Jovians

Origin
Nick Nelson of the Space Patrol and his Martian gunner, Kodi, respond to a report of troubles in a village on Jupiter's South Pole. Landing near the village, the Patrolmen put on protective gear to aid them in the extremely heavy gravity on the planet and to breath in the deadly, gaseous atmosphere.

Raxon, the Chief of the mountain villages, greets the space patrolmen. He informs them of the village trade involving the harvesting of Jurta berries and the extraction of a valuable Jurta drug from the plants. 60 Jovian villagers have gone missing while engaged in this task. Nick and Kodi investigate, discovering one of the Balloon Men of Jupiter attacking a villager performing the drug extraction and throwing him from a cliff. Nick and Kodi are too far away to assist the hapless Jovian, or stop the Balloon Man from gathering the containers of precious Jurta drug.

The Space Patrol ship follows the flying Balloon Man. When the Balloon Man lands, the patrolmen land the craft and follow it into a cave. They are accosted inside by several of the Balloon Men working for a Haggur. The Haggur says the patrolmen will make food for the Balloon Men. He orders the creatures to knock the Space Patrol ship over the cliff.

While hearing the Haggur brag about how he takes advantage of the villagers, Nick snatches the bottles of Jurta drug and tosses them in the fire. The Haggur attacks Nick, but Nick holds his own until the gases released from the containers of Jurta drug in the fire knock the Haggur out.

Nick takes the Haggur's pistol and goes in search of Kodi. He comes across the Balloon Men pushing the Space Patrol vehicle off the cliff. Nick shoots them all with the pistol. The ship returns to the cliff-ledge, and Kodi gets out. Kodi says he survived by discovering the Balloon Men don't like being kicked in the stomach. The Space Patrol enforcers recover the Jurta drug containers and set an "atomic time bomb" in the cave. As they fly away, the bomb goes off and destroys the cave. They return to the village and give the Jurta drug containers to Raxon. Raxon invites them to stay for a celebration, and a dance with two of the tribal women. Kodi and Nick politely decline, Kodi later making a statement regarding the niceness of the villagers and the faces of their women, which he apparently finds unattractive.

Public Domain Appearances

 * Amazing Mystery Funnies #21