The yes men of Venus

By RON GOULART
Illustrated by SUMMERS
Privileged we are to bring you this historic story—one which will warm the manly hearts of the legion of devoted admirers of that venerable fantasist, Arthur Wright Beemis.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE: Let me begin by expressing my thanks to the executors of the Arthur Wright Beemis Estate for choosing me to complete his unfinished stories, of which this is to be the first. Like so many others I have long been an admirer of the books of the venerable fantasist. Nothing has ever given me the thrill that reading his first novel, Roo-So Of The Jungle , in installments of varying length in the old Thursby's All-Star Electrical Fiction Weekly did. Unless it was reading the twenty-three sequels, especially Roo-So's Revenge and Roo-So, Friend Of Animals .
This present story belongs with Beemis' planet adventure yarns. It was in the winter months of 1929 that Arthur Wright Beemis penned the first of his many scientifiction novels. In an era when space travel was little known or speculated on Beemis had his likeable two-fisted hero, Hyacinth Robinson, travel between planets with ease. Hyacinth Robinson, as you may remember, had been standing too near a reservoir in upstate New York and when the water evaporated he went with it, eventually drifting to Venus where most of Vandals Of Venus takes place. This story was an instant hit and was soon followed by Vagrants of Venus , Mermen Of Mars , Misfits Of The Moon , Plundered On Pluto and many more.
Now that many of Beemis' books are freely available it was felt by his estate that his unfinished work should also be given to the public. So here is the new Beemis we have all been waiting for.
Chapter 1: A Minor Cataclysm
My heart was heavy as I drifted over the remote reaches of the Pacific Ocean in the atomic powered Zeppelin the World League of Peaceful Governments had thoughtfully allowed me to borrow in order to show their gratitude for my having ended the 4th World War several weeks ahead of time with my lucky discovery of a powerful ray that made gun powder ineffectual. This balloon cruise, as pleasant as it was, had been planned as more than just a dedicated scientific attempt to map the migratory routes of the Arctic Curlew. It was to have been, too, my wedding journey.