Giant Swamp Spider of Venus

Origin
Landing on Venus, the President of the Universal Botanical Gardens tells famous actress, Miss D'Argot, about rare flowers called Sandflowers of Venus. He says nobody is brave enough to recover one. Miss D'Argot cajoles her boyfriend, Brad Bennett, to recover a Sandflower. Brad reluctantly agrees to the impossible task.

Leaving the ship, Brad is pursued by Melinda Brown who overheard the conversation. She tells him the Giant Swamp Spider of Venus cultivates the flowers to lure human beings to destruction. She asks Brad not to embark on the deadly mission, adding there were unsavory characters who would try to steal the flower from him if he found it. He wants to live up to his promise to Miss D'Argot and stays on course.

He rents a jet car, travelling to where the flower grows. He finds one easily. Seeing no Swamp Spider, he takes it. The Swamp Spider appears to attack him, which he narrowly avoids. The pursuit is relentless until the spider has him hiding under his rented Jet Car. The spider destroys the car. Brad desperately uses one of the rocket tubes from the destroyed vehicle, driving the injured creature away.

Back in the Venusian city, he fights off ruffians. A blast fires and scatters the thugs. Melinda leads Brad into the underground drainage tunnels to escape. Melinda Brown tells Brad she was the daughter of the spaceport's police chief, and used to play in the tunnels as a child.

A ruffian recognizes Brad as having the Sandflower, and shouts a signal to attack the pair. Brad and Melinda fight off all comers, making it back to the ship before it takes off.

Brad presents the Sand Flower to Miss D'Argot, but she brushes it off as unimportant. The President of the Universal Botanical Gardens offers him a check for $10,000 dollars in reward. He says he'll donate the check to charity, saying he found his reward on Venus while looking knowingly at Melinda Brown. Miss D'Argot is furious.

Public Domain Appearances

 * Weird Thrillers #1