Fantastic Worlds #7

When a salvaged spacecraft yields a haunting, otherworldly melody recorded near the star Aldebaran, Bruce Hunter finds himself grounded while the woman he loves, scientist Joyce Lawrence, leads an expedition to find its mysterious source. But when Joyce's team crashes on the alien world and falls under attack by the very creatures that created the music, Hunter will stop at nothing—even defying his own failing health—to reach her before it's too late.

In the year 2443, young Steve Sadler dreams of space adventure and finally gets his chance when he pilots his own cruiser to Mars—only to get caught in a surprise Martian attack that leaves him stranded on a distant asteroid. A year later, his father launches a desperate rescue mission to the asteroid belt, where he discovers Steve alive but worshipped as a god by an underground civilization of intelligent turtle-men who believe his space-suit makes him divine. With a Space Marine's help and quick thinking, father and son must escape their alien captors and find their way home.

Three explorers—Eric Danton, his niece Ann, and her fiancé Dirk Fondy—pilot a remarkable drilling machine called the Earth Mole down through the planet's depths, chasing strange radio signals and seeking the mystery civilization broadcasting from within. At Earth's core, they discover an underground city inhabited by a pygmy race led by King Jark, who has been plotting an invasion of the surface world—but their escape attempt is complicated when an even greater threat emerges: hostile warships from space have begun attacking Earth's cities simultaneously. Now the trio must race back to the surface while pursued by the underground fleet, knowing that humanity faces a two-front catastrophe.

Did you know that rockets were invented by the Chinese centuries before cannons came into use? This educational feature traces the fascinating history of early rocket technology, from accidental inspiration to the legendary "arrows of flying fire" documented in a 1232 manuscript, right through to a daring (if short-lived) rocket-powered invention in the thirteenth century—showing how these ancient contraptions paved the way for the missiles and spacecraft of tomorrow.