The Planet Man! The Planet Man! This is the fascinating story of Dantro, the Planet Man. Troubleshooter for the League of Planets 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 Rex. From Mercury to Pluto, wherever danger threatens the universe, you will find Dantro the Planet Man fighting for fair play. In a moment, The Planet Man. You will remember Dantro and Slats are far out in the galaxy, searching for the ancient race which left the solar system thousands of years before. In the hope this race would help the League of Planets defeat Marsden. Thus far, their search has been in vain. Although unknown to them, they are being observed by two dwellers in space. Beings of pure force and intelligence who have the power to intervene, but are waiting to see whether Slats and Dantro deserve their aid. Our friends from the solar system have just approached a double star and are seeking its planets. Well Dantro, which one of these planets do we hit first? We'll start closest to the suns and work our way out, Slats. We're almost there now. That double sun is the strangest thing I've ever seen. That's not as rare as you think, Slats. There are many binary double stars in our galaxy. Usually they're like this, one of them large and one of them comparatively small. Have you checked it with the instrument yet? Yes, I did that while you were back fixing lunch. The indication must have been somewhat positive or we wouldn't be going in closer. It's positive all right. I'm going to skip the intermediate inspection and move in about a hundred miles from its surface. You make it sound so simple. Hey, what's going on? Are we running into something? Look at the radar grid, Slats. Holy smoke, how did that happen? I don't know, but something's moving in on us. At least we know one thing. There's life in this system and it's advanced enough to have spaceships. There are about ten of them coming in on us now. What do we do? Shall I move over to the weapons control panel? You better, but don't do anything until I give the signal. You think there's going to be a fight? I don't know, I hope not. Certainly it's the last thing we want, but we'd better be ready just in case. They're coming in pretty close. I'll try and contact them on the space communicator. Hello, this is Dantro, Planaria X. We come in peace. Hello, this is Dantro, Planaria X. We come in peace. No answer. You think they speak our language? No, I don't expect them to understand me. But at least if they have communicators, they'll pick up our signal and perhaps indicate that fact in some way. Well, at least they didn't shoot first and ask questions afterward. That's just it, Slats. That's the thing I'm encouraged by. They certainly have us outnumbered. Hey, look, one of them's coming in closer, flashing some kind of signal. You know what it looks like, Slats? You think maybe that's a truce flag? It must be. If they were looking for trouble, they wouldn't bother to send the ship in like that. Gosh, he's coming in awful close. It certainly is a strange looking ship. It's almost round. It's egg-shaped, actually. Look, now they've stopped. We'll do the same. Wait a minute, I've got an idea. Maybe we ought to blink back at them. At least it'll be some kind of acknowledgement. That's a good idea, Slats. You want to take care of it? Sure. Just for the heck of it, I think I'll say hello in good old Earth code. Hey, look, they're answering me. They're saying hello, too. They must understand it. Well, I don't think that's it, Slats. It's probably just a way of acknowledging the message. They're probably just sending back what they received. They're turning around, moving away from us. Now they're blinking from the stern. Now they're stopping again. Hey, what's going on? I think they want us to follow them. Let's try and find out if that's what they want. Yeah, I think you've hit it, Gantro. Hey, look, they're staying right ahead of us. Yes, the other ships are moving right along, too. Where are they taking it? We're headed for that first planet. Well, we want it investigated. Looks like we're going to, whether we like it or not. See, Tor, they've encountered another race. Yes, but it will not help them. That race knows no more than they. Their science will provide them with none of the answers they seek. Son, why do you bother with such unimportant matters? Nothing in the universe is unimportant, Tor. Our responsibility is to see that evil does not triumph. These creatures may seem petty to you and to me, but to themselves they are important. You mean to help them, then? I did not say that. Perhaps they'll be able to help themselves. In any case, we must see what they do. Determine first if they need our help and if they are deserving of it. But you know their minds. Have you not read their thoughts? Yes, I've read their thoughts, Tor, but they tell me only their intentions. I've lived a long time in space and seen too much of life in many forms to judge on that basis. We must watch what they do and how they act, and then we shall know. It seems a pity to make them wait, but I suppose we have no choice. We must be certain that they deserve our help. That's our law, and we must obey it. Perhaps they will not need us. But we must wait and be certain before we act. Son and Tor still seem bent on not helping our two friends. What is this new contact which Danto and Slats have made? Where are they headed? We'll be back in a moment, so level off. When we left Danto and Slats, they had made contact with a strange group of stellar ships in their search for the ancient race. We find them now as they are following the fleet to some unknown spot. We're certainly getting awful close, Danto. There's something strange about that planet, isn't there? If you call heat strange, then it's strange, all right, Slats. You mean you really think all those ships came from that hot spot? We'll find out quickly enough. See, that ship we're following is heading for that range of mountains. Anyhow, it's not just a molten mass. It looks to me like some kind of rock. It's solid enough, but whether it's rock or not, I wouldn't venture to guess. At least not the kind of rock we're used to. Any rock in our system would be a mass of lava in that heat. Hey, now you mention it, I'm beginning to sweat. Well, that's just your imagination, Slats. This ship can take a lot more heat than the surface temperature of this planet. Otherwise, we could never survive as long as we have. Yeah, maybe the ship can, but we can't. Don't worry. I have no intention of leaving our ship. Well, that doesn't make much sense to me, but I guess you know what you're doing. I wish I were certain myself. Hey, gee, we've landed. We gonna land, too? Look up and you'll see that we haven't got much choice. Gosh, look, those other nine ships are right up there above us. They aren't taking any chances. No, I'm afraid we're taking the chances, Slats, but it's the only way we'll ever find anything out. Here we go. Look at that temperature gauge. I'm glad this ship's insulated. It registers 2,000 degrees. Hey, what are you thinking about? I think we ought to open our outer port so that if they send anybody to board us, they can. What about the heat? The lock is insulated and refrigerated, too. That's not the problem. I get it. Once we get them aboard, we're kind of at their mercy. Just about, Slats. What do you say? Shall we try it or not? If you say it, that's good enough for me. We're in this together and you know a lot more than I do. I've gone this far with you and I'm not gonna back out on you now. Thanks for your confidence, Slats. I hope it's not misplaced. Here goes. Yeah. Hey, that doesn't... Are you coming aboard now? Looks like it. I'm coming alongside the port in a tank. It's hooking on. Check the video screen. Right. I forgot we could see what was in the lock. Holy smoke! Looks like a barrel or something. It's probably a space suit. Yeah, I guess you're right. It's a sense that whatever's inside it isn't human. That suit's about three feet wide and two feet high. Looks just like a barrel. It is an old Mr. Five by Five himself. Let's call him Barrel, huh? Hey, what do we do now? There's only one thing we can do, Slats. We've gone this far and we'll have to go all the way. Open the inner door of the lock. See, I told you it looked like a barrel. What's he... I mean, what's it doing now? He's carrying a chart of some kind. What? It's a star map of some sort. Gosh, it lights up. Well, that's the system we're in now. There's the double sun you were talking about. Here, Slats, help me rig our chart on this projector and we'll throw the picture on the screen. Yeah. Now I'll point out where we come from. Yeah. Hey, look, gentle. He's making some more adjustments on that chart of his now. Look. You see what he's got lit up now? That's our solar system, isn't it? Boy, maybe we're getting somewhere. I sure hope so. I haven't forgotten that Marston for a minute. Dantro and Slats seem to have struck some semblance of luck. What are these new creatures they've just contacted? Can they really help our friends? 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 Dantro the Planet Man. Go Planet Man.