The Strange Encounter
Encyclopedia
Another connection is to Alex Rodson's "A Strange Encounter", where 12-year-old Carl Fern blackmails an alien in order to get the 'Ring of Power'. The Ring of Power enables him to turn into Demonflyte, Furocious, and Fryguy. The archvillain, Professor Steven Carp, is at first scared away but devises a plan to steal it. At the end, though, the ring is destroyed, and Carp defeated.
He awakes, with the stone in his hand, in a desert. Then he sees an alien, which is descibed by Fern 'with six eyes and a hand sticking out of its stomach'. There is also a silvery, circular ship which resembles a UFO. The alien needs the 'flourite' (which is actually triglycite) to power his ship. The alien is only three feet tall, though, and cannot reach the triglycite. Fern demands something in return. The alien agrees, and gives him the Ring of Power. Fern asks why. The alien responds that the ring's DNA-changing capabilities don't work on his species. Fern gives the alien the stone, and puts on the ring. He immediately blacks out.
Fern wakes up and believes it was a dream when he doesn't see the ring on his hand; but then he realizes it is on his other hand. When he gets to school Jack Cahill tries to punch him, but Fern holds up his hands in self-defense. Cahill's hand smashes into the ring-but, amazingly, it doesn't break. Instead, a jet of brown liquid pours into Fern's mouth. He feels himself changing into what he believes is a werewolf; he names it 'Furocious'. He scares Cahill away, then runs in the direction of a siren.
Fern easily outruns the policecar with the siren. He then pounces on the person being chased-but bounces back, as if there is some kind of body armor covering the person. Fern retaliates, swiping the man's face with his paw. A stream of blood pours out of the man's former eye; the man falls down, defeated. Fern just wants to become human again. He presses on the ring; this time, it is a red jet of liquid. Thankfully, the fur dissipates-but wings and horns are growing on Fern, and his skin is now a deep red. He nicknames this creature Demonflyte. Fern starts running-and, soon, flying. He lands in a tree just as the transformation wears off. He walks home. His creatures are featured on the evening news. Fern is happy the identity of these creatures are not known; he doesn't want to be a celebrity.
Unfortunately for Fern, Cahill and the thief he mauled (actually Steven Carp) are working together to get their hands on the ring. Carp and Cahill create machines to fight Fern, but are always defeated. Fern discovers a new transformation, Fryguy, who can shoot fire out of his hands; Fryguy saves 20 hostages Carp and Cahill have captured. Carp vows that next time, he will defeat Fern.
Carp decides to capture Fern while he is at school. He hacks the intercom and tells Fern to go to the playground. There, he is ambushed by Cahill, who knocks him out.
Fern awakes with his hand in a complex machine. Carp does not realize Fern is awake, and comments to Cahill about needing to cut off Fern's hand to get the ring off. Cahill looks squeamish, and Fern capitalizes, asking Cahill if this is what he really wants. Cahill looks uneasy, and Fern comments, 'This is your time to be a hero!'. Cahill voices agreement, and deactivates the machine. Carp launches himself on Cahill, and sticks a knife in his back. Cahill collapses. In rage, Fern becomes Fryguy and sets Carp on fire. With his last breath, Carp throws his knife, and the blade cuts right into the top of the ring. The ring disintegrates into powder. Fern takes one last look at the mess, then walks home.
farmer sees three strange coloured beams of light appearing from the sky. When he goes to investigate the lights have disappeared and left behind the body of a man dressed in the uniform of a British Redcoat
. The body is taken to SUFOS (Section of UFO
Studies) run by Dr Walt Kaufman which investigates such strange phenomena. Kaufman's research indicates that it is the body of Scottish
Major Lachlan Macquarrie who disappeared under strange circumstances after the British defeat at the Battles of Saratoga in 1777!
Following the battle, Macquarrie and his men were cut off from the rest of the British forces. According to drummer
boy Dermot Pitt, Macquarrie vanished late at night while investigating the sudden appearance of beams of light coming from out of the sky. Pitt's story was rejected and Macquarrie was found guilty in absentia
of desertion and dishonourably discharged from the army.
