing moved smoothly in over the top of the enormous Transport Capsule. The Knids immediately stopped attacking the Capsule and went for the Elevator. Squadron after squadron of giant Vermicious Knids flung themselves furiously against Mr Wonka's marvellous machine! WHAM! CRASH! BANG! The noise was thunderous and terrible. The Elevator was tossed about the sky like a leaf, and inside it, Grandma Josephine, Grandma Georgina and Grandpa George, floating in their nightshirts, were all yowling and screeching and flapping their arms and calling for help. Mrs Bucket had wrapped her arms around Mr Bucket and was clasping him so tightly that one of his shirt buttons punctured his skin. Charlie and Mr Wonka, as cool as two cubes of ice, were up near the ceiling working the booster-rocket controls, and Grandpa Joe, shouting war-cries and throwing curses at the Knids, was down below turning the handle that unwound the steel rope. At the same time, he was w
atching the rope through the glass floor of the Elevator.
'Starboard a bit, Charlie!' shouted Grandpa Joe. 'We're right on top of her now!... Forward a couple of yards, Mr Wonka!... I'm trying to get the hook hooked around that stumpy thing sticking out in front there!... Hold it!... I've got it... That's it!... Forward a little now and see if it holds!... More!... More!...' The big steel rope tightened. It held! And now, wonder of wonders, with her booster-rockets blazing, the Elevator began to tow the huge Transport Capsule forward and away!
'Full speed ahead!' shouted Grandpa Joe. 'She's going to hold! She's holding! She's holding fine!'
'All boosters firing!' cried Mr Wonka, and the Elevator leaped ahead. Still the rope held. Mr Wonka jetted himself down to Grandpa Joe and shook him warmly by the hand. 'Well done, sir,' he said. 'You did a brilliant job under heavy fire!'
