Posted on November 28, 2020February 20, 2024The Thing from the Sea (continued . . .) And then—they saw— It ! By all the stars ! . . . Look ! The thing moved with deadly swiftness. It selected Janno as its first victim. Roffa ! Keren ! . . . Help ! Roffa started the engine of their sub- marine craft, and sent it speeding off. The three comrades headed for the surface, leaving their craft to be torn apart by the nightmare of the deep. That could have been us ! They were soon being helped aboard the diving ship. Did you find what you were seeking ? Yes ! We know the Daveli sank, but it could have happened is another matter ! why how That evening, the comrades reported to the Emperor. A hole scored along the underside of the ship's hull, you say ? Yes, uncle ! From stem to stern—not a rent that could have been made by a projecting rock, but one that looked as if it had been cut by some giant mechanical tool ! Trigo turned to Peric. What could have done such a thing, Peric ? No natural phenomenon, that's for sure, and I know of no mechanical device that could have caused such damage to a speeding ship ! What do we do now ? Nothing ! We can only wait ! You mean ? . . . The damage was obviously the deliberate work of some malevolent intelligence. If it happened once —It could happen again ! The Trigan Bay Bridge was one of the supreme engineering feats of the planet. It stretched as far as the eye could see, from headland to headland. Three days after the sinking of the “Daveli” —It happened ! Aaaaaaaaagh !— The bridge is collapsing ! The second disaster ! This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 463 on 28 November 1970.
Posted on November 21, 2020February 20, 2024The Thing from the Sea (continued . . .) By the time rescue craft arrived, the Daveli was nearly gone ! The Emperor Trigo himself watched the vast hull go to its grave at the bottom of the Tibor Ocean. Why ?— How could it happen ? An Imperial Court of Enquiry was summoned a few days later. Tell us in your own words, Captain— What happened ? Imperial Majesty, it happened at the fifteenth hour—a shudder ran through the ship, as if she had struck a projecting rock . . . No, Sir ! It was more like an underwater explosion ! Not an explosion ! It felt like a mighty blow ! You were off-watch and asleep, while I was on the bridge ! Silence !— Silence, I tell you ! Since your evidences do not tally, this Imperial Court has no other course but to order an inspection of the sunken hull of the Daveli ! The Emperor's nephew Janno and his two comrades volunteered for the hazardous task of diving to the wreck. They were given special instruction. Your gear will protect you from the massive pressures you will encounter. But at that profound depth, there are many hazards ! unknown In due course, their submarine craft was lowered at the fateful spot in the Tibor Ocean. Down—Down—into the unfathomable deep they went . . . Testing communications . . . Receiving you. Receiving you. The nightmare landscape of the ocean bed was laid out below them— and they saw the Daveli. And then . . . By all the stars ! —LOOK ! Along the vast hull of the sunken liner was a clean rent that might have been sliced by a giant's sword ! What on Elekton could have done that ? This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 462 on 21 November 1970.
Posted on November 14, 2020December 29, 2023Trigo’s Five Tasks (continued . . .) All that happened during the 18th year of Neva. It was in an early day of the following year that the great liner “Daveli” set off on her maiden voyage. That night . . . Daveli in distress ! The liner has been rent by an underwater obstruction, and we are sinking fast ! This installment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 461 on 14 November 1970.
