RETURN TO MARS
First Published on 8th September 1955 -
160 pages
Professor
Brane, 'Tiger' Clinton, his son Rex and the
Professor's butler, Judkins, travel back to Mars.
They are joined by a fifth companion, Squadron Leader Clarence Paul M.D.,
nicknamed 'Toby' on account of his looks. Nearly a year has passed since the
events of 'Kings of Space' and the Professor has designed and
constructed a new and larger 'Spacemaster
II' to travel through space. The Professor has also produced a new
insecticide to deal with the mosquitoes. This is not a poison but an organic
compound calculated to set up a hunger phobia in which the insects not only
gorge themselves to death but also pass on the deadly dose. They initially land
on Phobos again, in the same place they did
previously. Here, where previously there was one body, there are now three.
Going on to Mars, our heroes are astonished by the size of the mosquito swarms.
They return to the original City on Mars that there arrived at before and they
name it Utopia, for want of a better name. The Professor begins the spraying of
the insecticide and some strange side-effects are noticed. Rex sees a large
mosquito and then an enormous ant and bat. Visiting several houses in Utopia,
our heroes find a man still alive but apparently dreadfully ill. He is dressed
in clothes that look Roman or ancient Greek. The man is able to speak through
Rex, using a form of telepathy. Toby treats him and finds out his name is Vargo. Vargo recovers at a
phenomenal rate and begins to learn to speak English. He is vastly intelligent
and over a period of time soon picks up the basics. Rex has an encounter with a
giant snake. The Professor's insecticide is proving to be very effective, but
creatures are growing to great size as are the plants, the concoction acting as
a tremendous fertiliser. Time passes and eventually Vargo
is able to give an explanation of sorts. His name is Vargo
Lentos, his second name being the planet where he was born. An ancient world
called Kraka, near to Jupiter was destroyed in an
unexplained catastrophe and the entire Solar System was changed. Mars had been
devastated and the Martian inhabitants that had survived had gone to live on
other worlds, until they were able to return to their original home. Water,
being a first consideration, had led to canals being dug on Mars, but a weed
had appeared from which had come insects in countless numbers, bringing death
in such numbers that the survivors had fled back to their temporary homes on
the planetoids. Vargo was the last survivor of a
scientific party trying to find a way of dealing with the mosquito problem. Vargo is asked why they never tried to colonise Earth and
he delivers a bombshell by telling everybody that a tiny planet (named Vontor) is on a collision course with Earth and will drag
away the atmosphere. The heat by friction will scorch Earth to a cinder! The
next morning, as plans are being discussed about how to save the Earth, Rex
sees his father, Tiger, being captured by the crew of another spacecraft and
taken away! Vargo recognises the description of the
ship as being that of Rolto Mino, a captain of the
Remote Survey Fleet. Vargo believes Rolto would have taken Tiger to his home planet of Mino,
which is also the home of the High Council. Travelling to Mino (which on Earth
has been called Ceres) they are intercepted by Rolto's
craft. His crew use the strength of their alien will power to try to drag the Spacemaster into the gravity of Jupiter and so
destroy it. Saved by other alien spaceships, at last our heroes make it to the
relative safety of Mino. Rolto has fallen out with
the High Council due to his aggressive views about Earth and is now on the
planet Lentos. Rex and Toby are allowed to travel with Vargo,
in an alien spacecraft that is being sent to go and collect Rolto.
Rolto is captured and Tiger is rescued. Returning to
Mino to collect the Professor it is then onto Vontor
as the High Council has been persuaded to help to destroy it before it can
collide with Earth. Vontor is destroyed by the
Minoans by using an atomic bomb exploded by heat reflected from the sun.
Returning to Minos, Rex meets a local girl called Morino
and gets to try wing flying, a local fun activity enabled by the different
gravity on Minos. Passing the time, Tiger, Toby and Rex get to visit a planet
where the vegetation rules supreme. When the time comes to return to Mars and
then Earth, the Spacemaster is given a tow by
a Minoan spacecraft captained by Gator Faro. This turns out to be very
fortunate as a minor accident seriously damages the Spacemaster.
The steel walls appear to have become rotten and begin to crumble. Our heroes,
(including the rarely mentioned butler, Judkins), are
able to transfer over to the Minoan craft. The Spacemaster
is to be dropped on Phobos, in case anything needs to
be salvaged at a future date. Our heroes return to the Professor's Scottish
home and have a friendly confrontation with a journalist out looking for
'Flying Saucers'.
Click
here to see the story illustrations from this book
Click here to see an original
advertising leaflet for the Science Fiction books
Return to Mars
Subtitle - Professor Brane and his
crew, of Kings of Space fame, return in their spaceship to Mars, to
investigate the situation there again, to see whether they can find any
inhabitants, and to try out the effect of a new insecticide. They find more
than they have bargained for, but, in spite of the dangers involved for them,
it turns out to be a good thing for Earth that they did go back.
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Original first edition boards