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The Curse of King Yutta (continued . . .)

















	














Here we see the ancient city that stood on the site of the present Trigan City. Its people were warlike, proud and superstitious . . .

This is a portrait of the long-dead King Yutta, whose mummy lies in the newlydiscovered tomb. He was known as the Lord of the Skies and Sovereign of the Stars!

The scientist Peric ended the illustrated lecture that he had been giving to the Emperor and the Imperial Council.

There is little else I can tell you about the life and times of King Yutta. As to the socalled curse that was placed upon his tomb all those uncounted centuries ago . . .

Peric was interrupted by Rothi, a bluff, no-nonsense councillor.

That’s a load of rubbish! Put there to frighten old women! I vote that the dead King and his treasures should be moved to the Imperial museum, and that the public be invited to view them for an entrance fee of two zersts a head. Make a fortune for the Imperial treasury, I shouldn’t wonder!

Rothi’s suggestion was carried out. In the lunar months that followed, thousands of spellbound people filed through the Imperial Museum.

One fateful night, when the museum had closed, and the night-watchman was settling down for his long vigil, a strange sound echoed through the hall.

What’s that? Who’s there?
























	














And then . . .

Eeeeaaaagghhhh!

They found him next morning . . .

Who could have done this? And why?

And that was not all.

Aaaaaah! King Yutta has gone!

That same day, Ricci, one of the two wealthy Trigan businessmen who had been the first to enter the forbidden tomb, was being driven home to his villa.

Suddenly, the driver saw . . . something!

Eeeaaaaagggghh!

They brought the news of the disaster to the Emperor.

. . . Is the curse of Yutta coming true already?

“They who defile the resting place of the King shall swiftly perish!” . . .

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 560 on 7 October 1972.

 
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The Fiendish Experiment (continued . . .)

















	














The King’s ejector gear brought him safely to the ground. Instants later, a column of water descended near by the shocked monarch.

The water trickled towards the King, touched him, and—

Eeeeaaaaghh!

Vella re-materialised.

It will be several days before you recover your senses, you barbarian!

He dragged his victim to a cave mouth, close to which stood an air fleet fighter-craft.

He will lie safely in the cave till I have been paid the ransom-money. What could be simpler?

At that moment, in Trigan City, a squad of police were surrounding Vella’s apartment.

Smash the door in!

Peric was among the first to enter the apartment and see the strange apparatus that filled one of the rooms.

I was right in my assumption! That young scoundrel has submitted himself to my process—and used it for criminal purposes!

Why! That’s the folder containing details of your invention! I remember the night you showed it to Vella and me!

I should have guessed right from the start, when he had his miraculous escape from the air crash. I told you at the time, Janno—there are no such things as miracles!
























	














They questioned Vella’s shrinking accomplice Zerros.

Where is he now? Where’s Vella?

He . . . he has kidnapped the King of Daveli and hidden him in a cave in the wilderness. And now he’s flying back to the City!

Peric looked grimly out into the storm-blackened sky.

He’ll have an unpleasant flight through that!

Storm warnings have gone out, and all air craft in the area have been grounded!

Indeed, Vella’s craft was flying through the thick of the aerial inferno!

The best thing I can do is to switch on the automatic pilot and turn myself into my water-state. Then I shall be indestructible!

Next instant, there was a pool of water slopping about in the bottom of the pilotless cockpit.

Even if the craft is struck by lightning, I can fall to the ground unhurt!

That was Vella’s last coherent thought . . .

. . . A lightning-flash turned the craft into a fireball!

No wreckage was ever found, nor any sign of the pilot. As Peric said later . . .

If he was in his water-state, he has strictly speaking not been destroyed. Rather, he was instantly turned to steam, and then into tiny particles of condensation—minute globules of water that will have been scattered all over the upper air of this planet!

He spoke the chilling epitaph on the man who could turn himself to water.

Vella may still live—but his atomic particles can never be reunited!

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 558 on 23 September 1972.