In a starving future, Earth turns to Venus for salvation, where a strange weather-plant may feed the world—but may also be alive in ways no one understands. Into that danger goes Bat Kendo, a hard-drinking radar mutant whose uncanny senses make him the one man fit for the job, aboard the atomic-powered R. S. Eagle. Told through the wry, hard-edged voice of a spacer who joins the mission in gritty Foy City, the story follows a perilous voyage from Luna to Venus, through crushing clouds, toxic air, and the swampy settlements of Venusberg. There the crew learns the plant gathers water and nitrogen from the atmosphere, and may even possess a kind of sentience. But the real threat emerges on the return trip, when a meteor swarm—actually supercooled ice drawn to the cargo—cripples the ship, kills crewmen, and destroys the fuel and communications systems. With Earth looming and the Eagle nearly helpless, Bat makes a final, sacrificial stand in radioactive mist to guide the ship through a blind descent into the Mojave Desert. His death helps deliver the cargo that will one day turn barren land fertile, even as the tale mourns how quickly civilization forgets the people who bought progress with their lives. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.