Jupiter Jones, naked and helpless in the slime of
that vile world, cursed the space warp that had
flung him down among its groveling mutants. For
their rising, excited whispers proclaimed him a
knight in shining armor—the bright weapon in his
hands their only hope against the terrible octopods!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1949.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The Mizar, a glittering needle with stubby, backswept wings, hurtledout of deep space, arced into orbital flight a thousand kilometersabove the surface of the planet. The starship had approached from thenight side. Now, as it decelerated rapidly, it flashed into the raworange daylight of the planet's K1 type sun, angled downward into thestratosphere.
Inside the Mizar's control blister, Jupiter Jones lifted red-rimmedeyes to the fuel gauge. It showed only a few centigrams left. Littlemore than enough to land.
He swore under his breath, hunched lower over the controls, a long,loose-framed man with a shock of red hair and vivid green eyes. Theolive uniform of the Galactic Colonization Board was wrinkled as ifit had been slept in, and he had allowed his beard to grow. The bushyorange-red mass of it hid his face almost to the eyes.
He was alone in the ship. He'd been alone, operating the Mizarsingle-handed since Briggs, his co-pilot, had gone crazy and killedhimself.
It had been a damned inconsiderate thing for Briggs to do, Jones felt.Not that he could altogether blame the co-pilot.
They had blundered into a space warp beyond Alpha Centaurus. The Mizarhad been flung into an uncharted region of the cosmos, hundreds,perhaps thousands of parsecs from Sol. Hopelessly lost, the chance ofever finding their way back to Earth had been slimmer than trying tolocate one certain atom of oxygen in Earth's envelope of air. Briggshad cracked under the strain.
When the co-pilot had failed to relieve him at the end of his watch,Jupiter Jones had switched the controls over to "George," the robotpilot, and had gone in search of him. He'd found Briggs dead in hisbunk. An analysis of his stomach had revealed that he'd taken cyanide.There had been no note. Nothing.
He had recorded the tragedy in the log along with a biting opinion ofthe Psychiatric Board for allowing a man with a flaw in his psychosisto be assigned to advance exploration. Then he'd heaved the body outthe refuse port.
Well, he was still lost, Jupiter Jones reflected savagely. Fortunatelythough, he'd discovered this huge K1 type sun with its system of sevenplanets while he still had fuel enough to reach it.
Spectroscopic observations had revealed that the second planetpossessed an atmosphere high in oxygen and showing traces of watervapor. It was a small world about the size of Mars and uncomfortablyclose to its flaming orange sun, but it had been his only bet.
He glanced obliquely at the fuel gauge again. His lips thinned, and hedropped his eyes to the scanner.
Immediately, the surface seemed to bounce up at him. Dense jungles. Thesheen of an inland sea. The terrain flowed past like an immense reliefmap.
Then he saw the city.
It rose at the edge of the sea, all turrets and spires and battlementslike a walled medieval town. He caught a glimpse of quays with shipswarped against them, of cultivated fields like a vast checkerboard.Then the Mizar had flashed past. The city seemed to dwindle and vanish,only the sparkle of orange sunlight on the spires lingering an instantlonger.
Jupiter Jones blew out hi