
Casey Ritter is the spaceman who never turns down a dare, even when it lands him in a courtroom facing a lifetime ban for smuggling forbidden Kooleen crystals. The senior judges offer a desperate bargain: venture into Jupiter’s raging Red Spot to study a mysterious anti‑gravity field generated by native insect‑like creatures, in exchange for a full pardon and a hefty reward.
The alien fauna, captured in grainy photographs, appear as towering, scorpion‑like insects that float within a violet‑tinged anti‑gravity aura, each roughly human‑sized and utterly alien to any known biology. With only his reputation for daring and a rugged ship capable of withstanding crushing pressures, Ritter must weigh the lure of scientific glory against the lethal storms of a planet that could swallow him whole, promising listeners a fast‑paced blend of humor, tension, and the unsettling awe of confronting the unknown.
Language
en
Duration
~45 minutes (43K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2020-11-05
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Best known for a handful of mid-century science fiction stories, this writer brought a light, playful touch to pulp-era ideas about Mars, robots, and the far reaches of space. Very little biographical information seems to survive, which gives the work an added air of mystery.
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