The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1976

Headlong, Alan Carter and Paul Morrow flung themselves into the fight! Could they rescue Helena before it was too late to return to Moonbase. . ? Koenig froze. He was vaguely aware of the buggy screeching up behind him. Carter leaped from it. "She's in there. . ?" "This is the place," said Bergman. Koenig looked bleak. "You heard what Paul said. . ?" "I heard," snapped Kano. "Commander--we've no time to search!" With a strangled cry, Koenig broke away from them-- but it was Victor Bergman who leaped out to tackle him, bringing him crashing down, his head smashing off a rock to plunge him into instant oblivion! "Emotional involvement," rasped Bergman. "Too dangerous! No time for fooling. I'll get him back to the Eagles." The other two fell instantly into Bergman's thinking. Of all the people on Moonbase Alpha, Koenig was the one person they could not afford to lose. "We've got a chance of a quick rescue, Victor . . ." this was Alan Carter. "Action. You're too old. Forgive me, but it's true. Kano-- help him back with the Commander. Send Paul Morrow in to back me up. We're more expendable. . ." There could be no argument. The tough Australian didn't even wait to see how the others took it. He was already running down into the tunnels, guided by a deep, vibrating chanting that came from somewhere deep within. He knew that Paul Morrow--lithe, young and muscled, would soon be after him. But he didn't care. He only saw, in his mind's eye, the Commander's closest friend, Helena Russell, in danger of her life. . . The stone altar dripped wetly. Prone upon it, Helena stirred, only half realising her frightful surroundings. Above her towered a huge, bearded primitive, a cast- bronze knife gleaming dully in his clenched fists. A babble of intoned words poured from his lips, and the eyes of his people were fastened on him as they swayed to the murmuring of some evil ritual! And then Alan Carter came racing into the vast chamber, his fists swinging! Panting with exertion, right behind him, Paul Morrow! The solid crack of bone on

bone--the bitten-off yelps of guards felled by the unexpected onslaught--the slither of slipping feet and the wild gasps of men and women taken utterly by surprise! In one instant the scene was total chaos! Clubs bit the air around the heads of the two friends--hairy hands grasped--were torn free! And now Carter's arm was under Helena's shoulders, hauling her, gasping, from the flat rock! "Out, Paul! Out!" With Helena between them, the two men from Moonbase Alpha raced from the cavern, their ears assailed by the twittering roars of rage from male and female alike as the primitives grouped themselves to give chase! And then the cloying mist again as they staggered into the open . . . the waiting buggy . . .Kano at the controls, back to risk his own future, possibly to be marooned on the planet! Stones and clubs thudded against the skin of the two Eagles as Bergman and Morrow gunned them up and away from the surface. Slowly at first, then more quickly, they lifted from the land that had promised so much--yet had proved so hostile. How widespread had the primitives been? Could they have landed in force to subdue them and colonise? It was something they would never know. All they were aiming for now was to catch up with the rapidly dwindling Moon--their own home. And every second took it farther and farther away! "We're closing, Victor! We're closing!" Paul Morrow was sweating freely at his controls. "I think we're going to make it. . ." "We'll make it," breathed Bergman, glancing down at the still unconscious figure of Commander Koenig behind him. Helena Russell was stooping over him, stroking his head. It was clear he wasn't even aware of Bergman's presence. "We'll make it. And journey on. We find one place--we find another. That's how it goes. Some day, our fate will surely guide us to our definite destiny. Then there'll be opposition, no mystery, no conflict. Just peace. . ." The Eagles swooped down towards the grey complex of Alpha, and their retros fired as they dropped, side by side, towards the landing pads. . .

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