
He managed to detach the command module of the Ultra Probe and perform a drastic manoeuvre that would get him back to Earth. Only Tony Cellini, the mission commander, was able to escape the creature. The creature appeared able to affect the crew member's minds and weaken their resistance to being eaten alive until it was too late. A few seconds later their smoldering skeletal corpses were subsequently spit out by the creature. The creature, apparently immune to laser fire, used a form of hypnotic inducement and its tentacles to grab the crew members and move them towards its "mouth" - a large hole at its base - and devour them. However, as soon as they opened the airlock linking the two ships, a bizarre and deadly alien creature entered the Ultra Probe and killed all but one of the crew. The Ultra Probe docked with one of the deserted alien spaceships the crew's intention was to board the alien craft and explore it. The probe's mission had been to make a manned landing on Ultra, but instead a small armada of derelict alien spacecraft were found in orbit round Ultra. Once it achieved orbit, the craft lost radio contact with Moonbase Alpha. The Ultra Probe was launched from the orbital Spacedock on June 6 1996, and after a long journey arrived at Planet Ultra in February 1997. Due to its irregular orbit, the planet would only be in range of the Ultra Probe for a limited time.

A long-range explorer ship, the Ultra Probe was designed to take a crew of four - Command Pilot Captain Tony Cellini, Astrophysicist Doctor Darwin King, Medic Doctor Monique Bouchere and Radiation Expert Professor Juliet Mackie - to the planet Ultra, which had been discovered by Professor Victor Bergman in 1994.
