We Are the Many!

Panel 1

The riveted nuclear cruiser Hyperion coasts above a clouded world. Its five engine bells are dark.

Caption: THE ATOMIC CRUISER HYPERION HAD CROSSED THE BELT AND TURNED HOMEWARD.

Caption: TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES OUT, SOMETHING CAME TO MEET HER.

Panel 2

On the analogue bridge, young Brehm studies a green circular scope. Captain Stride watches beside him.

Brehm: Square contact ahead. No exhaust. No radio.

Stride: Moving?

Brehm: Moving with us.

Panel 3

A closed dull-iron cube dwarfs the tiny cruiser against black space. A clouded world hangs far beyond.

Caption: IT HAD NO WINDOWS. NOTHING WAS LOOKING OUT.

Panel 4

Brehm calls into a handset while Stride and Dr. Koval watch the silent cube through a round port.

Brehm: Unidentified vessel—U.N.S. Hyperion calling. Stand off ten miles. State your course and power.

Sound: KSSSHHH

Panel 5

Koval studies the cube through the thick bridge window. It holds its position beside the ship.

Koval: It is not drifting. It is keeping station.

Panel 6

The immense cube draws closer. The whole cruiser remains only a speck beside its blank face.

Caption: A SHIP APPROACHES WITH ITS BOW. THE CUBE SIMPLY BECAME NEARER.

Brehm (Radio): Unidentified vessel—alter course. Final warning.

Stride: Stand by missiles.

Panel 1

Under a red warning lamp, Brehm grips the missile controls. Stride points toward the cube.

Brehm: Range ten miles and closing.

Stride: Fire the atomic missiles. Full spread.

Brehm: Rockets away.

Panel 2

Three fine missile tracks run from the tiny cruiser toward the immense cube.

Sound: FWOOM—FWOOM—FWOOM

Panel 3

Three white atomic detonations overlap against one face of the cube. The cube remains still.

Caption: THREE ATOMIC WARHEADS—POINT-BLANK.

Panel 4

The blasts have vanished. The face of the cube is completely unmarked.

Brehm (Radio): No mark. Not one.

Panel 5

One cold straight line reaches from the closed cube to the cruiser.

Caption: THEN THE CUBE ANSWERED—ONCE.

Panel 6

The bridge is dark apart from its red emergency lamp. Brehm wrestles the wheel while Stride braces beside him.

Brehm: Main power and nuclear drive are dead. Attitude jets and the independent crash rockets answer.

Stride: Swing her tail-first. Save the crash rockets for touchdown.

Panel 1

The powerless cruiser drops tail-first through the atmosphere. The cube follows high above it.

Caption: THE LAST ATTITUDE JETS HELD TWO HUNDRED AND TEN FEET OF DEAD SHIP TAIL-FIRST.

Panel 2

Crash-strapped on the dark bridge, Brehm and Stride work the auxiliary controls.

Brehm: Emergency burst away. No answer. Crash rockets armed.

Stride: Hold her tail-first. Fire at the treetops.

Panel 3

The cruiser touches the jungle tail-first. Its emergency rockets burn beside the dark main engines as one fin sinks into mud.

Sound: WHOOOM—THUDD!

Panel 4

The hull has settled onto its side among crushed trees. Living crew members climb out of the torn hatch.

Caption: THE ROCKETS KILLED THE DROP. CRASH STRAPS HELD. BRANCH BY BRANCH, THE JUNGLE BORE HER DOWN.

Koval: Sound off! All hands—out of the hull!

Panel 5

Stride and Koval look up from the wreck. Far above them the cube hangs partly hidden in storm cloud.

Koval: It followed the descent without firing.

Panel 6

Koval and Stride watch the cube. Miles of open rain-grey air separate it from the jungle.

Koval: It had the power to kill us. It chose not to.

Stride: Then assume it wants us alive. Get the emergency set working.

Panel 1

All eleven crew members gather alive beside the grounded cruiser.

Caption: ALL ELEVEN OF HER CREW CAME OUT ALIVE.

Panel 2

Koval treats a sailor’s arm while others suppress a small fire near the engine cluster. Loose metal lies where the crash left it.

Koval: No grave injuries.

Stride: Kill that fire. Then keep the emergency set alive.

Panel 3

Brehm transmits from an emergency radio. Stride waits beside him; behind them, the crew puts up a rain tarp.

Brehm: Nothing back. Our four sister ships were six hours astern.

Stride: They know our course. Keep sending blind.

Panel 4

At dusk, Stride assigns Mendez and Kerr their watch. Both men carry lanterns with their carbines slung.

Stride: Mendez, Kerr—first watch at the stern. Stay together.

Panel 5

Mendez and Kerr walk together behind the grounded stern, leaving the other survivors by the wreck.

Mendez: Two hours, then Brehm relieves us.

Kerr: Routine watch.

Panel 1

The two sailors stand beyond the stern with hooded lanterns. Kerr looks up toward the distant cube.

Kerr: Still there.

Mendez: Hasn't moved.

Panel 2

Between the sailors’ boots, a hooded lantern lights wet leaves and mud. A narrow disturbance reaches its edge.

Kerr: Hear that?

Panel 3

The watch position is empty. Two lanterns and two carbines lie in the mud beneath bent leaves.

Mendez (Off-Panel): Kerr—!

Panel 4

Stride and Koval turn toward a cry from the darkness. Brehm remains at the emergency radio.

Stride: Mendez! Kerr!

Panel 5

Stride, Koval and one sailor find the dropped lanterns and carbines. There is no sign of the missing men.

Koval: They were here seconds ago.

Stride: Nobody follows. We stay where we can see one another.

Panel 6

Beneath wet leaves, Mendez lies unconscious and unwounded. One small brown insect crawls into his ear.