The Planet Man! The Planet Man! The Planet Man! Man! This is the fascinating story of Danco the Planet Man. The troubleshooter for the League of Planet's organization. The law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world. Whose headquarters and center of operations are situated on the capital of all the planets, Planaria Rest. From Mercury to Pluto, wherever danger threatens the universe, you will find Danco the Planet Man fighting for fair play. In a moment, The Planet Man. You will remember that the Planet Man, Pat, Jane and Billy Darrow, had just uncovered the traitorous plot of Tuma, Minister of Security of Venus, to overthrow the government and barely escape with their lives. Their visit to Venus ended. We find them now about to take off from Mercury, their next stop on a tour of the League of Planets. Spaceship Planetia requesting clearance for blast off. The field is clear Planet Man, you can blast off at once. Here we go! Gosh, I don't think I'll ever get used to blasting off. Every time it happens it's even more exciting. Hey Santa, what's Mercury like? It must be awful hot, it's so close to the sun. It's on the side that's toward the sun, but the civilization of Mercury is in the twilight zone. Sort of a shadow land between the side that's toward the sun and the side that's away from it. Will we be able to see? Oh certainly. It's like early evening on Earth. It isn't dark and it isn't light. It's kind of like twilight all the time. I guess that's what you'd call it on Earth. You'll soon see for yourself. Well Slick, you sure turned out to be the wise guy. Big brain. He was going to make a fortune. Just stick with me he said. We'll throw in with Marsden and when he takes over we'll really live high. It wasn't enough that we were the most successful space pirates. You and your big ideas. Why did you stop beefing Blackie? You thought it looked like a good deal yourself. Besides we're both in the same boat. Your boat is right. This tub is going to fall apart in a minute. Here we are drifting in a broken down beat up hunk of freighter a million miles from nowhere. I was better off picking pockets in the fairground on Mercury. Now look Blackie, why don't you stop complaining. That doesn't help anything. We'll just sit tight until somebody comes along and picks us up. Yeah sure, sure. Somebody like the League Patrol for instance. That's all we need now. The 5,000 solar silver rewards for either one of us. The patrol ships aren't coming around here. They'll be busy clearing up the rest of the boys around Saturn. You're cleaning up the rest of the boys. What makes you think there's anything left to clean up? The way that League fleet hit us I don't think anybody got away with us. The only reason we made it was because this hulk looks like it's been shot for years. The only thing that's good for is junk. I ran a junkyard for 20 million miles. I wish you'd stop yapping. I'm trying to think. Listen, was your thinking that got us into this fix in the first place? If you're getting any idea like the last one you had, forget it. Somebody's got to do some thinking. We've only got about four day supplies. You got any suggestions? Or I don't know if it'll work out but it's about all we can do. What's the deal? Well our communicator is weak but it still works. At least enough to reach any ship that chunks within a million miles of us. And our detectors will show us one does. This old hulk could be almost anything. I figure we wait and when a ship comes near we pretend to be the only survivors of a freighter that's been attacked by pirates. We get them to take us aboard and then when a chance comes take over, kick the crew out into space. That sounds like a great idea. Only suppose no ship comes. Well then we'll be a couple of ex-pirates. Let's stop worrying. Well how do you like the trip so far? Wonderful. Only I can't help worrying about heading right into the sun. Why should that worry you Billy? I remember Captain Olso had warned me never to get in the gravity of the sun. And we're going to have to get awful close to get next to Mercury. Don't worry about that Billy. There's plenty of margin of safety. It sounds like someone's trying to contact us in the space communicator. It is. We're not expecting any messages. Hey maybe it's a space pirate. Well there's not much chance of that. Space pirates don't tell you they're around in advance. Hello, planet here. Are you calling planet here? Come in. Hello, this is Space Freighter Uranus. We're drifting in space. Can you pick us up? Hello, Space Freighter Uranus. What are you doing in this area? Explain. We're survivors of an attack by space pirates. Ship is disabled. Life rafts have been destroyed. Will you pick us up? Stand by. I'll contact you again. Gosh, imagine that. Pirates out here in space. You think they're still around? Pirates wouldn't sit around once they've raided a freighter. We're going to pick them up, aren't we? Of course we'll have to Billy. Will it delay our trip to Mercury? That's not what I'm worried about. They're actually only a little off our course. You think there is really something wrong? I'm not sure, Billy, but something doesn't seem quite right. However, we can't pass them up and leave them here in space. Maybe we can report their position back to headquarters and have a patrol ship pick them up. That's a good idea, Pat. Planet here, calling Freighter Uranus. Planet here, calling Freighter Uranus. Can you hear us? Come in, planet here. We'll