Kaufmann contacts Professor Philip Mortimer who happens to be a descendant of Lachlan Macquarrie, the family's black sheep
. Mortimer goes to America
accompanied by his old friend Captain Francis Blake, the head of Britain
's MI5
, who is on his way for a "routine meeting" with some American colleagues. On his way to Washington by coach, Blake is attacked by some strange men but gets away.
In Kansas
, Mortimer meets Kaufman at the offices of SUFOS. He brought with him some family papers which note certain physical injuries that his ancestor endured in his lifetime. These injuries are present on the body and there is no doubt that it is Lachlan Macquarrie, born in 1743 and found dead in 1954 still aged 34!
According to a pathologist, Macquarrie died of asphyxiation, meaning that he was deprived of oxygen for a long period. His shoulder strap
was inscribed with the words "Yellow King, 8061, Danger, Light, Plutonian, H, Poplar Trees, Temple 1954". He also had in his possession some strange items including some glasses which enable the wearer to see clearly in the dark and a weapon which, when aimed at the head, causes the victim to fall asleep.
Wanting to examine the weapon more closely, Mortimer takes it with him before leaving the SUFOS offices, but, overcome with natural fatigue, returns it to Kaufman before booking into a hotel. During the night he is attacked by an intruder who is wearing the same glasses and using the same weapon as Macquarrie had. Mortimer fights back and the man falls out of the hotel room and is killed on hitting the ground. Mortimer then finds that his face is a mask covering a green, highly deformed, alien-like head. Warned by Mortimer, Kaufman has the body taken to SUFOS.
One of the words on Macquarrie's shoulder strap was "Plutonian" and the two scientists wonder if this stands for Pluto
. The body of the alien suggests that it is not suitable for Pluto's harsh environment, but the planet may be a staging post for an alien invasion. Back at SUFOS Mortimer examines the alien weapon only for it to be stolen by Kaufman's assistant Jimmy Tcheng. Mortimer pursues Tcheng by car into the plains but they are caught in a storm and Tcheng is killed in an accident. It turns out that he is also an alien.
Mortimer tries to hitch-hike back to town only to come across two men wearing the same dark glasses as the first alien and knocking him out with the ray from a similar weapon. He wakes up to find himself in a disused and isolated pumping station
somewhere in the hills and facing him is none other than his old enemy Olrik!
Escorted through the station Mortimer faces more surprises: Asian soldiers dressed in uniforms similar to Olrik's, more aliens including a dwarf-like scientist called Doctor Z'ong, and all of them led by none other than Basam Damdu, the tyrant whom Mortimer helped to overthrow and destroy at the conclusion of the saga of the Swordfish
!
After confronting Mortimer and announcing that he will pay for the "great wrong" he did to him, Basam Damdu gets into a bulky spacesuit and disappears via three beams of light. Doctor Z'ong explains to Mortimer that he and his fellow "aliens" are in fact from the year 8061 (which was noted on Macquarrie's shoulder strap), a time when the earth is just one dry desert with mankind on the verge of extinction. This, and their alien-like deformities, are due to years of nuclear war which ravaged the planet in the 21st century.
Z'ong has mastered the concept of time travel. As part of the process his beams of light rebound on the nucleus
of passing comet
s which determine where and when the time traveller will end up. In his early tests he "picked up" a number of people from the past including Major Macquarrie who, being of good build, survived the journey into the future but died when he returned to warn the present world of a major threat. Indeed, the actual aim of Z'ong and his people is to escape the terrible world they inhabit in the 81st century and take over the current one. Basam Damdu seemed the ideal choice to lead them and was picked up by the beams of light just before his capital was destroyed by the Swordfish aircraft designed by Mortimer.
Olrik then interrupts Z'ong and takes Mortimer outside the pumping station to a lake where his hands and legs are tied to a heavy weight and he is thrown into the water by the Asian soldiers. His lungs set to burst, Mortimer has given up when he is suddenly rescued by a pair of scuba divers
. They take him to a nearby underwater cave and turn out to be FBI
agents led by John Calloway, head of its "Action" service, and Jessie Wingo, a Native American
woman who knows the area well. Also present is Blake.
