Before Egypt

In Short

Written under the house pseudonym E. K. Jarvis, this fast-paced pulp adventure follows space guide Mike Mallison and his four-armed Martian assistant, Nicko, who are hired by Doree Brandon and her archaeologist father to navigate toward Orion's ninth segment. After rival collectors hijack the ship, rob their drive-pile, and kidnap the professor to steal an ancient Egyptian papyrus's star secrets, the crew tracks the villains across the stars. They plunge into a brutal war between the Ptomenite and Baserite empires on a remote jungle planet, fighting through slave pits and air fleets to rescue the professor and escape.

The Story

The story opens at Outer Port, a fog-shrouded satellite on the edge of the solar system, where guide Mike Mallison and his four-armed, green-scaled Martian partner, Nicko, run charter flights. They are approached by Professor Arnold Brandon and his daughter, Doree, who wish to charter the Space Queen for a secret scientific expedition toward Orion. Brandon, Terra’s foremost authority on ancient cultures, has translated a genuine papyrus scroll brought to him by two disreputable Paris art collectors, Lorn McKee and Dean Talbott. The scroll reveals that ancient Egyptian civilization originated on a far-distant world in deep space.

Shortly after blasting off, the Space Queen is ambushed by McKee and Talbott aboard a stealthy cruiser. The villains use an electroparalysis bolt to freeze the crew, smash the navigation controls, steal the ship’s atomic pile, and kidnap Professor Brandon so he can guide them to the planet's riches. Left marooned on a fatal drift, Mike realizes the heavy magnetic bolt has locked their hull to the pirate vessel like an invisible chain. The Space Queen is towed across space right behind the captors, ultimately crash-landing on the alien world's lush jungle surface.

Surviving the violent crash and narrow encounters with deadly native wildlife—including a giant green-and-gold serpent and hostile river tribes—Mike, Doree, and Nicko travel by raft along a massive river. They are captured by high-tech native soldiers clad in gold-inlaid uniforms and transported aboard an anti-gravity skiff to a magnificent, gem-encrusted city. There, McKee and Talbott have already ingratiated themselves with the ruling Ptomenites by betraying the party, leading to Mike and Nicko being thrown into a circular prison complex above a gruesome execution pit where priests torture and process captives.

Inside the cells, they meet Mertaan, a rebel Prince of the oppressed Baserite faction who deliberately allowed himself to be captured to coordinate a massive uprising. When the priests strip Doree in the pit below, Mike attacks the rebel prince to get his cell keys, just as a fleet of Baserite airships launches a surprise bombardment over the city.

In the chaotic aftermath of the air raid, Mike, Nicko, and Doree liberate Professor Brandon from his cell and fight their way through blood-crazed inmates to the blast field. They reach the pirates' parked starship just as the fallen Ptomenite princess, Katal'halee, cornered by Prince Mertaan, takes the sniveling traitors McKee and Talbott away at gunpoint. Leaving the planet's brutal civil war behind, Mike blasts the ship back into space toward Terra, bringing Doree and her father safely home while vowing to return when system fleets arrive to liberate the world.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Mike Mallison and his Martian assistant Nicko accept a charter from Professor Brandon and his daughter Doree to navigate toward Orion's ninth segment. The group departs the foggy perimeter base of Outer Port, unaware that ruthlessly ambitious rivals are tracking their course.

Ambush in deep space The pirate cruiser of McKee and Talbott locks onto the Space Queen, hitting the vessel with an electroparalysis ray that freezes the crew and disables the controls. The raiders steal the atomic pile and abduct Professor Brandon, leaving the crippled ship to drift helplessly.

Trapped in the wake Mike discovers the magnetic field of the paralyzing ray has lashed the Space Queen to the pirates' ship like an invisible tow-rope. Pulled across the stars to the target world, Mike manages a crash-landing in an alien jungle, where the survivors dodge native predators and battle black-feathered river warriors.

Captured by the empire A high-tech native patrol ship arrives, incinerating the dead warriors with a crystalline energy weapon and taking Mike, Doree, and Nicko prisoner. Brought to the golden city of the Ptomenites, they discover McKee and Talbott have turned the authorities against them.

