For centuries the people of this planet thought that they were the only people in the universe. They lived. They loved. They laughed. They played. However, their quiet existence was about to be interrupted.
On a quiet summer’s evening a young scientist, Dr. Jordan Ellis, is taking home his pretty lab assistant Laura Thompson.
“It’s nice of you to drive me home Dr. Ellis.”
“It’s the least I could do. I made you work late and you missed your ride. Oh! Please don’t call me Dr. Ellis. I prefer Jordan.”
“About the project that you’ve just started. What is the importance of it?”
“The government has me exploring other methods of fuel for transportation. I sent a satellite into space to capture solar radiation. What we’re working with now is the material that the probe captured. I hope to use the power from the sun to power cars, rockets and other methods of transportation.”
“What have you found about the radiation?”
“ So far the radiation that it came back with doesn’t seem to be harmful to plants or humans. That’s on the positive side. On the negative side it doesn’t act as propulsion for cars either.”
“Well everything exist for a reason. There must be a reason why that radiation exist.”
Suddenly a loud explosion rips through the air. The two are so startled by it that Jordan runs into a ditch on the side of the road. He stops the car and they get out. Jordan inspects the car while Laura looks around for the source of the noise.
“Well the car doesn’t look too bad.”
“But where did that noise come from?”
“That sounded like a sonic boom. Either something entered or escaped the atmosphere traveling faster then sound.”
Jordan looks around the horizon then suddenly points to the east.
“Look over there.”
“What is that? A shooting star?”
“I don’t know. Let’s follow it and find out.”
They get back into the car. Jordan maneuvers the car back onto the road. They head east, in the direction of the star. Their anticipation is high and they cover many miles in what seems like only seconds. They come upon a deserted field. They get out of the car and climb to the top of an embankment. When they look out on the field they see a huge round silver metal object. It sits there still and silent. It is clearly out of place and yet in a strange way it seems like it should be there.
Laura leans toward Jordan.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s some sort of shuttle.”
“There’s an Army base not far from here. Maybe they’ll know.”
Just then they hear a rumbling behind them. They turn and see a cloud of dust coming down the road. They climb down the embankment. As they reach the road the dust settles and reveals a group of Army jeeps and tanks that have stopped not far from their car.
An officer gets out of the lead jeep. He has three stars on his helmet. He is obviously the man in charge as he starts shouting orders.
“Sgt. James! Move those tanks into position.”
Jordan approaches the man.
“Excuse me sir…”
“Just a minute. Lieutenant Overstreet! Get those men up on that ridge.”
“Excuse me Mister…”
“Sharp! GENERAL Sharp. What do you want sir? Do you live nearby?”
“No I work nearby. This is Miss Laura Thompson my assistant she lives near here. I’m Dr. Jordan Ellis. I was giving Miss Thompson a ride home when we saw the craft come down.”
“ You both saw it?”
“Yes!”
“Well this could be a dangerous area. You better leave.”
“General I’m working with the government and I have a security clearance.”
The General gets a look of disgust, as he now seems to have a government official on site that may out rank him. He calls for the Sgt. and points to a deserted old log cabin.
“Sgt. James! Take Dr. Ellis and Miss Thompson to that cabin. I’ll phone headquarters to check on his security clearance and talk to them later.”
The minutes pass like hours. Jordan, Laura & Sgt. James exchanged small talk. Jordan hoped the Sgt. would reveal something about the ship. However, he was a good solider and revealed little about himself and nothing about the ship.
Finally the General arrived. He marched right up to the Sgt.. The Sgt. stood at attention and saluted the General. General Sharp returned the salute.
“At ease Sgt.! You can return to your unit. I want to talk to Dr. Ellis alone.”
As the Sgt. leaves the General pulls Dr. Ellis aside but motions for Laura to stay where she is.
“Well Dr. you do have security clearance.”
The General smiles as he says “But I can’t tell you anything unless I want to tell you. You have the lowest level of clearance.”
“Well General tell me whatever you can so I can help.”
The General smiled.
“I can’t tell you anything.”
“Nothing!”
“No! But I don’t mind if you help.”
“Can’t you tell me what that ship is of where it is from?”
“No!”
“How can I help if you won’t tell me anything.”
“Not won’t Dr. I can’t cause your level won’t allow it.”
“General you need to tell me something. At least to let me get started.”
“I am going to give you some information. However, you can’t tell anyone. Not even Miss Thompson.”
“OK!”
