16 February 2016
Following on from part 1 ( in our post from October 2015), we resume our retelling of the story that appeared in Junior express weekly in the autumn of 1955.
Receiving a message that an alien saucer has landed in Salisbury plain, Jeff and Ricky go to investigate. The saucer has been cordoned off by the military but Jeff decides to go inside. The door is open and he and Ricky investigate the interior. But once inside, they realize they have been caught in a trap ;the door closes and the craft takes off to rendezvous with another alien saucer in orbit. The alien commander Ritka, is delighted when he finds that Jeff Hawke is his prisoner. The two men are held in a “mind ray” as Ritka prepares to take them back to his home planet, Ganus.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the space council has decided to go ahead with ferrying the Earth families up to the space station, despite the saucer threat. Bobby and his family are in the first party to take off but as the ferry rocket rises above the Earth they are spotted by Ritka, who decides to attack and destroy it before setting off for Ganus. Distracted by the attack on the ferry , Ritka forgets the mind-ray and Jeff seizes his chance and overpowers the alien. The families reach the safety of the satellite and Jeff also docks the captured saucer here and hands Ritka over to the security officer. We are now introduced to a new character, Penny, a young girl who befriends Bobby and who together with him explores the space-station.
The satellite is attacked by another saucer but this time the Space station’s missiles score a hit and the alien craft breaks off the fight . Jeff and his companions track its flight path from which they discover that the aliens have their main base on the dark side of the Moon. Jeff decides to lead an attack force to hit the alien HQ but the Earth traitor Verney who has already helped Ritka to escape from the satellite, plans to radio the alien base to warn them of the attack.
Fortunatley his plans are frustrated by Bobby and Penny who unmask him as a spy.
Jeff leads the small attack force of two ships to the moon and he and another crewman take a space –buggy to search for the base. It is soon discovered and Jeff sends his companion back to his own base to alert the attack force while he keeps the aliens distracted. Under heavy fire form alien guards, Jeff manages to seize a saucer and with it destroys all but one of the other alien craft which are parked on the ground. Ritka takes the remaining saucer but after a brief dogfight , his craft hits the moon surface and is destroyed. The Earth forces arrive and overcome the remaining aliens. Skipper Prossitt
