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The planet Tarset, silent,
inhabited only by shadows of a civilization long dead.
A planet where life of every kind has departed.
We must use Tarset, Commander Ridges.
There is no other planet on which we can conduct our negative gravity experiment.
There must be another place.
Tarset is out.
Tarset is deserted.
We can set up our experimental equipment using robot mechanisms
and gauge the impulse reactions by electronic equipment set up on the Skyflash.
I'm fully aware of the importance of your work, Dr. Sarkov,
but you'll have to find another planet that will do as well as Tarset.
There is none to our knowledge.
I told you that before.
Tarset is ideal.
Well, then you'll have to find some place that's not so ideal.
Tarset will not be used.
But why? Will you please tell me why?
You don't know what just happened to the exploratory mission we sent to Tarset?
No.
I've been in my mountain lab completely out of touch with things.
What happened?
We'll soon know the details.
All I've had up to now are fragmentary reports,
but even from them I'd be a murderer if I let you go.
Flash Gordon is here, sir, with Dr. Jebas of the Tarset expedition.
Good. Send them in at once.
Now we'll get the full story.
I'm so sorry, Dr. Jebas.
Can I get you something?
I don't think he's strong enough to answer any questions right now, Commander.
Ever since he landed his spaceship, he's been hysterical.
We did what we could to calm him down, but...
This is Dr. Jebas, one of the scientists we sent on the exploratory mission to Tarset.
Jebas? Of course.
You know him?
By reputation only.
I'm familiar with his treatise on astro-hydraulics.
Remember, Dale?
That's right, Doctor.
He's in a state of complete nervous shock.
Well, Dr. Jebas, what happened up there?
I'm Dr. Zarkov.
What happened on Tarset?
Where are the others who went with you?
Dead.
All dead.
How? What happened?
Speak up, man. What happened?
I'm afraid he won't be able to answer any more questions, Doctor. He's completely...
No. No.
It's important that they know.
I'll do my best.
Don't send anyone there.
You'll murder every man you send to Tarset.
What kind of nonsense is this?
Nonsense?
You call it nonsense?
When your own companions are stricken before your very eyes?
When suddenly they are dead?
For no reason? For no cause?
Except a curse.
A curse?
What curse?
A curse...
of Belphegor.
It strikes in silence.
It will kill anyone who sets foot on that horrible planet.
It didn't kill you.
My escape was a miracle.
Just a miracle.
Perhaps you'd better tell us exactly what happened.
Yes.
Yes, I will.
There were four of us in that expedition.
Four of us who landed on Tarset.
There was Williams, leader of our company,
an outstanding physicist.
Leclerc, astrochemist.
Bending, our engineer.
And myself.
Our landing on Tarset was easy enough.
We made our way to a structure that we had seen from the spaceship.
It was the only building not in utter ruins.
Inside we made our way along a corridor.
The sides thick with dust.
And all around there was the horrible feeling of death.
We reached a bend in the corridor.
And like an invisible hand had grabbed us, we stopped.
Afraid to make the turn.
Williams finally had the courage to go on.
I wanted to turn and run back to the ship.
I'd never known fear like that, even when I knew what I feared.
I was afraid of the future.
I'd never known fear like that, even when I knew what I feared.
Finally, one by one, we followed him.
Williams saw it first.
Belfagor.
Ancient god of Tarset.
Its face.
Its face looked as if it had been carved out of a solid block of evil.
And then we heard its voice.
I am Belfagor.
Know all ye who trespass upon my tomb,
that upon ye shall rest my curse forevermore.
That voice.
That horrible voice.
I still hear it.
Williams walked towards the idol on the throne.
Then suddenly, a blinding light shot down upon him,
shooting from its single eye.
He fell.
Leclerc ran to help him.
And the light caught him.
Bending and I stood horrified.
They were dead.
So we turned.
We ran.
The people on the wing were after us. We ran.
I heard bending running behind me.
Suddenly he screamed.
I looked back.
The light had him.
He fell towards me.
I just ran on.
A terrifying experience.
Don't send anyone to that planet.
It's cursed.
Ridiculous.
We must use Tarset for our negative gravity experiments.
Aren't we sticking our necks out?
If what happened to him happened to us,
we have no choice.
The threat to our galaxy from the people of Ebon
has never been so serious as it is now.
Our only defense will be negative gravity.
Find some other place for the experiments.
There is no other place.
Tarset is the one astrographical location
where the repelling force of negative gravity
is effective in relation to Earth.
Besides, who believes this business of idols and strange curses?
It's superstitious rot.
I saw it.
You'll have a chance to see it again.
