The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1977

and scrambled away over the ridge, to disappear from their sight!    "Didn't you sense it?" Helena turned on Tony in fury. "It had intelligence! It tried to communicate just before you fired! There were thought-waves!"    "I didn't feel them, Helena. And better to be safe than sorry. Anyhow . . . it's gone."    Even as Tony finished speaking, there came a soft rushing through the air - inaudible to them. But a chunk of rock twice the size of a football struck him fairly and squarely in the chest, and before the horrified eyes of his friends he pitched backwards, crashed to the ground, rolled over . . . and lay ominously still!    They were still crouched over his fallen body when the voice came.    "Stand up. Try nothing . . . and keep perfectly still!"    Slowly, they straightened, and then strong, scaly fists gripped their arms, choking cries from them as they spun them round. What they saw brought their hearts leaping into their mouths - for if the beast had been horrendous, this newcomer was doubly so! A bovine face . . . massive, upthrust horns . . . a single, glittering eye set centrally in its forehead. Like a devil, drawn by some half-crazed mediaeval artist!    "Who are you? And why did you attack my servant?" The voice was shrill and metallic, even though they instinctively knew that they only under- stood by some telepathic means.    "I ask you again! Who?"    Alan Carter found his voice. "We are space travel- lers. We come from a planet called Earth. We had hoped that this place might provide us with a new home . . ."    "Which it won't," muttered Helena. "The oxygen just isn't sufficient . . ."    Their captor didn't relax his grip. Forcibly - and his grasp on them was so strong that they were unable to struggle - he steered them towards a high bank of rocks in which they could make out the shape of a cave-mouth.    "Look - we didn't mean to harm your servant. Can't you realise how it look to us? He was - mon- strous. Frightening. And Tony thought he was going to attack!"    "It is of no matter. Perhaps he will return. Perhaps not. In the meantime, you will take his place!"    Helena turned her head back towards Tony Verdes- chi's prostrate form. "Wati! What - what about him . . ?"    "He is dead. He is of no possible use, either to me or to you. Now - keep silent while I conduct you down to my domain! You are the captives of Bokassa the scientist - and fitting subjects for my experiments!" In Main Mission, Moonbase Alpha, Commander John Koenig sat relaxed at his desk. On the big video screen, the image of the planet.

Sandra Benes walked across to join him. "It's been some time since we've had any contact from Doctor Russell and the others, sir . . ."    "They'll get in touch in good time, Sandra. We don't have them tied to our apron strings, you know. I dare say they're making as full a survey as possible before they report." Koenig glanced across at Maya. "Pull up a close picture on video, will you?"    The scene on the screen enlarged. To show the landed Eagle. Undamaged. Unharmed. And all around it the clutter of rocks, the ridges, rifts and canyons that made up the planet's surface. Oddly - though of course it didn't seem odd to Koenig and his colleagues - there was no sprawled figure where Tony Verdeschi had fallen . . .    Koenig said: "They're probably hunting around in some caves somewhere. Clearly, there's no life of any sort on the surface, but there may be greater warmth in the interior."    "I can't say I fancy the idea of taking up the life of a cave-dweller, John," smiled Maya. "No matter how cosy it is. I think I'd rather stay here and take my chances."    "Me too," confessed the Commander. "But let's not jump to any conclusions before we hear from them, huh?"    He sat back, totally at ease. It was luck for his

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