Lair of the Dragonbird

Dan Elliot has finally paid off his dream ship, the Space Needle II, but his celebration in a grimy Venusian bar quickly turns violent. A sudden brawl leaves him bloodied and unconscious, only to awaken in an upscale office where a corpulent official and his hulking enforcer await. They reveal they know he witnessed the legendary Dragonbird in the jungle and want him to guide them to the creature, promising a lucrative payout—and a subtle threat to his pilot’s license.

Caught between a mysterious entity that may be flesh, metal, or something beyond, and the calculating Commissioner Housten Blayne, Elliot must decide whether to betray the jungle’s sacred secret or risk his newfound freedom. The story blends gritty barroom scuffles with the lure of an otherworldly hunt, setting the stage for a tense trek through Venus’s exotic shadows where every alliance is suspect.