add insult to injury, Valérian's jet pack breaks down and he has to be rescued by the Lannings. The Lannings are finding this very amusing and ask Valérian to show them another machine. He demonstrates a personal shield – the chief puts one on and Valérian throws rocks at him showing that they bounce off the shield. Then one of the other natives steps forward and bursts the shield just by flicking it with his finger. Valérian then gives up and returns to the camp dejected. The natives ask what's wrong and he explains that he was to demonstrate his technology so they would accept the communications relay. He shows them a model of the relay and the Lannings are so impressed with how pretty it looks they immediately agree that it can be built on their land. Valérian returns to Galaxity and tries not to laugh when his superiors congratulate him on showing the Lannings the triumph of Galaxity's technology. Funny Specimens (Droles de Specimens) First published in Super Pocket Pilote, Issue 7 (19 March 1970) Valérian, accompanied by Laureline and two technocrats from Galaxity – Myril, a biochemist and Astair, a mathematician – has set up a laboratory at the pole of the planet Malpalm. The pole marks the meeting point between four spatio-temporal faults that form four discrete zones on the planet. In Zone A, time moves very quickly and lifeforms age rapidly there. In Zone B, time moves in reverse. In Zone C, everything continually shrinks in size. And in Zone D, everything continually grows in size. Astair has calculated that humans can survive in each zone for 12 minutes before they are affected by the conditions there. The mission is to bring back samples from each of the Zones for analysis. The first expeditions will be to Zones A and C and will be conducted by Myril and Astair respectively while Valérian and Laureline monitor their progress. Myril enters Zone A to bring back some birds and Astair enters Zone C to bring back some dragonflies. After 10 minutes, Laureline warns both of them to start making their way back but there is no answer from either. Valérian heads into Zone A to rescue Myril. Reaching the spot where Myril was last seen, he discovers that Myril had inadvertently got trapped in the cage he was meant to put his specimen in and has aged