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"The Curse of the Killer Time Forgot": At Cape Kennedy, NASA spots one of their capsules falling out of the sky near an aircraft carrier. When the vessel is brought on board, it's only inhabitant has been strangled to death. This is a job for the [[Challengers of the Unkno

Quote1 Hear us… Come to us… Let us know you are present! Quote2
Corinna Stark

Challengers of the Unknown #73 is an issue of the series Challengers of the Unknown (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1970.

Synopsis for "The Curse of the Killer Time Forgot"

At Cape Kennedy, NASA spots one of their capsules falling out of the sky near an aircraft carrier. When the vessel is brought on board, it's only inhabitant has been strangled to death. This is a job for the Challengers of the Unknown.

The heroes are lounging in Ace's apartment when Prof unexpectedly comes to the door. He has recovered from his injuries and was released under the condition that he get rest. Red takes this as another opportunity to rail against Corinna Stark: she was a substitute for Prof, and now that he has returned, he wants her gone. Rocky lashes out, demanding an apology and the two end up fighting. Ace comes into the room from being debriefed about the NASA mission and breaks up the fracas.

They head to Florida on a jet and meet Major Cheever, an astronaut who has flown near the moon. Once they are done, Corinna is suddenly disturbed by a psychic vision: a ghostly entity is trying to contact her. She investigates at the nearby laboratory and is locked into a vacuum chamber and someone turns on a pump to remove all oxygen. Her teammates find her just in time and as they revive her, they hear two gunshots outside; someone has murdered the two guards on duty.

Corinna holds a seance to communicate with the spirit who is reaching out to her but when she does, she finds that an inhuman entity claims that it is linked to an earthman and must kill. At that moment, a hand grenade bursts in the window and Rocky narrowly contains the blast with a mattress. The creature retreats to the moon and the next day, Ace, Corinna, and Red are placed on a rocket with Cheever.

While they are traveling in outer space, Ace confronts Cheever and asks why he has been trying to kill them: only he would know how to work the vacuum chamber and could convince the guards to give up their weapons. Cheever admits he is behind the crimes, as well as the grenade attack. He pulls out a gun and the red glowing entity from before reappears. He is Machu, one of several such beings who traveled to live on the moon eons ago. All the others of his species have died but Machu remains and feeds on the life force of any human who tries to leave his home planet. In spite of being an astronaut himself, Cheever has convinced Machu to kill other space-farers so that humanity won't be corrupted by the beings that live in other parts of the universe. Corinna's telepathy briefly drew him to earth but he remains on guard on the moon to kill anyone else who travels beyond the atmosphere, including the Challengers.

Machu decides against the murderous plot: he has seen into Corinna's mind and discovered the difference between good and evil. Instead, he decides that Cheever should die. To atone for taking the innocent life of the other astronaut, Machu vows to kill himself as well and he drifts out of the capsule into space. The Challs return home safely.

Appearing in "The Curse of the Killer Time Forgot"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Major Cheever (First appearance) (Dies)
  • Machu (First appearance) (Dies)

Locations:


Synopsis for "A Flash of Memory"

On a beach, a man with complete amnesia goes swimming in the ocean and his memories rapidly return to him: his mother dressing him as a boy, his first kiss, receiving a medal as a soldier. He only learns this as he drowns to death and his life flashes before his eyes. Once his corpse wades onto the shore, the life guard asks, "Anybody know who he is?"

Appearing in "A Flash of Memory"

Starring:

  • John Porter (Flashback and main story) (First appearance) (Dies)

Notes



See Also

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Links and References

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