
On the sweltering, fog‑shrouded jungles of Venus, the native creature known as Klon slithers through the acidic marshes, driven by a desperate hunger for a strange, gleaming shadow that has appeared in a cleared crater. The light is said to grant unrivaled power, and Klon’s rivals—including the charismatic leader Valok—are racing to claim it before the planet’s new council selects its next ruler. As the alien’s translucent eyes reflect the alien glow, his instinctive drive pushes him toward a confrontation that could reshape the hierarchy of his species.
Meanwhile, three Earth astronauts—Kurt, Frank and Professor Kent—have just crash‑landed their experimental ship on the same alien plain, their mission to secure proof of life on Venus now hanging by a thread. Exhausted but determined, they must quickly repair their vessel and decide whether to engage the hostile native or flee back to the safety of their craft. Their uneasy alliance with the planet’s most dangerous predator promises a tense first encounter that will test both human ingenuity and Klon’s relentless ambition.
Language
en
Duration
~12 minutes (11K 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
2020-04-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1911–1979
A pulp-era science fiction writer and editor, he helped shape the pages of Planet Stories in the 1940s and also wrote for early television. His work ranges from fast, adventurous space tales to crime, western, and mystery stories.
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