El coloso del espacio

# "El Coloso del Espacio" by Joseph Berna

This science fiction serial, issue #425 in Editorial Bruguera's "La Conquista del Espacio" (The Conquest of Space) collection, published October 1978, opens with an encounter at a space observatory. Lyon Kerns, a pilot with the Terrestrial Air Forces, visits the new station doctor, Ingrid Ebsen, claiming insomnia. The extended scene between them—filled with flirtation, banter about age and marriage, and a physical examination—establishes their chemistry. When an emergency broadcast from Observatory Director Raoul Walsh summons the Z-81 squadron to the launch pad, Lyon hastily dresses and rushes out after impulsively kissing the doctor. The narrative cuts to the launch terrace where Kerns joins Commander Zack Axley and his squadron, though the full emergency remains unrevealed at the excerpt's end.