Mark T Sondrini

Rodger Dodger of the Planetary Patrol Mark T Sondrini

A nearly broke ship's Captain, Jack Asp, manages to convince seven "tourists" to leave Mars Port City on a 10 day cruise of the giant planets in his second-hand ship, the Robert Trout. A gang of space pirates, based in a cave on Ganymede (one of the large moons of Jupiter) have other plans for two of the passengers, the richest man in the Solar System and his wife. Captain Rodger Dodger of the Planetary Patrol gets the call and has to rescue the Robert Trout from these predators with the help of his partner, Cupcake and some deception by both Dodger and Captain Asp. This "realistic" space opera does not rely on gimmicky physics-busting tricks and gadgets to get the job done, but instead relies on upgraded, existing technology to travel across the immense distances involved in a reasonable span of time.