Appearing in "The Thing in the Black Box!"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
Races and Species:
Items:
Synopsis for "The Thing in the Black Box!"
A victim of a shipwreck washes up on a not quite deserted isle where he stumbles over beautiful Pandora and her box. Pandora is malevolent and tricks him into opening the box for her whereupon she commands the demon that emerges to make all of mankind her slave. The man begs Pandora to be allowed to return to the mainland, and she grants his request, but he has a plan and returns with a set of mirrors which he rings around the sleeping Pandora. When she awakes she cries out in despair that they be taken away. The man had gambled that centuries-old Pandora's beauty had to be the result of hypnosis, but no one can hypnotize a mirror. He says the mirrors will be removed if she orders the demon back into the box. She does so, and they bury the box deep in the earth, and leave Pandora on her isle with her illusion of beauty.
Appearing in "The Remedy Oil"
Synopsis for "The Remedy Oil"
Three crooks place themselves in suspended animation for 200 years after stealing 150,000 dollars. Not only is the money still good in 2156, not only is 150,000 still a lot of money in 2156 (gasp!), but the only reason they run afoul of the law is that the suitcase of money they stole was counterfeit to begin with.
Appearing in "Midnight in the Wax Museum"
Featured Characters:
- Bob Crane
Races and Species:
Synopsis for "Midnight in the Wax Museum"
An artist falls asleep in a wax museum and after midnight he is awoke by a sound. When he investigates, he finds that what appeared as wax figures are really aliens who are observing humans. He flees and summons the police, who attack the aliens with tear gas. The entire wax museum begins to shudder and the whole building lifts off into space. They leave behind a book which states that their intent was to pass along beneficial knowledge, but the humans are too dangerous and perhaps they will return in a thousand years.
Appearing in "The Mechanical Men!"
Featured Characters:
- Patrolman Patrick Smith
Antagonists:
- Z-4
Races and Species:
Synopsis for "The Mechanical Men!"
A peddler sets up on a street corner selling dolls that move under their own power for a dollar. This enchants the passerby, until a cop shows up demanding a license to peddle. The peddler says he hasn't got one and the cop says "I'm wise to you. Go back where you came from." The passerby are dismayed and give the cop attitude for doing his job, but for him, it's just another day on the force. The peddler ducks into a bush behind which his spaceship is parked. It turns out he is alien who was distributing the dolls as a surprise attack force. He tells his superior that before he could even sell one of the dolls, a law enforcement agent told him he knew of the plan and that the alien must return where he came from. Without the element of surprise, the alien ruler says we must depart and abandon our invasion plans for Earth.
Appearing in "Forever is a Long Long Time!"
Featured Characters:
- Luther Kane
Supporting Characters:
- Dr. Jonathan Weems
Races and Species:
Synopsis for "Forever is a Long Long Time!"
A greedy businessman bullies a scientist into giving him a device that can give humans the 1,000-year lifespan of a giant redwood. He ignores the scientist's warnings and uses the ray on himself alone in his mansion, finding to his horror that the ray also renders its subject as immobile as a redwood.
Notes
- "The Thing in the Black Box!" reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell #30
- "Forever is a Long Long Time!" reprinted in Journey Into Mystery (Vol. 2) #18