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August - September 1966 |
On the sea bottom, frogmen construct a military installation for "the last frontier - underseas!" None of the hard-working frogmen notice a weird man-shape watching from a coral forest. The Sponge Man (introduced in COTU 47) was once human, but abandoned the upper world for the sea. Now he's even forgotten his own origin, for he wonders why humans invade his homeland. Then a dynamite blast kills many fish and dolphins.  Furious, the Sponge goes on the attack. And as his anger grows, so does his size, for he absorbs water. He crumples steel caissons like tin cans. Topside, Admiral Hutton has been explaining "Fortress Fishhook" to the Sea Devils, who've been called in as experts. An alarm sounds and the heroes are off! |
Diving, the Sea Devils recognize the Sponge as having tangled with the Challengers a while back. (The story must have made the news.) The Devils shoot spear guns to no effect. "The only thing that's gonna stop this guy is a depth charge!" Furious at all humans, the Sponge flings out a hand and grabs a Sea Devil - by chance, Judy. She screams. Nicky, Judy's brother, and Biff bore in for a closer shot. Dane, Judy's lover, stops them lest the Sponge crush his girlfriend. The befuddled Sponge-Man studies his captive. This girl reminds him of another from long ago, but he can't remember. As the giant hand opens, Judy darts away. The Sponge wanders off. The Devils don't understand why, but the Challengers might. |
Soon the Gallopin' Gizmo flashes seaward. A voice booms, "Man, this must be a real gasser if a swingin' cat like Admiral Hutton sent out a special radio bulletin to have us make the scene!" (If you guessed the hep-cat is Rocky, win a lollipop.) The Sea Devils wait. Little Nicky can't stand the suspense. Biff tells him to stand easy, and Dane reads the newspaper, ignoring Judy's flirting - so much that Judy rips the paper out of his hands. "It's been weeks since we had a date! If you really loved me, you'd find time between assignments!" And in walk the Challs to shake hands all around. Judy wastes no time and flirts with Ace, confusing him and ticking off Dane!  |
Admiral Hutton (who wears not blue or white, but brown?) plans to use artillery or depth charges to stop the Sponge. Ace objects - the Sponge is a human being! Ace recounts how Miklos was a sponge fisherman, "a decent ordinary guy" with a crush for his pretty neighbor. He cut his hand on a meteorite and turned into a freak. "Imagine his torment and bewilderment! No wonder his mind cracked!" The Sponge went berserk, rampaging, until the cry of a child trapped by a forest fire brought him to his senses. The Sponge extinguished the fire and leapt into the sea, calling it his rightful home. (All seen in COTU 47.) Ace contends they can't slaughter the Sponge, but the Admiral dumps the problem on the Challengers. "His life is in your hands!" |
The Challs man the construction platform above Fortress Fishhook. The Sea Devils have gone back to their base for something. News of the Challengers' arrival gathers a crowd on the docks. A sinister gent will report the Challs' presence to his mysterious boss. Nearby is Miklos's former neighbor, pretty Lisa. Suddenly the Sponge rears from the ocean. Admiral Hutton orders gunners to open fire, but the Challs demand the first chance. The Challs swing on a crane hook to eye-level. "Miklos! We're the Challengers, your friends! Remember?" The fuddled Sponge vaguely recalls the name from long ago, but then attacks. Humans killed his friends, the fish of the sea! The Sponge rips the crane loose - and the Challs will topple and smack the deck - |
- but a golden giant rears from the sea and grabs the crane, saving the Challs!  It's Neptimus, the Sea Devils' robot-headquarters! Neptimus belts the Sponge. But inside the robot's head, Biff and Judy are suddenly freezing. The Sponge glows cherry-red, having absorbed all the heat in the area. Neptimus stalls, the controls frozen. The sea ices over and even cannons won't fire. With a heave, the red-hot Sponge shoves Neptimus into the frozen ocean, then dives through the hole in the ice. |
The temperature rises. The Sea Devils crawl from Neptimus's eye. They're okay, but the robot's out of service. Judy fusses over a gash on Ace's forehead while Dane simmers. The Admiral chews them both out. Meanwhile, in a secret headquarters, Scorpio agents in red KKK robes report to Number 1. A foreign power has paid to sabotage Fortress Fishhook. Number 1 assigned Number 8 to the sabotage, but the Sponge Man, is doing their job. Elsewhere, the Sponge attacks a seaport. He smashes buildings at random but adds another curious attack to increase panic - he absorbs color, turning the world black and white! Masterpiece paintings, bank money, even magazines are worthless. With the Sea Devils repairing Neptimus, its up to the "Fabulous Four to" to stop the Sponge. |
