The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1977

Benes had even more to report!    "We've pinpointed Tal, Commander. Deep video probe shows it to be inhabited, but spectroscan says the people aren't humanoid. They're not Vamar's race at all!"    Koenig gritted his teeth. "I can guess the story. Vamar's probably some kind of enemy of theirs. Maybe the leader of some attempted invasion. He was banished to space alright - but because he was a warmongering belligerent. And he hoped to use us as an instrument of revenge!"    Suddenly, Koenig was aware of Tony Verdeschi's hand on his arem, the fingers tightly and tensely locked. He swivelled to look into the man's horrified face.    "John! He's got to the missile Eagles! He's got there and the security squad can't touch him! He's taken Helena as a hostage!"    Her mind racing, Helena Russell sat in the co- pilot's seat of Eagle Seven, where Vamar had thrown her. The alien was beside her, gloating with

"You fool!" Helena's voice rose to a     wild shriek. "We're on fire!" triumph, for Eagle Seven was the emergency craft kept bombed-up at all times with one of the most sophisticated of Alphan weapons - the chain-reaction bomb that had the power of destruction on a mam- moth scale!    "Your friends will not sacrigice you doctor," snarled Vamar. "On dear no. They will doubtless try bargaining. Persuading. As if I will heed their ridiculous pleading!"    "You're mad, Vamar. Quite mad. Even with such a missile, you can't hope to subdue a whole planet alone!"    "But I can, lady! I can! Now - tell them yourself. Tell them to put this Eagle on its launch pad . . . or you suffer!"    Sheer despair drove Helena to one violent, des- perate attempt to swing the balance! Heedlessly, she threw herself at Vamar, fingers clawing for his face!    And then it happened! As they grappled, Vamar's own are cam down on the impulse levers of the

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