The prison pit Thrown into an elevated cage overlooking a horrific torture pit, the party meets Mertaan, a rebel Baserite prince awaiting his faction's assault. As priests prepare to execute Doree in the pit below, the sky erupts with bombarding rebel airships.

Escape to the stars During the chaos of the battle, Mike and Nicko free Professor Brandon from his cell and clear a path through the crumbling city to the airfield. Reaching the pirates' starship, they leave McKee and Talbott to their fate at the hands of the natives and launch into space toward Terra.

The People

• Mike Mallison: A pragmatic, tough-minded space guide who operates the Space Queen. Driven by a strong professional ethic and a growing protective devotion toward Doree, he relies on physical strength and tactical instinct to keep his crew alive through space ambushes and alien battlefields.
• Doree Brandon: The brave, resourceful daughter of Professor Brandon. Initially seeking only to assist her father's academic dream, she endures kidnapping, crash-landings, and near-execution in the Ptomenite pits, finding love with Mike during the ordeal.
• Nicko: Mike's four-armed, green-scaled Martian assistant. Despite his terrifying appearance, complete with tusks and heavy hide, he speaks with refined, bell-like diction, maintains a cheerful sense of humor under fire, and acts as a fierce, bullet-resisting combat ally.
• Professor Arnold Brandon: Terra's foremost authority on ancient cultures who holds the Chair of Ancient Cultures at Casa Blanca University. Scholarly and naive, his lifelong dream of proving Earth's Egyptian heritage exposes him to the cruel machinations of space pirates who hold him captive.
• Lorn McKee & Dean Talbott: A pair of unscrupulous Paris art collectors who trick Professor Brandon into translating the secret papyrus. Greedy and cowardice-driven, they betray everyone around them to claim the alien world's riches, only to meet retribution when the native population turns on them.
• Mertaan: A fierce, noble prince of the oppressed Baserite people. He strategically allows himself to be imprisoned in order to spark a bloody revolution against the ruling Ptomenites, aiding Mike's party before returning to his people's desperate struggle.

In Its Own Voice

"Nicko wasn't offended. He was used to women reacting that way at first sight of him. In fact, the hideous little Martian misfit had caused even strong men to turn pale."

Mike's four-armed assistant introduces the story's colourful pulp character design, balancing a frightening physical exterior with polite charm.

"Contact was made while he ran up the companionway. The electroparalysis bolt hit him while he was still twenty feet from the control cabin. It caught him on his right toe with his left foot extended."

The narrative captures the immediate technological dangers of space travel, rendering Mike immobile mid-stride during the pirate assault.

"The clubs of the warriors caused Nicko's almost indestructible hide to ring like a great bell."

During a violent ambush by river tribes, Nicko's alien anatomy offers a touch of dark comedic relief amidst desperate wilderness survival.

What It's Really About

The story plays on mid-century speculative themes connecting ancient human history with extraterrestrial origins. Beneath the pulp action lies an exploration of how scientific curiosity can be exploited by unprincipled greed. Professor Brandon’s pure pursuit of historical truth stands in sharp contrast to McKee and Talbott’s mercenary plunder. The plot also examines themes of tyranny and rebellion; the alien world serves as a mirror of human history, where decadent, gem-encrusted empires build their wealth upon the brutal oppression of lower castes. Ultimately, the story asserts that honest companionship, courageous self-sacrifice, and mutual respect cross both species lines and interstellar distances.

Why Read It Today

Fans of mid-century pulp science fiction will enjoy Before Egypt for its unpretentious, fast-paced momentum and classic space-opera tropes. Originally published in Amazing Stories in 1957, the novella captures the vibrant energy of 1950s magazine fiction, complete with ray guns, anti-gravity skiffs, ancient mysteries, and strange alien ecologies.

Readers should expect the stylistic conventions of its era, including simplified character archetypes, melodramatic dialogue, and straightforward action sequences that move briskly from one cliffhanger to the next. The prose does not pause for dense world-building or complex psychological depth, focusing instead on immediate narrative movement and colorful visuals.

What lingers is the surprisingly charming dynamic between Mike and his four-armed Martian companion, Nicko, whose polite diction and tough scales steal nearly every scene. It is a quick, imaginative read that offers an enjoyable window into the mid-twentieth-century vision of interplanetary adventure.