Posted on July 19, 2025August 1, 2025The 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.
Posted on July 5, 2025July 5, 2025The Man with a Mission (continued . . .) The probing finger of light played upon Lukaz Rann. It was immediately followed by a hail of projectiles. The Daveli guard came at him, gun blazing. Lukaz Rann had only one chance of survival— to risk all in a death- defying leap. He connected and hung on ! Roaring out of control, the jet-pack carried the two battling figures up over the edge of the cliff. Lukaz Rann felt his opponent go limp from a lucky blow. He reached and switched off the jet-pack and they fell, locked together. As he rolled clear and picked himself up, the intrepid rocketeer heard more jet-pack engines. They must have heard the shots ! Two more airborne Daveli bodyguards zipped out of the darkness. Do you see anything ? A figure lying over there ! By the time the newcomers had found their stricken comrade, Lukaz Rann had reached the building that housed the evil genius of Tharv. And now to deal with Vallu. The sound of the shots had awakened Vallu, who had leapt from his bed and was scanning the audivision screens that gave him a view of every part of his abode. Is it an intruder ? What are those guards doing ? Are they protecting me properly ? And then, he saw. . . The intruder ! Lukaz Rann trod silently through the building, all unaware that his every move was being watched by his intended quarry. Suddenly . . . Aaaaaaaaagh ! This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 703 on 5 July 1975.
Posted on June 28, 2025July 5, 2025The Man with a Mission (continued . . .) Lukaz Rann’s dossier on the Tharv scientist, VALLU, gave a complete picture of that creature’s evil career. It was Vallu who had invented a plant-killer, which, if sprayed from the air . . . . . . brought swift destruction to plants and crops ! With my compound, we could wipe out an enemy’s plant food supply in the first day of war ! One drop of my X-germ in a city’s water supply will eliminate the entire population of that city ! Currently, he was at work on a sensational new explosive force. My plan is to harness the latent magnetic energy of the planet ! Many times, the clever Trigan scientist, Peric, had warned the Imperial Council of the peril from Tharv. I tell you all that it is theoretically possible that, in testing his new explosive force, Vallu will blow up the whole planet. He must be stopped. Peric ! You know we can do nothing to stop a citizen of another state ! When Vallu was questioned about Peric’s claim, he only scoffed. And what do you say to the allegation that your new force will blow up the planet ? The allegation was made by an old fool ! At his age, he should give up science and take up needlework ! Lukaz Rann read through Vallu’s dossier. I’ll rid Elekton of that unspeakable creature ! This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 702 on 28 June 1975.
