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 Billy Jane and Pat Darrow and Dantro the Planet Man
were marooned on Venus amidst a sea of dust when their dust buggy broke down during a terrible storm.
With their communicator not working, they have been unable to do more than sit and wait for the storm to blow itself up.
Have you figured out what's wrong with the communicator yet, Dantro?
Not yet, Billy. I can't understand how it could have gone out.
This type of equipment is built to take a pounding for years without trouble.
Maybe it needs a tube or something.
Not this set, they're tubeless. That's what makes them so sturdy.
Listen to that wind.
Don't I have to listen to it? I can almost feel it through the buggy.
That plastic shield around us must really be strong.
How fast do you think it's blowing out there?
Well, at least 200 miles an hour, maybe more.
Gosh, have you found the trouble yet?
Yes, I found it.
Can't you fix it?
Not without new parts, and there aren't any extras aboard.
New parts? Is it that bad?
That, do you remember what I told you just before we left Venus port?
You mean about the ship?
That's right. Well, it looks like this is more of the same.
More of the same? Same what?
I'm going to tell them, Pat.
I guess you'd better.
What's going on?
Remember the trouble we had with the ship before we left scenario X?
I remember. It was something with the...
...counter-gravity stabilizer.
Yes, the counter-gravity stabilizer.
It was deliberately sabotaged.
And the same thing has happened to this communicator.
And the dust buggy too, I think.
It's as I told Pat at Venus port.
Marsden is gone, but his collaborators are still at work trying to achieve what he failed to do.
But what good does it do then to strand us out here?
Or later a search party will find us and take us back to Venus port.
You're absolutely right, Jane, and that's one of the reasons why I decided to tell you and Billy the whole story.
I'm afraid that the dirty work isn't over.
Do you think someone in the convoy was in on it?
Well, we'll probably never find out for sure who sabotaged our buggy and communicator.
Say, we've been so busy talking, I didn't even notice that the storm's letting up.
I hope what I've told you doesn't frighten you.
You should know what's better than that by now.
Besides, we're all stuck together. We can take care of anything.
That, oh boy, Billy, that's the way to talk.
Hello, Venus port. Secret channel 7, Zephtar.
This is Nokii reporting from Goodwill tour convoy.
Mission complete.
Dantro's dust buggy stopped as planned.
Convoy did not stop to find them in dust storm.
We'll proceed with Operation Pickup.
Should have the Earth people and Dantro is prisoners shortly.
Keep you advised. Signing off.
Dantro, how about going outside? The storm's over.
Maybe we can fix the jets on the buggy.
That's one thing we mustn't even try, Billy.
That dust is like powder, and in this part of the desert it's hundreds of feet thick.
Without special shoes you'd sink out of sight in a second.
That's why the buggies have wide, flat runners like a sled
so that they can coast along on top of the dust.
I bet if we had a pair of snowshoes we could walk on it.
As a matter of fact, the Minusians wear special dust walkers
that look almost exactly like snowshoes.
There aren't any on the buggy I've already looked.
What are we going to do now? Sit here and wait?
No, I'm going to climb to the top of the buggy
and send up a couple of flares before it gets light.
May help them find us.
Will it help who's ever trying to get rid of us too?
Well, we'll just have to take that chance.
Here, hold this flare gun, and when I get up on top of the buggy, hand it to me.
Be careful.
Don't worry, I will.
Jantro, look out!
It's all right, Billy.
Hand me the flare gun.
Just reach it up through the doorway there.
There it is.
Now I've got it.
Why doesn't he send up a flare?
He's undone.
Coming back down again.
What's the matter, Jantro?
Why didn't you send up a flare?
Oh, that's because the flare gun's been tampered with too.
Isn't there anything we can do?
Maybe we can light a fire.
It'd be a good idea if we had something to burn,
but everything in the buggy is fireproof
and there's nothing else but dust for hundreds of miles.
No, I'm afraid we'll just have to sit here until it gets light
and hope the rescue party finds us then.
A wait for help in a sea of dust is a very long time.
Sometimes it never comes.
What will face our friends now?
We'll be back in a moment, so level up.
When we left Jantro, Pat, and the kids Billy and Jane,
they were waiting for help in their sabotaged dust buggy.
They were hoping a Venusian rescue party would shortly pick them up.
As we find them now, they are in their dust buggy,
staring out at the vast regions of the shifting mountains of dust.
Jane, what are you looking at?
I was sure I saw something moving out there.
Where?
That way.
It looks almost like somebody's standing.
