Earth needs a killer

In Short

Recruited for his capacity for violence, a cynical Martian drifter named Ray Berton is thrust into a high-stakes struggle spanning multiple dimensions and atomic physics. Transported to Earth by telepathic overseers who cannot kill themselves, Ray is tasked with eliminating a dangerous mutant named Durach, who threatens to vaporize the planet. As Ray crosses a mental barrier into a higher plane of reality called Mohln, he confronts a philosophical dilemma about human nature, evolution, and destruction. He ultimately completes his mission, plunging to his death while leaving behind a metallic testament of his strange journey.

The Story

Ray Berton is a hardened space bum drinking in Jelahn's krin-krin tavern on Mars when a violent brawl leaves a man dead. Fleeing the Martian cops, Ray is intercepted by Malcolm Mergon and his daughter Glora, powerful telepaths who spirit him away to Earth aboard a space-cruiser. They explain that Earth is in mortal peril: ten Uranium Piles, if they reach simultaneous critical mass, will react with an unstable element and vaporize the planet. Because Malcolm and Glora possess paraphysical mind-energy but are mentally incapable of destruction, they need a sane killer. They choose Ray, implanting dormant abilities to prepare him for the task.

Ray is sent to assassinate Ronal LeStrang, the head of the Atomic Energy Commission. Entering LeStrang's office, Ray aims a neutron gun, but LeStrang uses mental power to vanish completely. Malcolm and Glora reveal that LeStrang was actually Durach, a mutated Fourth Stage being hiding behind a hypnotic disguise. Durach had crossed a mental barrier from Mohln—a coexistent higher plane of reality—to destroy Earth. To finish the job, Ray must undergo a grueling neural transformation and follow Durach through the barrier into Mohln.

In Mohln, Ray discovers a surreal landscape governed by mind-energy and meets Reeta and Carleth, siblings who oppose Durach. They explain that Durach and his fellow mutants are teratological freaks born from gamma-ray exposure during twentieth-century wars. These mutants seek revenge against a hostile Third-Stage humanity by destroying Earth, an event that would accelerate Fourth-Plane development. Ray is guided toward Durach's towering city of the mind.

When Ray confronts Durach, the mutant tries to persuade him that he is merely a disposable tool being used by perfectionists who ultimately despise him as a freak. Durach argues that destroying Earth will liberate higher consciousness, and warns Ray that killing him will cause the mental tower to collapse, plunging Ray back to Earth to certain death. Torn between the bleak memories of his past on Mars and Durach's seductive vision of immortality, Ray listens as Reeta urges him forward from afar. Ultimately rejecting Durach's manipulation, Ray fires his neutron gun, killing Durach and his followers.

As predicted, Durach's mental tower dissolves beneath Ray's feet. Falling through the sky, Ray completes the metal scroll manuscript that tells his story. Back in New York City, September 1983, a man's body materializes ten thousand feet in the air above Manhattan, plunging to smash into Tier 19. A news reporter broadcasts the event as a Fortean mystery, dismissing the accompanying metal manuscript as the work of a quack, while the Atomic Energy Commission reels from the inexplicable disappearance of Ronal LeStrang.

How It Unfolds

A Martian brawl — Ray Berton kills a man during a violent altercation in a rough Martian tavern along the North Canal scum sieve. While fleeing the local authorities through the red stone streets under the shine of Deimos, he is suddenly struck by a massive surge of foreign telepathic thought and intercepted by mysterious, aristocratic strangers who spirit him away.

The Earthbound mission — Transported directly to Earth aboard a swift space-cruiser without any visa, security checks, or antiseptic wards, Ray learns he has been recruited to perform a vital assassination. His overseers, Malcolm and Glora Mergon, explain that he must eliminate a hidden threat to the planet's ten Uranium Piles because their own advanced paraphysical mental nature strictly prevents them from committing acts of destruction.

The first confrontation — Ray tracks Ronal LeStrang, the head of the Atomic Energy Commission, to his glass-lined office and draws a small neutron gun from his jacket. LeStrang abruptly vanishes into transparency before Ray can pull the trigger, revealing through mental traces that he is actually a disguised mutant named Durach who has crossed dimensions from a higher plane called Mohln.