“That ship is not from our planet. We aren’t even certain it’s from this solar system. It just showed up on radar and headed straight here. By the time we could gather any information together it landed.”
Dr. Ellis looked concerned as his mind processed this information.
“If they aren’t from this solar system, then they have either been traveling for years or…”
“Or what?”
“Or they may have been traveling faster then the speed of sound.”
“That’s crazy. Nothing could travel that fast.”
Suddenly the General’s radio come to life.
“General Sharp! You need to get back here ASAP!”
“What is it Lieutenant?”
“There’s some activity coming from the craft.”
The General gets in his jeep and starts the engine. Dr. Ellis and Laura get in the back and they drive back to the embankment.
As they move across the bumpy terrain Laura moves closer to Jordan. She puts her hand on his shoulder and whispers to him.
“So what did he tell you?”
“I can’t tell you now cause I promised I wouldn’t. But I did get a lesson on who’s in charge here.”
They come to a stop in front of the Lieutenant. The General gets out and they exchange salutes.
“What’s going on here Lieutenant?”
“Like I said sir. There’s something going on with that ship.”
All eyes turn toward the spaceship and the see a tall cylinder is now extending from the top.
“What is that General?”
“It looks like a long range weapon.”
“Maybe it’s a communication device.”
The General gives Dr. Ellis a stern look. Then he notices the Lieutenant looking at the Dr. and wondering who this civilian is.
“Lieutenant Overstreet this is Dr. Ellis and that pretty young lady is his assistant Miss. Thompson. The Dr. was in the area and is helping us on an advisory level.”
Suddenly there is a humming noise and they all turn toward the ship. The cylinder is humming and starting to glow red. The louder the noise gets the brighter the cylinder gets.
General Sharp throws off his helmet and grabs his head. Laura looks at him and sees pain on his face. The others don’t immediately notice, as they are too busy looking at the glowing cylinder.
“What’s wrong General?”
“I suddenly have a splitting migraine.”
Just then the humming grows louder and the color of the cylinder has changed to a glowing white.
The General is now screaming in pain. He is joined by the Lieutenant. Both men fall to the ground. They lay there screaming. Holding their hands to their ears as if trying to stop hearing the hum. The louder the hum gets the louder they scream. Jordan then notices that wails and screams are coming from all around but not everyone is affected.
Then suddenly all the screams stop. The hum from the cylinder continues for a moment but then it stops. Jordan quickly checks the General while Laura checks the Lieutenant. The two officers stare blankly at them. Jordan and Laura are sad to admit that both men are dead.
Jordan hears the sound of a jeep. He looks up to see headlights on the horizon. Coming down the road is Sgt. James. The jeep comes to a halt behind the General’s and the Sgt. jumps out. He sees the two men lying still on the ground. He looks at Jordan.
“Are they?”
“I’m afraid so.”
The Sarge kneels over his fallen friends. His face is battle hardened and shows no sign of emotion. However, Jordan notices a tear run down the right side of the Sarge’s face. This gives him an uneasy feeling. The Sarge stands.
“They were good soldiers as well as good people. Sharp came off hard and tough but he had to in order to get results. As hard as Sharp was so was Overstreet. But he had more compassion. They were the best commanding officers I ever had.”
“So what do we do now?”
The Sgt. looked Jordan straight in the eye.
“They killed everyone above the rank of Sgt.. We must attack.”
“You see this as an act of war?”
Sgt. James can’t believe the question he was just asked. He has a look of surprise as he responds.
“YES! I also take it personal that they killed two of my best friends.”
“But…”
“No buts. You’re just here as a civilian advisor. I am now the ranking officer here and in command.”
As the Sgt. goes over to radio orders to the troops Laura talks to Jordan.
“Well that went well.”
“I know. I prefer the way the General told me who was in charge.”
The Sarge gets on the radio.
“This is Sgt. James of A company calling B company. Over!”
“This is B company Sgt.. Over!”
“To who am I speaking?”
“Corporeal Dent sir!”
“Well Corporeal get me your commanding officer.”
“As of a few minutes ago, I am the commanding officer.”
“Well I’m the C.O. here so on my signal both companies will fire at the ship. Now…FIRE!”
With the command given the Army lets loose a barrage of firepower on the ship. The occupants of the interplanetary craft opened up their gunports and fired lasers in defense. It was a long battle with neither side gaining any ground.