Blake tells Mortimer that Olrik's presence was reported on American soil and that he came to assist the FBI since he knows the renegade best. Discretion meant that he had to keep this from Mortimer, a common occurrence in their relationship. Mortimer tells the Feds of his adventure and Calloway decides to use the element of surprise and attack the pumping station before the invasion plan can get underway. An attack is launched but the station is found empty. Evidence left behind shows signs of a sudden departure which means that Olrik and Z'ong are about to carry out their plan, which was dubbed Operation Poplar Trees, a word included on Macquarrie's shoulder strap.
Blake, Mortimer, Calloway and Wingo go to see Kaufman at his office at SUFOS. Together they try to figure out what the invasion plan is by using the words found on Macquarrie's shoulder strap. They are joined by Dr Jeronimo Martinez who works at Los Alamos
and who is keen to compare theories on nuclear physics
with Mortimer. He reveals in passing that Los Alamos is Spanish for poplar tree. This leads the others to believe that Olrik's plan is to steal H-bombs and send them into the future from where they will be used to threaten the present time period.
The shoulder strap had the words: "Yellow King, 8061, Danger, Light, Plutonian, H, Poplar Trees, Temple 1954" which translate into: Basam Damdu, the year of origin of the invaders, the threat, the lights used for time travel, the plutonium
that is part of the H-bombs, Operation Poplar Trees and a comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel which is due to appear on the 17 October 1954 in just a few days time and will be used to get the bombs into the future.
The appearance of the comet coincides with the transfer of four bombs from Los Alamos to a secret military base in Nevada
. Calloway is unable to convince the military of the threat or to delay the convoy so he decides to intervene without official cover. He and Wingo set off with their men, accompanied by Blake, Mortimer, Martinez and Kaufman. They discreetly take over the hills surrounding a plain in the desert from where they can see Olrik, his Asian troops and the men from the future preparing to ambush the convoy. The Feds attack and Z'ong attempts to escape using his time machine. Blake however throws in a few stick of dynamite
as the lights appear from the sky. The sticks accompany Z'ong back to the future where they destroy him and his machine. Basam Damdu is now trapped in the 81st century, the machine in the current time period is also destroyed and the threat is no more.
In the confusion, Olrik manages to escape with one of the trucks containing an H-bomb. Blake and his group are warned of this and Wingo, who knows the area well, drives them to the Hoover Dam
where they block Olrik's passage. Facing yet another failure and the fact that Mortimer is still alive, Olrik loses his mind and arms the bomb! Wingo manages to shoot and wound him and Mortimer disarms the weapon before it can go off.
A few weeks later, back in Scotland
, a low-key funeral is held. Major Lachlan Macquarrie, re-instated into the British army, is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
for exceptional bravery and buried with honour. Present at the funeral are Blake and Mortimer who are then approached by the Cabinet Secretary
who informs them that a secret report on their adventure has been passed on to all the world's heads of government, regardless of political ideology.
The consequences of the future as the result of nuclear war must serve as a warning. The plan is to set up an agreement for all sides to stop the creation of weapon of mass destruction in order to preserve a clean earth for their children and their children's children: a planet worthy of all that is best in mankind, the hope of a sincere bonding between all the peoples of the world. A difficult task — but nothing is insurmountable.
Basam Damdu is the tyrant who conquers the world in Blake and Mortimer's first adventure The Secret of the Swordfish
by E.P. Jacobs, published in 1946-49. He and Olrik are together when his palace is destroyed by an aerial bombardment at the end of the story. Jacobs never did explain how Olrik survived the attack to confront Blake and Mortimer in almost all their subsequent adventures.
Plot
The book starts off with Fern being bullied by juvenile delinquet Jack Cahill. Fern calls Cahill an idiot, then gets punched in the stomach for it. Fern runs to the woods, where he finds a stone he believes is flourite. He decides to give it to his brother Luke for his birthday. At 10:00, when he gets in bed, he notices the flourite is glowing. He touches it-and goes into a vortex, where he blacks out.He awakes, with the stone in his hand, in a desert. Then he sees an alien, which is descibed by Fern 'with six eyes and a hand sticking out of its stomach'. There is also a silvery, circular ship which resembles a UFO. The alien needs the 'flourite' (which is actually triglycite) to power his ship. The alien is only three feet tall, though, and cannot reach the triglycite. Fern demands something in return. The alien agrees, and gives him the Ring of Power. Fern asks why. The alien responds that the ring's DNA-changing capabilities don't work on his species. Fern gives the alien the stone, and puts on the ring. He immediately blacks out.
