Before Egypt

Seasoned interplanetary guide Mike Mallison expects a routine charter, not a mystery wrapped in secrecy, danger, and an alluring young woman. When Professor Arnold Brandon and his daughter Doree hire the Space Queen for a private voyage to an unknown planet in the Orion sector, Brandon insists he has translated an ancient papyrus proving the world exists—but he refuses to reveal its location until after launch. Mike's skepticism begins to crack as he tours Outer Port's gritty, twilight world with Doree and learns that her quiet confidence hides fierce loyalty to her father's controversial scholarship. Then Brandon vanishes, a silent cruiser shadows the Space Queen, and a brutal attack leaves the ship sabotaged, its power source stolen, and the crew stranded in deep space. With electroparalysis, kidnapping, and betrayal closing in, Mike realizes the papyrus may point to a lost civilization and a deadly secret worth killing for. Determined to rescue Brandon, Mike, Doree, and the irrepressible Martian Nicko pursue the kidnappers to a strange world, crash into a hostile jungle, and begin a perilous journey upriver. As they battle snakes, rapids, and a savage wilderness that hints at an ancient Egyptian-like culture, survival becomes a race against time—and against the forces that want the planet's secret buried forever. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.