Police Your Planet

In Short

Bruce Gordon, a disgraced Earth reporter framed after exposing government scandals, is exiled to Mars with a one-way ticket. He arrives in Marsport, a squalid, dome-covered frontier town run by corrupt politicians, criminal gangs, and crooked police. To survive and earn passage home, Gordon joins the municipal police force, immersing himself in a world of rampant graft, rigged elections, and street violence. As power struggles escalate into full-scale civil war, Gordon navigates shifting alliances to fight for justice, ultimately realizing that real reform requires total sacrifice. This gritty tale endures as a raw, cynical portrait of planetary colonization.

The Story

Bruce Gordon lands in Marsport with a yellow one-way deportation ticket in his hat and thirty years of bitter failures behind him. Mars is no utopian frontier; it is a lawless wasteland where the privileged live inside a pressurized dome and the impoverished starve in the surrounding slums. Disillusioned and desperate to earn passage back to Earth, Gordon decides to join the Marsport police force. On Mars, buying a job on the force begins with bribing officials and smuggling contraband.

Assigned to a newly formed precinct under Captain Murdoch—a rare, uncompromising officer striving to enforce real law—Gordon learns that honest police work is treated as a crime. The city is controlled by Mayor Wayne's corrupt administration and enforced by the ruthless Stonewall gang. When Murdoch tries to establish order, Mayor Wayne manipulates the legal system to strip Murdoch of his independent authority, dragging his precinct back under central control. Gordon adapts to the brutal reality, accepting promotion to sergeant and learning to navigate the city’s complex web of graft alongside Izzy, a street-smart petty criminal turned fellow cop.

As municipal elections approach, the city turns into a warzone. Mayor Wayne uses voter intimidation, ballot-stuffing, and violent gangs to maintain his grip on power, barely winning a rigged election. When Captain Murdoch is murdered during the chaos, Gordon conceals the truth about the death to protect the fragile resistance. Gordon finds himself caught between rival factions: Mayor Wayne's Municipal force, the insurgent Legal Force backed by Earth Security, and the brutal criminal syndicates.

Gordon aligns with an underground resistance movement operating out of "The Chicken Coop," a dilapidated tenement owned by Mother Corey, a veteran criminal turned reluctant reformer. Working with Corey, the crusading newspaper publisher Randolph, and Sheila—Corey’s sharp, fiercely independent granddaughter with whom Gordon develops a complex romance—Gordon leads tactical strikes against the administration. He helps execute a daring raid on Mayor Wayne’s headquarters, arresting the mayor and exposing the regime’s collapse.

When full-scale war breaks out between the city's factions, Gordon and his allies rig explosives along the main dome's structural supports to force a resolution. Earth Security intervenes to stabilize the planet, offering Gordon a choice: face imprisonment on Mercury or accept an assignment to fight corruption on other frontier worlds. Realizing he can never return to a peaceful life on Earth, Gordon accepts the mission. Boarding the rocket to Mercury with a fresh yellow ticket, he is joined by Sheila, ready to face the next frontier together.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Exiled from Earth after publishing a political scoop, Bruce Gordon arrives in the slums of Marsport on a one-way ticket. He tears up his ticket stub and immediately gets caught in the violent underbelly of the domed city.

Joining the force To earn money for a return ticket home, Gordon buys his way into the Marsport police force. He discovers that securing a police position requires delivering smuggled narcotics to Commissioner Arliss as a bribe.

A taste of honest policing Gordon is assigned to a precinct run by Captain Murdoch, an idealistic officer attempting to eliminate graft and protect citizens. Gordon briefly serves as a squad leader, using a wooden locust club to fight off local gang members.

The system strikes back Mayor Wayne uses a legal loophole to pull Murdoch’s precinct under his direct control, dismantling the honest police operation. Gordon accepts a promotion to sergeant and takes a lucrative, corrupt beat with his partner, Izzy.

Election day violence The city erupts into open warfare during a heavily rigged municipal election featuring machine guns, tear gas, and gang intimidation. Captain Murdoch is killed in an alley, and Gordon covers up the circumstances of his death to survive.

The underground resistance Gordon takes refuge at the Chicken Coop, a rotting tenement run by Mother Corey. He joins forces with Corey, an anti-administration publisher named Randolph, and Corey's granddaughter Sheila to organize a resistance movement against Wayne and Trench.

