The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1976

Chief pilot Alan Carter touched Koenig's arm. "You want an Eagle to go out and take a closer look, sir?" Koenig nodded. "I'd like you to do it, Alan. Take a full armaments pod, and be careful!"    Moments later, encased in his bright red survival suit, Alan Carter sat alone in his personal Command Eagle. Hydraulic lifts had taken the craft up to one of the Alpha launch-pads, and now he checked over his instruments before reporting to Main Mission. "Ready for lift-off, Commander!" Alan Carter frowned. "There's a light blinking on the alien ship, Commander!"    The blase of vertical take-off jets rammed the Eagle upwards, and then the high-pitched whine of the tail motors thrust it out towards the aliens. Deftly, Carter locked in the anti-magnetic field that would carry him safely through Alpha's own protective shield--the shield that invisibly held the newcomers safely away from the Moon's surface. The pilot kept his communications like continuously open, and the cluster of people in Main Mission were silent and wary as his voice came through.    "I'm circling the nearer vessel. Absolutely no sign of life at all. No apparent damage. I'm moving to the other one." There was a long pause, and the watchers could see the Eagle as it passed between the alien craft, to slip abruptly out of view behind the larger vessel. Koenig was conscious of pain in his hands, and looked down to see them clenched with worry. He forced himself to relax. Then, reassuringly, Carter's voice came through again, loud, clear--and excited! "I see a light, Commander! Intermittent blinking from behind one of the clear outlook screens on the superstructure! It could be some kind of code--some alien equivalent of Morse!"    "Get it on direct teleview, Alan!" The Commander spun round. "Kano. Stand by to feed info into the computer. De- code procedure!"    Within seconds, the Moonbase Alpha computer came up with the result. All logic pointed to the fact that the flashing was a distress signal! Koenig gave a terse nod and turned to Professor Victor Bergman. "Time you and I did something to earn our keep. Suit up, Victor, and have a connecting Eagle lifted to pad six. As for you, Alan--"The Commander spoke down into his comlock again"--take up a covering position abeam of the vessel."

Another Eagle, with Koenig at the controls, and Bergman beside him, lifted away from Alpha and made straight for the larger of the two alien ships. Gently, Koenig inched up towards the obvious entry port of the alien and triggered the buttons that allowed a flexible connecting tunnel to reach out and close over the outer surface. Bergman nodded, his eyes on the instruments before him. "Seal active, John. I wonder what we're going to find inside that thing. . ."    Commander John Koenig fingered the laser-pistol strapped to his waist. "Could be anything in there, Victor. But we aren't going to learn any answers by sitting here!" The two men stood up and began the walk, through their own air-lock, towards the corresponding lock on the mystery vessel. Towards the unknown! No figures stepped to greet them as Koenig's comlock found the impulse that took them inside. The interior was still, cold and heavy with silence. Bergman found himself speaking in a whisper, and checked himself with a rather forced laugh. "It's--er, reassuring, John. Generally speaking. Look at the equipment here. Recognisable stuff. Might almost have come from Earth."    Koenig grunted agreement. "Yes. Except for the colours. The lighting's strange." Warily, they moved on, deeper into the ship's interior. As though from very far away, Alan Carter's voice came in over Koenig's comlock. "Distress signal has stopped, sir! Are you okay?"    "We're fine, Alan. It seems to be deserted. . ."    At that moment, there came the sudden noise of movement, and Koenig swung quickly away from Bergman to stride into a room filled with curious glass cases --cases that reflected purples and blues and greens. Cases that contained strange collections of coloured spheres. The Commander's laser-pistol flashed from its holster as he caught the image of a crouching figure ahead of him. "Who's that! You. . ." The figure didn't move, and Koenig approached cautiously. Still the figure remained motionless, and Koenig could see it was tall, humanoid. It had its back towards him. Gently, he probed its shoulder. "You! You're breathing! Why don't you respond. . .?"    In that instant, it happened! A flash of brilliant light-- dazzling and blinding! An impression of disintegration! And the figure was gone! Totally vanished, as though it had never been!    "Victor! In here--quickly!" Koenig had backed up against on of the glass cases. "Victor!" But there was no reply!" Commander Koenig's Eagle lifted slowly away from Moonbase Alpha. . .

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