A despairing scream split the morning air above the city. Eeeeeaaaaghh! Look! Don’t look! Ooooh! Shortly after, Janno landed his sleek fighting-craft at the air base. Lieutenant Janno report to the control tower at once—top priority! Janno was puzzled, till he remembered that he had recently volunteered for “special hazard duties of a secret nature.” You are to report to this address, in civilian clothes—immediately! The address was that of a large house close by the Imperial Palace. He knocked on the door and . . . Janno? Come in! Peric! Be seated, my friend. There is very little time, and I have much to tell you.Briefly, the great scientist took Janno through the secret news of the disaster in space, and the steps that were being taken to combat it. If this radioactive waste is going to contaminate the whole planet and have a terrible effect on the people it reaches, then why not warn people? The planet-wide panic that followed would not in any way affect the outcome. And we believe the trouble has already started. Earlier this morning, a mild-mannered clerk threw his friend and neighbour to his death from the roof of his apartment block! And you think he was affected by the fall-out from space? It is possible, even probable. Your task, Janno, will be to enter that building and overpower the clerk Sollum, so that we can determine the nature of his contamination. That shouldn’t be too difficult, Peric. My young friend, I know that you are a star athlete, as well as an ace pilot of the air fleet . . . . . . but you will be well advised to treat this Sollum as a beast of the wilderness—ruthless, cunning, and deadly! Shortly after, the crowds that had gathered near the fateful apartment block saw the arrival of Janno. They’re putting someone into the building! He’s got more courage than I have! What can be going on in that place? Janno alighted on the flat roof. No sign of friend Sollum . . . And then it was as if he had been seized by a giant hand and hurled headlong. Aaaaaaaagh!
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 749 on 22 May 1976.
