Around the corner of the building, on the level of the terrace, there was a landing stage which was occupied by a number of planes of various sizes.
Dirk entered the door of a small twenty passenger speedster, and the others filed in after him.
“Ready?” he asked, after he had seated himself at the controls.
“Ready!” replied Fragoni.
The plane rose straight up into the air and then darted gracefully out over the Sound.
Dirk swooped straight down at the leviathan which lay so quietly on the surface of the Sound and then slowly circled around it. No sign of an aperture of any sort could be seen in the craft. Then he dropped the plane lightly on the water, close to the metallic monster, which towered fully four hundred feet above them, despite the fact that more than half of it was submerged.
“It must be hollow,” remarked Steinholt, “or it wouldn’t be so far out of the water. In fact, it most certainly would sink, if it was solid.”
At the touch of a lever which lay under one of Dirk’s hands the plane rose straight out of the water, and he maneuvered it directly over the top of the strange enigma. Then he touched a button and the pontoons were drawn up into the undercarriage of the craft.
“Shall I make a landing on it?” he 402 asked, turning his head and addressing Fragoni.