"Secret Mission: Moluk (Perry Rhodan, No. 84)" by William Voltz
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Mission-Moluk-Perry-Rhodan/dp/B0007186ZS

Book number eighty-four of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space
opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets,
number in the thousands with several spinoffs. The English books
started with two translated German stories per book translated by
Wendayne Ackerman and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth
book. And then they transition back to two stories in book #109/110.
The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books #119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. The
German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two
billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well
printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1975 that I had to be
very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I
lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I
now own book #1 to book #106, plus the Atlan books, and some of the
Lemuria books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

BTW, this is actually book number 92 of the original German pamphlets
written in 1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German
on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is
automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch,
Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Geheimmission_Moluk
There is alternate synopsis site at:
https://www.perryrhodan.us/summaries/92#

In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in their
1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third
stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an
aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of
500. It has been over seventy years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships
headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan
has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator
and keep them from being taken over by the robot administrator of Arkon.

Perry Rhodan is desperately looking for alliances to help defend The
Terran Empire. The Solar Defense forces found documents in the house of Maatal that said that Molecular Deformer colonists were from Moluk. So
he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet Moluk which
is 20,000 light years away from Earth. But, as usual, things start off
with a bang.

Two observations:
1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three of the translated
stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked
out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would
never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should
read the totally awesome "Mutineer's Moon" Dahak series of three books
by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/

My rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 0.0 out of 5 stars (0 reviews)

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon, 18 May 2026 19:15:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet
Moluk which is 20,000 light years away from Earth.

Not sure there?s any place for a stellar system that far from Earth,
that is still within our Galaxy ...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 19 May 2026 07:04:28 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Mon, 18 May 2026 19:15:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet
Moluk which is 20,000 light years away from Earth.

Not sure there?s any place for a stellar system that far from Earth,
that is still within our Galaxy ...

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way> tells us that it's isophotal
diameter is 87,400 ? 3,600 light-years so I would think there is
plenty of room for things to be a mere 20,000 light years from Earth
in at least one direction.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/19/2026 11:02 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 19 May 2026 07:04:28 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Mon, 18 May 2026 19:15:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet
Moluk which is 20,000 light years away from Earth.

Not sure there?s any place for a stellar system that far from Earth,
that is still within our Galaxy ...

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way> tells us that it's isophotal diameter is 87,400 ñ 3,600 light-years so I would think there is
plenty of room for things to be a mere 20,000 light years from Earth
in at least one direction.

Don't look up isophotal, don't look up, don't look up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isophote

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Lynn McGuire wrote:

"Secret Mission: Moluk (Perry Rhodan, No. 84)" by William Voltz
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Mission-Moluk-Perry-Rhodan/dp/B0007186ZS

<snip>

BTW, this is actually book number 92 of the original German pamphlets
written in 1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German
on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is
automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch,
Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Geheimmission_Moluk
There is alternate synopsis site at:
https://www.perryrhodan.us/summaries/92#

<snip>

Perry Rhodan is desperately looking for alliances to help defend The
Terran Empire. The Solar Defense forces found documents in the house of Maatal that said that Molecular Deformer colonists were from Moluk. So
he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet Moluk which
is 20,000 light years away from Earth. But, as usual, things start off
with a bang.

My favorite part of this story are the snippets set inside the tower of
the dreaded desert. It reminds me of funhouse fantasy found in stories
such as THE DWARFT by Bradbury.
Napolean's tactic to herd Others into a tightly controlled
groupthink under his command seems like a psychological allegory. It may
mirror manipulation practiced by a reality politician or cult leader.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. veritas _|_ telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. liberabit |
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' vos |


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 19 May 2026 23:34:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

On 5/19/2026 11:02 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 19 May 2026 07:04:28 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Mon, 18 May 2026 19:15:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet
Moluk which is 20,000 light years away from Earth.

Not sure there?s any place for a stellar system that far from

Earth,

that is still within our Galaxy ...

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way> tells us that it's isophotal
diameter is 87,400 ? 3,600 light-years so I would think there is
plenty of room for things to be a mere 20,000 light years from Earth
in at least one direction.

Don't look up isophotal, don't look up, don't look up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isophote

Apparently, "isophotal distance" is what is used to size the Milky Way
and other galaxies. See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy#Isophotal_diameter>.

I will concede that there should have been a "D25" before "isophotal"
in "isophotal diameter".

Don't shoot the messenger.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/20/2026 10:19 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 19 May 2026 23:34:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

On 5/19/2026 11:02 AM, Paul S Person wrote:

On Tue, 19 May 2026 07:04:28 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Mon, 18 May 2026 19:15:02 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:

So he and Alan Mercant send the space ship Mexico to the planet
Moluk which is 20,000 light years away from Earth.

Not sure there?s any place for a stellar system that far from Earth,
that is still within our Galaxy ...

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way> tells us that it's isophotal
diameter is 87,400 ñ 3,600 light-years so I would think there is
plenty of room for things to be a mere 20,000 light years from Earth
in at least one direction.

Don't look up isophotal, don't look up, don't look up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isophote

Apparently, "isophotal distance" is what is used to size the Milky Way
and other galaxies. See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy#Isophotal_diameter>.

I will concede that there should have been a "D25" before "isophotal"
in "isophotal diameter".

Don't shoot the messenger.

Galaxies appear to look like potatoes. Sizing them is difficult unless
you can weigh them.

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)