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Challengers of the Unknown
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The story continues. The Challs face Saxon, who has a machine gun. But Saxon runs off with his own preoccupations. Guards will come any minute. But Prof wants to know, "Rocky, what happened the last time you saw us? It's important." Rocky talks. Red, Rocky, and Ace traced Prof's distress signal to the Mojave Desert. They didn't know who'd signalled, since they thought June and Prof dead. But here they came, running.  |
Putting on a "hoopla", there was no time to explain. But Rocky hung back, smelling a trap. He was right. A gadget pops up from the ground and blasts the Challs with light. Rocky dives clear. His friends vanish.  Rocky laments, "Guards swarmed all over. It was all I could do to get out of there. I've spent years trying to find out what happened to you." |
Red notes, "Years to you. A wink of an eye to us." Prof adds, "We reappeared when the new Challengers disappeared." They (the bad guys) are using some projected energy fields. New fields disrupt old ones on the same frequency. (For full details on the jet disappearances, see the Challengers of the Crashes page.) More guards, more guns. The Challs are taken to finally meet the Mystery Man, Doctor Carcosa. He and Prof discuss. The upshot: Carcosa experiments with Tesla fields that use the Earth's electromagnetic fields, which are unstable. Sometimes the fields burp and a man disappears. Why not a missile? Carcosa got government money, then private financing. He tested the fields on airplanes - they're handy and similar to missiles - and mostly brought the people back each time. If the experiments save the human race from nuclear war, it's justified. Meanwhile, Saxon is dashing through the plant shooting up generators. Dials go wild. Carcosa orders his guards to find Saxon - and the Challengers make their move, jumping on the rest. Prof grabs a dial. Carcosa: "Stop! You don't know what you're doing." Prof: "I do." |
ZOOM!  Clay, Kenn, Brenda, hurtle from thin air in their convertible, still in mid-conversation. And sideswipe a wall. Thus do all the new and old Challs finally meet. |
Prof: "Not much of a missile defense, when the missiles can come back at any moment!" Never mind that. The Tesla field is growing out of control because of damage to the nuclear reactor. Things happen fast. Guards flee Saxon, who's shooting randomly to destroy the installation. Saxon is an Anti-Challenger: "Don't you know the unknown is unknown for a reason?" Carcosa reveals the nuclear reactor is safe from enemy spies because it's INSIDE the reactor. How is that possible? Carcosa rants. Men have walked into Tesla fields for millenia. Most remembered nothing. Many went insane. Some saw Fairyland, some Valhalla. Rip Van Winkle slept 20 years. Some thought they were abducted by aliens. His workers wore virtual- reality goggles to see what Carcosa wanted them to see. |
Rocky slugs Saxon, but is shot in the guts.  |
Rocky, wounded, groans, "That would be me." The Challs shake his hand. June gives him a kiss. Rocky whispers, "Save some for later. We'll ditch Prof. Whaddya say?" The Challs walk into the light.  |
Brenda, Kenn, Clay, and Marlon run for their lives. Brenda has, however, downloaded every bit of data on hand for later study. There's no way to stop the field: the control console's broken. Rocky refuses to leave his post. Clay has to belt him senseless and carry him. They run. Clay, lugging Rocky, says, "We're not going to make it, are we?"  VA-VOOM! |
What happened? Power surge. Someone shut down the field from the inside. Kenn, "I'll put money on the Challs." And if the new Challs can survive a Tesla field, bet the old ones did. Marlon ponders. "I was ready to give up the name, but we should keep it. An honorable name... To make sure there will always be Challengers of the Unknown."  |
Comment This trilogy is neat in many ways. It unites the two teams, gives the youngsters a chance to see what real bravery means, and lets the old Challs pass the baton to the new. A terrific job. Thanks, Steven Grant. The three-issue story recounts flashback after flashback all out of order, so the sequence can be confusing. For a linear explanation, see The Complete History of the Challs. |
See where Ace, Red, Prof, and June pop out in Superboy 60 - 65! |
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