Micronauts#1(1979)

Chapter 1: Homeworld Prince Argon and Princess Mari, with several retainers, are fleeing on horseback from a squad of flying Acroyears. The aristocracy has just been overthrown by Baron Karza, who has promised the citizens immortality via his Body Banks. When the two reach a place called Shelter, Mari laments the recent death of their parents. Argon summons a Time Traveler, emissary of the Enigma Force and harbinger of the darkest times imaginable. Karza's Dog Soldiers shell the building and take Argon prisoner. Chapter 2: Homecoming The HMS Endeavor lands on Homeworld after a thousand years exploring the Microverse. Commander Arcturus Rann steps out, expecting an honor guard. The Dog Soldiers there, however, take aim at him and fire. Karza calls Rann an "x-factor" and orders him thrown into the dungeons. There he awakes in a cell full of aliens, including Bug and Acroyear, who rescue him from the others. They tell Rann that the warp drive was invented during his trip and that Karza used it to conquer the other worlds of the Microverse. Rann seems most surprised, though, that "Doctor" Karza, his old professor, is behind all the recent events. Outside the cell, a bot entertains the crowd by making a young woman dance (they are Microtron and Mari, now going by the name Marionette). Rann is smitten. Chapter 3: Escape The next morning, Rann, Bug, and Acroyear are herded into a colosseum, where Microtron and Marionette are performing. Bug tells Rann that Marionette is a princess who has joined the underground and that an escape is in the works. The doors close, but Marionette is kept inside. A deathtank enters and begins firing its pulse-cannons into the captives. Acroyear tells Rann that he is an x-factor and must be protected. Bug vaults onto the tank and throws a packet bomb through its eye slits, while Acroyear assaults its wheels. A Time Traveler appears to Rann and says, "I have many names, commander, and I have lived them all. Some call me the Enigma Force." Rann is mystified. Then the underground's charges blow, and the colosseum is thrown into chaos. Rann, Bug, and Acroyear find Marionette already in a getaway car. She swears by Dallan and Sepsis, the first to rebel against Karza and now deities; Rann is shocked because they were his parents. Pursuit falls away as the group makes its way to the Endeavor. Shaitan asks Karza why they are allowed to escape, and Karza tells him, "that which we cannot fathom must sometimes be made to reveal itself." Biotron, notified by telepathy, has the ship ready to go. Three fighters follow the ship into space, but where the Micronauts go they cannot follow. Biotron takes their ship through the Fringes of the Microverse, and then through the Spacewall, into whatever lies beyond ....