The searing heat buckled the roadways, causing multiple traffic disasters. Spontaneous combustion from the fantastic temperature caused widespread fires. A whole area of the capital city was soon a sea of flames. The flames are spreading! Evacuate the entire city! Night fell, bringing scenes of indescribable chaos, as panic-stricken people fled the conflagration. Janno saw the flames below him, from the cockpit of his speedy fighting craft. Half the city is wiped out already! Nevertheless, he stayed with his task, reporting back constantly to his control centre. I am changing course for my tenth circumnavigation, which will take me over the Great Barrier Mountains at approximately midnight, Trigan City time. Janno was filled with a sense of awe and wonder as the massive, snow-clad range appeared ahead: A mountain fastness that few had ever penetrated on foot. I shall have to climb higher to get over them.Soon, he was gazing down at uncharted glaciers that had existed since the planet’s birth, rocky peaks that would stand for eternity. Experiencing a fair amount of buffeting, but that’s to be expected in these conditions. The buffeting increased in violence, till the small craft was vibrating to a dangerous degree. It . . . It’s falling apart! His trained pilot’s instinct made him pull the escape lever. He was blasted from his doomed fighter an instant before it disintegrated. I’m alive . . . But stranded in the worst place on the planet! As he drifted down to the frozen wastes, he saw . . . By all the stars! He landed in soft snow below the frowning walls of the strange edifice. It’s hardly likely that anyone lives there, but at least I shall be able to shelter till help arrives. He mounted the rock-hewn staircase . . . up . . . up . . . The vast doorway was open wide. He stepped into the chill gloom, his voice echoing from the ancient stonework. Is—anyone—here?
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 683 on 15 February 1975.
