Saturn Patrol
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Synopsis
Originally written under the pseudonym, King Lang, Saturn Patrol is another fabulous tale from the prolific E. C. Tubb.
Release date: September 30, 2014
Publisher: Gateway
Print pages: 107
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Saturn Patrol
E.C. Tubb
The Dumarest Saga:
1: The Winds of Gath (1967)
2: Derai (1968)
3: Toyman (1969)
4: Kalin (1969)
5: The Jester at Scar (1970)
6: Lallia (1971)
7: Technos (1972)
8: Veruchia (1973)
9: Mayenne (1973)
10: Jondelle (1973)
11: Zenya (1974)
12: Eloise (1975)
13: Eye of the Zodiac (1975)
14: Jack of Swords (1976)
15: Spectrum of a Forgotten Sun (1976)
16: Haven of Darkness (1977)
17: Prison of Night (1977)
18: Incident on Ath (1978)
19: The Quillian Sector (1978)
20: Web of Sand (1979)
21: Iduna’s Universe (1979)
22: The Terra Data (1980)
23: World of Promise (1980)
24: Nectar of Heaven (1981)
25: The Terridae (1981)
26: The Coming Event (1982)
27: Earth is Heaven (1982)
28: Melome (1983)
29: Angado (1984)
30: Symbol of Terra (1984)
31: The Temple of Truth (1985)
32: The Return (1997)
33: Child of Earth (2008)
The Cap Kennedy (F.A.T.E.) Series (E.C. Tubb writing as Gregory Kern)
1: Galaxy of the Lost (1973)
2: Slave Ship from Sergan (1973)
3: Monster of Metelaze (1973)
4: Enemy Within the Skull (1974)
5: Jewel of Jarhen (1974)
6: Seetee Alert! (1974)
7: The Gholan Gate (1974)
8: The Eater of Worlds (1974)
9: Earth Enslaved (1974)
10: Planet of Dread (1974)
11: Spawn of Laban (1974)
12: The Genetic Buccaneer (1974)
13: A World Aflame (1974)
14: The Ghosts of Epidoris (1975)
15: Mimics of Dephene (1975)
16: Beyond the Galactic Lens (1975)
17: The Galactiad (1983)
Alien Dust (1955)
Alien Impact (1952)
Journey Into Terror (originally published as Alien Life (1954, rev 1998))
Atom War on Mars (1952)
Fear of Strangers (first published as C.O.D. - Mars (1968))
Century of the Manikin (1972)
City of No Return (1954)
Death God’s Doom (1999)
Death is a Dream (1967)
Dead Weight (first published as Death Wears a White Face (1979))
Escape into Space (1969)
Footsteps of Angels (2004) (previously unpublished work written c.1988)
Hell Planet (1954)
Journey to Mars (1954)
Moon Base (1964)
Pandora’s Box (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Pawn of the Omphalos (1980)
S.T.A.R. Flight (1969)
Stardeath (1983)
Starslave (2010) (previously unpublished work written 1984)
Stellar Assignment (1979)
Temple of Death (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Fifty Days to Doom (first published as The Extra Man (1954))
The Life-Buyer (1965, 2008)
The Luck Machine (1980)
World in Torment (originally published as The Mutants Rebel (1953))
The Primitive (1977)
The Resurrected Man (1954)
The Sleeping City (1999)
The Space-Born (1956)
The Stellar Legion (1954)
To Dream Again (2011)
Venusian Adventure (1953)
Tide of Death (first published as World at Bay (1954))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Arthur MacLean)
The Possessed (revised version of Touch of Evil (1957))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Brian Shaw)
Argentis (1952)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Carl Maddox)
Menace from the Past (1954)
The Living World (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Charles Grey)
Dynasty of Doom (1953)
The Extra Man (first published as Enterprise 2115 (1954) & then as The Mechanical Monarch (1958))
I Fight for Mars (1953)
Space Hunger (1953)
The Hand of Havoc (1954)
Secret of the Towers (originally published as The Tormented City (1953))
The Wall (1953)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Gill Hunt)
Planetfall (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as King Lang)
Saturn Patrol (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Roy Sheldon)
The Metal Eater (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Volsted Gridban)
The Green Helix (originally published as Alien Universe (1952))
Reverse Universe (1952)
Planetoid Disposals Ltd. (1953)
The Freedom Army (originally published as De Bracy’s Drug (1953))
Fugitive of Time (1953)
THE ship stood like a dirty finger, poised on the landing field at the edge of town. Once sleek sides were marked and scarred, stained with tarnish and mottled with poorly applied patches. One fin was twisted, and the plastic of ports and turrets clouded with flight strain and neglect. Yet, despite the general air of decay, something of the original beauty still showed. The clean, utilitarian lines of a perfect machine in the long curves, the subtle swellings of the venturis could still be seen.
