Mission Log: AF3/1

Atari Force Special #1, second backup story
1986
"Second Skin!"
20 pages

Something shakes Scanner One, awaking Pakrat. He goes to investigate and finds jewels in the hall, which he quickly puts in his pouch. Morphea discovers Babe missing. As Atari Force looks for him, Pakrat follows a trail of jewels to the engine room and finds Babe has been making the ship shake. He is shedding and is rubbing against the equipment to stop the itching. The jewels are from his hide. Some get sucked into the life support equipment, and they have to set down for repairs. They find a planet that's one big radioactive wasteland, but set down in a radiation free zone. As Babe rolls on the ground to scratch, it opens up and he falls down a deep crack. Dart, Morphea, and Pakrat go on a rescue mission and discover a large bomb hanging above a seemingly bottomless pit. Both the rescue party and Scanner One are then attacked by robots, which they defeat. Babe is found, but is caught in a bomb blast. He survives and the blast finishes off the skin he's been shedding. The large bomb is released into the pit, so Atari Force scrambles to escape as the planet is destroyed. Meanwhile, the "jewels" Pakrat saved in his pouch have turned to dust.

Notes

None of the stories in AF3 list Conway, Thomas, and Garcia-Lopez as the creators of Atari Force.

Annotations

1. This may be a fill-in story they had in stock. The only time it could take place is between AF2.08 and AF2.09 because a) Taz is present and b) Blackjack is not. (Note that Taz seems to appear and disappear, though, almost as if she was added later.) If this is the case, Tempest's arm should still be in a sling from his fight with the Dark Destroyer. He should also have weakened phasing abilities.
2. Page 1: Note the Klavian crown jewels (from AF2.01) on the first page. Also a notebook labeled "Plan 9" (as in the cult classic movie Plan 9 from Outer Space). The man's face on the wall may be one of the creators.

Back to the Mission Logs