Ah, that astonishes you ?" The expression in the Frenchman's face betrayed intense amazement, through his eyes alone.

The rest of his features remained almost immobile.

The Master smiling, continued: "The fleet was dropped to exactly one thousand feet above the sea.
There the inhibition on the engines was released and the engines began functioning again.

So no harm was done.

But not one of those machines can rise again higher than one thousand feet until I so choose.
"They are all hopelessly outdistanced, far down there below the cloud-floor.