CHAPTER 1

JON KIRK AGAIN!

A year had passed—a long and silent twelve months since I had last heard any word of my friend, Jon Kirk. Jon Kirk who had mysteriously been transported to the wild warlike planet of Ares. His is a very complicated story. Sadly, my childhood friend had been killed in action in Vietnam in the Battle of Hue. I had even buried his body in a local cemetery back here in the States years ago. I wept deeply and thought that was the end of him at the time, but it appears that for a man such as Jon Kirk, death was only the beginning of his strange adventures.

Then one hot summer night one year ago I had the most unexpected visitor. At first I thought it was the image of some ethereal ghost—and in some ways it was—but it was no ghost at all.

It was my friend, Jon Kirk!

Jon Kirk who had seemingly returned from the dead! Well, to say I was absolutely shocked and stunned would not be near the truth of my reaction to seeing him again. He calmly gave me an enigmatic smile and told me that his image was being transported to me through the emptiness of deep space from faraway Ares. It was all due to an ancient machine controlled by the Ares arch mage and master scientist Tar-gool. I hardly knew what to make of it all back then.

So I invited my old friend into my home and we sat together all that long night in rapt conversation as he told me his strange adventures upon the planet Ares. I remember it all now like it had been yesterday. He told me in detail about the mysterious war-like and long-lived green-skinned humans of that barbaric world; the horrid Winged-men of Zar, truly terrible monsters; of his only true love, the beautiful Lady Sirah, who he would make his wife, and so many other heroes and villains. He spoke of his true fast friends; the great warrior and general, Zaor, who was also Sirah’s brother; Sahn Jor; Ar-men and many more who fought side-by-side with him to free the green people of Ares from the cruel yoke of the devilish Winged-men of Zar. Then he told me how he founded a new Green Empire and was crowned the Emperor of Ares, even as a great battle for survival was about to commence to determine whether the green people would really be able to keep their new found freedom.

Then Jon Kirk’s image had suddenly flickered out of focus and soon disappeared. I was frantic, but the image was gone. I had not heard from him for some time after that night. Then one day last week I heard from a friend who told me he had been in contact with Jon Kirk! I wondered how and why that was possible but he would not explain, only telling me that Jon had promised him to secrecy. He then told me that Jon was sorry but he would not be visiting me for a while. I was seriously disappointed. My feelings were even a bit hurt by this news. However, my friend next told me that Jon had made it possible for a manuscript of his recent adventures to be made available to me. He said that I should watch my mail box for a package from him in the coming days, and that it would contain a typed manuscript that had been dictated to him over deep space transmission by Jon Kirk himself, to be delivered only to me to read.

Today that package came in the morning mail!

Now I held the package in my hands and hurriedly ripped off the brown paper. My eager fingers trembling with anticipation and wonderment as I opened the package bursting with curiosity at what new adventures might be written on those plain paper pages. Adventures that Jon Kirk would tell me that took place on a mysterious far away world, the planet Ares.

There was a brief preamble note included therein written in Jon‘s usual terse to-the-point simple style:

To my good friend of so many years, here is the manuscript of my next adventure upon the planet Ares, as promised to you one year ago. I have also included a map of the two continents of Ares drawn by an artist from my notes, which I hope you find useful. I must apologize that I am unable to personally visit you this time as I have in the past.

I can only put it down to the unpredictability of Tar-gool’s wondrous machine that seems to be on the fritz again, and the fact that there is so much happening here on Ares at the moment. Things have become very volatile. I hope you do not mind too much me using this manuscript as a replacement for a personal visit. Fear not, I still live! And I still have a story to tell!

Well, I began to read the manuscript with great eagerness, my hands trembling with anticipation as I turned each page. It began with what was an introduction by Jon Kirk himself about his new life upon the planet Ares.

“To all who read these words, I am Jon Kirk, a proud American and Earthman who has been proclaimed Emperor of what we now call the new Green Empire upon the planet Ares—a planet far away in the Orion star system. Today as I transmit these words to you through deep space by way of a special thought machine, I sit upon a fine couch with my lovely wife, the Empress Lady Sirah, in the royal palace of the glorious city of Tarcos. Tarcos is our capital city, it has been rebuilt and attained much of its previous pre-Zar glory, a lovely city which has been lately freed from the Zaran winged monsters.

“It is now a full year since the last of the Zaran occupied cities on Ares was liberated by my army of green warriors. The Greens—or green people of Ares are now free. I have been asked to become emperor of the green-skinned race upon the planet Ares—a position I neither sought nor wanted—but one I realize must be accepted. As such I now have many serious responsibilities that weight heavily upon me. Power does place a heavy weight upon those who do not desire it, but I only serve to lead my people to freedom and to protect my beloved wife, Sirah. Now I have an army to create, cities to rebuild, and an empire to defend after many centuries of persecution and slavery from the Winged-men of Zar. There is so much work to do.

“Freeing the green people of this world—for Ares is a world of green-skinned humans—has proved a long and bloody task. Victory has been sweet but tragic and drenched in blood, though the enemy is finally defeated and on the run. However it troubles me that there are still some groups of winged devils lurking in dark corners of our lands. These seem to be mostly small roving bands of raiders who have so far eluded my imperial patrols, and the warriors of my personal bodyguard, the famed Black Dragons. As Emperor, I have ordered forces out day and night to eradicate the Winged-men menace from Ares, and if that means killing every last one of the flying monsters that we find, then I was ready to do so. As Emperor, I have given the order—death to the Winged-men!

“Still and all it vexed me that there were still many bands of them that had so far eluded capture and justice. These were becoming dangerous as they grew more desperate and hungry. Hungry for the flesh of the Greens— the green-skinned peoples I now rule. They were now my people too. So now I work for the day when these last few bloody monsters can be captured and dealt with. Only then will I feel secure that this new empire I now rule as best I am able for the benefit of the green people of Ares—will grow and prosper. While events seemed to indicate that the winged menace is a thing of the past and that all Winged-men are doomed to eventual extinction, little did I realize that this was but the calm before a mighty storm that would rock the planet Ares and the empire I have founded to its very foundation. Here is how the events of that story came about.”