While all this was going on Dr. Ellis found pieces of metal that broke off the ship. He took them back to study in his lab. In his lab he makes a great discovery. He goes back and approaches Sgt. James with his discovery.
“What is it Dr. Ellis? I’m busy trying to save the planet.”
“I think you may be able to do that with these.”
He takes out of his pocket a small black rock and a piece of metal.
“How are those going to save us?”
“This rock was exposed to what I call radiation X. The only reaction that the rock, which is from our planet, had was that it turned black.”
“So how is that going to help?”
“By itself it won’t. I exposed this piece of metal from the ship to the rock that was full of radiation X. After that this metal, that before I could easily bend with just two fingers, suddenly became super strong. I couldn’t bend it at all.”
The Sarge picks up the metal and tries to bend it but can’t.
“Is this change permanent?”
“No it only last for ten minutes after each exposure.”
“So why would we want to make that ship or the people inside it stronger?”
“”It’s only for ten minutes and it may give them so much power so fast that they can’t handle it and they defeat themselves.”
“That’s a longshot Doc.”
“Have you got a better idea? Besides the battle is a stalemate. If we try this and it works you’ll get promoted and go down in history as the man who saved the world.”
“You mean you’ll go down in history.”
“You’re the one making the decisions. I’ll just be along for the ride.”
The Sgt. paces as he thinks this over. Finally he stops and looks at Jordan.
“Well nothing gets done by playing it safe. Have you got a plan?”
“I think so. Have any of them come out of the ship?”
“Yeah! Sometimes to fight or make quick repairs. We still don’t know what they look like. They wear a silver protective suit that covers them from head to toe.”
“OK! Here is my plan. I’ll make bullets out of this rock. You give them to your best sharpshooters. Tell them just to shoot them in the arms or legs. That way if one lives we can examine him.”
As fast as he can, Jordan heads back to the lab. There he makes the bullet shaped rocks and drives back. He gives them to the Sgt. and he distributes them to his sharpshooters.
“All right men when I give the signal everyone fire on the ship. Except those with the special bullets. Only they can shoot when the men inside come out. However, only shoot them in the arms or legs.”
There is a tense moment as they wait for the signal to fire.
“Ready…Aim…FIRE!”
Almost every solider with a rifle, machine gun, tank or any type of weapon fires upon the ship. However, a select few sit in place and wait. They don’t have to wait for long.
The door to the craft opens. Out steps a group of men in skintight silver suits. They raise their weapons and start firing. They hardly get off a shot when one of them drops his weapon and screams in pain. Some of the men in silver stop for a moment. They seem surprised as the man falls down in pain. You can tell this doesn’t happen often.
The man screams again. He has been holding his arm the whole time but lets go of his wounded arm and uses his one good arm to take off his helmet. For the first time Jordan and the others see what they look like. Jordan stares as if in a trance and whispers to himself.
“They look just like us.”
The man in silver starts rubbing his eyes as if they are burning. He stops and looks to a comrade for help. However, his friend in the spacesuit starts to glow red hot. The man inside starts to scream but is cut short as the heat from the other mans stare turns him to ashes.
The other men in silver back away, firing their weapons as they go. But it grows more intense as the chilling scene is repeated over and over. Men grabbing their arm or leg after being shot and setting anything they look at on fire.
Suddenly the shooting stops and the fires are dying out. None of the silver clad invaders are left alive. Sgt. James orders the men to move in on the ship. They begin their approach when the ship starts to hum. The door closes. The landing gear retracts. The ship rises and hovers in mid-air for a moment. It then flies straight up for about a mile. Then starts’ picking up speed till it is gone from sight.
Jordan, Laura and Sgt. James stand next to each other looking to the sky.
“Well Doc your idea did it. We won.”
“I told you God made that radiation X to exist for a reason.”
“Yes. He knew it would help us defeat them. But I wonder where they are from?”
In space we see the ship. It has left the atmosphere of the planet and is on its way out of the solar system. This is the last time the occupants of the ship will see this solar system with the blue sun. Yes it is a bright, blazing, blue colored sun.
Inside the ship is Captain Jackson Beck. He is communicating his report home on the latest mission.
