Samuel Carston

Origin
A large derelict from the 1957 returns to Earth, crashing down on Washington D.C. in the year 2301. The city is evacuated beforehand. General Craig looks into its origins by researching old records. The craft is named the Nautilis, weighing 1,750,000 tons. The government sent it during the Venusian War I, seeking the mineral Z-71, rare on Earth but discovered plentiful on Mercury.

Major Samuel Carston lead the expedition. He had been dishonorably discharged when the Nautilis never returned. Logs found in the wreckage show the ship made it to Mercury, landing in the temperate median zone between the hot and the cold sides of the planet. There, the ship was threatened by an enormous Venusian creature. To protect the Nautilis, Carston orders the crew to take off, leaving behind some of the crew, planning to return for them later. One of the men takes off his helmet, but through a malfunction, the oxygen tanks are drained, leaving them only 36 hours of oxygen with their spacesuits.

Drowsy from lack of oxygen, spaceman #4 tries to rouse Carston to warn him of an oncoming meteor. Carston is dead from lack of oxygen. The meteor strikes the Nautilis, sending it careening off course. General Craig reads the report, convening a general court to reverse the decision on Carston, and posthumously promote Samuel to Colonel Carston. His family would be notified that Carston died in honorable service in 1957.

Public Domain Appearances

 * Space Adventures #5