Fern wakes up and believes it was a dream when he doesn't see the ring on his hand; but then he realizes it is on his other hand. When he gets to school Jack Cahill tries to punch him, but Fern holds up his hands in self-defense. Cahill's hand smashes into the ring-but, amazingly, it doesn't break. Instead, a jet of brown liquid pours into Fern's mouth. He feels himself changing into what he believes is a werewolf; he names it 'Furocious'. He scares Cahill away, then runs in the direction of a siren.
Fern easily outruns the policecar with the siren. He then pounces on the person being chased-but bounces back, as if there is some kind of body armor covering the person. Fern retaliates, swiping the man's face with his paw. A stream of blood pours out of the man's former eye; the man falls down, defeated. Fern just wants to become human again. He presses on the ring; this time, it is a red jet of liquid. Thankfully, the fur dissipates-but wings and horns are growing on Fern, and his skin is now a deep red. He nicknames this creature Demonflyte. Fern starts running-and, soon, flying. He lands in a tree just as the transformation wears off. He walks home. His creatures are featured on the evening news. Fern is happy the identity of these creatures are not known; he doesn't want to be a celebrity.
Unfortunately for Fern, Cahill and the thief he mauled (actually Steven Carp) are working together to get their hands on the ring. Carp and Cahill create machines to fight Fern, but are always defeated. Fern discovers a new transformation, Fryguy, who can shoot fire out of his hands; Fryguy saves 20 hostages Carp and Cahill have captured. Carp vows that next time, he will defeat Fern.
Carp decides to capture Fern while he is at school. He hacks the intercom and tells Fern to go to the playground. There, he is ambushed by Cahill, who knocks him out.
Fern awakes with his hand in a complex machine. Carp does not realize Fern is awake, and comments to Cahill about needing to cut off Fern's hand to get the ring off. Cahill looks squeamish, and Fern capitalizes, asking Cahill if this is what he really wants. Cahill looks uneasy, and Fern comments, 'This is your time to be a hero!'. Cahill voices agreement, and deactivates the machine. Carp launches himself on Cahill, and sticks a knife in his back. Cahill collapses. In rage, Fern becomes Fryguy and sets Carp on fire. With his last breath, Carp throws his knife, and the blade cuts right into the top of the ring. The ring disintegrates into powder. Fern takes one last look at the mess, then walks home.
Connections to other books
Late one night in 1954, a ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
farmer sees three strange coloured beams of light appearing from the sky. When he goes to investigate the lights have disappeared and left behind the body of a man dressed in the uniform of a British Redcoat
Red coat (British army)
Red coat or Redcoat is a historical term used to refer to soldiers of the British Army because of the red uniforms formerly worn by the majority of regiments. From the late 17th century to the early 20th century, the uniform of most British soldiers, , included a madder red coat or coatee...
. The body is taken to SUFOS (Section of UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
Studies) run by Dr Walt Kaufman which investigates such strange phenomena. Kaufman's research indicates that it is the body of Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Major Lachlan Macquarrie who disappeared under strange circumstances after the British defeat at the Battles of Saratoga in 1777!
Following the battle, Macquarrie and his men were cut off from the rest of the British forces. According to drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
boy Dermot Pitt, Macquarrie vanished late at night while investigating the sudden appearance of beams of light coming from out of the sky. Pitt's story was rejected and Macquarrie was found guilty in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
of desertion and dishonourably discharged from the army.
Kaufmann contacts Professor Philip Mortimer who happens to be a descendant of Lachlan Macquarrie, the family's black sheep
Black sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom used to describe an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within a family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness...
. Mortimer goes to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
accompanied by his old friend Captain Francis Blake, the head of Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, who is on his way for a "routine meeting" with some American colleagues. On his way to Washington by coach, Blake is attacked by some strange men but gets away.
In Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Mortimer meets Kaufman at the offices of SUFOS. He brought with him some family papers which note certain physical injuries that his ancestor endured in his lifetime. These injuries are present on the body and there is no doubt that it is Lachlan Macquarrie, born in 1743 and found dead in 1954 still aged 34!
According to a pathologist, Macquarrie died of asphyxiation, meaning that he was deprived of oxygen for a long period. His shoulder strap
Shoulder strap
A shoulder strap is a strap over a shoulder. They are often affixed to women's dresses to support its weight or as part of its style. The term is also applied to carrying bags and to epaulettes.-Carrier shoulder strap:...
was inscribed with the words "Yellow King, 8061, Danger, Light, Plutonian, H, Poplar Trees, Temple 1954". He also had in his possession some strange items including some glasses which enable the wearer to see clearly in the dark and a weapon which, when aimed at the head, causes the victim to fall asleep.
Wanting to examine the weapon more closely, Mortimer takes it with him before leaving the SUFOS offices, but, overcome with natural fatigue, returns it to Kaufman before booking into a hotel. During the night he is attacked by an intruder who is wearing the same glasses and using the same weapon as Macquarrie had. Mortimer fights back and the man falls out of the hotel room and is killed on hitting the ground. Mortimer then finds that his face is a mask covering a green, highly deformed, alien-like head. Warned by Mortimer, Kaufman has the body taken to SUFOS.
One of the words on Macquarrie's shoulder strap was "Plutonian" and the two scientists wonder if this stands for Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
. The body of the alien suggests that it is not suitable for Pluto's harsh environment, but the planet may be a staging post for an alien invasion. Back at SUFOS Mortimer examines the alien weapon only for it to be stolen by Kaufman's assistant Jimmy Tcheng. Mortimer pursues Tcheng by car into the plains but they are caught in a storm and Tcheng is killed in an accident. It turns out that he is also an alien.
Mortimer tries to hitch-hike back to town only to come across two men wearing the same dark glasses as the first alien and knocking him out with the ray from a similar weapon. He wakes up to find himself in a disused and isolated pumping station
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
somewhere in the hills and facing him is none other than his old enemy Olrik!
Escorted through the station Mortimer faces more surprises: Asian soldiers dressed in uniforms similar to Olrik's, more aliens including a dwarf-like scientist called Doctor Z'ong, and all of them led by none other than Basam Damdu, the tyrant whom Mortimer helped to overthrow and destroy at the conclusion of the saga of the Swordfish
The Secret of the Swordfish
The Secret of The Swordfish was the first story in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It describes how a far eastern empire takes over the world and the adventures of two Britons as they try to bring about the development of a weapon which will enable them to fight back...
!
After confronting Mortimer and announcing that he will pay for the "great wrong" he did to him, Basam Damdu gets into a bulky spacesuit and disappears via three beams of light. Doctor Z'ong explains to Mortimer that he and his fellow "aliens" are in fact from the year 8061 (which was noted on Macquarrie's shoulder strap), a time when the earth is just one dry desert with mankind on the verge of extinction. This, and their alien-like deformities, are due to years of nuclear war which ravaged the planet in the 21st century.
Z'ong has mastered the concept of time travel. As part of the process his beams of light rebound on the nucleus
Comet nucleus
The nucleus is the solid, central part of a comet, popularly termed a dirty snowball. A cometary nucleus is composed of rock, dust, and frozen gases. When heated by the Sun, the gases sublimate and produce an atmosphere surrounding the nucleus known as the coma...
of passing comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s which determine where and when the time traveller will end up. In his early tests he "picked up" a number of people from the past including Major Macquarrie who, being of good build, survived the journey into the future but died when he returned to warn the present world of a major threat. Indeed, the actual aim of Z'ong and his people is to escape the terrible world they inhabit in the 81st century and take over the current one. Basam Damdu seemed the ideal choice to lead them and was picked up by the beams of light just before his capital was destroyed by the Swordfish aircraft designed by Mortimer.
