Free Flash Gordon 4 - The Time Trap of Ming XIII by Alex Raymond Page A

of the airscout. If it opened at the dorsal, or top portion of the airscout, he could flip the dogs and escape with the bubble of air still inside the interior.
    But with the hatch on the ventral surface, or bottom, he would have to blast out the carbon cartridges and take a chance on reaching the surface of the pond without any air bubble to protect him.
    The water frothed up around his neck. He began to feel the intense pressure of both air and water against his body.
    “I’ve got to do something—fast.”
    He fumbled with his flying gear and touched the backpack which contained his pop-out chute, his energy rations, and his spare blaster pistol. At least he had that! He slipped the blaster pistol into his waist belt and looked at the rations in the backpack. They were dry; the pack was wrapped securely in waterproof plyowrap.
    Plyowrap! It was the most versatile of Mongo’s all-purpose sheeting. Transparent, airtight, watertight, and unbreakable, it was self-sealing with a permanent bond when heated.
    Zarkov unhitched the backpack and lifted it up above his head where the water had not yet reached. If he could remove the plyowrap outerskin from the pack, inflate it with the air left in the airscout, and seal the airpack around his head . . .
    Zarkov chuckled softly.
    “I’d be a fool to call myself anything but a genius,” he said, chortling. The water bobbed about his chin now, and still rose. “But I don’t really have time to congratulate myself. Must get to work.”
    He quickly tore the plyowrap from the backpack, dropped the pack in the water, watched it emit bubbles as it cascaded to the deck, and quickly formed the plyowrap into a large balloonlike object, using a heat cube from the emergency pack commonly used for starting cooking fires.
    He blew hard into the newly constructed balloon, feeling his temples throb with the exertion. The air inflated the plyowrap quickly, until it was pressing down into the water around Zarkov’s ears. Soon the plyowrap balloon filled the entire space in the airscout where air had been.
    Zarkov, underwater now, slowly enlarged the hole through which he had inflated the balloon, and slipped his head through it as if putting on a very tight ski cap. Now he had the balloon full of air around his head.
    He picked up a wrench from the toolkit attached to the instrument console, and dove downward toward the hatch dogs. Quickly, he turned them from the inside, and the hatch loosened.
    He pushed hard, sending the hatch out at a slanted angle. Oozing slime bulged over the top and poured up into the airscout. Zarkov quickly wriggled through the opening, his airbag balloon half-pulling him upward in the water.
    As he pulled his boots through the opening, he realized the hatch was closing once again, and he had a moment’s panic when his left boot caught in the steel jaws.
    But after a fierce struggle, he was free and ascending quickly through the cloudy water.
    The air in the balloon was very bad, and the pressure on him from the water made him dizzy. He kept spiraling upward, paddling his boots slightly, and making swimming motions with his hands.
    Something slimy and scaly touched him on the side. He turned, looking out through the weird transparent balloon around his head. The water was lighter now, since he was obviously approaching the surface.
    He saw an enormous tadpole, a good five feet in length, the first growth stage of Mongo’s giant killer frogs.
    It stared at him out of its slitted green eyes, and fishtailed quickly away.
    Zarkov broke surface a few seconds later, his body absolutely exhausted from immersion and pressure. He bobbed on the surface for a moment or two, the big balloon flailing in the air. Then, with an earth-quaking bang, it exploded.
    The air which had been pressurized in the airbag escaped into the atmosphere.
    Zarkov was stunned.
    He sank.
    The chill of the water revived him, and he swam for the surface again, blinking his eyes when he emerged into the