Gregg Harmond, who had once served on many a fine spaceship in the now defunct Saturn Patrol, could see it. He thought now: “It’s the loveliest thing ever made.”
He stood against the edge of the field, head tilted back, eyes half-closed against the whirling snow. Wind whipped at his tall, fur-clad form, biting savagely at exposed cheeks and throat, sending the warming numbness of frostbite. He sighed and turned away. A smaller figure, blurred in the snow, came stumbling towards him.
“Gregg!”
“Yes? Oh—it’s you, Owen.”
“I’ve been looking for you.” The small, fur-bundled shape fell into step with him. “Did you see it?”
“Yes. It’s a ship all right. First in two years. What do the elders say?”
“They don’t like it. It’s got to leave tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“I heard my father talking to the others. They are afraid of it, but they had to let it land for water.”
“I see.” He laughed curtly. “No wonder they kept it so quiet. They say anything else?”
“I didn’t hear,” Owen confessed. “I came out to see the ship.”
They walked for a time in silence, picking their way over the rough, snow-covered road leading into town. Night had fallen, and from the frozen pole a bitter wind thrust at their bodies.
Owen shivered. “Are you going with it, Gregg?”
“Maybe. Why?” He was deliberately curt.
“If you go, can I come with you?”
Harmond stopped, staring down at the indistinct shape. “That’s impossible.”
“But why, Gregg? I’m over eighteen. Jeff Trammond said he was going and he’s not much older than I am.”
“Jeff Trammond talks too much. What about your father? What about Jean?”
“Oh, Jean.” Owen shrugged with the careless indifference of a brother. “She won’t mind.”
“And your father?” Gregg asked dryly.
“He won’t know,” said Owen simply.
Harmond sighed and began walking towards the signal beacon ahead. “Look, Owen,” he said gently. “You don’t know what you’re asking. For me it’s different. Ever since my folks died I’ve wanted to get away from here. With the last crop failure I expect to lose the section through default, and I don’t want to work for hire. But your father is an Elder. You’ve got everything to lose by going. Why not be sensible?”
“I want to go with you, Gregg.”
“But I don’t want you, Owen,” he mimicked angrily.
“Why, Gregg?”
“Because it’s a Warbird,” he answered savagely. “That’s why.”
They walked on in silence.
He sat in the tavern on the edge of town, a big man, jolly, filling the place with his roaring songs and shouts of mirth. Shimmering cellosilk, cunningly cut, disguised his gross bulk. A wide belt supported a heavy blaster resting against one thick thigh, and though the belt looked new, the weapon was not.
He was free with his money, calling for round after round of the fiery local brew, tossing gold coins down the low-cut dresses of the girls, grinning at their delighted squeals.
Around him, listening to his vainglorious boasting, drinking his wine, cheering his songs, stood the youth of the town. Working men mostly. Hired hands, with a scattering of small section holders. Hard workers, their dirt-stained fingers twitched with faint avarice and half-hidden envy.
Standing back from the crowd stood the Elders. Old men, the wealthy, the rulers of the town. They gathered into little groups, talking among themselves, frowning at the big stranger.
He drained his pot and set it down with a bang. “Drink up, my hearties. Drink, and bless the day the Warbirds landed here. Look at me—a drink for my friends, silk on my back, not a stroke of labour in a twelvemonth, and this belly never came from starving.” He patted his bulk while the youths drew nearer.
“It’s a fine life I tell you. A free life and a merry one. None of your grubbing in the soil, freezing in this cursed wind, starving when the crops fail. A spell on watch, a ship in your sights, a squeeze of a finger, and the loot of a world for the taking.”
One of the Elders stepped forward, his eyes glinting angrily. “Have a care, Captain. We permitted you to land on the understanding that you would keep to your ship and do no recruiting. You will remember that, if you please.”
“So?” The big man almost hissed the word. “It’s keep to your ship, is it?” One hand dropped almost idly to the heavy blaster. “You scream for us quick enough when your pockets are in danger, but in the fat days it’s ‘Keep to your ship.’ What are you afraid of? Afraid that some of your tame cattle here will take wing? Afraid that we will poison your air?” Anger darkened his features. “Commander Alendi lies in his bunk a sick man. Any other planet would have been pleased to entertain us, but you people or the Rim are all . . .
