''Return to the Lost Planet'' is a 1954 juvenile science fiction novel by

Angus MacVicar Angus MacVicar (28 October 1908, Argyll – 31 October 2001, Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute) was a Scottish author with a wide-ranging output. His greatest successes came in three separate genres: crime thrillers, juvenile science fiction, and a ...

, published by Burke, London. It is the second of the Lost Planet series, which was adapted for radio and television. There are six novels in the Lost Planet series: ''

The Lost Planet ''The Lost Planet'' is a 1953 American horror science fiction serial film 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay b ...

'' (1953), ''Return to the Lost Planet'' (1954), ''Secret of the Lost Planet'' (1955), ''Red Fire on the Lost Planet'' (1959), ''Peril on the Lost Planet'' (1960) and ''Space Agent from the Lost Planet''. It was the first science fiction series ever translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and had considerable impact on the development of this genre in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

.Review on the website of the Israeli Science Fiction and Fantasy Association

Plot summary

The plot follows on precisely from ''

''. A previous expedition to Hesikos, the wandering 'lost planet' which is now within a few days flight of Earth, has crash-landed, and Dr Lachlan McKinnon (its organiser), Professor Hermanoff and American engineer Spike Stranahan are marooned. McKinnon's colleagues must build and launch a spaceship from their Scottish base to travel to Hesikos, but to construct the ship they must obtain the expert assistance of Dr Andrieff, a scientist and engineer, who risks exile from his Eastern European country by so doing. The crew, consisting of McKinnon's nephew Jeremy Grant, Professor Lars Bergman, science student Janet Campbell and

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

housekeeper Madge, rescue the three explorers, who have survived the harsh winter, and start to explore the planet in a Jeep. They find signs that Hesikos was once inhabited, and that

atomic bombs A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

were detonated long ago on the surface. Escaping from a deluge of water, which damages their Jeep, as a river suddenly rises, they take refuge in a cave, which leads to a door. The door opens to admit them to caverns where the inhabitants of the planet now live. The people are highly intelligent and human-like, communicating with the visitors by

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...

, which is facilitated by a machine called the Electronome. They explain that since their planet's orbit was destroyed eons ago by atomic experiments, they have lived a peaceful underground existence, only emerging in the mild summer season to gather fruits and plants. Their current leader is Solveg, with his daughter Asa. Power for the colony is supplied by

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

generators, but when a rockfall blocks the underground river, all power is lost. The inhabitants have a fatalistic philosophy that allows them to face inevitable destruction stoically, but McKinnon cannot accept this. Grant and Stranahan use the explosives they have saved from the flood to clear the blockage — and Hesikos is saved. The visitors' then return to their spaceship in the Jeep which the Hesikans have repaired, and return to Earth accompanied by Asa, who hopes to spread her philosophy of peace.

References

External links

Angus MacVicar at the SF Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Return to the Lost Planet 1954 British novels 1954 science fiction novels The Lost Planet series