The Planet Man! The Planet Man! The Planet Man! This is the fascinating story of Dan Troll, 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 Dan Troll, the Planet Man, fighting for fair play. In a moment, The Planet Man. You recall that Dan Troll, the Planet Man, and Barrel the Robot, trapped in the graveyard of spaceships, had decided to go underground to the city of the insect people. Slats caught aboard the Alpha in the magnetic field of the planet, made an almost suicidal attempt to break the grip. Dan Troll and Barrel are talking. I sense the approach of a group of some sort. Where? From under the portal, Barrel? I believe so. Wait. Yes, definitely from the direction of the portal. Do you think it's dark enough for us to go by without being seen? Let us hope so. Quiet now. They're very close. The whole thing's starting to turn. Yes, it must be treated like a screw to keep it airtight. Come, let us get as close as the ground will permit. It may not stay open very long. If I may suggest it, I'll go first so that I can be ready to carry you down. It's all right. I'm not proud. Lead the way. There, the portal is opening. Hear the air hiss out? They can't keep it open very long at that rate. They lose too much atmosphere. Come on, we'd better make a run for it. We'll just have to chance being seen. There's a ship. It's coming in now. Looks like one of your fleets. It is. See, it's the Mistrose. I was attached to that very ship. Here's the edge. Look at that. I must go down ten miles. Hurry now. On my back. Right. Are you secure? Secure. Lower away. Apparently we were not seen. Oh, the ship is continuing up. We're right about this portal. It's good we moved quickly. It's closing already. Now that we're under, I'll take off this mask of my space suit. There you go. Your perception is sharper than mine, Barrow. Can you tell how far it is to the bottom? About 16 miles. 16 miles? It's incredible. That is to the bottom, but my sonic detectors indicate several levels above that. Of course there would be several. Remember, Sackero said that this race has been forced to dig deeper and deeper into their planet as the sun died and the internal heat of the planetary crust cooled. At our rate of fall, we should reach the bottom in about five minutes. I could drop faster, but we had better proceed slowly until we can see what lies below us. Wait. Stop a second. Is something wrong? No, but something just occurred to me. I'd like your reaction to it. Certainly. What do you suggest? If these insects may have been digging themselves deeper into this planet, the levels above the bottom must be deserted. But they must be connected to the lowest level at many places. Your reasoning is sound, Planet Man. Well, let's not descend then to the lowest level where we know the insect men are proudly on guard. We'll stop at the first level we come to and work our way down. An excellent idea, and the first level is close by. I'll continue our descent. You're right. There it is. Better angle over that way. I'm doing it now. A bit more. All right, hold it. I'll climb down off your back. Cut your jets. There's very little light. Can you see? Not very well. I'll go first then. My sonic detectors enable me to move in darkness. I think it's safe enough away from the shaft to use my space suit floods. I doubt that any of the insect men ever come up to this level. Look at this dust. No one's been here for hundreds of years. I believe your estimate is correct. By the way, Planet Man, supposed slats did break out of the magnetic field of this planet and returns for help. Do you think he and the Mardee will follow us down here? That's up to them. Sackrow will tell them where we are. If I know slats, there'll be no holding him up there. I hope for your sake and those of the slaves down below that slats made it. Our chance of success alone are few, if any. Well, it's too late to worry about that now. Let's see if we can find some way down to the level. Hello, slats aboard the Alpha calling Rora of the Mardee. Come in, Rora. Now, where is that gal? Just like a woman, when you want to talk to her you can't find her. Come in, Rora. This is slats. Slats? Slats, this is Rora. I thought you'd be halfway to Earth by now, but the cosmic locator showed you're heading back up here. What's up? Can you get a fleet of ships headed toward me at once? Ships? I'll use the dimension walker. Look, don't argue. Get those ships. Planet Man's in trouble. Slats has made contact with the Mardee. Will they help him try to rescue Dantro? We'll be back in a moment, so level off. When we left Dantro and Barrel, they were making their way underground to the fearful headquarters of the insect people. Slats and