After he had had a long conversation with the mystery caller, Senator Rossi replaced the receiver. This is fantastic! But what can I do? Except obey him! Immediately, the senator drove out of the city in his sumptuous automobile—without, for once, his uniformed chauffeur. After all, he has pledged to pay all my gambling debts, and save my reputation! In a lonely part of the mountain road beyond Trigan City, Rossi stopped the vehicle. He took off his outer clothes and laid them in the driver’s seat. I don’t see the sense of it but this is what he told me to do. And then . . . There it goes! Hardly had the expensive vehicle dashed itself to scrap metal on the rocks far below than the sound of engines made Rossi look up. This must be—him! The next moment . . . Nicely done, Excellency! And now, get in . . . animal!Early the next morning, a group of fishermen found the wreckage of the senator’s vehicle in a mountain stream. The driver’s clothes are here! But he never could have survived that awful drop! The report of the disappearance of one of his most promising politicians was brought to the Emperor Trigo. Senator Rossi was seen leaving his villa, Imperial Majesty, and heading for the mountain road. And now—nothing but a pile of clothes! I remind you, Imperial Majesty, that Rossi makes the eighth. A few days later, Janno recovered consciousness after his crash. The abandoned weather station . . . Somebody . . . Someone . . . Easy now, Lieutenant. You need a lot of rest. Don’t tire yourself. His half-incoherent babblings were examined by the staff of Air Fleet Headquarters. Janno says, and we only have his evidence, that he was fired on from the old weather station. But the only feasible explanation, according to the computer, is that he was fired on from the ground. That weather station has been deserted for ten lunar years. Nevertheless, the old weather station in the stratosphere was given a cursory look-over—from a distance. See any sign of life? You must be joking. But a pair of hate-filled eyes watched both aircraft leave. Good for you! If you had stayed an instant longer, I would have destroyed you both—as I did the other!
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 756 on 10 July 1976.
