The Voyage of the Asteroid / Revolt of the Outworlds

THE VOYAGE OF THE ASTEROID / Laurence Manning They were the first to set foot on Venus! When Haworth invited Mason and Bigelow to join him for a trip of indefinite duration, a trip that promised plenty of excitement and danger, too, they thought he was referring to a destination somewhere on the planet Earth. But when he showed them his huge rocket ship—a mighty vehicle it had taken him years to build—they could hardly contain their excitement. Space! Their destination was to be Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor—the far-off, cloud-shrouded planet of Venus. So it was with the greatest anticipation that Haworth and his friends boarded his spacecraft, “The Asteroid,” and blasted off into the void of deep space. But they could have hardly anticipated the planet they landed on—a fog-covered world filled with bizarre vegetation, foul smelling air, gigantic prehistoric beasts, and a strange, but intelligent race of club-wielding lizard-men. It soon became apparent to the three explorers from Earth that their safe return home was anything but guaranteed. REVOLT OF THE OUTWORLDS / Milton Lesser Revolt was brewing on the distant planets. Alan Tremaine was the son of Richard Tremaine, one of the most respected leaders in the Outworlds. But when an assassin cut down the elder statesman, the younger Tremaine found the leadership of the Outworlds suddenly thrust into his lap. But there was something amiss, and when violence and revolt suddenly flared, Termaine found himself torn between the loyalty he had for his father’s visions of the future, and his own personal ideals. But there was a traitor afoot—with a daring plan of destruction and conquest. Tremaine knew Mars received its water via the massive space warp that ran between Mars and Venus. And he knew that if someone cut this interplanetary lifeline it meant war—and possibly the destruction of mankind… * "The Voyage of the Asteroid" (134pp) First published in Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer 1932 (cover art by Frank R. Paul) "Revolt of the Outworlds" (pages 135-207) First published in Imagination, December 1954 (cover art uncredited) Armchair Sci-Fi & Horror Double Novels #D-125