At the museum, at this very moment, Daisy has managed to elude Vera long enough to get a call through to Ranger Headquarters. She informs Rip of Sally’s latest whereabouts and tells him the location of the Society’s meeting place. Before she can reveal her own location, however, Vera discovers her on the phone, and the connection is broken. The hapless girl is sealed in an airless sarcophagus by Vera, who informs her that the oxygen will not last more than an hour.
At Ranger Headquarters, meanwhile. Zolkin has discovered the antidote for the Mind-Freezing Ray. Rapidly instructing Rip in its use, Zolkin allows himself to be captured by Webb and taken to Gore’s hideout, leaving Rip to work on Happy. Shortly thereafter, Happy returns to his senses, and the Rangers immediately head for the headquarters of The Society for the Destruction of the World.
Sally, in the meantime, has been taken to the lava pits and is hanging by her heels over a pool of molten rock as an automatic mechanism slowly lowers her to certain doom.
Rip and Happy, arriving at the Society meeting-place, decide to split up for safety. Rip, going ahead, is discovered and captured and is brought before The Destroyer, who orders him executed. Happy, following dose behind, bursts into the room in time to see Rip chained to the wall in the path of a Death Ray Machine.
At the underground lair, meanwhile, Webb and Zolkin are confronted by Gore, who opens fire, thereby removing the last bit of hope for the doomed Sally’s rescue.
Chapter 6
The Final Reckoning
Daisy has been sealed in a suffocating sarcophagus by Vera, and Hip is tied helpless in the path of a Death Hay at the Destroyers hideout, while Zolkin, facing certain death from Dr. Core’s revolver, is unable to aid Sally, being slowly lowered helpless into a pit of molten lava, when…
Happy, seizing upon the momentary confusion caused by his sudden appearance in the room where Rip is chained to the wall, smashes the Death Ray Machine before its beam can reach Rip. The senior Ranger manages to release himself, and he and Happy battle furiously with the members of the Society for the Destruction of the World.
Meanwhile, at Core’s hidden lair, the doctor’s bullet has found the heart of Ray Webb, who, Gore explains to Zolkin, is no longer useful, now that his duplicity has been discovered. Gore then proposes that Zolkin make his scientific genius available to the doctor’s organization, which Zolkin agrees to do on the condition that no harm come to Sally, who, he is sure, is in the doctor’s clutches. Agreeing to this, Gore instructs Lobo to halt the mechanism that is lowering the helpless girl to her doom, which the mindless henchman succeeds in doing in the nick of time.
In the meantime, at the museum, a struggling Daisy has succeeded in unbalancing the sarcophagus by shifting her weight, and the heavy coffin falls to the floor, bursting open and releasing her. Quickly recovering from her ordeal, Daisy discovers a map in Raucher’s office which shows the precise location of Gore’s hideaway. She heads toward Sky Ranger Headquarters immediately with this invaluable information.
At the Society meeting place, meanwhile. Rip and Happy have almost completely succeeded in subduing all the members of the evil group. During the battle, Vera arrives, and, realizing that the Society has been exposed, sets a time-bomb before fleeing back to Gore. Rip and Happy fight their way clear of the building before the infernal mechanism detonates, demolishing the Society and all its members, save The Destroyer.
At Gore’s laboratory, at that very moment, Zolkin and the now released Sally are studying the Doctor’s fiendish Mind-Freezer. The Ranger scientist soon discovers the principle of its operation and conceives of a plan to render Gore powerless.
Rip and Happy, returning to headquarters, find Daisy in conference with Commander North and soon learn the whereabouts of Gore’s lair from the map she has stolen. Daisy also informs them that, by listening from within the sarcophagus to a phone call by Vera, she learned of Sally’s capture by Gore. North orders an immediate armada of rocket ships assembled for the final assault on Dr. Gore.
Vera, meanwhile, arrives at Gore’s hideout and informs him of the fate of the Society. It is her belief, however, that The Destroyer has escaped and could still seriously hinder their plans. Gore sweeps her objections away. The Mind-Freezer is now ready, and Dr. Gore needs help from no man. Nothing now can possibly stop his plan for the conquest of the world. Vera convinces him that Vontz, at least, should be liquidated, and he instructs her to bring the agent to the hidden lair.
At this moment, The Destroyer, his headquarters destroyed and all his henchmen dead, realizes that only Vera von Hendrich could have been responsible for this betrayal and that therefore she must be in league with Gore. He starts at once for the doctor’s mountain stronghold.
Vera, meanwhile, has succeeded in luring Vontz to Gore’s hideout with the information that the Destroying Ray is now complete and ready to be turned over to the foreign power. Upon their arrival, the treacherous Vontz holds Gore at gunpoint, but, unsuspecting, hands the gun to Vera, who immediately shoots Vontz, her one-time associate, dead. At this moment, however, The Destroyer, who has been listening to the conversation, leaps from concealment and grapples with Gore. In the resulting confusion, Vera effects her escape.
At that very moment, at Sky Ranger Headquarters, the armada is nearing readiness. Rip and Happy, concerned for the safety of Sally and Zolkin, are permitted by North to precede the sky force and attempt to penetrate Gore’s lair on foot.
Meanwhile, in Gore’s laboratory, Zolkin searches for a way to convert the Mind-Freezing Ray to his own purposes. While he studies the evil machine, Rip and Happy succeed in penetrating the stronghold. Before they can locate Gore, however, Zolkin succeeds in adapting the Mind-Freezer and switches it on. As modified by the Ranger scientist, the Mind-Freezing Ray now has the reverse effect on the minds of its subjects, repressing all the evil and bringing only the good to the surface.
At that moment, The Destroyer, now under the influence of the my, ceases fighting with Dr. Gore and unmasks himself as J. Lyman Raucher, curator of the Museum of Tibetan Art and Culture, Gore, unaffected by the modified ray, shoots the reformed Raucher down.
Rip and Happy, meanwhile, have reached Zolkin and Sally, and lead them to safety as the Ranger armada arrives. The underground fortress of Dr. Gore is emptying of his henchmen, now reformed and repentant due to the action of the reversed Mind-Freezing Ray.
With only the mindless Lobo still at his side, Gore, enraged beyond reason at the thwarting of his scheme, turns his Destroying Rayon at full power in a mad effort to annihilate the Sky Ranger force. Pushed beyond its power capacity, its tubes bursting and its wiring running into white-hot liquid, the ray machine explodes, destroying the secret lair, Lobo, and the insane Dr. Gore in a blinding flash of energy.
Shortly after, at Sky Ranger Headquarters, Rip and Happy receive a special citation from Commander North for their brave and fearless work, while Sally and Daisy look on proudly. Zolkin, meanwhile, is hard at work on a further version of the Mind Ray, one which will eventually extend its influence around the world, thereby assuring that the forces of evil will never again be able to threaten the Sky Rangers.
Domestic Intrigue
“Mrs. Carroll,” said the nasty man, “I happen to know that your husband is insanely jealous.”
I happened to know the same thing myself, and so there was nothing for me to do but agree. Robert was insanely jealous. “However,” I added, “I fail to see where that is any of your business.”