encased in form-fitting bubbles. For the full test run the Triton will descend into the Milwaukee Deep, north of Puerto Rico. Because the United States Navy has taken an interest in Triton and has partly funded her development, the commanding officer on the test run will be Admiral Robert Haller. Dexter, the president's science advisor, and Senator Kenney are to accompany the crew as observers. Another of the observers going along is Sid Upjohn, a reporter. As they descend they find that they are losing control of the boat and, further, that they are being rammed by a whale. Unable to maneuver, they come down on an undersea plateau, twelve hundred fathoms (7200 feet) below the surface. Again they catch glimpses of men encased in bubbles, something that should be impossible. Emerging from the submarine in a bathysuit, Don makes the necessary repairs and the Triton leaves the plateau to head for the surface. Now the bubble-men attack openly in full force, cementing rocks to Tritons hull to drive her down again. Again the crew bring their boat down on the plateau where they had stopped for repairs. Again Don prepares to go out in the bathysuit to remove the rocks, but the bubble-men, which the crew have taken to calling Atlanteans, have sealed the hatch through which the bathysuit must emerge. As the crew watches helplessly through their closed-circuit televisions, the Atlanteans attach thick ropes to the submarine and then bring in ichthyosaurs that have evolved to breathe water to tow the boat off the plateau. As they pull Triton deeper, the Atlanteans envelope the boat in a forcefilm bubble, obliging the navigator, Kayne, to shut down the engines. Even with the boat being towed, without power, the helmsman, Paul Cavanaugh, continues to steer the boat to give them a smoother ride. Three miles below the surface they come to a town of about 20,000 people that they call Atlantis. Lying under a larger version of the bubbles that enclose the people surrounding the submarine, the town is illuminated by some phosphorescent substance. There Triton is towed through the forcefilm dome that covers the town and into a pool large enough to accommodate her. Then the Atlanteans break into the boat and take the crew prisoner, knocking them out with some kind of electric stungun. Don regains consciousness in a cell where he meets Muggins, an American whom the