29April 20167

Continuing Sydney’s proposed Dan dare story in the “Planet on Sunday”

Dan sets off to Saturn space where the entity lurks, in an attempt to rescue the Mekon, who has himself learned in the meantime through communication with the Entity that its next target is Venus. Although the more temperate climate of Earth is more to its taste , it considers the treens a possible threat to its existence, assuming that they are all as super –intelligent as the Mekon himself.

The Mekon also learns the important fact that the Entity will die if subjected to a sudden and drastic rise in ambient temperature.

By means of a diversion   by the expedition’s Theron ships whereby the entity’s attention is momentarily distracted, Dan manages a daring rescue of the Mekon from the Saturnian ship that holds him captive . The Mekon, fearing the tremendous power of the Entity, agrees to a truce with his erstwhile enemies   and to combine forces to defeat it.

On returning to the inner Solar system, a great council is held in Theronland to discuss the next step. It is agreed that once the Entity has appeared on the planet some means will be found to increase the temperature to a point which will destroy it.

The Mekon himself , some years ago ( space rocks)had developed the means to fire asterioids at specific targets and it is agreed that he will supervise the construction of a powerful motor and attach it to a suitable asteroid , to be fired at Venus, to the point where the Entity is found . The Mekon and his Treen crew together with Theron and Earth engineers journey by swift ship to the Asteroid belt to carry out this phase of the mission. While it is hoped that only the immediate vicinity of the Entity will be affected by the asteroid impact , Dan and others help in the construction of shelters for Treen , Atlantine and Theron populations in case the impact has a greater effect than anticipated.

The Mekon and most of the engineers return to Venus leaving a skeleton crew   at the Asteroid base.

A constant watch is kept for the Entity’s movement , with Dan and the Mekon on constant patrol in the Anastasia . The Mekon is the only being in the Solar system who can observe and communicate with the entity without being driven mad and taken over by it, so his presence in detecting it is vital.

Finally it manifests itself in Theronland , drawn there by its awareness of the Mekon’s presence. Signals are sent to the Asteroid crews with the precise co-ordinates for the strike and the Mekon with Dan on hand, keeps it distracted while the plans are set in motion. There is a scene where the huge golem like shape which the entity has assumed rears up in terrible form, while the tiny figure of the Mekon attempts to hold it at bay with his own mental powers.

At the last moment, Dan receives a signal and swoops in to rescue the Mekon in the Anastasia , before the Asteroid’s immanent impact.

The Asteroid hits, but not in the expected location in Theronland. Instead it strikes into heart of the flamebelt ,

rupturing the fragile tectonic plates of the planet and setting off a fiery chain reaction   whose shockwave engulfs the entire globe. It is immediately discovered that the mekon’s crew remaining at the asteroid base , on pre-arranged instructions from their master, had overcome the Theron and Earth engineers who had remained there with them, and reset the Asteroid’s course for the flamebelt, thus fulfilling the Mekon’s old threat that he would destroy all treens as thay had proved unworthy of him( see. All Treens must die).

A search is immediately instigated by Spacefleet for the Anastasia, to apprehend the Mekon. It is discovered in Venus orbit much damaged by the Venusian inferno through which it had to fly. The airlock is open and Dan, fortunately spacesuited , is inside and unconscious but the Mekon is nowhere to be seen.

Venus itself is an inferno of flame and heat . The entity is no more   but it is feared that the bulk of life of the planet has also ceased to exist. The surface temperate has risen to hellish levels and the lush jungles and abundant fauna that populated the planet are incinerated in the catastrophe.  Skipper Prossitt

17 April 2017

Following our piece on Larkie last week , below are a couple of  photos of a model  that one of our club members has made of this character. It is based on his appearance in IMMORTAL TOYS.   Skipper Prossit

8 April 2017

 

A recurring character in the Jeff Hawke strip is Larkie, to whom Hawke refers for scientific advice of all kinds. Employed by the British museum, Larkie has expertise in many fields , including physics, archaeology and paleontology . Although usually based in the museum itself , as we see him when the Shiva jewels are analysed in IMMORTAL TOYS or when the time travelling pots are discovered in MADE IN BIRMINGHAM,   he also gets out and about occasionally.  For example, he accompanies Hawke on his expedition to the Antarctic to unearth a plesiosaur in OVERLAND.   The model for Larkie was based on Ray Hawkey, a friend and colleague of Sydney’s at the Daily Express . A graduate of the Royal college of Art, Hawkey was the first design director to be appointed by any Fleet Street newspaper. Described by Sydney as an intelligent and immaculately dressed man, Hawkey also lent these characteristics to his alter ego.

 

 

After leaving the Daily Express Ray Hawkey became a very successful designer in the publishing industry, breaking new ground with his cover design for Len Deighton’s Ipcress file. He also revamped the design of the covers of the James Bond book series for Pan paperbacks with his distinctive layout displaying the words JAMES BOND in huge sans-serif letters which took up half the cover which all of from that era will remember vividly. He passed away in 2010.           Skipper Prossitt