"Across the vast inky night of space, in another part of the galaxy, a civilization flourished, unparallelled in the history of time. The product of centuries of social evolution, the culture was a shining reflection of classic Greco-Roman democracy and justice, a marvelous pelxus of ancient customs and advanced science. Feeding on the fruits of their world, this cyber-society developed to the peak of perfection. But within this brilliant race, there seethed a dark hunger ... a hunger for energy! Energy to fuel the dreams of kings, and the desires of the supreme."

Our story begins on the planet Tirol, third moon of Fantoma, in the Valivarre system. The year is 1256 Aeon Lanack, and in the city of Tiresia, the capitol of the Tirolian Republic, the senate addresses a matter of extreme urgency. Senator Zol stands on the floor of the senate, and is discussing the need for new sources of energy and raw materials. "If we do not find new sources immediately, the shortages will soon take their toll." A senator suggests sending an expedition to Fantoma to mine ore, but Zol reminds the senator that Fantoma is a hundred times the size of Tirol, and anyone setting foot on the planet would be crushed by the tremendous gravity and atmospheric pressure. He says they must turn elsewhere.

Another senator speaks up: "Does not our trade with the local systems supplement our needs?" Zol says it partially does, but with each passing cycle they become more and more dependent on their neighbors for the basic necessities, while their neighbors grow richer and richer. "The trade debt with Karbarra alone is staggering," he tells them. If the situation continues they will become totally dependent on others, so he proposes that for the Republic to survive they must go beyond the Local Group and find resources they can claim as their own.

"My dear Zol," Senator Nimmul interjects, "this has already been done with this outlandish space program of yours. These techno-voyages through the quadrant are extremely costly and one of the primary drains on our resources which you are so concerned about." It is then that Zol reveals the intent of his sophistry--the program will be cancelled in a year's time, and he is asking that it not be. Nimmul finds this absurd; there have been dozens of voyages and no discoveries of note. He feels an extension would be wasteful. Zol asks the Elders to allow the program to continue, and Nimmul proposes a solution. Since their main concern is the acqusition of resources, and they cannot keep on buying goods from others and deepening the Republic's debt, he proposes that the Local Group be annexed. Zol protests, but Nimmul points out that this would alleviate the trade debt and extend the range of Zol's techno-voyages. Besides that, making those planets part of the Republic will strengthen it and "form a vast interstellar body, with Tirol as the center". The Elders find the idea intriguing, but Zol remains concerned about expanding the Republic. "We expand or we collapse!" Nimmul tells him. "The laws of physics apply to civilizations as well as particles of matter, Zol. Being the father of one of Tiresia's brightest young scientists, you of all people should know that." The Elders call a recess to consider the proposals. Zol tells Nimmul he cannot sanction this, but Nimmul says it's just politics: "You give me what I want, I give you what you want."

As the Elders deliberate in their chambers, elsewhere in the city, at the Tiresian Science Institute, a committee sits anxiously as the scientist Cabell assures them that his pupil will be along in just another moment. A committee member tells him their time is very valuable, and there are still other applicants to be reviewed, but Cabell just says to bear with him. Just as they're about to give up on the young man, he enters the room. "Just because your father is a senator," the committee member tells young Zor, "doesn't mean you can waste this committee's time." He apologizes, but the committee member continues, saying that due to cutbacks they have to select the very best for these techno-voyages. "Perhaps this is not important to you." Zor tells him that it is important, and for this reason he has prepared an experiment to demonstrate his theory. He is told this was to be a question and answer session, but first he wants to do this demonstration. Cabell takes Zor aside, saying that he was not told about this and that, in fact, Zor had told him that the model wasn't ready yet. Zor tells Cabell to trust him.

Standing before the committee, Zor explains that the basis for his thesis is the theory of organic energy. He feels it is possible, using his equation, to tap the bio-energy in all living cells, harvesting the energy that plants produce through photosynthesis or reproducing the process artificially. He has placed a single cell of a very common Tirolian plant into a working model designed to use such a process. As he turns the machine on, it starts to shake. Its movements grow increasingly rapid and violent, until eventually it explodes. Zor apologizes, and the committee member asks if he's finished. "Yes, I think I'm finished alright," he tells them.

With the question and answer session complete, Zor has a chat with his friend Vard outside the committee chambers. Vard asks how it went, but Zor doesn't know. He says the questions were hard, but not impossible, and asks what they were looking for. "They said they wanted the best," he says. Vard explains to him that these are bureaucrats, and that you have to give them what they want to see. "It's not what you know, it's how you sell it," he tells his friend. Zor tells him he seems to understand them well. However, Zor hates politics--he's just a scientist, and that's all he's ever wanted to be. He wants to know, to discover. Vard says not to let these guys scare him; he's just gotta play their game. Just then, the door opens to the committee chamber. A voice tells Zor that they're ready to render their judgement on his application.

