Slaves of Mercury

In Short

Slaves of Mercury is a 1932 pulp science fiction novelette following spaceman Hilary Grendon, who returns from a grueling five-year voyage across the solar system only to discover Earth conquered by heavy-gravity beings from Mercury. Armed with deadly sun-ray weapons and artificial weather-altering technology, the Mercutians rule human cities through brutal intimidation. Alongside a small band of rebels, Grendon fights to rescue his fiancee and ignite a planetary uprising. Written during the early Golden Age of pulp science fiction, the story captures the era's raw kinetic action, imaginative space-opera tropes, and high-stakes melodrama.

The Story

Returning to Earth in his battered space flier, the Vagabond, after a five-year expedition that claimed the lives of all his comrades, Hilary Grendon looks forward to a peaceful homecoming and a reunion with his sweet-heart, Joan. Instead, he lands in a nightmare. Earth has been conquered by giant, warty, pink-eyed invaders from Mercury who enforce their rule with sun-tubes—weapons that project incinerating heat-rays—and search beams that render matter transparent. Human beings are treated as mere slaves, subject to instant execution for gathering or resisting.

Hilary quickly allies himself with Grim Morgan, a child-eyed giant whose own lover was taken during a previous failed revolt, and Wat Tyler, a fiery, sharp-tongued rebel. Together, they launch a daring attempt to free Joan from the clutches of the Mercutian Viceroy in Great New York. Though they manage to locate Joan and briefly overpower the Viceroy, the intervention of Mercutian reinforcements leads to a chaotic escape. Joan and Wat are separated from the main group aboard the Vagabond, leaving Hilary and Grim to fight on foot.

Realizing that the conquerors rely on Earth's sun-drenched, clear skies to power their ray weapons, Hilary and Grim infiltrate a high-tech laboratory inside the city's sub-levels. There, Mercutian scientists operate a massive weather-control machine that keeps the planet dry and cloudless. The rebels destroy the mechanism, hoping to trigger rain and block the solar rays. Trapped inside Great New York, Hilary and Grim barely escape a genocidal assault by the aliens, who use a massive orbital diskoid to turn the city streets into a fiery furnace.

Fleeing to a hidden gorge in the mountains, Hilary gathers a small force of surviving Earthmen to plan a final stand. Despair mounts as days pass without rain and the Mercutians surround their hideout with a fleet of air fliers. Just as all seems lost, Wat Tyler and Joan return in the Vagabond, having ambushed an alien diskoid in the stratosphere after picking up Grim's secret radio signal.

With the Vagabond's fire-power and the sudden arrival of torrential rainstorms—a delayed reaction from the destroyed weather machine—the tide turns. The heavy cloud cover neutralizes the Mercutian sun-rays. Rising in a global wave of fury, humans across the world attack their helpless captors with primitive weapons, driving the invaders into extinction or flight and restoring freedom to Earth.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Hilary Grendon lands his starship on Earth after five perilous years in deep space, only to discover that his home has fallen under the harsh rule of Mercutian conquerors.

A dangerous alliance After inadvertently intervening against a Mercutian guard, Hilary joins forces with the giant Grim Morgan and the nimble Wat Tyler to hide from the alien authorities.

Infiltrating the stronghold The trio sneaks into Great New York to rescue Joan from the Mercutian Viceroy, leading to a tense showdown inside the upper levels of the city's crystal towers.

Sabotaging the weather Separated from Joan and Wat, Hilary and Grim invade a subterranean laboratory to smash the machine keeping Earth's skies permanently clear for alien ray weapons.

A city in flames The Mercutians unleash a giant orbital diskoid to incinerate the citizens of Great New York, forcing Hilary and Grim to flee through streets littered with casualties.

Cornered in the gorge Gathering a fragile remnant of human rebels in a mountain refuge, Hilary prepares for a desperate last stand as alien fliers surround their position.

Rain and redemption Wat and Joan arrive in the Vagabond to break the siege, while massive rainstorms blank out the sun, rendering the Mercutian heat-weapons useless and spurring a global rebellion.

The People

• Hilary Grendon: A carefree skeptic turned hardened Fundamentalist by his harrowing deep-space voyages. He wants nothing more than to live peacefully on Earth with Joan, but her capture forces him to assume the role of an unyielding rebel leader.
• Grim Morgan: A seven-foot-tall man with gentle blue eyes and immense physical strength. Driven by the tragic loss of his own lover to Mercutian captors years earlier, he seeks retribution and serves as Hilary's steady, unshakeable right hand.
• Wat Tyler: A diminutive, red-headed bantam whose fiery temper matches his physical agility. He craves direct combat against the invaders, risking his life in dangerous scouting missions and piloting the Vagabond through critical moments of battle.
• Joan: Hilary's steadfast fiancee, whose calm intelligence matches her devotion. She uses her wits to assist the rebels while captive, enduring torture and danger without breaking her promise to wait for Grendon.
• The Mercutian Viceroy (Artok): A brutal, pink-eyed overlord who views humanity as inferior livestock, relying on terror and devastating energy rays to maintain his grip on the planet.

In Its Own Voice

"This was the only heaven; beyond--that far-flung immensity of planetary orbs--was hell!"

Hilary reflects on his return to Earth after watching his comrades perish on desolate outer worlds.

"Melts everything in its path--men trees, rocks even."

Grim Morgan describes the horrifying power of the Mercutian sun-tubes.

"We must go to arouse the Earth, sweep the Mercutians into the oceans while the storm lasts, or all our work will go for naught."

Hilary rallies his surviving fighters to launch a global assault under cover of the deluge.

What It's Really About

Slaves of Mercury explores the fragile nature of human civilization when confronted by technologically superior tyranny. At its core, the narrative poses questions about endurance, sacrifice, and the moral imperative of resistance against overwhelming odds. The book contrasts the cold, mechanical cruelty of the Mercutian conquerors with the emotional resilience and brotherhood of the human rebels. By making Earth's natural environment—specifically its rain clouds and atmosphere—the ultimate catalyst for liberation, the story suggests that humanity's deepest bond is with the living ecosystem of its home planet, which ultimately rises to cast off foreign subjugation.

Why Read It Today

Fans of retro sci-fi and early space opera will find Slaves of Mercury a fast-paced, action-packed artifact of 1930s pulp literature. Reading it feels like flipping through the vibrant, yellowed pages of Astounding Stories, filled with high-energy gunfights, dramatic rescues, and vivid melodrama. Its prose is energetic and uncomplicated, driving forward with cinematic momentum from one cliffhanger to the next.

Readers should be prepared for period conventions common to early sci-fi: exaggerated physical characterizations, simple binary morality, and straightforward plot mechanics that favor action over deep internal monologue. Yet despite these pulp tropes, the novelette retains a genuine warmth in its depiction of loyalty and comradeship under fire. The image of a devastated world reclaiming its freedom through a torrential, planet-wide rainstorm remains an evocative, satisfying spectacle.