Category: Spacecraft

Posted on

Ten Lunar Years of Solitude (continued . . .)

















	














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.

 
Posted on

The Wish-Fulfiller (continued . . .)

















	
















	
	Janno stepped from his space-liner on to the
	surface of a new planet in a distant galaxy.

	
	
	
	
	We have
	discovered
	another world
	—fairer and
	richer than our
	own Elekton !

	
	
	
	
	I name this planet—Trigania !
	And I claim it in the name
	of the Trigan Empire !

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 548 on 15 July 1972.

 
Posted on

The Thing from the Sea (continued . . .)

















	
















	
	It seemed to give Ura Zircon a savage pleasure
	to display his might before the Trigan prisoners.

	
	My plan of destruction is
	fast approaching its climax.
	You shall see one of the
	four destroying units at work !

	
	The Trigans were led to one of four control
	compartments set round the vast circular
	interior of the conquest machine.

	
	This destroying unit
	is about to make an
	attack upon the
	fortresses guarding 
	the mouth of
	the River Trigan—
	watch closely !

	
	In front of the operator was a screen,
	on which appeared a landscape very
	familiar to Janno and his comrades. 

	
	Before their horrified eyes, one of the
	dreaded shapes rose from the deep.

	
	Alarm !
	Alarm !
	Open fire !

	
	Impervious to counter-
	attack, the thing struck !


























	

















	
















	
	Janno and his comrades saw it all
	through the “eyes” of the attacker.

	
	So ! And now we
	must flood the
	conquest machine.
	We are familiarising
	ourselves to breathe
	air, but our devices
	work for only half
	the day—for the
	remainder we must 
	breathe water.

	
	Janno, Roffa and Keren were
	provided with their underwater
	breathing masks. Soon the vast
	interior was flooded, and their
	captors relaxed.

	
	This must
	be their
	sleeping time . . .

	
	Our guard isn’t armed—
	but I know from experience
	that these brutes have some
	fiendish means of destruction.

	
	Janno dived towards the guard, dodging the
	forked light which seared the water.

	
	He smashed his
	victim’s head
	against the
	floor.

	
	A few seconds later the three Trigans
	were swimming towards one of
	the control compartments.

	
	Now ! We’ll put that
	destroying machine to
	our own use !

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 470 on 16 January 1971.