Olrik then interrupts Z'ong and takes Mortimer outside the pumping station to a lake where his hands and legs are tied to a heavy weight and he is thrown into the water by the Asian soldiers. His lungs set to burst, Mortimer has given up when he is suddenly rescued by a pair of scuba divers
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
. They take him to a nearby underwater cave and turn out to be FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
agents led by John Calloway, head of its "Action" service, and Jessie Wingo, a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
woman who knows the area well. Also present is Blake.
Blake tells Mortimer that Olrik's presence was reported on American soil and that he came to assist the FBI since he knows the renegade best. Discretion meant that he had to keep this from Mortimer, a common occurrence in their relationship. Mortimer tells the Feds of his adventure and Calloway decides to use the element of surprise and attack the pumping station before the invasion plan can get underway. An attack is launched but the station is found empty. Evidence left behind shows signs of a sudden departure which means that Olrik and Z'ong are about to carry out their plan, which was dubbed Operation Poplar Trees, a word included on Macquarrie's shoulder strap.
Blake, Mortimer, Calloway and Wingo go to see Kaufman at his office at SUFOS. Together they try to figure out what the invasion plan is by using the words found on Macquarrie's shoulder strap. They are joined by Dr Jeronimo Martinez who works at Los Alamos
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
and who is keen to compare theories on nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
with Mortimer. He reveals in passing that Los Alamos is Spanish for poplar tree. This leads the others to believe that Olrik's plan is to steal H-bombs and send them into the future from where they will be used to threaten the present time period.
The shoulder strap had the words: "Yellow King, 8061, Danger, Light, Plutonian, H, Poplar Trees, Temple 1954" which translate into: Basam Damdu, the year of origin of the invaders, the threat, the lights used for time travel, the plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
that is part of the H-bombs, Operation Poplar Trees and a comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel which is due to appear on the 17 October 1954 in just a few days time and will be used to get the bombs into the future.
The appearance of the comet coincides with the transfer of four bombs from Los Alamos to a secret military base in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. Calloway is unable to convince the military of the threat or to delay the convoy so he decides to intervene without official cover. He and Wingo set off with their men, accompanied by Blake, Mortimer, Martinez and Kaufman. They discreetly take over the hills surrounding a plain in the desert from where they can see Olrik, his Asian troops and the men from the future preparing to ambush the convoy. The Feds attack and Z'ong attempts to escape using his time machine. Blake however throws in a few stick of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
as the lights appear from the sky. The sticks accompany Z'ong back to the future where they destroy him and his machine. Basam Damdu is now trapped in the 81st century, the machine in the current time period is also destroyed and the threat is no more.
In the confusion, Olrik manages to escape with one of the trucks containing an H-bomb. Blake and his group are warned of this and Wingo, who knows the area well, drives them to the Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
where they block Olrik's passage. Facing yet another failure and the fact that Mortimer is still alive, Olrik loses his mind and arms the bomb! Wingo manages to shoot and wound him and Mortimer disarms the weapon before it can go off.
A few weeks later, back in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, a low-key funeral is held. Major Lachlan Macquarrie, re-instated into the British army, is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
for exceptional bravery and buried with honour. Present at the funeral are Blake and Mortimer who are then approached by the Cabinet Secretary
Cabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
who informs them that a secret report on their adventure has been passed on to all the world's heads of government, regardless of political ideology.
The consequences of the future as the result of nuclear war must serve as a warning. The plan is to set up an agreement for all sides to stop the creation of weapon of mass destruction in order to preserve a clean earth for their children and their children's children: a planet worthy of all that is best in mankind, the hope of a sincere bonding between all the peoples of the world. A difficult task — but nothing is insurmountable.
Basam Damdu is the tyrant who conquers the world in Blake and Mortimer's first adventure The Secret of the Swordfish
The Secret of the Swordfish
The Secret of The Swordfish was the first story in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It describes how a far eastern empire takes over the world and the adventures of two Britons as they try to bring about the development of a weapon which will enable them to fight back...
by E.P. Jacobs, published in 1946-49. He and Olrik are together when his palace is destroyed by an aerial bombardment at the end of the story. Jacobs never did explain how Olrik survived the attack to confront Blake and Mortimer in almost all their subsequent adventures.