while shuckworth, shanks and showler were being chased outof the space hotel by the knids, mr wonka's great glasselevator was orbiting the earth at tremendous speed. mrwonka had all his booster-rockets firing and the elevator wasreaching speeds of thirty-four thousand miles an hour insteadof the normal seventeen thousand. they were trying, you see,to get away from that huge angry vermicious knid with thepurple behind. mr wonka wasn't afraid of it, but grandmajosephine was petrified. every time she looked at it, she let outa piercing scream and clapped her hands over her eyes. butof course thirty-four thousand miles an hour is dawdling to aknid. healthy young knids think nothing of travelling a millionmiles between lunch and supper, and then another millionbefore breakfast the next day. how else could they travelbetween the planet vermes and other stars? mr wonka shouldhave known this and saved his rocket-power, but he kept righton going and the giant knid kept right on cruising effortlesslyalongside, glaring into the elevator with its wicked red eye. 'youpeople have bruised my backside,' the knid seemed to besaying, 'and in the end i'm going to get you for that.'

they had been streaking around the earth like this for aboutforty-five minutes when charlie, who was floating comfortablybeside grandpa joe near the ceiling, said suddenly, 'there'ssomething ahead! can you see it, grandpa? straight in front ofus!'

'i can, charlie, i can … good heavens, it's the space hotel!' 'itcan't be, grandpa. we left it miles behind us long ago.'

' ah-ha,' said mr wonka. 'we've been going so fast we'vegone all the way around the earth and caught up with itagain! a splendid effort!'

'and there's the transport capsule! can you see it, grandpa?

it's just behind the space hotel!'

'there's something else there, too, charlie, if i'm not mistaken!'

'i know what those are!' screamed grandma josephine.

'they're vermicious knids! turn back at once!'

'reverse!' yelled grandma georgina. 'go the other way!'

'dear lady,' said mr wonka. 'this isn't a car on the motorway.

when you are in orbit, you cannot stop and you cannot gobackwards.'

'i don't care about that!' shouted grandma josephine. 'put onthe brakes! stop! back-pedal!

the knids'll get us!'

'now let's for heaven's sake stop this nonsense once and forall,' mr wonka said sternly. 'you know very well my elevatoris completely knidproof. you have nothing to fear.'

they were closer now and they could see the knids pouringout from the tail of the space hotel and swarming like waspsaround the transport capsule.

'they're attacking it!' cried charlie. 'they're after the transportcapsule!'

it was a fearsome sight. the huge green egg-shaped knidswere grouping themselves into squadrons with about twentyknids to a squadron. then each squadron formed itself into aline abreast, with one yard between knids. then, one afteranother, the squadrons began attacking the transport capsule.

they attacked in reverse with their pointed rear-ends in frontand they came in at a fantastic speed.

wham! one squadron attacked, bounced off and wheeledaway.

crash! another squadron smashed against the side of thetransport capsule.

'get us out of here, you madman!' screamed grandmajosephine. 'what are you waiting for?'

'they'll be coming after us next!' yelled grandma georgina. 'forheaven's sake, man, turn back!'

'i doubt very much if that capsule of theirs is knidproof,' saidmr wonka.

'then we must help them!' cried charlie. 'we've got to dosomething! there are a hundred and fifty people inside thatthing!'

down on the earth, in the white house study, the presidentand his advisers were listening in horror to the voices of theastronauts 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 eggsand 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, mrpresident! the waitresses are screaming and the chambermaidsare all hysterical and the bell-boys are being sick and the hallporters are saying their prayers so what shall we do, mrpresident, sir, what on earth shall we do?'

'fire your rockets, you idiot, and make a re-entry!' shouted thepresident. 'come back to earth immediately!'

'that's impossible!' cried showler. '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 re-entry without rockets!'

the president was sweating and the sweat ran all the waydown the back of his neck and inside his collar.

'any moment now, mr president,' shanks went on, 'we're goingto lose contact with you altogether! there's another lot comingat us from the left and they're aiming straight for our radioaerial! here they come! i don't think we'll be able to …' thevoice cut. the radio went dead.

'shanks!' cried the president. 'where are you, shanks? …shuckworth! shanks! showler! … showlworth! shucks! shankler!

… shankworth! show! shuckler! why don't you answer me?!'

up in the great glass elevator where they had no radio andcould hear nothing of these conversations, charlie was saying,'surely their only hope is to make a re-entry and dive back toearth quickly!'

'yes,' said mr wonka. 'but in order to re-enter the earth'satmosphere they've got to kick themselves out of orbit. they'vegot to change course and head downwards and to do thatthey need rockets! but their rocket tubes are all dented andbent! 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 somehowjumped. he was so excited he shot upwards and hit his headon the ceiling. then he spun round three times in the air andcried, 'charlie! you've got it! that's it! we'll tow them out oforbit! to the buttons, quick!'

'what do we tow them with?' asked grandpa joe. 'ourneckties?'

'don't you worry about a little thing like that!' cried mrwonka. 'my great glass elevator is ready for anything! in wego! into the breach, dear friends, into the breach!'

'stop him!' screamed grandma josephine.

'you be quiet, josie,' said grandpa joe. 'there's someone overthere needs a helping hand and it's our job to give it. ifyou're frightened, you'd better just close your eyes tight andstick your fingers in your ears.'