With great difficulty Mike managed to reach the red button and depress it before it plummeted toward Earth, sending him falling out of control, in the same direction! He was heading toward the ground at top speed. Desperately trying to slow down, the terrified Mike discovered this effort merely sent him spinning. He managed to change his direction by some stroke of luck, and found himself whirling to the right. Landscapes changed. There were fields and rivers below him. He knew he wasn't in New York any more. No matter what he did, he just kept speeding on and on, his arms and legs flailing about. It seemed like time was dragging by. Suddenly he was heading toward a range of mountains.
Instantly Mike found himself in the center of a severe electrical storm. The thunder and lightning were deafening! A lightning bolt struck him in the leg. It burned quite a large hole in his pants, but barely scorched his flesh, making him cry out in shocked surprise. Another bolt hit his left side, causing the same outcome. Mike was practically unconscious. He began to fall to the ground, and crashed into a mountainside. The rain fell in torrents as the boy rolled and slid a few feet to a rocky ledge. Though merely scratched and bruised, he had never felt so weak and disoriented in his life. Soaking and shivering, Mike crawled around, trying to stand, without success. With his last ounce of strength gone, he collapsed, and a black velvet wave of unconsciousness overtook him.
Mike Montaine awoke in a shallow puddle of water. The rain had stopped. He discovered he was still weak, but felt quite a bit better. Upon sitting up, he discovered a slight pounding in his temples. There was one thing Mike was extremely aware of....the fact that he was starving! He had to find food, and fast, if he ever wanted to get home again. He shakily stood and looked around. After mentally preparing himself, he headed off in the direction he'd come. There would be farms there. With the thought of food, Mike broke into a run, since he knew it would be the best for him not to fly, just yet, anyway. "Where am I?" he wondered.
There was a small town directly in Mike's path. It had started to rain once again, so he stopped to wait for the storm to pass in a small grocery there. As he went inside, he noticed a sign tacked under the cash register onto the long check-out counter. 'WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA!" it read in pleasant looking bold letters. Mike gasped. "I've gone clear across the country?" he thought to himself. He felt numbed with this sudden awareness. This thing that had happened to him was
incredible! He stood watching the rain for a couple of hours through the large display window in the front of the building. The old gentleman at the cash register eyed Mike suspiciously. Finally, he said, "Strange weather we're having, isn't it?"
His only reply was a nod of agreement. A bit later the rain slowed down enough for Mike to be off. On the edge of the town he found an old farm. No one was outside, so upon exploring the grounds he discovered the storage bins were full of corn from the recent harvest. With tremendous speed he began devouring it raw, shucks and all, until the entire bin was empty. Then, to pay for it, he plowed the field, and repaired the fence. With partially renewed strength, Mike rushed down the country road. He found another farm, this one with a load of harvested turnips in its bins. He gobbled these up, skins and all. This farm was in very poor condition. The barn and outbuildings needed quite a bit of serious repair work. Mike quickly discovered a hammer and some nails in the work shed, and completed these repairs at super speed. Again, everyone was inside because of the weather and did not come out to see what was happening. The owners would be quite surprised when they found his work!