“Captain Beck reporting star date 11 15 25. The mission is a failure. Science Officer Ross Peters and I are the sole survivors of the mission. We landed and waited for the planet officials to show. The Army arrived first. We singled out any high-ranking officers to communicate our message of friendship hoping it would be a story they would believe. That way we could make this a peaceful take over of the planet. We raised our communication pole to talk to them with telepathy. However, the telepathic waves were too strong for their brains and accidentally killed them. We wanted a peaceful take over but from there it was war. The enemy was holding it’s own in the battle till they brought out a secret weapon. They planted devices on us that made us become…well the best description is living lasers and we started destroying ourselves. After the landing party was destroyed the enemy started advancing on to destroy the ship. I didn’t want the ship in the hands of the enemy so we took off. Beck out!”
“It will take the message about a day to reach home Captain.”
“Good Mr. Ross. It will reach Earth before we do. Let’s head home.”
With the command given the ship picks up speed and in the blink of an eye it is gone.
Copyright 2005 Ricky L Phillips
Well here is the 1975 Christmas book from Marvel. Like I told you Hulk fans. Hulk was cut off on the last photo but he is front and center on this book. This is one of my favorite covers of the Marvel Christmas books. I just think it is cool seeing these five together. So this is the Christmas photo of the day. 
In case you didn't get Davy Jones Christmas CD a few years ago as "It's Christmas Time again, you can get it now. It is re-released under the name Christmas Jones. I got it when it was still available under the first title. It is one of my favorite and best Christmas CD's in my collection. You can get it at Davy's website by clicking here http://www.davyjones.net/shopping/index.html or on the title above. 
Just found out from Brad Waddell that the new bio on Nesmith has been updated. You can get it here http://www.monkees.net/book at his Monkees site. Or you can get it at Amazon here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0965821846/qid=1109327475/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-6281411-6542349?v=glance&n=283155 Take a look. I have to go to work now. 
New Christmas photo of the day. Here is a movie I saw when I was a kid. I loved it then. Years later I remembered it and looked for it. I found it in of all places K-Mart. It was on DVD for a dollar. So I bought it and watched it. Good thing I was so young when I first saw it. It isn't that good. To top it off it was made in Mexico. Most of the dialoge is voice over. The plot is that the devil is trying to ruin Christmas. Santa joins with children and Merlin the Magician (?) to save the day. Anyway I just thought that someone might be interested in seeing this. 
I have wondered for years about this Christmas item that has been in my family. Is this art by Dick Giordano? If you look closely in the lower right hand corner the artist name is Giordano. It could be someone else with the same name but I don't know. If anyone who reads this knows please tell me. Thanks. 
Well I haven't had a chance to read it yet but here is Marvel's annual Christmas comic book. This is your Christmas picture of the day. You can get a copy at Comic Book World. Just click here http://www.comicbookworld.com/ or click on the title above. You can see if there is one of their stores near you or e-mail them if they are not in your area. 
Sad news this morning as I just read on News From ME that the very funny actress Wendie Jo Sperber died of cancer. You can link to the News from ME site and see what Mark has to say by clicking on this link http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2005_11_30.html#010631 or click on the title above. He has a link to another obit that tells what shows she was in. One thing I didn't see was the movie Terminal that starred Tom Hanks. I thought I saw her walk by Mr. Hanks to get a cart. I remembered my wife and I both saying "Hey that was the girl from Bosom Buddies." We watched the credits but didn't see her name so I guess she jsut went unbilled. Or perhaps it was just someone who looked like her. She was a very talanted acteress and the world of movies and television will miss her. 
Sorry for the poor scan but this was the best I could do right now. I was talking before about my experience at the Mid-Ohio Con. Well on my first vist there years ago I met Sheldon Moldoff. I was quite happy to buy this piece of art from one of the greats of the golden age of comics. I had a very nice conversation with him which I remember him talking about his grandson and how he liked the Power Rangers. Then he mentioned how he was the first person to draw Hawkman. I said "Oh so you co-created Hawkman." He said no the writer did I just drew him. I replied "Yes but if you were the first to draw him then you designed Hawkman's look." He gave me a strange look and then turned his attention to some people looking at his art. When they looked at his Hawkman art he mentioned to them how he co-created Hawkman. I smiled to myself as I turned to leave the table. Then I thought I hope I don't get a summons to be a witness in a lawsuit to DC. 
Just heard from Videoranch about the new website for Nez's new CD Rays. Here is what they had to say 
This was Marvel's book of Christmas related reprint stories that Marvel released in 1974. Just wanted to put this Christmas photo up before I had to go. Hope you like it. Hulk fans sorry that he was cut off on this scan. He is front and center on other Marvel Christmas books. 
Just wanted to show you this photo my wife took of Steve Englehart after he signed for me at the Mid-Ohio Con. I thought I was in the photo but only my hand made the cut. 
