TO OUTER SPACE
First Published on 12th September 1957 -
184 pages
After
being again collected from Glensalich Castle by Vargo, Borron and their crew, the
Professor, Tiger, Toby and Rex return to space after a three month gap. Vargo tells them all about the planet Ando whilst they
travel to Mars and Rex sees another spaceship which appears to be
technologically superior to their spacecraft, the Tavona.
Landing on Mars, our heroes are amazed at the progress of the work of
reconstruction of the planet. Rex meets Rolto, who
warns that he believes the mysterious ships that are being seen, spell danger.
Flying on to first Mino and then the planet Marlok, a
stone age planet, they find it to be under observation
from one of the unknown spaceships. The unknown ship lands and is attacked by
the inhabitants of Marlok. It tries to take off, but
crashes into the forest. The Tavona flies on
the Ando. Here, the peace loving and unarmed Andoans
are startled to learn that the planet Lornica in the Andoan system has been attacked by the mysterious unknown
spaceships. Rex is teaching the local boys football, when three unknown
spaceships arrive on Ando. These ships land and kill some harmless Andoans. Tiger gets his rifle and shoots three of the
invaders dead and this prompts the ships to leave. One of the ships later
crashes probably bought down by Tiger's rifle. Borron
takes Toby back to Earth in the Tavona to get
more rifles. Tiger, Rex and Vargo go on another
spaceship on a recognisance flight to Lornica, where
survivors of the attack on the planet are found hiding out in caves. Here a
spaceship attacks them with some sort of heat ray weapon. Tiger is convinced
that only one ship has this weapon and resolves to attack it on the ground.
Tiger leads the raid and manages to sabotage the spaceship. More fighting takes
place and eventually the Tavona returns.
Suddenly and bizarrely, the hostile spaceships leave, only to be pursued by a
fleet of twenty small, black, cigar-shaped objects, spacecraft of a type as yet
unseen. This new fleet destroys the hostile ships. The new spacecraft then
start to drop white bombs, which seem to spread a deadly gas that spreads like
water. Our heroes leave Lornica in the spacecraft
they came in. Landing on a planet of flowers, a crewmember is badly poisoned by
their stings. Moving on to a planet of insects, our heroes see an Andoan ship crash and rescue some survivors. When the
insects of the planet start to make their presence felt, the spacecraft our
heroes are in is captured by a flight of the hostile black spaceships and
dragged by some form of tractor beam. They are released when the black ships
encounter a fleet of the original unknown spaceships and a battle commences
between the two fleets. However, they now find themselves lost in space! Rex sees a bright fog covered planet and realises it is Lornica - now covered by the lethal gas that was released
there. Returning to Ando, everyone is surprised to see one of the original
mysterious spaceships there. It is one that Tiger has attempted to sabotage.
Two of the crew have been wounded and Toby tends to them. Cordial relations are
then established between the different beings and it is hoped that there is no
more need for hostilities. The Tavona then
takes everybody back to Mino and then onto Mars, before returning them to the
Professor's home in Scotland.
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advertising leaflet for the Science Fiction books
To Outer Space
Subtitle - The fourth space voyage of Rex Clinton as one of
Professor Brane's companions in exploration. Not only
does the party find strange new worlds in Outer Space, but they also run into
interplanetary war - in which "Tiger" Clinton's RAF experience is
very useful.
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
First Edition
Frontispiece
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Original first edition boards