A Wizard and a Warlord

Magnus and Alea land next on a planet that seems perfect. People are well fed and content. There are no tyrants. But Magnus just can't let it go. So they drop down with the intention of identifying what kind of government is present - since they can't see any signs of one from above. Again, Magnus is almost immediately jumped and forcibly conscripted into the "army" of a local warlord. He quickly escapes with Alea's help and then the two of them proceed to warn the natives about the warlord and wait to see what kind of governmental response manifests to address the problem.

At the end, though, Magnus must admit that the planet doesn't need them and the system of checks and balances they've established is more than capable of dealing with show more the threats that they've encountered. That was an interesting twist - the first time that Magnus landed on a planet that didn't need him. Of course, you can't use that too often or you'd just have book after book of an unneeded/unwanted Superman with no Lex Luthor. Boring. show less

NO GOVERNMENT, NO PROBLEM . . . FOR THE INVADERS. During his last fight for peace and democracy on a forgotten planet, the interplanetary liberator Gar Pike somehow managed to get himself a new traveling companion: Alea, a young woman with a certain amount of psychic ability - and a heavy dose of attitude to boot.