With an animal-like howl of fury, Roffa threw himself at his friend.

Gnnnnnnghh!

Janno ducked and fired his rifle from the hip.

The drugged dart contained in the harmless projectile swiftly did its work. But as Janno stooped to gather up his unconscious comrade, he heard a sudden series of frenzied screams.

The party of old people, maddened by the fall-out, came bounding towards their intended victim.

Gaaaaaah!

Ngaaaaaah!

At the last moment, the pilot from the heli-jet descended.

Grab hold of your friend and let’s go!

Kill! Kill!

Yaaaaagh!























Later in Trigan City, Peric, Elekton’s most famous scientist, carried out a series of tests on Roffa.

He’s coming round. Stand well back. With that uncanny strength, he may burst his bonds!

Janno, old friend. What . . . what happened?

This is astounding!

Master Peric, all the old people have been rendered unconscious and harmless with the drugged darts. Where do you want them?

Bring them into the laboratory, Lieutenant. Somehow, somewhere, I must find the answer to this strange phenomenon!

All that night, Peric laboured. Testing—theorising—testing again. And when dawn came . . .

I have it. The only hypothesis that fits the facts!

And, however improbable, it has to be—the truth!

That morning, Elekton’s greatest scientist explained how by a curious freak of fate, the scourge had been defeated by a simple chemical compound.

The drug that quietened the victims also reversed the process of mutation that caused the affliction. We have an antidote!

I also discovered that potential victims are all of the same blood group. This simplifies matters, for people of this blood group, only, need to be careful about not eating freshly-grown vegetation.

So was the plague overcome. People were free to partake of the zamberries without any of the dreaded after-effects . . .

 . . . Thanks to Peric’s infallible remedy, the dreadful scourge of Elekton was gone forever. Now, the fearful, red-eyed monsters who had terrorised the planet were nothing more than an unpleasant memory.

This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 752 on 12 June 1976.