ROM#25(1981)

Rom materializes in the Capital of Galador and finds the populace bowing before him proclaiming him their Lord & Master. An Angel Elite guard approach and also bow, telling Rom that he is the Prime Director of Galador. A befuddled Rom proceeds on toward the Hall of Science while reflecting on the Wraith War from the beginning and seeks an answer to what has happened. As he approaches the once foreboding doors to the Hall of Science he sees that they have been replaced with great golden portals emblazoned with his heroic deeds. As he ponders this a bolt strikes at his feet and he hears his own voice from above order him back. Rom peers upwards and sees a perfect duplicate of himself wielding the Living Lightning and holding the Golden Globe of Power, the symbol of absolute authority on Galador. Rom summons his Analyzer and the duplicate is revealed to be a mirror image of himself, human where he is cyborg and cyborg where he is human and that very humanity is his own. At the 2nd Rom’s command the Angel Elite spring into action and attack with a Horn of Heaven knocking the Spaceknight out. Rom awakens and finds himself held in a stasis tube and confronted by his doppelganger and the evil Mentus who reveals that it was he who saved Terminator from execution, refashioned his armor into the likeness of Rom’s, and grafted Rom’s humanity into it. Mentus then reveals his own creation and that he is actually the evil persona of the Prime Director who is also held in a nearby stasis tube. He also tells of his plans to rule both Galador and the Dark Nebula which the Golden Galaxy is swiftly approaching. Back on Earth Brandy & Steve attempt to escape the fog. On Galador, Rom frees himself and the Prime Director from the stasis tubes. They proceed to a chamber where other Spaceknights who had returned prior have been frozen in suspended animation. Rom frees them and they usher forth to battle the usurper as the Prime Director goes to prepare for the greater peril. The Spaceknights quickly subdue the Angel Elite and burst in upon Mentus, Terminator and a group of Dire Wraiths. Mentus seeks to escape commanding Terminator and the Wraiths to attack. Rom squares off with Terminator and it is Starshine who is able to use reason to break the mental grip Mentus had on Terminator who then proceeds to attack the Wraiths. Upon defeating the Wraiths, the Spaceknights led by both Rom’s seek out Mentus only to find him and the Prime Director both locked in death. The Prime Director had reabsorbed his evil half but the strain was too much for his physical form and he was transcending, feeling himself drawn to a greater cosmic awareness. He warns the assembled Spaceknights of an even greater peril now approaching their homeworld of Galador, that of the Destroyer of Worlds - Galactus.