Plot
In Tanganyika, Professor Heidegang discovers in the lake of the Ngorongoro crater a secret entrance leading to a sort of sanctuary. He seizes a ring as proof of his discovery but menacing men appear and he flees, wounded in the thigh. In London, professor Philip Mortimer, fatigued and suffering from memory problems since his experience in the sarcophagi of Açoka, is recommended by his doctor to rest. Nastasia Wardynska, of the CSIR, brings the results of the analysis of the rock he brought back from Antarctica: it is a 350 million year old gold and diamond rock on which is engraved enigmatic signs that would prove the existence of a civilization at that time.
At the Centaur Club, Mortimer shares his discoveries with his friend Captain Francis Blake, who had to go to France to meet Professor Labrousse, their French meteorologist friend, about his invention, Subglacior II. Mortimer goes to the Daily Mail archives where Mr Stone shows him an article on Dr. Heidegang that says paleontologists Mr and Mrs Leaky had been found delusional and clasping in their hands a ring engraved with the same enigmatic signs. On his return home, Mortimer immerses himself in reading his memories and discovers that the writer and amateur archaeologist Sarah Summertown, with whom he had an adventure in his youth, is a friend of the Leakys. In the archives of the Daily Mail, a mysterious man manages to consult the article on Prof. Heidegang by posing as Mortimer's assistant to Mr Stone. The next day, Mortimer goes to Sarah Summertown for the first time in many years. After having told each other their lives, Sarah agrees to help Mortimer on the condition that she accompany him on her adventure, and later Nastasia imposes her presence on him too.
At the London airport, Mortimer, Sarah and Nastasia board for Nairobi under the surveillance of the mysterious man. In the plane, Sarah talks to them of artifacts engraved with the same enigmatic signs found in the four corners of the world, which could indicate the existence of a civilization at the time of the unique continent of Gondwana. In London, the mysterious man enters Blake's house during the night and threatens the captain with a pistol. He just asks him to listen to what he has to say and gives him his gun as a pledge of good faith. The next day, Blake takes the plane and goes to Antarctica with Professor Labrousse to take a delivery of a mysterious cargo. Meanwhile, the mysterious man is handed a passport, a plane ticket to Nairobi and cash by David Honeychurch, who has received these instructions from his superior Blake. Arriving at his destination, he settles in the same hotel as Mortimer and his two friends, and turns out to be Colonel Olrik in disguise. Meanwhile, Mortimer, Sarah and Nastasia are in the hospital to visit the delirious Dr. Heidegang. Mortimer manages to make contact with Heidegang by speaking German and learns that the guardians of Gondwana demand that the ring be returned to them.
The three friends fly to Arusha, accompanied by Olrik in disguise who has managed to be invited by Nastasia. They find their guide Bombo, with whom they leave the next day in an all-terrain car for the crater of the Ngorongoro. Meanwhile, Olrik helps Uru, a young Maasai at the market, which causes him to fall into a trap. He is recognized by Razul the Bezendjas, his former henchman, who convinces him to team up to share the riches of the lost civilization of Gondwana. With the airship of Youssef, another former accomplice of Olrik, the three criminals can follow without being seen from the car carrying Motimer, Sarah, Nastasia, Bombo and Uru. When crossing a river, Nastasia falls into the water and is carried by the current to a bank downstream where she finds herself facing a lion. Uru, who has followed, fights the lion and eventually kills it before succumbing to his wounds. The young woman now faces a pack of African wild dogs and is saved by shots fired from an airship where she recognizes Olrik without believing it. Mortimer, Sarah and Bombo finally arrive at Nastasia after escaping the charge of a herd of elephants and the overthrow of their car. That evening, they attend the funeral of Uru in his village.
The next day, Mortimer, Sarah, Nastasia and Bombo arrive at the Ngorongoro crater and plunge into the lake to find the secret entrance, not knowing that Olrik and Razul are right behind them. The four adventurers enter the sanctuary where they are quickly encircled by threatening guards, only protected by the ring. A translucent disc called Life tells them that they are in the Sanctuary of Life and then invites them to come forward to discover it. They find themselves in a huge room with an extraordinary machine and Life explains to them: more than 300 million years ago, a civilization developed like theirs, but before the tensions engendered by growing injustices, scientists created an incubator to spawn new individuals if humanity were to disappear, which eventually happened. Olrik and Razul appear and threaten Mortimer, Sarah, Nastasia and Bombo with their weapons. Olrik makes an astonishing revelation: since their experience of the Açoka sarcophagi, Mortimer's body is controlled by the spirit of Olrik while the spirit of Mortimer is stuck in the body of the criminal. The proof is Mortimer's signature, which is related to the mind and not the body. This revelation leads to confusion among the protagonists who no longer know whom to believe and threaten each other. Faced with this distressing spectacle, Life decides to send them back to the outside world, having erased their memory of the place in order to protect the incubator.