Breaching the dome The resistance plants explosives along the base of the city's atmospheric dome to force a showdown with the administration. Gordon and Izzy raid the municipal headquarters, arresting Mayor Wayne before Earth forces step in.

Exile to Mercury Earth Security takes control of the planet and offers Gordon a choice between imprisonment or serving as an agent on Mercury. Gordon boards the rocket alone, only to find Sheila joining him for the journey ahead.

The People

• Bruce Gordon: A former Earth boxer, gambler, reporter, and cop who is exiled to Mars. He wants to earn enough money to buy passage back to Earth, but his underlying sense of morality repeatedly forces him to take a stand against corruption, transforming him from a bitter cynical survivor into a dedicated reformer.
• Mother Corey: An aging, cynical crime boss who owns the dilapidated "Chicken Coop" hideout. He wants to retire from heavy crime and achieve respectability, yet he continually uses his vast underworld connections and resources to shelter dissidents and support the resistance.
• Izzy: A quick-witted, fiercely loyal young thief who becomes Gordon's police partner. He wants to make a fortune off graft, but his strict personal code of honor compels him to protect his friends and do a thorough job on his beat.
• Sheila Corey: Mother Corey's sharp, tough-minded granddaughter who has survived on Mars through sheer grit. She initially mistrusts Gordon, but as they share close quarters and fight side by side, she develops deep loyalty and romantic affection for him.
• Captain Murdoch: A strictly honest police commander who attempts to run his precinct according to Earth standards. He wants to eliminate graft and protect citizens, but his refusal to compromise ultimately leads to his political downfall and death.
• Isaiah Trench: A calculating, pragmatic police official who ruthlessly enforces Mayor Wayne’s order. He seeks absolute power and control within the administration, viewing Gordon as both a dangerous wild card and a potential asset.

In Its Own Voice

"He grimaced at the ONE WAY stamped on it, then tore it into bits and let the pieces scatter over the floor."

Bruce Gordon arrives on Mars as an involuntary exile, destroying his ticket stub to mark the start of his life in Marsport.

"There's no graft out here."

Gordon reflects on the temporary honesty enforced in Captain Murdoch's clean precinct before political corruption sweeps back over the force.

"A man gets tired of being respectable, cobber."

Mother Corey explains why he gave up his brief attempt at going legitimate to return to the underground and support the fight against the administration.

"Honesty sure pays, even if it kills you."

Izzy bids farewell to Gordon, reflecting on the bizarre paradox of maintaining personal ethics in a completely lawless world.

What It's Really About

Beneath its pulp sci-fi exterior, the novel is a hard-nosed exploration of political corruption, institutional decay, and moral compromise. It argues that law and order are rarely clean concepts; instead, they are often manipulated by those in power to legitimate extortion and tyranny. The narrative repeatedly questions whether an individual can remain ethical inside a fundamentally broken system. Gordon’s trajectory demonstrates that fighting systemic injustice requires abandoning passive neutrality and accepting personal risk. Ultimately, the book examines the high cost of human civilization’s expansion, suggesting that frontier societies naturally replicate Earth's worst vices unless citizens actively police their own institutions and leaders.

Why Read It Today

This book will appeal to fans of hardboiled detective fiction, classic mid-century science fiction, and noir thrillers set in dystopian environments. It feels less like a traditional space opera and more like a gritty 1950s crime novel transplanted to the harsh dome of Mars. Readers who enjoy moral ambiguity, fast-paced action, and street-level political intrigue will appreciate its unvarnished atmosphere.

The narrative does present some period-typical difficulties. The dialogue relies heavily on mid-20th-century slang and fictionalized frontier dialect—such as "cobber" and "gee"—which can feel dated to modern readers. Additionally, the depiction of gender roles and physical violence reflects the blunt, unpolished pulp style of its era, featuring rough interpersonal dynamics and a cynical worldview. Nevertheless, the story remains engaging because of its relentless pacing, vivid focus on economic hardship, and memorable characters. It leaves you with a lasting impression of Mars not as a shiny frontier of technological wonder, but as a dirty, tough world where survival demands constant vigilance.