The
Asgardians and the Gramosians stand in awe of Xorr the God-Jewel standing
before them and announcing its plan to conquer their portion of reality,
wielding the power of Sif and Karnilla. Xorr shakes the ground knocking
everyone unconscious; they awaken underground where Mercurio, the
Fourth-Dimensional Man suggests they make common cause against their powerful
enemy but Thor is dubious….
Trapped
within the God-Jewel, Sif and Karnilla worry about their safety in any upcoming
action by either side. Xorr tries to calm them by giving an account of its
origin. Six million years ago their sun was about to go nova; the inhabitants
of the planet Xorr built machines to create a protective shell around their
world so that the power of the nova shot them across the galaxy, over the
centuries the shell shrank and crystalized so that the world because a
God-Jewel and it embedded in the asteroid where it still resides and now the
time has come for Xorr to take its place in the universe as gods….
Thor
and company (Odin, Heimdall, Hogun, Fandral, Hildegarde, Tana Nile,
Silas Grant) explore the center of the asteroid and discover the other miners;
Mercurio attacks them and the Jewel, sensing conflict, is launched into space
by means of huge machinery attached to it, turning it into a spaceship piloted
by the three original miners. Thor and company board the Starjammer and set out
in pursuit. The two craft exit the Dark Nebula for space. The miners use a
tractor beam to hurl asteroids at the Starjammer but Thor is able to steer past
them. Meanwhile, Thor and Odin take the time to reconcile after their quarrel
in issue #205. The miners fire anti-molecular rays but Thor hurls Mjolnir and
destroys their gun. An Asgardian boarding party jumps on the enemy ship,
smashing through the dome, the two crews fighting for control. Thor leaps to
the jewel to free Sif but she warns him not to as in mere moments they will be drained
of all energy, becoming part of the jewel forever; the Jewel takes on a
humanoid form and reveals some facts to Thor….
Odin,
leading the Asgardians, defeats the miners by destroying a molecular destructor
by seizing it with his bare hand. When Thor returns, he tells them that they
are finished: should one atom of the Jewel be damaged, they will all die….