INVADERS OF THE FORBIDDEN MOON
By RAYMOND Z. GALLUN
Annihilation was the lot of those who ventured
too close to the Forbidden Moon. Harwich knew
the suicidal odds when he blasted from Jupiter to
solve the mighty riddle of that cosmic death-trap.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Summer 1941.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Calling the pilot of space ship X911!" Evan Harwich shouted into the radio transmitter of his little Interplanetary Patrol Boat. "Good God! Turn your crate back, you crazy fool! Don't you know you're headed right into the danger zone of Jupiter's Forbidden Moon? You'll get yourself burned to a crisp in another few seconds if you don't turn back...."
Evan Harwich's growling voice was almost shrill at the end. His police duties patrolling the vicinity of Io, innermost of Jupiter's larger satellites, rarely developed moments as tense as this. Most other pilots had brains enough to give the Forbidden Moon a wide berth. And for excellent if mysterious reasons!
Yet the craft ahead, a sleek new job with the identification number X911 painted on its conning tower, kept steadily on. Its slim hull, which betrayed an experimental look, was pointed straight at the threatening greyish disc of Io, the one world in the solar system which no exploring ship of the void had ever reached—intact!
Almost everybody among the inhabited spheres knew about the dangers of the desolate Forbidden Moon. Ever since the colonial empire of Earth had been extended to the region of Jupiter and his numerous satellites, Io had been a grim menace; sure destruction to any rocket that approached within five thousand miles of its dreary, almost airless surface.