| abstract | - 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. Raxun, 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.
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