Posted on March 13, 2021December 22, 2023The Giant Plant (continued . . .) Janno's blade flickered in the moonlight. I've only one chance of life ! Gathering his strength, he leapt for the wall behind him. Thank the stars ! Soon he was breaking the grim news to the Emperor. The people have fled, together with most of the armed forces. Only the Guard Cavalry remain, Imperial Majesty ! And rebel forces are approaching the city ! Imperial Majesty, I urge you to leave before it is too late. No ! I will stay and meet whatever fate has to offer. To think that a mighty empire is being brought down by a plague of vermin ! Vermin they may be, Imperial Majesty—but all my scientific skill can devise no way of combating them. On the plain not far away, the debased aristocrat, Tax Toru, watched triumphantly as frightened Trigans left the city. Your people are deserting you, Trigo ! Soon your enemies will enter that deserted city and cut you down from your proud throne. Then—a voice from the crowd. Tax Toru ! Can it be you, my son ? Mother ! I had never thought to see you again. You were condemned for life to the mines ! Mother—listen. Come with me to safety. I have friends— Lokans— Lokans ? Is it not enough that I should see my son shame his country and family name ? Must I now accept that he is claiming friendship with Lokans ? Then she was lost in the passing crowd. Mother ! What have I done ? What have I done ? Tax Toru returned to the secret Lokan hideout in the hills. He found his new comrades feasting. Greetings, Tax Toru. Sit with me, my friend. Trigan's enemies are approaching the city. Tomorrow we will complete the destruction begun by the rallus ! A plan was already forming in Tax Toru's tortured mind. Speaking of the rallus, friend. I am puzzled as to how you grew them to such a size. You're a fellow after my own heart, though you are a Trigan. I'll tell you the whole story . . . When his companion had finished, Tax Toru took a firmer grip on his heavy drinking horn. What do you think of that, then ? You have told me all I need to know ! Then he struck the Lokan at the back of his neck—and leapt ! Stop him— don't let him escape ! This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 478 on 13 March 1971.
Posted on February 20, 2021June 19, 2023The Giant Plant (continued . . .) The small boy who looked like a man raced through the streets, pursued by flying stones. Ha ! See the big fellow run ! Mother ! Mother ! They're hurting me ! He reached home, and the comforting arms of his mother. My child—have those rough street boys been ill-treating you again ? Yes—they wouldn't let me play with them. Soon he was sleeping peacefully. He has the body of a grown man but he is still a child in his mind. Yes, but his mind grows every day. Husband—can we not take him away to some remote spot where he may mature in peace ? So the family left the city and settled in a valley beyond the plain. There they built a rough hut, and cultivated a vegetable patch. But others occupied the heights above the valley—a band of renegade Lokans who had never accepted Trigan rule. Get rid of those Trigans ! Take what they have, and put them to the sword. The Lokans attacked. Mercy ! Spare us, and —and I will show you a miracle ! A miracle ? I don't believe it ! Such ibises ! It's true. Look at our son —three lunar months ago he was a sickly child in arms, and we feared for his life ! The puzzled Lokans pondered. Mother—may I have a drink of water ? Another strange thing— he drinks water all the time. He could drain a river dry. Instead of slaying the family, they brought them before their leader. It is a fantastic tale—but it may be true. It can easily be tested. At an order from the leader, one of the band went out and trapped a rallu, one of the fierce vermin of Elekton. Feed it the ibis seeds ! Within days, the rallu had to be transferred—with great difficulty—into a much larger cage ! Imagine ten thousand of them set loose in a crowded city ! By all the stars, I'd hate to meet that brute outside its cage ! Brothers ! Here is a weapon with which we can destroy Trigan City, and perhaps bring that accursed empire to its knees ! Meanwhile, in the dreaded convict mines, the hate-filled Tax Toru had reached the end of his endurance. Escape ! Escape ! And then—death to Trigo's empire ! The nobleman whom Trigo had debased for treason was ready to take his revenge ! HA ! Uuuuuh . . . This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 475 on 20 February 1971.
Posted on February 13, 2021January 19, 2022The Giant Plant The Trigan Imperial Guard was on parade, marching with the impeccable precision for which the crack regiment was famous throughout Elekton. Leading the guardsmen was their commanding officer, Tax Toru—a haughty Trigan aristocrat. But after the parade . . . Colonel ! You are under arrest ! Aaaah ! Because of his high rank, the accused man was tried by the emperor himself. The evidence against him was brief—but damning. Letters have been found showing that he has been selling military secrets to the Empire's enemies. Trigo passed sentence. Tax Toru ! You have betrayed the Empire and shamed your family name. You will be stripped of your rank and condemned to labour in the mines for the rest of your natural life ! Tax Toru was publicly disgraced. Then, chained, he became a slave in the dreaded mines. Curse Trigo ! Curse him ! If I ever escape from this living death, I'll bring his wretched Empire down about his ears ! Meanwhile, the great scientist Peric was at work in his laboratory, watched by his young friend Janno. You see, the seeds of the ibis plant are a staple diet of our poorer people. I am trying to increase the size of the plant to provide more food for them —not with any success, for this compound is my last hope. Later that day, Peric returned to the plant—and— By all the stars ! I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams ! The ibis has doubled its size ! He raced out to spread the news. It was then that the plant's swollen seed pods burst —and scattered their contents to the winds. Most of the seeds fell on infertile ground, but a few landed in the small garden of a poor peasant. Within a few days, the peasant couple were staring in delighted amazement at the towering plants. I never saw such ibises ! The seeds of these fine plants will make nourishing soup for the little one. Before the end of the lunar month, the once-sickly child was a sturdy stripling ! It is like a miracle ! We never thought we'd rear him —and now he's bigger and stronger than lads twice his age ! This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 474 on 13 February 1971.
