What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath is the third issue of The Incal, and part of the first volume of The Incal saga. It's divided in five chapters. In this issue John travels to the Center of the Planet and the two Incals are finally reunited.

This issue also offers the first look at the different political parties in the Human Galaxy and their intrigues.

It was published in 1984 by Les Humanoïdes Associés. It was written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, illustrated by Moebius and colored by Isabelle Beaumenay-Joannet.

Psychorats
The group ends up encountering a whirlpool, which pulls them to an underground river. The river leads them to a huge garbage dump, where they have a rough landing (leaving Tanatah unconscious).They get cornered by dangerous Psychorats, but Animah (who is the Queen of Rats) appears and explains to them that Psychorats grow and multiply with human fear and they need to empty their minds to be safe. After doing this, they keep heading towards the Center, mounting in three stabilized Psychorats. The Necrodroid, who's also pursuing John and the Incal, uses his prezidential data-feed to transmit everything that's happening to all the Human Galaxy.

Through the Filth
The Seven Companions circumvent a nest of flying leeches and reach the Light of the Center, which comes from a shining ball, the Interior Sun. Animah senses the Necrodroid approaching, so they decide to call on the Incal by uniting the power of the Two Incals, closing the whirlpool through which they arrived and damaging the Necrodroid in the process. Meanwhile, a storm starts brewing and The Seven look for shelter in a nearby old storage container. During the storm they maximize their time by healing Tanatah with the power of the Incals.

The Necrodroid assumes a new form as a bipedal giant robot. While Solune is talking with the Metabaron about Animah (who is her mother) Gorgo and his horde of mutants attack The Seven, but they manage to escape by flying the container towards the''' Tower at the base of the Beam. Inside the Tower there’s a labyrinth (where Metabaron explains to Solune that he’s actually not his biological father) which leads to the door of the Interior Sun, but to open it they need to achieve total peace with each other. In the meantime the Necrodroid starts breaking through the labyrinth. Once they achieve the state of peace The Seven are lifted towards the Interior Sun of the Mythical Lands of Center Earth.

The Golden Planet
Meanwhile, near the center of the Human Galaxy, the starship Hope, with Raimo on command,is planning to materialize in the middle of the Imperial General Assembly, hoping that what they’re bringing with them will prove that there's an active conspirancy against the Emperoress. In the Golden Planet the Assembly is indeed taking place, and The Emperoress (the “Perfect Androgyne”) is being informed about the disturbances in the Galaxy caused by the Shadow Egg. The Technos feel like the Technoguild is being unfairly blamed for it, and they have the support of the Ekonomats and the Magnats (leaded by Iman Horlog), and they demand a vote of no confidence. The Colonial planets and the Troglosocialiks, on the other hand, side with the megaholiness. Suddenly Raimo and his crew appear with their starship, revealing definitive proof of treason against the Emperoress: he has caught Iman Horlog’s hunchbacks, Ekonomat representatives, and Techno scientists building another Egg.

Suddenly, Greyfield, the Emperoress’ Mentrek, releases the Purple Endoguards, killing the Emperoress and arresting Raimo’s crew. The coup d'état has succeded: The Perfect Androgyne is seemingly dead, Iman Horlog becomes the head of a puppet government that’s under the secret control of the Techno-centreur, and Raimo’s crew is dumped into Aquaend, the prison-planet.

The Crystal Forest
Back in Terra, Tanatah is reunited with the Arhats, the ancient guardians of the Interior Sun. Meanwhile, the Necrodroid rips a crystal from the floor, and uses it to activate the anti-grw lift to pass through the door of light, despite the fact that it could destroy him. The Seven Companions pass through The Mirror, a vibrating doorway that leads to the Miraculous Forest of Singing Crystals. Once there, they can’t brush against the trees, because the sound will resonate throughout the forest and put them to sleep. However, Deepo is curious and ends up touching the tip of a crystal, making all fall asleep.

The crystal has deteriorated the Necrodroid’s shell, so it morphs into the Necro-panzer and breaks through The Mirror, waking up The Seven. They get up and arrive to an enormous spiral ramp, which they climb and then descend inside it, finding the Doorway of Transfiguration.

The Doorway of Transfiguration
In the Doorway, each of the Seven Companions serves as a key, and Solune’s power allows them to form an entity of transdimensional energy, and to transport to “another space in another time”. There, they arrive to the pyramid island, the interdimensional nexus point where the two Incals can be united as one. At this crucial moment, Animah reveals that John is the biological father of Solune. When the Incals are reunited Solune becomes the consciousness of a starship that has the abilities of the Incal and is shaped in the form of the two merged pyramids.

Solune's adoption
The events mentioned in Through the Filth regarding Solune's adoption would later be the basis for a short story, In the Heart of the Impregnable Metabunker, which in turn would be a starting point for The Saga of the Metabarons spin-off.

Other Issues

 * 1) The Black Incal (1981)
 * 2) The Luminous Incal (1982)
 * 3) What Lies Beneath (1984)
 * 4) What is Above (1985)
 * 5) The Fifth Essence: The Dreaming Galaxy (1988)
 * 6) The Fifth Essence: Planet DiFool (1988)