Space Adventures #21

When an expedition led by Captain Vic Danton touches down on an alien world to assess its colonization potential, they encounter intelligent plant-like beings whose initial hostility traps the explorers on the hostile planet. As supplies dwindle and communication seems impossible, one crew member discovers an unexpected biological connection that could transform the aliens from captors into allies—if the pioneers can survive long enough to make their case.

Space cadet Vic Randall embarks on his solo flight—a ninety-day journey through the solar system with no radio contact to Earth and nothing but his own nerve to rely on. As he pushes through meteors, mechanical failures, and the crushing psychological weight of absolute isolation, Randall must prove he has what it takes to join the elite ranks of Earth's space pilots. This 1956 tale from Space Adventures explores what happens when ambition meets the vast, unforgiving void.

Two college students from Mercury, Rikki and Tmpsr, sneak away in their homemade hot-rod during vacation and materialize on Earth at a university campus, where they decide to meddle in local affairs by secretly enhancing a football player named Willie Hope with a mysterious substance to help him win Mary French's affection. As Willie's athletic fortunes rise and fall with their interference, the Mercurians come to realize that their meddling may have unintended consequences—and that people might be better off solving their own problems, even if the solutions are messier.

In 2055, a deadly microbe threatens humanity's survival—and the only cure grows on a plant that Earth destroyed fifty years ago. Captain Johnson and his crew have one month to search the universe for the weed, but their desperate mission becomes a test of something more fundamental when they encounter alien life on hostile worlds. What they discover about compassion and sacrifice may matter far more than whether they find the cure in time.