Category: Landmarks & Structures

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The Green Fog (continued . . .)

















	














The fungus grew—and grew! Presently, the older buildings began to collapse under the tremendous weight.

The whole city is falling down!

The green scourge even penetrated the interior of buildings. Within days, the Imperial Archives—nerve centre of the Trigan administration—was a shambles.

We can’t go on! This green stuff is everywhere!

The Imperial Council met in a state of panic.

Government has become impossible in the city!

Tharv is certain to invade us, knowing our weakness!

There are food riots in the streets!

Be silent!

The Emperor Trigo’s voice was calm and commanding.

The city will be evacuated immediately. The capital of the empire will be removed to the town of Vorgpass till the . . . emergency . . . is over.

News that the city was to be abandoned to the green fungus sent a wave of despair through the population. Grim-faced and silent, they took what belongings they could carry and filed out through the green-carpeted streets.

The voice of Uruz the blind beggar sounded like a knell of doom.

I told them, but they wouldn’t listen! I warned them that evil had been done!
























	














But, before the evacuation could be completed, it happened again.

The green fog! It’s come back!

Swirling over the fungus-hung rooftops glided the sinister green cloud.

Aaaaaaagh!

The green blindness enveloped the city, for the rest of that day and the day after.

I can’t take any more! I think I shall go mad!

It must end . . . mustn’t it?

The green fog cleared as quickly as it had come. And the weary and frightened people looked about them.

The fungus has gone!

Thank the stars!

But, as the great scientist Peric commented . . .

Not completely gone, as you see. It is as if someone had come along and cut off the fruit of the growth, to allow for more growth!

What are you suggesting?

I hardly know, Imperial Majesty! But I think we must send for Uruz the blind beggar again. I suggest we listen to him more patiently than we did before.

So Uruz was once more summoned to appear before the Imperial Council of the empire. But this time he was treated with respect.

Now, Uruz, if you will be so kind as to repeat to the council everything you heard and sensed while the green fog was enveloping the city.

The top people of the empire hung on the words of a blind beggar!

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 734 on 7 February 1976.

 
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The Green Fog

















	














The blind beggar Uruz had sat at the base of Trigo’s statue in the great square of the city for as long as anyone could remember. One morning, Janno the Emperor’s nephew was crossing the square. As always, he dropped a coin into the beggar’s hat.

A thousand thanks, Lord Janno.

You knew who I was! Yet I never uttered a word!

So you think that I can see after all. But you are wrong, Lord Janno. Why, I know you from the sound of your footfall, from the very rustle of your uniform. My eyes are my ears!

The incident had passed from Janno’s mind by the time he reached the air fleet base, climbed into his tiny fighter craft and took off.

Calling control. Have cleared the ground. Your orders, please.

His orders took him to the stratosphere, high above the surface of Elekton, patrolling the sky frontiers of the Trigan Empire.

At about noon, people in the great square of Trigan City saw . . . IT!

Look!

What is it?

It was a wall of swirling green fog that swept across the great capital, enveloping everything . . .

It’s fantastic!

I’ve never seen such a thing before!
























	














. . . in a blanket of green blindness!

Help!

Where are you?

I can’t see a thing!

High above, Janno was shocked to hear the controller’s panic-stricken cries over his communicator.

It’s all gone green! I’m blind! Janno, for pity’s sake! . . .

What’s happening down there?

Receiving no reply, Janno brought his craft down in a screaming dive. Nearing the ground, he saw the ominous green cloud that shrouded the city.

It’s . . . unbelievable!

Even as he looked, the green murk cleared away and the capital of the Trigan Empire lay below him in all its accustomed glory.

It’s . . . gone!

The pandemonium in the city was indescribable, with crashed vehicles littering the streets, and frightened and bewildered people wandering about in shock.

It was as if the end of the world had come.

What if it happens again?

I think I shall go out of my mind!

Uruz, the blind beggar, cried out in a loud voice.

I tell you something terrible has taken place! An alien people have been amongst us.

What? Explain yourself!

His words struck a chill into the hearts of all his listeners.

While this green fog of which you speak was upon us, while you were all stumbling about like the newly-blind . . . there came amongst us some who walked with sure-footed tread, as if they could see!

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 732 on 24 January 1976.

 
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The Man with a Mission (continued . . .)

















	
















	
	Lukaz Rann brought Vallu’s vehicle to a jarring
	halt at the cliff edge and rasped an order.

	
	Get out !

	
	Vallu’s bodyguards were
	closing in fast.

	
	Jump !

	
	Please ! Spare me !
	I’ll make you rich.
	Anything can be
	yours, if only . . .

	
	The great rocketeer thrust his
	victim over the abyss and
	followed after.

	
	Eeeeeeeeeeghh !

	
	Lukaz Rann struck the
	water and sank deeply.

	
	Vallu’s been knocked unconscious.
	I must get him to the surface
	before he drowns. I’d hate
	anything to happen to him !

	
	The bodyguards criss-crossed the area
	where the two had disappeared.

	
	No sign of
	them. They must
	have perished.

	
	But the intrepid rocketeer was alive,
	and supporting his half-drowned captive.

	
	They think
	it’s hopeless,
	and are giving
	up the search.


























	
















	
	That night, a Trigan fishing boat approached the cliffs,
	as Lukaz Rann had previously arranged.

	
	Well done,
	lads. Now
	let’s get
	out of here.

	
	Morning found the rocketeer back
	in his Vorg castle, with his second
	victim imprisoned in a dungeon.

	
	With so little time left to him, Lukaz Rann took
	up the next dossier without any delay.

	
	And now, another
	creature whose dis-
	appearance will
	sweeten the air
	of the whole
	planet . . . Yackrass !

	
	Yackrass was a rabble-rousing Trigan politician. He was also the highest paid
	performer on the Trigan audivision network. An estimated fifty million viewers
	switched on his weekly programme.

	
	Mustn’t miss old
	Yackrass. He’s always
	good for a bit of
	excitement.

	
	Yackrass’s technique was to play upon the public’s fears
	and prejudices. Currently, he was blazing a campaign
	of XENOPHOBIA—the hatred of foreigners.

	
	Fellow-citizens ! Do you realise
	that there are over half a million
	foreign nationals residing here ?
	Taking all the best jobs ! Treating
	us like second class citizens !

	
	How much longer are
	we going to tolerate
	this pollution in
	our midst ?

	
	Following Yackrass’s outburst, innocent and law-abiding foreigners—Catons, Lokans, Tharvians,
	and others—were mobbed in the streets and their properties destroyed.

	
	Down with
	the outsiders !

	
	Trigan for
	the Trigans !

	
	Yackrass had cause for self-congratulation. That
	very day, he had landed a new audivision contract
	at double his usual fee.

	
	By all the
	stars, you’re a
	clever fellow,
	my dear
	Yackrass.

	
	But retribution was
	at hand for
	the spreader of hatred.

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 705 on 19 July 1975.