The Winged Men of Orcon: A Complete Novelette

In Short

When a rogue Earth scientist named Ludwig Leider threatens to annihilate the home planet from the remote, alien world of Orcon, a military expedtion is dispatched to stop him. After their space flier crashes upon arrival, the surviving crew—led by scientist Frederick Weeks—is captured and brought into Leider's massive subterranean lair. Facing an enemy who wields precise energy-draining technology, the survivors must rely on sheer physical force, tactical cunning, and two tons of high explosives aboard their wrecked vessel to sabotage the villain's controls, wipe out his alien legion, and escape back to Earth.

The Story

The narrative opens aboard a crashed space flier on the dark, stormy surface of Orcon. Doctor Frederick Weeks awakens handcuffed alongside the bodies of several crew members, including the expedition's commander, Admiral Wellington Forbes. Weeks frees himself, recovers an atomic gun, and rescues Captain Virginia Crane. Crane reveals that she engineered Weeks's abduction to join the mission because of his specialized knowledge of Orcon. Despite their initial friction—and Weeks's open skepticism regarding women in the military—they agree to a truce. Along with Koto, a Japanese crewman, and LeConte, a radio operator, the four survivors assess their situation. The flier's propulsion is ruined, but its weapons and a cargo of two tons of the volatile explosive kotomite remain intact.

Before they can organize a scouting party, a strong magnetic pull drags the ship toward an aqueous sea, driven by the winged, orange-skinned native inhabitants of Orcon who have allied with the renegade human scientist Ludwig Leider. Using an atomic gun to sever the magnetic cable, Weeks temporarily halts the draw, but Leider soon uses a specialized energy ray to lift the entire ship and the crew directly into his subterranean mountain base.

Once inside the vast, blue-lit caverns, the crew realizes that Leider relies heavily on advanced scientific rays while neglecting basic physical security. Finding themselves guarded by forty Orconites, Weeks and his companions utilize their superior physical strength—honed by Earth's gravity—to overpower the guards in hand-to-hand combat using improvised clubs of jade. During the melee, they discover Leider's sleek private cruiser parked nearby.

Before they can escape in the cruiser, Leider incapacitates them with a paralysis ray and brings them to his central laboratory. Showing off a device that drains living energy, he demonstrates how he plans to reduce Earth to stardust. During his boasting, Weeks smashes the control apparatus on Leider's desk, knocking the villain out and breaking his hold over the facility.

As alarms ring out, LeConte cuts the primary power lines to plunge the caverns into total darkness. Clad in garments taken from fallen Orconites, the team maneuvers through the confused alien crowd toward the captured cruiser. Koto stays behind briefly to trigger an atomic gun pointed at their original ship's cargo of kotomite. He leaps onto the cruiser's boarding ladder just as Crane pilots the craft into space. From their display screens, they watch the resulting explosion tear open the mountains and flood the cavern complex, neutralizing the threat to Earth. Flying back home, Weeks abandons his prejudices about female officers, and the two return to Earth engaged to be married.

How It Unfolds

Wreckage on Orcon Frederick Weeks regains consciousness inside a ruined space flier, breaks his bonds, and discovers that Admiral Forbes is dead. He revives Captain Virginia Crane, who confesses she arranged his abduction to secure his scientific expertise against Ludwig Leider.

The Magnetic Cable While assessing the ship's damage, the crew faces an attack by winged, orange-skinned Orconites who haul the ship toward the sea with a heavy magnetic cable. Weeks uses an atomic gun to break the cable's hold, bringing the ship to rest on the beach.

Captured by Levitation Before the crew can launch a counterattack, Leider uses an invisible energy beam to haul the flier and the four survivors across space and directly into his vast underground cavern system.

Brawling in the Caverns Realizing their captors lack physical fighting skills, the crew uses chunks of rock to overpower forty winged guards. They locate Leider's personal space cruiser parked in an adjacent hangar and attempt to seize it.

Confrontation with Leider Leider freezes the crew with a paralysis beam and brings them to his laboratory to boast about his energy-draining machine. Weeks seizes an opening to smash the main control console, knocking Leider unconscious.

Escape in the Dark LeConte cuts the cavern power to blind the Orconites, allowing the crew to reach the cruiser under cover of darkness. Koto rigged the old ship's atomic gun to ignite its store of kotomite, and Crane pilots the stolen ship into space just as the cavern complex explodes.

The People

• Doctor Frederick Weeks: A research scientist specializing in cosmological chemistry. He begins the mission as a reluctant participant who harbors rigid ideas about military ranks, but takes charge of the survivors and relies on physical aggression and tactical improvised sabotage to defeat Leider.
• Captain Virginia Crane: An officer in the space patrol who planned Weeks's abduction to ensure the mission had the necessary scientific expertise. She remains steady under pressure, pilots Leider's advanced cruiser during the escape, and earns Weeks's respect.
• Ludwig Leider: A renegade scientist who fled to Orcon after a previous military defeat. Driven by a desire to dominate or destroy Earth, he relies entirely on high-tech energy ray controls, which leaves him vulnerable to direct physical action.
• Koto: A resilient crew member who aids Weeks during hand-to-hand combat despite suffering a broken arm early in the crash. He risks his life to trigger the kotomite explosives in their wrecked ship before leaping onto the escaping cruiser.
• LeConte: The expedition's radio operator. After surviving cracked ribs in the initial crash, he provides crucial support by cutting the power grid in Leider's complex to facilitate their final retreat.

In Its Own Voice

"When I came to, it was dark; so dark that the night seemed all but fluid with black pigment."

— Weeks regains consciousness inside the canted hull of the flier immediately after the crash.

"Their faces, bodies, arms, and legs were human. But they had wings!"

— The crew catches their first clear view of the native Orconite forces swarming around the hull.

"All of the people there will lose the power to move, and they will die."

— Ludwig Leider explains the function of his energy-draining machine while holding the crew captive in his laboratory.

What It's Really About

The story contrasts advanced technological reliance with elemental physical action and basic human resolve. Ludwig Leider represents a cold, intellect-driven force that views science purely as an instrument of absolute control and total destruction. However, his arrogance causes him to overlook simple physical vulnerabilities; he constructs complex energy beams and paralysis rays, yet fails to anticipate raw hand-to-hand combat or simple mechanical disruption. The narrative also traces a shift in personal attitudes under crisis, as Doctor Weeks's initial prejudice regarding gender roles in the military is dismantled by Captain Crane's competence, leadership, and piloting skill during their escape.

Why Read It Today

This novelette offers a fast-paced sample of early 1930s pulp science fiction, presenting an adventure built around high-concept super-science, exotic alien worlds, and direct action. Readers interested in the history of space opera will appreciate its blend of futuristic weapons—such as atomic guns, cold-ray flashlights, and energy-draining beams—with classic adventure tropes like cavern brawls and narrow escapes.

The prose reflects the stylistic conventions of its era, featuring rapid exposition, dramatic dialogue, and straightforward heroics. While modern readers will easily spot period elements—such as the protagonist's initial traditionalist views on female military officers and the sudden romantic conclusion—the story moves quickly through its set pieces. It remains an engaging, short read for fans of vintage interplanetary fiction who enjoy seeing resourceful characters overcome overwhelming alien odds through a mixture of scientific improvisation and direct force.

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