Operation Distress

Bill Adams has done the impossible: he is the first man to return from Mars. But his triumph curdles almost at once when a rash, itching, and sneezing strike him aboard ship, and the fear sets in that he may be carrying an unknown interplanetary disease. Alone in cramped quarters, he desperately weighs every explanation, from radiation and dust to parasites, while the humiliating possibility of a fatal mystery illness turns his homecoming into a race against time. Lester del Rey's Operation Distress blends hard-edged science fiction with wry comic irony as Bill's situation grows more alarming. Earth does not greet him with celebration but with quarantine, diverting him to the Moon to protect the planet from contamination. As doctors scramble for answers and emergency supplies are sent to him, the story becomes a tense, absurdly plausible test of courage, isolation, and scientific caution. In this sharply imagined tale, the glory of pioneer achievement is shadowed by the very human vulnerability that can make survival the greatest victory of all. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.