Crossing the barrier — Undergoing a painful neural and nervous system transformation inside a sealed red-light cell above Manhattan, Ray develops Fourth-Stage awareness and crosses the dimensional barrier. He emerges in Mohln, a blue-toned surreal landscape where he encounters Reeta and Carleth, who warn him of dwindling defenses and guide him toward Durach's towering city of the mind.

The final choice — Confronting Durach in his towering stronghold among other obscene freaks, Ray listens as the mutant argues that they are kindred spirits and warns that killing him will destroy the mental tower and cause Ray to plunge back to Earth. Overcoming his hesitation, Ray fires his neutron gun into Durach's chest, sealing his own fatal fall through a gray rain toward Manhattan.

The People

Ray Berton is a cynical, brawling space bum with a tragic past who wants only to be left alone to navigate his harsh life. Standing in his way are his own lack of direction, deep-seated fear, and the manipulations of telepathic overseers who turn him into a reluctant assassin. He ends up permanently altered by Fourth-Stage consciousness, sacrificing his life to save a world he once scorned.

Malcolm and Glora Mergon are aristocratic father-and-daughter telepaths who want to protect Earth from total vaporization caused by simultaneous critical atomic piles. Their primary obstacle is their own mental inability to commit acts of physical destruction. They end up sacrificing their advanced abilities to cross back into the Third Plane and try to halt the planetary catastrophe.

Durach (who also poses as Ronal LeStrang) is a mutated Fourth-Stage freak who wants to exact revenge on humanity and destroy Earth to accelerate higher dimensional evolution. Standing in his way are Malcolm, Glora, and the native Mohln defenders who control the Merger machinery. He ends up exposed and killed by Ray's neutron gun when his mental tower crumbles around him.

Reeta and Carleth are native Fourth-Stage residents of Mohln who want to protect their world and prevent Durach from seizing control of the Merger. Their obstacle is their dwindling paraphysical resistance as Durach's aggressive attacks systematically break down their neural defenses. They end up losing most of their allies, witnessing the death of their enemy, and watching Ray fade away.

In Its Own Voice

Ray reacts with immediate, survival-driven instinct after inadvertently killing a man during a chaotic and violent brawl in a crowded scum sieve tavern on the Martian North Canal.

There was no time for talking or thinking or feeling sorry; I measured my chances and ran for the door.

Glora outlines the staggering stakes of their clandestine proposition shortly after successfully spiriting Ray away from the dangerous Martian authorities onto a fast-moving space-cruiser bound for Earth.

You can repay us personally. You can do us a big favor in return. By so doing, you can possibly save Earth from annihilation.

Ray finally confronts the monstrous mutant leader face-to-face in his towering mental stronghold on Mohln right before making his final, irrevocable choice.

I'm not wasting time talking, Durach. I'm killing you because--because--

What It's Really About

The narrative explores the deep friction between biological evolution, psychological isolation, and the terrifying weight of human agency across different planes of existence. At its core, the book questions what truly constitutes sanity and madness, framing them as relative states governed by dimensional awareness rather than rigid moral definitions. It interrogates the ethical cost of societal progress, examining whether an advanced civilization can justify exploiting violent, marginalized outcasts as disposable instruments to preserve its collective survival. Furthermore, it raises sobering questions about atomic power, suggesting that humanity's destructive technological ambitions will inevitably outpace its moral wisdom unless elevated by higher spiritual and mental consciousness. Ray's tragic arc underscores a bitter irony: the very person used to save humanity is discarded as an unwanted anomaly.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate mid-century pulp science fiction that seamlessly blends existential philosophy with cosmic scale will find much to admire here. Reading the book feels like navigating a feverish, neon-lit noir dream where hard-boiled Martian atmosphere crashes against transcendental telepathy. What stays with you long after finishing is Ray's haunting realization of his own profound displacement—a man too rough for paradise yet too awakened for the squalor he left behind.

However, contemporary readers should approach with honest expectations regarding period attitudes and stylistic conventions. The narrative carries the distinct cadence of early 1950s pulp writing, complete with starkly transactional portrayals of women, gritty slang like "krin-krin tavern" and "scum sieve," and raw, unvarnished cynicism toward institutional authority. The dialogue occasionally leans into melodrama, and the abrupt conceptual shifts between physical brawls and abstract dimensional physics can feel quite jarring. Yet, for those willing to look past these dated pulp tropes, this briskly paced story offers a uniquely melancholic meditation on sacrifice, power, and the lonely burden of being civilization's chosen executioner.