advise the League of your position. Patrol ship should pick you up in a few days. We've only got provisions for 24 hours. Can't you pick us up now? It may take three or four days for a patrol ship to reach this point. Very well. Prepare for contact in about ten minutes. I guess that settles it. But keep your eyes open. I don't like this at all. It looks like our friends are in for some interesting excitement. What can two pirates hope to achieve when they realize their rescue ship is being piloted by Danso the planet man? We'll be back in a moment, so level off. When we left Danso and his friends from Earth, they were aboard the planet here en route to Mercury. However, they received a message from a space freighter in distress and are speeding to its rescue. Aboard this supposed distress craft are two space pirates named Blacky and Flick, who are waiting to be picked up by our friends. What's the matter with you, Flick? Are you nuts or something? I know what I'm doing. You know who that was you were talking to? You know what ship that is? My god, he is. That was planet man, and that ship's the planet here. Nothing in the solar system can stand up against it. You're sticking our heads right into the Marlions' mouths. Why don't you tell him never mind? Don't be dumb. Once we contacted him, we had to follow through. He knew we were here, and if we hadn't gone through with the planet, he'd have been suspicious. We can't afford not to go ahead. Yeah, but what are we going to do when he gets here? That's what we figured. There's no reason why he shouldn't believe us. All deal looks right. Besides, just think if we can pull it off, what we can do with this ship. With the planet here under us, we can take on any ship in the league and burn them out of space. We'll be able to take our pick of the space freighters and the big luxury jobs, too. Yeah, if. Well, it's too late not to worry about it. Just remember our plan and let me do the talking. Billy, will you take over the airlock controls? The magnetic grapples are right over there, Pat. When I give the signal, throw the switch. What does that do? Turns out the magnetic grapples are on cables. They clamp on the freighter's hull and bring them together. I want to look that ship over. Are you going to go alone? I think I'd better, Pat. I don't want anybody else to take the risk. Besides, I want you here on board the planet here if there's any trouble. What do you want us to do? If I'm not back in five minutes, break contact at once and call the League Patrol. And leave you aboard that ship alone? That's the only thing we can do. Here they come, Slick. I still think it's a rotten idea. Just stop worrying and do what I told you. Remember, you're supposed to be a survivor. Act like one. You're scared. You're begging for help. I won't have to act to be scared. I am. Look at my knees, Jake. Ready with those magnetic grapples, Pat? Whenever you say so. Let them go. Start reeling in. Here they come. They're alongside now. All right. Steady. Steady now. Steady. Steady. Are the airlocks together, Billy? Yep. Clamp them on. Right. Well, wish me luck. Hello, Uranus. We're alongside. Touch your jet. Willco. Good hours too, Billy. Yes, sir. I still wish you'd let me go along. There's no sense arguing about it, Pat. This is the only way. Whenever you do, remember what I told you. I'm not nearly as important as the safety of the space plane. All right, Janter. Hello there. I'm coming aboard. Boy, are we glad to see you. You were sure we were a goner ever since those pirates hit us. Well, this ship is certainly in bad shape. You're lucky it's still airtight. Boy, it wasn't when those guys got through with us, but we managed to patch it up. After all, I used to be first engineer. Used to be? What do you mean? I thought you were a first engineer on the Uranus. Oh, he means the Uranus is coked. He knows it'll never go anywhere again. Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm not sure if this is... I'm not taking any chances. Since Marson was destroyed, the space pirates have been acting up more than ever. Sure have. They certainly gave us a going over. Why didn't you use your communicator to notify the League Patrol? When you came all the way in from Saturn, you must have passed an emergency station. Well, we weren't sure if those guys were following us or not. We were afraid that if we used a communicator, they might realize that we were survivors and finish the job. But you used your communicator just now. How come? We were getting desperate. We only had supplies for a day more. Besides, it's so weak, we knew we wouldn't reach any further than our detector. Well, we could tell it yours was the only ship. But how did you know I wasn't one of the pirates? Well, we didn't know. We didn't have much choice. I'm due back aboard the Planeteer. I guess you'd better come along, but there's still something about this I don't like. I'll be watching you both, so don't try anything. Okay. But I'm telling you, we're strictly legitimate. Strictly legitimate. Words like that coming from a couple of pirates mean only one thing. Trouble. We'll slick and blacky try to overcome our friends, or we'll dance or keep them in jet. We'll be back in a moment, but first here is a message the Planet Man wants you to hear. Tune in again for more transcribed thrills and adventures. Rocket millions of light years into space with Dan Troll, the Planet Man. Tune in again for more transcribed thrills and adventures. Planet Man