Ok here is today's Christmas photo. This is from 1979. The term "love in" was coined back in the 60's. I have not heard the term used much since then. I believe the only people using that term in the late 70's was Archie comics. They got an amazing run out of it. One thing that I like in these older comics is that you see the word Christmas on the cover. On some they use the term Holiday but mostly it was Christmas. Since then people have wanted to be politically correct and use the word Holiday even more. I prefer to remember the reason for the holiday season is Christ and use the word Christmas. Holiday leaves me feeling cold but Christmas makes me feel good. 
Here is today's Christmas photo. Remember back in the 70's when they would come out with this huge reprinted comic books for what at the timed seemed over priced at $1? Well here is one from Christmas 1975. I loved them all but this one really gets to me. It had my favorite Teen Titans story. It was called "A Swingin' Christmas Carol" story by Bob Haney and Art by Nick Cardy. The local junk dealer is Mr. Scrounge and he gets involved with criminals. Tiny Tim is the son of Bob Ratchet who works for Scrounge. Tim finds out about the criminals and tells his Dad. Mr. Ratchet confronts Mr. Scrounge about it. Mr. Scrounge says he will fire Ratchet if he tells the police. So he keeps quiet because he has to feed his family and he can't do that without his job. Tiny Tim decides to tell the Teen Titans. Meanwhile Scrounge's old partner Jacob Farley breaks out of jail and tries to kill Scrounge. The Titans save him and find out that Farley went to jail for a crime that Scrounge committed. Scrounge says he is going to call the police on Farley and the Titans. Farley escapes again and the Titans leave as they really are trespassing. Robin suddenly says it reminds him of A Christmas Carol and that is when they all decide to act like the Spirits of Christmas to force Mr. Scrounge to see the error of his ways and to make up for them. I know this story was not original by any means but it was really a good story and Nick Cardy can sell me a story any day.
For years I have had people ask me why I read and keep my comic books. The reason I read them is that I like them. The reason I keep them is alot harder to answer. But it goes mostly to nostalgia. Take the above issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow issue 100. Some would say that I kept it because it is an anniversary issue. That is partly true. Others would say I kept it because I hoped it would be worth money someday. That is partly true also. But the real reason I have kept it around is because it reminds me of a certain day. Nothing really special about that day to anyone but I am comforted by it. Some people plan when they will buy something. For years I always bought a Christmas themed comic book on Christmas Eve and a week later on News Years Eve I would buy my last comic book of the year. One year I bought a Hulk comic book because the first episode of the Hulk series was on that night. Like any addiction you used any excuse to buy your books. Then there are those quit ones that sneek up on you. This is one of them. I use to work at Showcase Cinemas as an Usher in the 70's. It was a part time job I did after school and on weekends. One cold cold snowy November day I was working at the movie theater. I stopped on the way to work and bought this book. I sat in the parking lot and read the book then went inside to work. Later I simply went home. Driving in the snow all cold and alone in the car but excited about having this issue. You see I told you was nothing. But to me it reminds me of my youth. When I look at that book I am 17 again driving in my Pinto in an Usher's uniform on the way home. It's cold outside the car but warm inside. With those memories I am kept warm in my heart. 
This is a very interesting book. The author, H. Michael Brewer, is a local pastor and a life long comic book fan. In this book he uses the comic book heros to explore the Gospel and ourselves. Each chapter explores a different hero and a different charistic or part of the Gospel. Superman is used twice as a Christ like figure, Spider-man tells how we can be saved for service, Daredevil is an example of discernment, Hulk is an example of sin in our lives. It is all very entertaining and educational. You can get it at Amazon by clicking here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801065100/104-2986662-8588702? v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance or clicking on the title above. 
Here it is. The previously mentioned Kolchak: The Night Stalker Chronicles. It is a series of short stories about Kolchak. A wonderful book filled with other investigations from our favorite reporter. All written by famous writers of fiction. It is brought to you by Moonstone publishing. The cover price is reasonable at $18.95 you can get it here at Moonstone http://www.moonstonebooks.com/ or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933076046/104-2986662-8588702?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance Also you may want to check out the Kolchak Journals. A fan publication at this site http://www.freewebs.com/kolchakjournals/ At Moonstone you may want to look into the ucomming mini-series Kolchak and Sherlock Holmes. You can if you click here http://www.moonstonebooks.com/kolchakHolmes.asp 
