It was in the fourth lunar month of the year of Zooth that an astral phenomenon was observed in the sky above Elekton. Countless multitudes saw it, wondering at its brightness that turned the night to day. It’s a shooting star! I never saw such a shooting star before in my life! Elekton’s top scientist, Peric, had the answer to the strange object in the sky. It is an exploded world! Somewhere out in space, a world like ours blew up into fragments. The thing that passed through our outer atmosphere was one of the pieces of that destroyed planet! The phenomenon passed on its way into the trackless wilderness of outer space. But, high in the upper atmosphere of Elekton, a cloud of strange particles remained and slowly descended. The particles were seeds. They fell upon the surface of the planet, widely scattered. Presently, they put forth small white flowers . . . Some distance from Trigan City, a herdsman played his pipe and idly watched his flock.Suddenly . . . They’re surrounding me! Then, sheer blind panic! No! No! Keep away from me! The creatures closed in upon him, their baaing drowning his screams. Some time later, Peric chanced to visit a botanist friend of his. This species is unknown to me, Beris. What is its name? To be frank, my dear fellow, it also a total stranger to me. It has suddenly started to grow in considerable abundance on the Plain of Vorg. The local bird life will soon make short work of your specimen, Beris. So it appears. I had not noticed that before. And then . . . By all the stars! They—they’re coming at us, Peric! Aaaaaaah! Run for your life, Beris!
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 661 on 14 September 1974.