On the shore of the lake, Olrik (in the body of Mortimer) is arrested by Captain Blake whom Mortimer (in Olrik's body) had convinced of his good faith in London. All of them board the seaplane of Lord Archibald Mac Auchentoshan, a billionaire protector of nature, which carries the Açoka sarcophagi found by Professor Labrousse in the ruins of the Indian Antarctic base. Mortimer thus regains his own body and proves it thanks to his writing. The sarcophagi are then thrown into the sea, never to be found again.
Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by the Belgian writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Les Editions du Lombard.
Atlantis Mystery by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the seventh comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine from March 30, 1955 to May 30, 1956. It appeared in book format in 1957.
The Time Trap by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the ninth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It appeared in book format in 1962.
The Yellow "M" by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs is the sixth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was first published in Tintin magazine between 6 August 1953 and 3 November 1954 and later appeared in book form in 1956.
The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 1: Manetho's Papyrus by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the fourth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine from March 23, 1950 to February 21, 1951. It appeared in book format in 1954.
The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 2: The Chamber of Horus by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the fifth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine.
S.O.S. Meteors: Mortimer in Paris is the eighth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It was first published in Tintin magazine.
Professor Sató's 3 Formulae, Volume 1: Mortimer in Tokyo is the eleventh book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was written and drawn by Edgar P. Jacobs and was the last book of the series to be drawn by him.
Professor Sató's 3 Formulae, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer was the twelfth book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was started by Edgar P. Jacobs but after his death, completed by Bob de Moor, and was finally published in 1990.
The Francis Blake Affair was the thirteenth Blake and Mortimer book and the first one not to be written by Edgar P. Jacobs. It was published in 1996.
The Voronov Plot is the fourteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series. It was released in 2000.
The Strange Encounter is the fifteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer series created by Edgar P. Jacobs. Published in 2001, it was written by Jean Van Hamme and drawn by Ted Benoit who had already contributed to the series with The Francis Blake Affair in 1996. Whereas that book dealt with espionage, this story combines elements of detective and science fiction of the sort present in Jacobs' original stories.
The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 1: The Universal Threat is the sixteenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series.
The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 2: Battle of the Minds is the seventeenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series.
The Curse of the Thirty Denarii is the nineteenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series. The story was written by Jean Van Hamme. Its completion was delayed with the death of the artist, René Sterne, on 15 November 2006. The book was completed by Sterne's girlfriend Chantal de Spiegeleer and was released on 20 November 2009.
The Secret of The Swordfish was the first story in the Blake and Mortimer comic album series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It describes how a far eastern empire takes over the world and the adventures of two Britons as they try to bring about the development of a weapon which will enable them to fight back. Drawing elements from the recent events of World War II as well as the emerging Cold War, the trilogy is set in an alternate reality of the 1950s, in which a Third World War is played out.
The Oath of the Five Lords is the twenty-first Blake and Mortimer book in the series. The story was written by Yves Sente. The book was drawn by André Juillard and was released on the 16 November 2012.
Plutarch's Staff is the 23rd adventure in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard and Étienne Schréder, with color by Madeleine de Mille. The volume was released on December 5, 2014. It was pre-published as a series of daily comic strips beginning in April 2014 in Le Soir, and repeated in the summer in Le Télégramme. The title refers to the scytale, a military coding system and one of the oldest messages in history.
The Septimus Wave is the twenty-second book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It is written by Jean Dufaux, illustrated by Antoine Aubin and Etienne Schréder and released in 2013. The book is a sequel to The Yellow "M" and deals with Colonel Olrik's past with Septimus.
The Testament of William S. is the twenty-fourth album of the comic series Blake and Mortimer, written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard, based on the characters created by Edgar P. Jacobs.