1: The Winds of Gath (1967)
2: Derai (1968)
3: Toyman (1969)
4: Kalin (1969)
5: The Jester at Scar (1970)
6: Lallia (1971)
7: Technos (1972)
8: Veruchia (1973)
9: Mayenne (1973)
10: Jondelle (1973)
11: Zenya (1974)
12: Eloise (1975)
13: Eye of the Zodiac (1975)
14: Jack of Swords (1976)
15: Spectrum of a Forgotten Sun (1976)
16: Haven of Darkness (1977)
17: Prison of Night (1977)
18: Incident on Ath (1978)
19: The Quillian Sector (1978)
20: Web of Sand (1979)
21: Iduna’s Universe (1979)
22: The Terra Data (1980)
23: World of Promise (1980)
24: Nectar of Heaven (1981)
25: The Terridae (1981)
26: The Coming Event (1982)
27: Earth is Heaven (1982)
28: Melome (1983)
29: Angado (1984)
30: Symbol of Terra (1984)
31: The Temple of Truth (1985)
32: The Return (1997)
33: Child of Earth (2008)
The Cap Kennedy (F.A.T.E.) Series (E.C. Tubb writing as Gregory Kern)
1: Galaxy of the Lost (1973)
2: Slave Ship from Sergan (1973)
3: Monster of Metelaze (1973)
4: Enemy Within the Skull (1974)
5: Jewel of Jarhen (1974)
6: Seetee Alert! (1974)
7: The Gholan Gate (1974)
8: The Eater of Worlds (1974)
9: Earth Enslaved (1974)
10: Planet of Dread (1974)
11: Spawn of Laban (1974)
12: The Genetic Buccaneer (1974)
13: A World Aflame (1974)
14: The Ghosts of Epidoris (1975)
15: Mimics of Dephene (1975)
16: Beyond the Galactic Lens (1975)
17: The Galactiad (1983)
Alien Dust (1955)
Alien Impact (1952)
Journey Into Terror (originally published as Alien Life (1954, rev 1998))
Atom War on Mars (1952)
Fear of Strangers (first published as C.O.D. - Mars (1968))
Century of the Manikin (1972)
City of No Return (1954)
Death God’s Doom (1999)
Death is a Dream (1967)
Dead Weight (first published as Death Wears a White Face (1979))
Escape into Space (1969)
Footsteps of Angels (2004) (previously unpublished work written c.1988)
Hell Planet (1954)
Journey to Mars (1954)
Moon Base (1964)
Pandora’s Box (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Pawn of the Omphalos (1980)
S.T.A.R. Flight (1969)
Stardeath (1983)
Starslave (2010) (previously unpublished work written 1984)
Stellar Assignment (1979)
Temple of Death (1996) (previously unpublished work written 1954)
Fifty Days to Doom (first published as The Extra Man (1954))
The Life-Buyer (1965, 2008)
The Luck Machine (1980)
World in Torment (originally published as The Mutants Rebel (1953))
The Primitive (1977)
The Resurrected Man (1954)
The Sleeping City (1999)
The Space-Born (1956)
The Stellar Legion (1954)
To Dream Again (2011)
Venusian Adventure (1953)
Tide of Death (first published as World at Bay (1954))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Arthur MacLean)
The Possessed (revised version of Touch of Evil (1957))
E. C. Tubb (writing as Brian Shaw)
Argentis (1952)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Carl Maddox)
Menace from the Past (1954)
The Living World (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Charles Grey)
Dynasty of Doom (1953)
The Extra Man (first published as Enterprise 2115 (1954) & then as The Mechanical Monarch (1958))
I Fight for Mars (1953)
Space Hunger (1953)
The Hand of Havoc (1954)
Secret of the Towers (originally published as The Tormented City (1953))
The Wall (1953)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Gill Hunt)
Planetfall (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as King Lang)
Saturn Patrol (1951)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Roy Sheldon)
The Metal Eater (1954)
E. C. Tubb (writing as Volsted Gridban)
The Green Helix (originally published as Alien Universe (1952))
Reverse Universe (1952)
Planetoid Disposals Ltd. (1953)
The Freedom Army (originally published as De Bracy’s Drug (1953))
Fugitive of Time (1953)
THE ship stood like a dirty finger, poised on the landing field at the edge of town. Once sleek sides were marked and scarred, stained with tarnish and mottled with poorly applied patches. One fin was twisted, and the plastic of ports and turrets clouded with flight strain and neglect. Yet, despite the general air of decay, something of the original beauty still showed. The clean, utilitarian lines of a perfect machine in the long curves, the subtle swellings of the venturis could still be seen.