Ace has a plan - but it goes unheard. The Sponge is now absorbing all sound! Still, nothing slows the Challs for long. Ace signals with the Hand Language of the Deaf. G-E-T C-A-B-L-E! The Challs commandeer a cable truck. Rocky rigs a harpoon while Ace zooms into action with his jetpack retrieved from their plane. He flits and annoys the Sponge while Rocky "makes with the bit like Captain Ahab!" Red hits the generator switch. The electric current in the Sponge's water drains him - a spectacular living rainbow of color and sound. The unconscious Sponge shrinks to man-size. Ace crows, "We took him alive!" The Challs lock the Sponge in a special tank with "a new super-tough plexiglass" front. The Challs wonder how they can jog Miklos's memory. A lurking Scorpio agent reports to Number 1. Lisa, the oh-so-sweet girl next door, rushes up. She claims to have always liked Miklos and wants to help. Soon Lisa presses against the glass, pleading with the Sponge to remember her. He does! The soothing voice lulls him to sleep. Lisa offers to wait until he awakes. The Challs depart. And Lisa cranks up the cell door! The Sponge is confused. Lisa hisses, "I'm freeing you - so you can escape before the Challengers kill you!" She urges he go out and destroy for the girl he loves! The Sponge runs off in a rage. The Challs return to find Miklos gone! Lisa claims to have dozed and found the tank empty. Dane Dorrance laces into Ace. "You were so sure! Big hero! You sure fouled up this time!" Ace bellows back, "Are you sore because Miklos escaped - or because your gal is sweet on me?" |
That tears it. Ace and Dane brawl, then Rocky and Biff start in. (The brunette in blue is the treacherous Lisa.)  Admiral Hutton breaks it up. Judy tearfully confesses she tried to make Dane jealous. Dane comforts Judy and the guys shake hands. (Why not smack Judy upside the head?) Back to business. Who opened the tank? Ace finds a blue thread and button on the wheel-lock. And Lisa is missing a button off her sleeve! The girl-spy takes off, broadcasting into a Jane Bond makeup compact / short-wave transmitter. She bleats, "Number 8 calling Scorpio! Emergency! Go ahead with missile plan!" Judy nails her with a flying tackle! |
So she's a Scorpio agent. (How secret is Scorpio if everyone knows they exist?) How to make her talk? Judy takes charge and drags Lisa behind a closed door. Screams cut forth. "I'll talk!" The guys shudder, wondering what hideous torture Judy used. Simple - she threatened to cut off Lisa's hair! Working from Lisa's confession, the heroes split into two teams. Four will find the Sponge and four will drive to the Scorpio missile installation outside of town. Scorpio plans to shoot a missile filled with poison gas into the sea, contaminating the site and stopping the fortress project. As they pull into a junkyard, the office roof slides back. Scorpio's about to launch the missile! "Ace, give us the word!' Ace shouts, "Attack!" That's the word! Rocky, Ace, Dane and Biff break jaws and sling bodies - until one guys slams onto the firing button! The missile takes off! Right into the hands of the Sponge looming outside! He squirts out the rocket flare. The Challs urge he set it down "easy-like", but the Sponge hurls the missile at the hated humans. It slams the ground - and nothing! |
Ace hears ticking. A timing device will go off when the ticking stops! Biff shouts, "Look at the Sponge's hands!" They're human! He's changing back after all this time! And as his body changes, the Sponge's mind clears. "Once more, his thoughts are those of a man's!" The Sponge recognizes Rocky and Ace as friends, but what are they saying? The Challs and Devils crawl all over the missile. The hatch is welded tight. The wind is rising and will carry the poison gas right across town! Then the ticking stops! The Sponge is "tortured by a conflict of emotions". With his strange powers, he could absorb the poison gas and save the humans. But why should he die when he can live again as Miklos? The missile explodes - and Miklos decides. "No! I can't let my friends die - and all those people in town! I couldn't live with that on my conscience!" Shedding water, Miklos absorbs all the poison gas into his torso, the only part of him still sponge-like. He hurries to keep the gas trapped inside him. In agony he climbs a water tower.  |
Reaching the lip, a fully-human Miklos dives into the tank, where the poison will stay trapped. Ace finds the dead man with a triumphant look on his face. "He won the hardest battle any man has to wage! He fought himself - and won!" A reporter asks for the full story. Admiral Hutton admits he was wrong. "Miklos died a hero's death." Ace adds, "He made up for all the harm he caused - like a sponge, he wiped the slate clean!" |
Comments This story always makes me cry. The cover balloon has Ace claiming only the Challs can save the Sponge from the Sea Devils! Obviously when the cover was printed, months in advance, the editor intended a Challs-Devils conflict, but the writer spun it differently. The Sea Devils' wet suits should be red - like devils - not purple. Mike Resnick, the famous SF author, has noted that in average stories, good guys fight bad guys. In superior stories, good guys go against other good guys working at cross purposes. Here the Sponge is not evil, just angry and fuddled. Yet even when his mind clears, he has all the conflicting emotions of a real person. He could just walk away from trouble and live a normal life - and yearns to - but realizes he could never be happy with so many deaths on his conscience. So he does the right thing. A valuable lesson and shining example for all of us. |