Wagner’s Lab

Defender Zik is led into the lab of the sinister Dr. Wagner, along with Tanaka, still held by Misha the gorillaur. The lab is full of strange equipment and a platform surrounded by large rings. Zik presses Wagner for information, hoping to buy time to prevent him from destroying the planet. But Wagner is unconcerned with the deaths of millions of Zozians, because he’s convinced he’s bestowing enlightenment instead. Zik calls him crazy.

That sets Wagner off on an angry rant about how much he contributed to the secretive Project Zoz that enabled humans to leave Earth and come to Zoz all those years ago. He continues that his new challenge has been unlocking the secrets of immortality, and amazes the others by revealing that he’s over a thousand years old already! An incredulous Tanaka asks how that’s possible, and Wagner replies that he did to himself what he’s done with everything he’s touched over the years: he repaired the flaws he perceived in the original design! Returning to the topic at hand, he promises the shocked duo enlightenment!