Space Adventures #41

When a human pilot crashes on an alien world during wartime, he's captured and imprisoned—but his captors begin to doubt their leaders' claims about the enemy after hearing the prisoner's own perspective on the conflict. Captain Ellery Raines and his small fleet arrive to rescue their man, only to find that the real battle may be about more than military victory. "The Ugly One" challenges what we think we know about who the real enemy is.

When Earth's giant robot arrives unannounced at Karas claiming to negotiate peace, the Zebra People must confront the gap between their intelligence reports—which promised an easy conquest of Earth—and the impossible reality before them. As their military launches a desperate assault and their city falls into chaos, the mysterious visitor seeks an audience with their leaders, hoping to prevent a war between worlds. A clever tale of appearances, deception, and the possibility of peace even in the darkest confrontation, published in Space Adventures #41.

In the 21st century, space leader Miles Kenforth builds an android named Botor in his own image to serve as crew on his war rocket, only to discover that his mechanical creation possesses something beyond programming—a fierce fighting spirit untempered by fear. When the pair encounter enemy forces across the battlefields of outer space, Botor's relentless determination and unwavering resolve prove invaluable in a desperate struggle for survival. As their ship returns home to a hero's welcome, Kenforth must confront what his creation has truly become.

A spaceman en route to Saturn finds his ship mysteriously pulled off course and crash-landed on the Moon, only to discover his vessel has vanished and something lethal stalks the lunar surface. Stranded and hunted by an unknown enemy, he devises an ingenious plan to signal Earth—but time is running out, and a far greater threat than his own survival looms beneath the Moon's crust. When his desperate message finally reaches the right eyes, it sets in motion a desperate race to stop an invasion before it's too late.