I'm going to Tarset.
I'm with you, Doctor. Deal?
I'm ready to start right now.
Well, Dr. Jevis,
we can't make it without you,
but if you'll come along as our guide,
we can save much valuable time.
No. No.
I can't.
The defense of the galaxy depends upon it.
Everything we have, our civilization, our science,
everything will be wiped out if the people of Ebon are victorious.
How can you refuse?
No. Of course you're right.
I can't refuse.
I'll go along with you to Tarset.
Good. Prepare the flight plans, will you, Commander?
We'll be off in 48 hours.
Come on, Dale. Doctor?
Invasions from Ebon.
Idols.
Strange voices and strange lights.
Do you think anybody will believe that stuff, Doctor?
Idols? Curses?
Rot.
How can you, a trained scientist, believe it?
Man believes what he sees.
And I have seen these things.
So will you, Doctor.
Wait!
Around that bend is the temple.
Please don't enter.
We'll never get out alive.
You did the last time.
Maybe we'll be as lucky.
Let's go, Doctor.
Don't!
Please stop here before we all die.
No!
Going someplace?
Come on.
Who's this, Bending?
Just as he fell.
Williams and LeClair?
Yes.
I am Belthagor.
The voice!
Know, all ye who trespass upon my tomb, that upon ye shall rest my curse forevermore.
What's going on around here?
What's that?
No, you won't believe me.
Let me off!
It's I, Professor Gavos.
I, Professor Gavos.
Let me off!
I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!
Let me off!
Let me off!
I'm going to die!
Stay one step out there and you're dead.
But we've got to help him!
There's nothing you can do.
There's nothing.
It's I!
Professor Gavos!
Professor Gavos, it's I!
Let me off!
Let me off!
All right, Professor Gavos.
If you ever expect to get out of here alive, start telling the truth.
The truth?
What are you talking about?
You saw!
I saw plenty!
Enough to know that you've been lying from the word go!
I haven't!
Tell the truth!
What's it all about?
I don't know!
The curse of Belphegor!
What kind of a moron do you take me to be, Jebbers?
Curses, idols.
The next thing you'll be screaming about will be witches riding around on brooms!
You're lying!
No!
You said Benning was killed while running down the corridor with you.
But when we found him, his head was towards the idol.
He wasn't killed while running away.
He was killed before he ever got there!
Why did you lie about that?
I didn't!
All three were killed, but you were allowed to escape!
Why?
I don't know!
You do know!
Tell me the truth!
I won't tell you anything!
Let me out!
Let me out!
It's I, Professor Gavos!
Let me out!
Let me out!
The wolves!
They're coming at the crosses!
Now will you tell the truth?
They're going to kill you along with the rest of us.
No, they can't!
They promised to save me!
Who?
Who promised?
The men of Ebon.
They trapped us in the temple.
They told us to help them or die.
Williams, LeClaire, Benning chose death.
Why is Tarset so important to them?
To the invasion!
It's coming in this direction!
They want to use Tarset as a staging area for their final assault upon Earth.
How could you betray your galaxy like that?
And worse, watch your... watch your friends die while you agreed to help their killers.
I don't know!
They look crazy!
They're offering me money, power, a chance to be recognized as the great scientist I was!
I'm afraid!
I'm afraid to die!
You think you have a right to live?
Save me!
I'm sorry!
Save me!
Talk to the wolves, Jebus.
Maybe they'll hear you.
Call on Belphegor.
Maybe he'll listen.
The flat Tarset.
A dead, desolate world long deserted by its people.
Here in the crumbling temple of Belphegor, the mystic god of death, while Flash fights for his life,
Dale and Dr. Zarkov are desperately trying to avoid the touch of the lethal ray emanating from the single eye of Belphegor.
In a cell nearby, Flash and the traitor Jebus, an Earth scientist who sold out to the people of Ebon,
are trapped between two slowly moving walls that threaten to crush them at any moment.
A miracle!
A miracle.
No miracle, Jebus.
The walls are so dry and crumbling that the pressure from the moving wall pulverized them.
The whole temple is ready to fall.
What are you going to do with me now?
Right now I'm interested in Dale and Dr. Zarkov, not you.
Who else is on this planet besides us?
Mesden.
Who's he?
A man from Ebon.
One of their intelligence agents.
The one who bribed me.
How many with him?
I don't know.
Some, maybe three, four.
What's behind it all?
I told you.
They want to use this planet to spearhead an invasion on our galaxy.
When, when will it begin?
Soon.
That's all I know, soon.
I was crazy.
I didn't know why I did it.