It's gone now.
I'm afraid it was your imagination, Jane.
Even in this light you can see for miles,
there's nothing there now.
Aw, she's just seeing things.
Well, if she's seeing things, so am I.
Look out there.
You're right, I can see it too.
Looks like some kind of an animal or something's coming towards us.
There are some more of them here on the other side.
Look.
What is it, Jantro, do you know?
I'm not sure.
It's hard to see the way they're hunched over, but I think...
Oh, it can't be.
It can't be what?
Remember I was telling you about the dusters?
Sure.
You said nobody was sure if they really existed or not.
Well, I'm afraid they do exist, and what's more,
they're all around the dust buggy.
We're surrounded.
They seem to be coming in closer now.
Do you think they'll attack us?
I don't understand this at all.
It's little known about them, but I've never heard of them attacking.
They look so strange.
In some ways they look humanoid,
and in others almost like some kind of reptile.
Gee, you're right.
They're still not close enough to see very clearly,
but their skin seems to be scaly, almost like an alligator.
Look at their feet.
They're wearing dust shoes, all right,
but it looks like it's part of their body.
I guess that's how they can walk in the dust without sinking in.
They keep coming closer and closer.
I wonder what they're going to do.
Well, we should know in a couple of seconds.
They're almost up to the buggy.
What's this noise?
It must be from those tremendous feet moving through the dust.
Well, anyhow, they can't bite us.
Why not?
They hardly have any mouths at all.
Just a tiny little hole.
Yes, but their noses make up for it.
They're bigger than the Venusians.
They're touching the ship on this side.
Look, they're working one of their spears
into the crack of the port.
Stand back, Billy.
Have a good over there.
There's another one now on the other side.
Get back away from the port, Billy.
Looks like they're going to force it open.
They've split it already.
There it goes.
Hello, Venus Fort, Secret Channel 7, Zephtar.
This is Noke.
Convoy just arrived to Galanta.
We delayed them on Dantro's rescue.
Baka and I heading out to Dantro's tall dust buggy.
Keep you advised.
Signing out.
Why don't you use your ray gun, Dantro?
I don't dare.
I might get a few of them.
I'm not going to let you get away with this.
I'm just trying to climb in through the port.
Gosh, look at that skin.
It's just like an alligator.
I bet they can walk through a dust storm and not even feel it.
I guess that's what it's for.
Coming in all right.
He certainly is an ugly-looking specimen.
Right now, I'm much more concerned with what he wants,
not what he looks like.
He's just standing there looking at us.
Why don't you try and talk to him, Dantro?
I don't think it'll do any good, Billy.
Now, I'm just going to go and get out of here.
I'll be right back.
I don't think it'll do any good, Billy.
They haven't any ears.
Do you think they can communicate with each other?
Maybe. Somehow they must.
They couldn't organize an attack as they did this one.
They must be pretty smart.
Maybe, but remember, the ants back on Earth
and a lot of other insects, too.
And wolves, they hunt in packs
and yet have no means of communication.
Wolves.
You don't think these dusts are like wolves, do you, Pat?
Of course not, Jane.
Here comes another one to our port.
Hey, one of them has told them I am.
Put your hands off of me.
Don't fight them, Billy. Jane won't do any good.
We're badly outnumbered.
Hey, he's got a rope. He's going to tie me up.
Hey, what do I do? Just stand here?
I'm afraid we have no choice. If we fight back, we may just arouse them.
As it is, we still don't know what their plans are.
They're not going to tie me up, too.
My kids, you're right about they not being able to hear or speak.
They aren't making a sound.
Here comes another one through the port.
What's he carrying?
Some kind of a sword.
Hey, you all right?
Don't be afraid, Jane. They're just going to wrap us in this cloth.
Don't worry, kids. Don't worry.
Even Gary is out of the hoodie.
Ow!
What will you do?
Lay your family right against the door.
You be careful, you...
You walking alligator.
Keep calm, kids.
That's just us. At least we can talk.
That way we can keep track of each other.
They can't have shown me, aren't they?
That's right, they are.
But, do they know what's going on?
There's no telling, Billy.
All we can do is wait and see.
It seems the dusters are taking Dantle and the Earth people to some prearranged spot.
Where is this place?
And why are our friends being taken there?
We'll be back in a moment, but first, here is a message the Planet Man wants you to hear.
Here.
Tune in again for more transcribed thrills and adventures.
Rocket millions of light years into space with Dantle the Planet Man.
The Planet Man.