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THE PLANET STRAPPERS Raymond Z. Gallun PYRAMID BOOKS 444 Madison Avenue New York 22 New York THE PLANET STRAPPERS by Raymond Z. Gallun This book is fiction. No resemblance is intended between any character herein and anyperson Here or Out There living or dead any such resemblance is purely coincidental.Published by Pyramid Books First printing: October 1961 Copyright c 1961 by Raymond Z. Gallun Printed in the United States of America I The Archer Five came in a big packing box bound with steel ribbons and marked This end up--handle with care . It was delivered at a subsidized governmentsurplus price of fifty dollars to Hendricks Sports and Hobbies Center a store inJarviston Minnesota that used to deal mostly in skin diving equipment model plane kitsparts for souping up old cars and the like. The Archer Five was a bit obsolete for theelegant U.S. Space Force boys--hence the fantastic drop in price from two thousanddollars since only last June. It was still a plenty-good piece of equipment however andthe cost change was a real break for the Bunch. By 4:30 that bright October afternoon those members who were attending regular astronauticsclasses at Jarviston Technical College had gathered at Hendricks store. Ramos andTiflin two wild characters with seldom-cut hair and pipe stem pants who didntlook as if they could be trusted with a delicate unpacking operation broke theArcher out with a care born of love there in Paul Hendricks big backroom shopwhile the more stolid members--and old Paul silent in his swivel chair--watched likehawks. quotSo who tries it on firstquot Ramos challenged. quotDumb question. You Eileen--naturally.quot MostBunches have a small hard ponytailed member dungareed like the rest. Still kidding aroundRamos dropped an arm across Eileen Sands shoulders and got her sharp elbow jabbed withvigor into his stomach. She glanced back in a feminine way at Frank Nelsen a tall lean guy of nineteen butch-haircutted and snub featured. But he was the purposeful studious kind more an observerand a personal doer than a leader he hadnt much time for the encouraging smiles ofgirls and donning even an Archer Five now instead of within a few hours didnt exactlyrepresent his kind of hurry. quotIll wait Eileenquot he said. Then he nodded toward Gimp Hines. That the others would alsopick Gimp was evident at once. There were bravos and clapping half for a joke. quotThink I wontquot Gimp growled tossing his crutches on a workbench littered withscraps of color-coded wire and hopping forward on the one leg that had grown tonormal size. He sort of swaggered Frank Nelsen noticed. Maybe the whole Bunch swaggeredwith him in a way because right now he represented all of them in their difficult aim.Gimp Hines with the nylon
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