The Deadly Mantis

(The Deadly Mantis)

The warming of the atmosphere due to a volcano eruption has caused a part of the ice of the north pole to melt, which liberates a horrible monster: a huge praying mantis deep-frozen there for nearly a million years.

Red Eagle One, the main command center of the Dew Line, a belt of radar stations whose main objective is to survey a possible enemy attack coming from the north pole, no longer obtains reply from Weather 4, an advanced radar station. A C47 plane is attacked by a mysterious thing. Colonel Joe Parkman inquires and discovers imprints of a phenomenal size. In the crashdown area of the plane the Colonel also discovers an object even more surprising: a sort of claw of the size of a large dog.

Joe Parkman reports to the Pentagon where he meets Dr. Ned Jackson from the paleontologist department of the natural history museum, and his assistant, the photojournalist Marge Blaine. They are all constrained to the most total confidentiality concerning this affair. It is discovered that this claw is of animal origin. Confirmed by a blood test, Jackson discovers finally that this claw is coming from an insect and more precisely from a praying mantis. The former, much more superior sized than the poor C47 that was its victim, has the ability to fly!.

Confirmation of Doctor Jackson's discovery comes rapidly. After attacking a indian village, the monster approaches Red Eagle One. Colonel Joe Parkam and his men finaly succeed in holding off the monster. A Navy aircraft patrol chases it in direction of the United States, but the mantis monster distances its pursuers and disappears deep into the fog.

Arriving on the American continent, it continues wreaking havoc and causing mass destruction before being sighted above Washington...

 Spoiler ! the end of the story is revealed below…

Andrew Air Force Base goes on alert. Order is given to open fire on the monster, which is now heading for New York. There the huge praying Mantis whips an army aircraft and crushes it in the tunnel of Manhattan. A team lead by Joe Parkman spots it and enters into the tunnel. With the help of explosives, they finally put an end to the cruelties of the horrible monster preserved in ice for a million years.

This text was corrected by pnaomi@pnaomi.org