Who were these people and where did they come from? And what in heaven's name was that big evil-looking thing disguised as a double bed? The President had said it was a bomb and he was probably right. But what were they going to do with it? All across America and Canada and Russia and Japan and India and China and Africa and England and France and Germany and everywhere else in the world a kind of panic began to take hold of the television watchers.

'Keep well clear of them, Showler!' ordered the President over the radio link. 'Sure will, Mr President!' Showler answered. 'I sure will!'

3

The Link-Up

Inside the Great Glass Elevator there was also a good deal of excitement. Charlie and Mr

Wonka and all the others could see clearly the huge silvery shape of Space Hotel 'U.S.A.'

about a mile ahead of them. And behind them was the smaller (but still pretty enormous)

Transport Capsule. The Great Glass Elevator (not looking at all great now beside these two

monsters) was in the middle. And of course everybody, even Grandma Josephine, knew

very well what was going on. They even knew that the three astronauts in charge of the

Transport Capsule were called Shuckworth, Shanks and Showler. The whole world knew

about these things. Newspapers and television had been shouting about almost nothing else

for the past six months. Operation Space Hotel was the event of the century.

'What a load of luck!' cried Mr Wonka. 'We've landed ourselves slap in the middle of the biggest space operation of all time!'

'We've landed ourselves in the middle of a nasty mess,' said Grandma Josephine. 'Turn back at once!'

'No, Grandma,' said Charlie. 'We've got to watch it now. We must see the Transport Capsule linking up with the Space Hotel.'



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