"Prisoners of the Star" is the second Zero X story, originally published in TV Century 21 as a twelve-part adventure between issues 110 and 121.
Following on from where the previous story left off, the tale opens with the Zero X receiving new booster engines as the craft prepares to test out new experimental engines, and covers many beats as Paul Travers find himself sentenced to death and on the run as he tries to prove that the World Government has been infiltrated by alien spies.
Synopsis[]
Zero X picks up a stowaway during a test flight who has escaped his holding cell after being arrested for murder. Believing his pleas of innocence, Captain Paul Travers promises to deliver the stowaway, Corgan, back to Earth, regardless of the consequences. The consequences turn out to be severe when Paul is sentenced to death, execution by firing squad. Corgan, feeling guilty, saves Paul from his fate, and the two are forced to steal the Zero X and take her to Jupiter in order to prove their innocence, and save the planet, after Corgan reveals that the World Government has been infiltrated by aliens...
Characters[]
- Central Control: Only heard on the radio, Control redirects Zero X to Orbital Refueling Station 158 to collect sealed orders.
- Paul Travers
- Greg Martin
- Brad Newman
- Ray Pierce
- Conrad Carlson (cameo): Carlson is briefly seen boarding the Fueling Station. It is later mentioned he has been suspended and sent back to Earth.
- Colonel Baker
- Edward Corgan
- Sergeant: A sergeant discovers that Corgan has escaped from his cell and relays the news to Colonel Baker.
- Glenn Field staff: Glenn Field mobilises when the Zero X, with Corgan onboard, prepares to make an unscheduled landing.
- Glenn Field police: A squadron of police at Glenn Field arrest Travers when he lands at the base on charges of failing to comply with direct orders while on a top-secret mission.
- Court officials: Paul Travers is put on trial in front of a tribunal of about 100 people. They later sentence him to death.
- Driver: After Corgan lands back on Earth, he hijacks a car in the Nevada Desert from an unsuspecting driver.
- Newsreader: After Travers is sentenced to death, news quickly makes its way around the country. One such newsreader relays the news to a square full of people in Washington.
- Firing squad: A five-person firing squad is readied to execute Travers, but are unable to carry out their task when Travers is rescued at the last possible second by Corgan.
- Jupiter survey team: As Corgan pleads with case with Travers, we see his past as a member of a Jupiter survey team in flashback.
- Phillips: The leader of the Jupiter survey. He discovers the star alien and is the first to become possessed, eventually passing away due to his injuries. Corgan is blamed for his death.
- Colonel Jennings: The newly appointed commander of Zero X in Travers' absence.
- Star Alien: A technologically advanced alien on Jupiter which is the last of its race. Discovered several months earlier by a survey team, the alien has possessed several members of the World Government and plans to come to Earth to take over the planet.
- World President: After Travers' repeated "mockery" of Earth laws, the President and the rest of his cabinet visit Glenn Field in order to personally oversee Travers' second arrest. He later pardons Travers and returns him to duty.
- Vice-president: Accompanying the President to Glenn Field, the Vice-president has been secretly possessed by the alien from Jupiter. When he realises Travers' knows their secret, he orders an attack - but in a split-second decision is murdered by the President.
- World Government cabinet members: Like the Vice-president, the cabinet has also been possessed by the alien, and they similarly die by the hand of the President.
Cover Tie-Ins[]
Trivia[]
- Another alien from Jupiter would later threaten the Earth in the Thunderbirds comic Visitor from Space.