Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Real Men with ray guns and beautiful women in beguiling outfits battled hideous monsters from outer space! Return with us to the days when Captain Proton ruled the skyways! When the queen of an evil space empire kidnaps Captain Proton's faithful secretary Constance Goodheart, it's only the first step in her diabolical plan to conquer the Incorporated Planets. It soon becomes clear that there is more to her plot than meets the eye when, on the very edge of death, Captain Proton is saved by a power Not Of This Universe. Caught in an eons-old fight between two alien races, who can Captain Proton trust? No one -- not even his sidekick, ace reporter Buster Kincaid. Can Captain Proton save the Galaxy from the forces of evil and save Constance Goodheart from the Giant Demon Squid of Greyhawk II? Extra! Dr. Chaotica plots the Death of the Patrol, Constance Goodheart must find Captain Proton before she shrinks to a size too small to be seen, and Buster Kincaid faces the Swamp of Doom! Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Real Men with ray guns and beautiful women in beguiling outfits battled hideous monsters from outer space! Return with us to the days when Captain Proton ruled the skyways! When the queen of an evil space empire kidnaps Captain Proton's faithful secretary Constance Goodheart, it's only the first step in her diabolical plan to conquer the Incorporated Planets. It soon becomes clear that there is more to her plot than meets the eye when, on the very edge of death, Captain Proton is saved by a power Not Of This Universe. Caught in an eons-old fight between two alien races, who can Captain Proton trust? No one -- not even his sidekick, ace reporter Buster Kincaid. Can Captain Proton save the Galaxy from the forces of evil and save Constance Goodheart from the Giant Demon Squid of Greyhawk II? Extra! Dr. Chaotica plots the Death of the Patrol, Contance Goodheart must find Captain Proton before she shrinks to a size to small too be seen, and Buster Kincaid faces the Swamp of Doom! Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA TODAY bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He currently produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series staring Poker Boy. During his career he also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Chapter One: A Door Opens The Interspacial Cross-Galactic Door opened about two feet behind Constance Goodheart's chair as she leaned forward to daintily sip her soup, a chicken bisque flavored with the thick richness of the Jovian Emir plant. The Door opened with a faint sucking sound, as if Constance had made a rude noise with her soup, which she never would have done. In all the years Constance had been Captain Proton's secretary, he had never heard her make a rude noise. Lots of screams, but never, ever rude noises. That type of thing was just not in her nature. With a second rude noise, the Interspacial Cross-Galactic Door shimmered, then stabilized just above the carpet, covering everything with a faint blue tinge. Captain Proton had reserved the private dining room of the Moon's most famous restaurant, Tranquillity Fine Dining, just for the occasion of having a nice, quiet dinner with his secretary, Constance Goodheart. With so much going on around the galaxy, with so many problems, it had been a long time since they had had a dinner together when they could just sit and talk. Both Captain Proton and Constance had been looking forward to the evening and the wonderful food always served by Chef Henry of Tranquillity. Now it was ruined! "Move!" Captain Proton shouted at Constance as the rude noise made him look up and he saw the door. He instantly recognized it for an Interspacial Door from the shape and the blue tint of everything close by. Such doors were very expensive to operate, took massive amounts of power, and were illegal on every world in the Incorporated Planets. But Captain Proton had learned that something being illegal never stopped the bad elements of the Galaxy. Constance looked up at Captain Proton over her soup, a small drop of the bisque glistening on her lip like morning dew on a rose petal. There was an innocent expression on her face and a puzzled glint in her eyes. He tried to reach across the table, to pull her out of danger, but before he could get a hold of her arm, a tall, powerful-looking woman stepped out of the door and leveled a weapon at him. He froze. The first thing Captain Proton noticed right off was that the new woman in the room wore very little clothing. In fact, that detail was hard to miss. She had on