The Merchandise Guide
Annual 1977

Tony raised his gun at arm's length - but he never drew trigger! The beast was lurching drunkenly, its left arm hanging useless, its right outstretched as it in supplication. And now he caught what Helena had said . . . the tingle of telepathic transmission from the reptilian face with its wide, sad eyes . . .    "Spare me! Spare me! I-need-help !"    Then, slowly, the beast toppled headlong, and lay prone at Tony's feet!    The humanitarian instincts of Tony Verdeschi's mind dictated his reaction. He keen brain dictated his response. Swiftly, he bent over the fallen beast and examined the torn, bleeding left arm. Cautious pressure told him that the bone structure was human- oid. And that the upper arm was broken. He looked about him, and two swift laser-shots broke off flat metal stanchions that he could use as splints. With his own shirt, ripped to strips, he staunched the beast's wound, strapped up the arm. Then he stood up and stepped back, for the frog-like eyes had flickered.    "Thank you . . . thank you! I feared you would kill me!"    "I meant to. Before. But I thought . . ."    "Yes. Yes. I know I must be horrific to your eyes. Indeed - I mean no insult - you are just as repulsive to me!" The beast rose carefully, his left shoulder

sagging as if to keep all effort from his injured limb.    "I have no name to give you," he said. Bokassa allowed me nothing. Not even that."    "Bokassa . . ?"    "I saw him strike you down. And seize your com- panions. He is eveil. The most evil of the race of devils who rule this planet. So evil, in fact, that they banished him to this region."    "You're speaking in riddles, my friend . . ." Tony reached out to give the beast support as he staggered weakly. It wasn't easy. The creature must have weighed half a ton.    "Bokassa is a black scientist. A master of un- speakable arts! He took me from the slave race that inhabits a distant continent. Brought me here. And gave me intelligence, and power. He sought to make me a fiend - a monster to turn loose on his own kind. But I rebelled. That very intelligence he implanted in my poor mind told me that to serve him would be wrong. Terribly wrong!"    Tony whitened. "And - and you had escaped from him when I cut you down . . ?"    The beast nodded. "I did not know who you were, or where you came from. But I sensed compassion. I was going to turn to you for aid . . ."    There was nothing Tony could say. He couldn't meet those eyes. Disgusted with his own impulsive instincts, he thrust the stun-gun into his belt. But the beast restrained him.    "No! You - we will need that. Bokassa has your friends prisoner. We must rescue them before he turns his ghastly experiments upon their bodies! And if he catches us, you must be ready to shoot - and this time, shoot to kill! Gone was any sense of relaxation in Main Mission. It had been too long since the last contact. John Koenig knew that something must have hap- pened to his survey team.    "Kano. I'm leaving you in charge. I'm going down there myself, with an armed Eagle."    "I'm coming with you, John." This was Maya.    There was no time to argue. Curtly, the Comman- der nodded, and the two of them suited up and took the travel tube to launch-bay six . . .    Meanwhile, on the planet, Tony and the beast had reached their objective. It had taken all Tony's frantic gestures to stop Helena and Alan crying out in relief as they came into view. And mercifully, Bokassa had not yet come to call for them. The vile scientist was apparently not yet ready for them!    "Alan! Helena! Don't be alarmed! He's on our side!" Tony gave them the whole story as the beast himself used his mammoth strength to snap the shackles.    "I know the way! Quickly! Before Bokassa comes!" The beast led them at a dead run back through the tunnels.    "Our suits! Bokassa has them!" gasped Helena.

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