Peter Fresno

Origin
Hugh Mason arrives on Mars with Peter Fresno. Hugh is interested in the science of the mission. Peter is looking for profit as well. They discover an ancient Martian city, and a museum left by the Martians. A talking statue in the museum telepathically warns earthmen of the red dust that destroyed the planet. The statue warns of the Martian knowledge falling into the wrong hands. Peter Fresno knocks out Hugh Mason and ties him up. Peter then uses the machine to evolve exponentially. He tells Hugh to return to Earth as an envoy, telling the people of Fresno's plans to become Dictator of the World. A three-month deadline is given to Hugh.

Hugh returns to Earth and informs the world of Fresno's plans. It takes some convincing, but Mason is able to get the Earth to build a space navy to attack Peter Fresno. Hugh leads the attack, which is rebuffed by Fresno's robot-manned spacecraft. On the ground, the human forces are battered by Peter's robotic army.

Three years later, Hugh returns with Linda to defeat Peter Fresno. He does so by setting off an explosion, but the shell-shocked Fresno re-enters the evolution accelerating machine. Linda and Hugh cannot get into the machine. When they do, Peter Fresno has evolved into a blob of goo.

Powers and Abilities
Peter Fresno is evolved to be superhuman in intelligence. He can communicate through mental telapathy.

Public Domain Appearances

 * Space Adventures #8