The Establishment (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 2002.
Synopsis for "Doomwatch"
Charlie Arrows finds himself in a summer retreat and is speaking to by a person which he immediately as Clive... who was supposed to be dead. Clive (with a portion of his right face is missing) tells Charlie that he is after what he did to him on Christmas Eve 1982. Charlie then sees that the 'sun' is a egg containing a demon, and realize from Clint that he is dead and in Hell. Suddenly, people that Charlie had killed confronts and corners their killer for retribution. Charlie is then pulled into a pool by a ghoulish and vengeful Rose.
In Nowhere, the Establishment is examining Charlie's corpse as Mister Pharmacist detects that there is something wrong in his brain as it is saturated with "modified transuranic, heavy elements" but been "milled." He then best guess summarize that they are fallout from a "star drive accelerator assembly." In other words a starship. The group deduce that whatever starship it was, it hails from their universe and can be either Daemonite or Kherubim. Jon Drake then summarize of the current events of the Daemonite attack to his experience with Charlie and the sorcerer Jack Carter in their battle against a Daemonite named Kenyan. He is then interrupted by Pharmacist as he discover something from Charlie. He then shows Charlie's brain which reveals that it possess a black hole that is amazingly incorporated inside his cerebral functions. What Mister Pharmacist found is that the since the quantum matter from the black hole is integrated in Arrows' cerebral cortex, it enables Charlie to mentally manipulate time (hence his ability was seen in last issue). However, his body, trying to reject the singularity, formed a cancer around it, limiting his powers. Mister Pharmacist can heal Charlie and melt the tumors, but with it gone Charlie could gained superhuman powers that could be of biblical proportions for someone notorious. Drake wants it done and will worry about it later, until Christopher Truelove could bring Charlie back.
Somewhere, the soul of Charlie is being sucked by what to be by the same ghoulish Rose. Christopher Truelove appears and pulled "Rose" (reveals to be a microbe organism) away and kills it. Truelove attends a conscious Charlie and the two flies away as more of the same organisms that Truelove killed are coming after them. Truelove then explains to Charlie that they are in Dead Space. A corpse of an extinct god that's in phase with multiple realities, and is also able to act as conduit between the realms of the living and dead. Confused, Charlie knows that he is dead but questions Truelove that he was in hell. Truelove then explains it was because of that organism, a Ethirocyte, was messing with his mind and that it and its kind are predators that leeches on soul energy. Fortunately the two escape from the Ethirocytes as another larger predator feast on them. The two then travels through a tunnel of light, and Charlie awakens to see the Establishment, which Drake wants him to talk.
Somewhere over England, the Daemonites led by Pascal flies the captured Kherubim ship. The Daemonites finally establish communications link and made contact with their collaborator, Dr. Orwell. Orwell gains confirmation from Pascal that they are going according to their plans. However, Orwell and Pascal are extremely cautious of Paul Frost (who is also on board) due to his duplicity and hidden agenda. Ultimately, Orwell wants Frost dead before closing off contact. Pascal then orders Rycott to take care of Frost.
Back in Nowhere, Charlie confirms to the Establishment of Paul Frost association with the mercs and Daemonites, and further revealing his history with Frost tracking back to their schooling days. Scarlet research Frost's history through the team's computer, discovering his affiliation with the British Rocket Group. Drake has Scarlet to look through until to their shock unlocking a large number of soldiers and personnel that served with the Rocket Group died. It is learned that the Rocket Group's botched experiment in the South Pacific killed two thousand men from aggressive, all-invasive cancers. Charlie and Frost survive from this However, Frost officially died three months ago... saturated with carcinomas.
On the Kherubim ship, a heavily incinerated corpse of Rycott lies behind Frost whose face is covered with carcinomas.
Appearing in "Doomwatch"
Featured Characters:
- The Establishment
- Templar (Jon Drake)
- Christopher Truelove (First appearance)
- The Golden
- Mister Pharmacist
- Scarlet
- Bulman
- Equus
- Charlie Arrows
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Daemonites
- Pascal
- Rycott (Dies)
- Paul Frost
Other Characters:
Locations:
- England
- Nowhere
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- The Golden mention that Kenyan is supposed to be dead. This was in Wildcats #10.
Trivia
- The story title is a reference to Doomwatch.
- The British Rocket Group was the organisation Bernard Quatermass worked for.
See Also