WORLDS OF WONDER
First Published on 22nd March 1962 - 160
pages
This
book starts with a short forward that lists the previous eight books and then
defines certain astronomical words. The book then commences with Professor
Lucius Brane discussing the end of civilization on
Earth, when a signal is received from Vargo Lentos
that he intends to land. Vargo has brought with him
some photographs taken on the planet Krona, with a camera that the Professor
had given him. One photograph shows the inhabitants who all appear to be the
same age when in fact their ages vary from 20 to 300
years! After the failure to ascertain the reason for the long life spans of the
people on Dacoona, this is of interest to the
Professor. Apparently, the children of Krona grow normally until adulthood and
then eat only a particular type of bean, blue in colour. This prevents the
deterioration of cells, but the beans have to be eaten constantly. An old man,
failing to eat the beans would shrivel up and die within days. The Professor
asks to go to Krona to investigate further. Travelling in the Tavona to Mars, Rex meets his old Martian
girlfriend, Morino, who has now grown into a gorgeous
young woman. Rex has a confrontation with Rolto, who
is still very anti-Earth as he thinks the Earth people are likely to destroy
themselves with atomic weapons and this will have an adverse effect on his
world. The Professor gets permission from the High Council to travel to Krona
and they do so. Krona has suffered from fires and two strange space ships are
seen to leave. On landing at a village, it is established that the ships have
been taking people, presumably as slaves. The fire has destroyed the villagers'
supply of their life saving blue beans and without them, they will die. Tiger
Clinton comes up with the idea of arming the villagers with bows and arrows so
they can defend themselves against any future attacks. The Tavona
flies to another village to get some bags of beans as a temporary measure to
feed the people in the village in which they had first landed. It is in this
first village that a house is put at our heroes' disposal. The village is
surrounded by swamp and impassable, except for one path and that is beset with
danger, a danger the villagers refer to as Ruxor. Ruxor turns out to be a huge reptilian dragon like creature
that looks like a gargoyle. Tiger shoots it only to be attacked by more. The
mysterious space raiders return to the village only to be met by a barrage of
arrows. They leave and drop a gas bomb. Vargo uses
the jets on the Tavona to blow the gas away.
The next step is to remove the danger from the only exit path so that the
people can leave their village to find more beans. The swamp is caused by a
river that has become choked and burst its banks. Tiger decides to blow up this
natural dam, thinking it will destroy the dragon like creatures as well. The Tavona travels back to Mars to get a bomb but is
faced with a change of plan. A space ship of the Remote Survey Fleet has gone
missing and the Tavona is the only available
ship to go on a rescue mission. Rolto had already
been sent to investigate but he had also disappeared. Vargo
says he will take some bombs and return to Krona to assist the villagers after
searching for the missing space ship. Our heroes travel to the planet of Barida, the destination of the missing ship. On attempting
to land, our heroes see two space ships and recognise one of them as Rolto's. A strange force drags the Tavona
down, but by using some of the bombs on board, Vargo is able to break free. Landing, the two space ships are
investigated. One is the missing ship and the other is Rolto's
ship. The crews are nowhere to be seen. Exploring, a defensive complex is found
and here a tunnel is discovered. Here Rolto and the
others are found, having been trapped inside. Attacked by the Baridians, the inhabitants of this world, our heroes are
only saved when another hostile fleet of space ships arrive to attack the Baridians. The Tavona crew
members return to Krona and find their villager friends in a dire state. More
beans are fetched in the Tavona. The bombs are
exploded to destroy the dam and kill the dragon like creatures. Any surviving
creatures are washed away in the resulting flood. It is at this time that the
space raiders return. Tiger opens fire on one of their ships with his rifle and
manages to bring it down. The ships leave. Unfortunately, the bomb has started
volcanic activity near the village. With the path now cleared, the villagers
decide to leave and move to another friendly village where they can get
supplies of the essential beans until they can start growing their own crops
again. The Tavona leaves and returns to Mars
where our heroes spend a few days before returning to Earth. The beans that the
Professor has collected do not take to Earth soil and soon rot away.
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leaflet for the Science Fiction books
Worlds of Wonder
Subtitle - More adventures in Space
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
First Edition
Frontispiece
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Original First Edition Boards