Gregg Harmond, who had once served on many a fine spaceship in the now defunct Saturn Patrol, could see it. He thought now: “It’s the loveliest thing ever made.”
He stood against the edge of the field, head tilted back, eyes half-closed against the whirling snow. Wind whipped at his tall, fur-clad form, biting savagely at exposed cheeks and throat, sending the warming numbness of frostbite. He sighed and turned away. A smaller figure, blurred in the snow, came stumbling towards him.
“Gregg!”
“Yes? Oh—it’s you, Owen.”
“I’ve been looking for you.” The small, fur-bundled shape fell into step with him. “Did you see it?”
“Yes. It’s a ship all right. First in two years. What do the elders say?”
“They don’t like it. It’s got to leave tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“I heard my father talking to the others. They are afraid of it, but they had to let it land for water.”
“I see.” He laughed curtly. “No wonder they kept it so quiet. They say anything else?”
“I didn’t hear,” Owen confessed. “I came out to see the ship.”
They walked for a time in silence, picking their way over the rough, snow-covered road leading into town. Night had fallen, and from the frozen pole a bitter wind thrust at their bodies.
Owen shivered. “Are you going with it, Gregg?”
“Maybe. Why?” He was deliberately curt.
“If you go, can I come with you?”
Harmond stopped, staring down at the indistinct shape. “That’s impossible.”
“But why, Gregg? I’m over eighteen. Jeff Trammond said he was going and he’s not much older than I am.”
“Jeff Trammond talks too much. What about your father? What about Jean?”
“Oh, Jean.” Owen shrugged with the careless indifference of a brother. “She won’t mind.”
“And your father?” Gregg asked dryly.
“He won’t know,” said Owen simply.
Harmond sighed and began walking towards the signal beacon ahead. “Look, Owen,” he said gently. “You don’t know what you’re asking. For me it’s different. Ever since my folks died I’ve wanted to get away from here. With the last crop failure I expect to lose the section through default, and I don’t want to work for hire. But your father is an Elder. You’ve got everything to lose by going. Why not be sensible?”
“I want to go with you, Gregg.”
“But I don’t want you, Owen,” he mimicked angrily.
“Why, Gregg?”
“Because it’s a Warbird,” he answered savagely. “That’s why.”
They walked on in silence.
He sat in the tavern on the edge of town, a big man, jolly, filling the place with his roaring songs and shouts of mirth. Shimmering cellosilk, cunningly cut, disguised his gross bulk. A wide belt supported a heavy blaster resting against one thick thigh, and though the belt looked new, the weapon was not.
He was free with his money, calling for round after round of the fiery local brew, tossing gold coins down the low-cut dresses of the girls, grinning at their delighted squeals.
Around him, listening to his vainglorious boasting, drinking his wine, cheering his songs, stood the youth of the town. Working men mostly. Hired hands, with a scattering of small section holders. Hard workers, their dirt-stained fingers twitched with faint avarice and half-hidden envy.
Standing back from the crowd stood the Elders. Old men, the wealthy, the rulers of the town. They gathered into little groups, talking among themselves, frowning at the big stranger.
He drained his pot and set it down with a bang. “Drink up, my hearties. Drink, and bless the day the Warbirds landed here. Look at me—a drink for my friends, silk on my back, not a stroke of labour in a twelvemonth, and this belly never came from starving.” He patted his bulk while the youths drew nearer.
“It’s a fine life I tell you. A free life and a merry one. None of your grubbing in the soil, freezing in this cursed wind, starving when the crops fail. A spell on watch, a ship in your sights, a squeeze of a finger, and the loot of a world for the taking.”
One of the Elders stepped forward, his eyes glinting angrily. “Have a care, Captain. We permitted you to land on the understanding that you would keep to your ship and do no recruiting. You will remember that, if you please.”
“So?” The big man almost hissed the word. “It’s keep to your ship, is it?” One hand dropped almost idly to the heavy blaster. “You scream for us quick enough when your pockets are in danger, but in the fat days it’s ‘Keep to your ship.’ What are you afraid of? Afraid that some of your tame cattle here will take wing? Afraid that we will poison your air?” Anger darkened his features. “Commander Alendi lies in his bunk a sick man. Any other planet would have been pleased to entertain us, but you people or the Rim are all . . .
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