On the Frontiers
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On The Frontiers (Sur les Frontières) |
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|---|---|
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| Date | 1988 |
| Series | Valérian and Laureline |
| Publisher | Dargaud |
| Creative team | |
| Writers | Pierre Christin |
| Artists | Jean-Claude Mézières |
| Colorists | Evelyn Tran-Lé |
| Original publication | |
| Language | French |
| ISBN | |
| Translation | |
| Publisher | iBooks |
| Date | 2004 |
| ISBN | |
| Translator | Timothy Ryan Smith |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Rage of Hypsis |
| Followed by | The Living Weapons |
On the Frontiers is volume thirteen in the French comic book (or bande dessinée) science fiction series Valérian and Laureline created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières.
On a luxury space liner, one of the passengers, Kistna, is delighted to discover a fellow member of her race, the Wûûrm, called Jal is also travelling on the liner. The Wûûrm are declining in numbers and so to meet a fellow member of the species is a special occasion. After enjoying themselves in the ship's casino and the ballroom, Kistna invites Jal to her cabin to consummate their new-found union. In the cabin, Kistna removes the golden armour that completely covers her body. Jal follows suit, removing his armour to reveal that he is, in fact, a human and not a Wûûrm after all. Jal attacks her and succeeds in his mission – to steal Kistna's psychic powers. Wracked with guilt following his deed, Jal puts his disguise back on and makes for the bridge of the ship. He uses his newfound powers to threaten the captain and procure a shuttle craft. He sets the controls for Earth...
Earth, the late 1980s. Valérian is in Russia, having been hired to examine a leak at a nuclear power plant. His investigations lead him to the conclusion that this accident was deliberately provoked. His work with the Russians finished, they arrange to have him returned to the West where he rendezvous with Laureline and Albert on the Finnish border. Travelling across Finland into Norway they fly off to their next destination in a seaplane.
Later, Valérian, Laureline and Albert are to be found at a café in a small village in Tunisia. As they wait, they ponder the job they have been asked to work on: none of them, not even Albert, knows who has hired them nor what they are supposed to be doing in Tunisia. Noticing a group of cloaked men heading into the palm forest near the village. Valérian and Laureline follow them to a marabout. Using a scanning device, taken from their astroship, they determine that there is a radioactive source inside the marabout. Returning to the village, they report their findings to Albert who makes a call to their mysterious employers. Then they make for the marabout in their truck. Using a cretiniser whip from the planet Phoum, a device that renders its victims cataleptic, they enter the marabout and find the source of the radiation – an atomic mine. Deactivating the mine, they flee into the desert to an arranged meeting point near the Libyan border. At the rendezvous they are met by a Tunisian military helicopter. Flying along the Libyan border, their host explains that had the mine been detonated, it would have incited the world powers to respond with a nuclear attack of their own, giving Libya the excuse to invade and destabilise North Africa and precipitate a World war. The helicopter flies on to an airfield where Valérian, Laureline and Albert are collected by a jet aircraft.
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