Rora of the Mardee are attempting to help rescue Dantro and Barrel from the dying insect planet. Is the fleet on the way? They should join us any minute. I gave the necessary orders and then had myself send aboard the Alpha with the dimension walker. Now, would you mind telling me what this is all about? Okay, and I'm sorry if I sounded kind of rough before, but I'm worried about Dantro. See, the last I saw of him, he and Barrel were headed down toward an apparently dead planet, but it's far from dead. You see, we were on our way... There must be a connection to the level below this one somewhere near here. I'm sure we will find it, but be careful. The walls and ceilings of this chamber are not too solid. Through the centuries, the supports must have rusted away. Well, I guess they'll hold a little while longer. They've held up this long. Hey, what's that over there? It looks like a passageway that's been sealed up. I'll bet that's what we're looking for. It's probably been sealed to keep the heat and air from escaping from below. What are you going to do? I'll try to cut an opening through it with my heat projector. Stand back. It seems to resist heat. I'll send the projector up to full range. No luck. Perhaps my boring arm will tunnel through it. That would take too long. I'll use a few explosive pellets from this hand detonator. What about these walls? They're not too solid. We'll have to chance it. Get back a little further, Barrow. He's really set up quite a blast. Planet man, planet man, get back. The roof is caving in. Come on, Barrow. We'll have to try to get through before the whole cavern caves in. We'll never get through then. Hurry, planet man. This whole chamber is coming down. There it is, you see, Rora. The first planet from that white dwarf. Wait, I'll cut the drive. Why don't we go in a little closer? I told you about that magnetic field. No sense getting in too close until your fleet catches up with it. You're leaving fear getting trapped again. Our fleet is neutral to any such field. That's not just that. I think we ought to have some sort of plan before we get any closer. There are some hostile ships too, remember? Oh, I don't forget so quickly, Flats, but you're right about the plan. What would you suggest? Your ships have invisibility shields? Correct. The shields not only make them invisible to the eye, but also prevent their being picked up on any detection apparatus. Well, I think the first thing to do is to get rid of those characters that tried to blast me out of space. They don't know I broke out of the field, you see. They probably figure I crashed on the planet. When they see the Alpha again, they won't waste any time trying to get rid of me. So what will that gain us? Well, here's the pitch. When the fleet gets here, you transfer aboard the flagship. Have them all cut in their invisibility shields and follow me in. I see your plan now. Those other ships will think you're still alone and close in. When they get close enough, our ships will simply destroy them. That's the ticket, Rora Gale. Boy, are those babies going to get a surprise. But listen, save one for me, huh? I haven't forgotten the way they tried to gang up on me. As you wish. But don't be unnecessarily reckless. Remember, our main problem is to save Planet Man. Don't worry about me. Hey, there goes the detector. Flash them the recognition signal. Might be my friends coming out to play. We'll soon know. If it's the Mardis, they'll reply at once. It's the fleet from home, all right. Heaven form in a perimeter around the Alpha. Hello, this is Rora aboard the Alpha calling the Mardis flagship Tonat. Hello, Tonat. Form a protective perimeter around the Alpha and send your space launch for me. I'm coming aboard. I'll give the rest of your orders in person. Now, Slat, as soon as we've eliminated those other ships, I'll come back aboard the Alpha. Then we'll go down to the surface of that planet. And the sooner the better, Rora, my gal. The sooner the better. Planet Man, Planet Man, where are you? My detectors show that you are nearby, but I cannot see your light. Back here, Barrow. I'm caught under some rocks. Don't move. You may just cause another cave-in. I think I'll be able to lift them off with my propulsion unit, but we'll have to move very slowly. This cavern is not in much better shape than the one we left. Whatever you say, but hurry. I'm afraid the insect men must have instruments that will register that cave-in. They're probably on their way here now. Dantro and Barrow have probably revealed their presence to the insect people. Can Slat get to Dantro before the insect people? 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. Baa... Planet... Man...