Back at the senate, the Elders have passed both Nimmul and Zol's proposals. The senate is then adjourned, and many of the senators congratulate Senator Nimmul. Zol walks out of the chambers and waits for his son to come around with the hovercar. When Zor arrives, he tells his father the news--that he's been accepted for a techno-voyage. Zol is glad for his son, and as the car containing the two men speeds away, Zol tells his son that thanks to Nimmul, the space program will not be cancelled. Zor thinks that's wonderful, but he hasn't heard the price yet ...

Later in the evening, at their home, Zor is told the news, and he finds the idea of annexation terrible. Zol says that's the price. "Senator Nimmul is very persuasive. He's becoming more popular in the senate. His proposals seem promising, but I fear his motives may not be in the best intersets of the Republic." Zor asks what they can do, but Zol doesn't know, and tells him the Republic has seen worse. "It will survive," he assures his son. Then he asks him, "Don't you have a date with Arla tonight?" Zor looks down at the watch on his armband and realizes he had best get going. He hops in the hovercar and speeds off.

Just outside the city, Zor and Arla sit in the hovercar and stare up into the face of Fantoma. Zor tells Arla that despite the fact that they'll never be able to touch Fantoma, the Republic will survive. She asks how. "By going out there!" he says, pointing out into the cosmos. "Maybe there's a different kind of Fantoma waiting to be discovered, one we can use." He tells her the good news--that he's been accepted for a techno-voyage. She's happy for him, but he's feeling apprehensive. She tells him it's just nerves, and he figures it's the anticipation. "I'm leaving in a few days," he says, "and the thought of being away from you is ... is ..." Arla tells him she'll wait for him, and they kiss.

"The valiant vessel, Republic starship Aztraph departs on its celestial search for knowledge. With its crew of intrepid explorers secure in the synthetic sleep of hibernation for the journey's long night, they dream to pierce the dark void of the unknown, and seek to rend from the cosmos the treasure of the gods. On a voyage of discovery, they thirst for destiny."

ARTWORK

If you like the Waltrips' character art, you'll like this issue's character art. If you don't, you won't. Plain and simple. The quality of the art varies from shot to shot, with some angular and head-on shots looking rather awkward and even a little crude, while others look quite nice, and the layered anime-style coloring makes them look even better. I really liked the high-tech Greco-Roman architecture and costume design, but the vehicle design seemed to be generic rounded high-tech Waltrip stuff. And while it didn't help the pacing of the issue any, I quite liked the numerous sweeping shots of the Tiresian cityscape. It gave the story something of an epic feel. Another plus is the amusingly overexplanitory yet official-looking batch of charts and graphs that Zol uses. The only problem is, the establishing shot of the senate chamber shows that he's rather far away from the charts, yet in the shots where he's showing off the charts he appears to be right next to them. Ah well, minor gripe.

The coloring is pretty nice, too; the issue takes place over a day, starting at dawn and ending late in the night, and the coloring in the outdoor scenes reflects this quite nicely with gradient effects for the scenes set at dawn and dusk. Unfortunately, there are a few slight bumps here and there--the undrawn circular border surrounding the seal of the Tirolian Republic in the senate chamber looks sloppy and varies from shot to shot.

A couple of other minor notes ... the first shot of Zol gesturing at a chart on page 6 has the text in italics, like the text boxes rather than the word balloons. The makeshift word balloon surrounding the text (cut in the color separation, not drawn in the art) makes me wonder whose flub this was, putting text box-style text in the same shot as the person saying it. Also, because of what appears to be a coloring mishap, Zor looks crazed as his father tells him about his forgotten date with Arla--his pupils have no color in them! Scary!

In the back of both editions is the full-color version of Ben Dunn's Robotech/Ninja High School gag comic from Robotech II: The Sentinels Book One #1, "Ninja Tech!", in which Invid forces arrive at Earth to find the source of the "Counterculture", spot a Ninja High School comic, and are discovered to be the size of hermit crabs when one of the main characters from NHS comes upon them. The Invid carrier ship discovers their signal has been lost and flies away, leaving their captured forces to suffer the humiliation of being pets in an aquarium. Its amusing, and the coloring is pretty good. Kind of sad that when Dunn would later do an actual Robotech book it would be so bad ...