Out of This World #15

A shimmering ovoid descends from space and lands in Earth's harbor, transforming into a colossal statue-like figure that radiates such intense cold nothing can approach it. When desperate world governments unleash atomic weapons and corrosive bombs on the mysterious object, their attacks only make it grow larger—until it suddenly resumes its shimmer and departs back to the stars. Zadras returns home to his planet with an unexpected assessment of humanity's world, forever altering the fate of two civilizations.

In the subterranean world of Terra, the visionary Xondu proposes revolutionary machines to King Ozlo that would bring heat, light, and leisure to his people—but the fearful monarch refuses, fearing idleness will make workers unfit for toil. Undeterred, Xondu and his devoted followers retreat to secret tunnels to build their electrical devices in defiance, only to trigger catastrophic explosions that draw the king's wrath and imprisonment. Across ages, Xondu's cause endures through his followers' persistence, until the machines finally succeed and transform Terra into an advanced civilization—though the surface world above knows these triumphs only as earthquakes.

Luke Jason, a hungry drifter searching for work, stumbles upon a flying saucer landing near a small button factory in Pleasantville and manages to grab a strange button from the alien visitor before he escapes. When Luke examines the mysterious device, he discovers it's actually a radio transmitter—and accidentally activates it, alerting the extraterrestrials to his discovery. What unfolds is a tense race against alien technology as Luke finds himself caught between curiosity and forces far beyond his understanding.