Voodoo Planet

Voodoo Planet, by Andrew North

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Title: Voodoo Planet
Author: Andrew North
Release Date: July 16, 2006 [EBook #18846]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration (Cover): DUEL OF THE COSMIC MAGICIANS
VOODOO PLANET
ANDREW NORTH Complete Novel]
CHALLENGE ME WITH MONSTERS!
"From between the two shuffling dancers padded something on four feet. The canine-feline creature was more than just a head; it was a loose-limbed, graceful body fully eight feet in length, and the red eyes in the prick-eared head were those of a killer.... Words issued from between those curved fangs, words which Dane might not understand....
"Dane slid his blade out surreptitiously, setting its point against the palm of his hand and jabbing painfully; but the terrible creature continued to advance.... There was no blurring of its lines...."
Dane Thorson of the space-ship Solar Queen knew there was only one way to win out over this hideous thing--a battle to the end between his rational mind and the hypnotic witchcraft of Lumbrilo, the mental wizard of the planet Khatka.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Dane Thorson
He wanted to spend a short vacation on Khatka, not the rest of his life.
Medic Tau
Was he physician or magician--or a little bit of both?
Chief Ranger Asaki
Tracking the forests had taught him that mad animals--whether real or imaginary--were to be feared.
Captain Jellico
Would his knowledge of alien life-forms help him in his fight against alien ghosts?
Nymani
Not even this pilot's most scientific skill could overcome a voodoo charm's ground-drag.
Lumbrilo
On his own planet he was a witch doctor; on Earth he'd have been a master politician.

VOODOO PLANET
by
ANDREW NORTH
ACE BOOKS, INC.
23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y.
VOODOO PLANET
Copyright (c), 1959, by Ace Books, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U. S. A.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Note | | | | There is no evidence that the copyright on this publication | | was renewed. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

I
Talk of heat--or better not--on Xecho. This water-logged world combined all the most unattractive features of a steam bath and one could only dream of coolness, greenness--more land than a stingy string of islands.
The young man on the promontory above the crash of the waves wore the winged cap of a spaceman with the insignia of a cargo-master and not much else, save a pair of very short shorts. He wiped one hand absently across his bare chest and brought it away damp as he studied, through protective sun goggles, the treacherous promise of the bright sea. One could swim--if he wanted to lose most of his skin. There were minute organisms in that liquid that smacked their lips--if they had lips--every time they thought of a Terran.
Dane Thorson licked his own lips, tasting salt, and plodded back through the sand of the spaceport to the berth of the Solar Queen. This had been a long day, and one with more snarl-ups than he cared to count, keeping him on a constant, dogged trot between the ship and the fitting yard where riggers labored with the slowest motions possible to the human body--or so it seemed to the exasperated acting-Cargo-Master of the Free Trader. Captain Jellico had long ago taken refuge in his cabin to preserve the remnants of his temper. Dane had been allowed no such escape.
The Queen had a schedule for refitting to serve as a mail ship, and that time allowance did not allow for humidity playing the devil with the innards of robot fitters. She had to be ready to lift when the Combine ship now plying that run set down and formally signed off in her favor. Luckily, most of the work was done and Dane had given a last searching inspection before signing the rigger's book and reporting to his captain.
The air-conditioned interior of the Queen comforted him as he climbed to his quarters. Ship air was flat, chemically pure but unappetizing stuff. Today it was a relief to breathe. Dane went on to the bather. At least there was no lack of water--with the local skinners filtered out. It was chill but relaxing on his gaunt young body.
He was sealing on his lightest tunic when the ramp buzzer sounded. A visitor--oh, not the supervisor-rigger again! Dane went to answer with dragging feet. For the crew of the Queen at the moment numbered exactly four, with himself for general errand boy. Captain Jellico was in his quarters two levels above, Medic Tau was presumably overhauling his supplies, and Sindbad, ship's cat, asleep in some