A reminder that L. Ron was a heck of a SF author back in the day. Scientology would eclipse his earlier writing unfortunately but it was a lot of fun to read. Light and breezy and full of ideas, and you always had the impression that the words just poured out of him onto the page. His 10 volume *Mission Earth* series is a blast but there are numerous places along the way where you get the distinct feeling that he decided to pad out the book by throwing in a 100 pages of some sub-plot BUT it never feels unnecessary or tacked on. The guy literally was worse than Hitler for starting Scientology, but his skills as a pulp author can not be denied.