Come in, Dr. Zarkov.
And bring your charming companion.
Come in.
I am Mesden.
I am chief of intelligence to his exalted mightiness, Draco, ruler of Ebon.
Ebon?
Yes, Ebon.
You were an unexpected prize, Dr. Zarkov.
I hardly expected so impressive a bag to fall into my net.
I'm easily bored with second-rate theatrics, so why not get to the point?
Point one.
Don't look for help from Flash Gordon.
He and that idiot Jevon are dead.
By my hand.
I have spared your life, Dr. Zarkov, up to this point, because you can be of use to my
sovereign.
My services are expensive.
You can name any price.
The information we want is worth it.
And the information?
Complete plans and details of the negative gravity force you have developed.
And you must give us the method to combat it.
We must know how to smash through it so we can land our forces on Earth.
And if I refuse?
You will watch Miss Arden slowly and painfully put to death.
Well, Dr. Zarkov, what is your answer?
His answer is no.
But dearly.
My life against the millions they could take on Earth?
We have no choice, Doctor.
We'll see how brave you are, Zarkov, while you watch her slow destruction.
The death eye of Belfargo will bring you Earthlings to your knees.
Take them to the pillars.
I'm sorry, Jim.
I can't say.
I'm not scared.
Your scientific mind, Dr. Zarkov, won't accept the preposterous idea of an idol
possessing a lethal curse.
The curse of Belfargo is man-made.
It's a lethal weapon, not a curse.
You have seen the result.
Obviously, you have a paralysis ray machine sent into the idol's head.
Quite right.
A paralysis ray machine whose controlled ray cuts through organic matter,
destroying the millions of nerves,
eating its way deep into the very nerve centers until total paralysis is achieved.
You're a fiend.
Not by choice.
This is war.
Dale, I can't let them do it.
You must.
I can't.
I can't.
You must.
And you will.
Your last chance, Zarkov.
Think.
Think.
Can you stand there and watch her shrivel slowly?
The instant I lower this lever, deterioration begins.
He's not going to tell you anything, so turn on your ray.
Get it over with.
Stop talking.
Turn it on.
Very well.
But only a few degrees at first so you can feel its power.
Dale.
Dale.
Swear to me, Dr. Zarkov, you won't tell them.
No.
Swear it.
All right.
You barely felt anything.
Now let us see how brave you are, Miss Hardin.
You, Gordon, Gordon, help me.
Flash, the ray machine.
Turn it off.
Take it off.
No.
No.
No.
You'll kill us both.
Untie them.
We'll die, just as they did.
You expect me to believe you?
I'm a man of my word.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
You exaggerate, Mesden.
What?
Untie them.
Flash, how did you figure?
It's okay, Dale.
I heard him say the ray penetrates organic matter, so I slipped my watch glass over the lens of the machine.
Stopped the ray dead.
That was quick thinking.
Yeah, we've got to get out of here.
Where's Professor Jevon?
I don't know.
He sold out to Evan and led us into this trap.
It's hard to believe that.
That's true.
He admitted it to me.
We've got to get back to the Skyflash and notify Commander Richards immediately.
The invasion is about to begin.
Stand where you are.
Don't make a move.
Hey, Draco.
Who are these Earthlings?
They are those who would stand against your exalted mightiness.
Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and the bearded one is Dr. Zorkov.
Ah, so.
I know of them.
Whosoever shall stand between Draco and his destiny shall be ground into dust.
Dirt!
Take aim.
Oh!
Get back!
Let's get out of here.
Might as well.
Wait, wait.
Hold on, hold on.
Hold on.
This man, Professor Jevon, was able to topple over that huge ice cube?
How could he break it against the plate?
Sometimes a man finds strength within himself he didn't know was there.
Professor Jevon saw his chance and found the power to balance his books with a little to spare.
Flash Gordon and Skyflash 2 calling Commander Richards at GBI headquarters on Earth.
Flash Gordon calling Commander Richards.
Richards here.
Flash, I've been on tenderhooks waiting for your report.
I'll give you all the details as soon as we land, Commander.
In the meantime, you can call off all emergency defensive measures as far as an invasion from Ebon is concerned.
There will be no invasion.
Draco, tyrant of Ebon, is dead.
Flash, are you sure?
This is tremendous news.
When you release the news, Commander, one thing you must do...
Sir, Flash, what is it?
Be sure that all credit is given to Professor Jevons,
a great patriot who sacrificed his life in the service of his galaxy.
Skyflash 2 signing off.
The truth will be our secret.
Ready for takeoff. Chart a course for home, will you, Dale?
Home it is.