1950's novella: "Potential Zero" by John Bloodstone

Thanks to Dave Tackett of the blog QuasarDragon, you can read “Potential Zero,” a novella penned by science fiction writer and Edgar Rice Burroughs disciple John Bloodstone (Stuart J. Byrne) and illustrated by fantastic pulp artist Virgil Finlay, which was published in the December 1953 issue of Science Stories magazine and is now in the public domain.

“The Vanyans came from outer space bringing Earthmen invaluable gifts, and Earth received them — and their gifts — with open arms. But what was behind it all? What would the Vanyans ask in payment? With these questions came fear ... and distrust ... and hatred.” 

According to the promotional piece for a commercial reprint of “Potential Zero” under the variant title “Martian Honeymoon”, “Here is the very human story of a man and woman from different worlds whose love, and lives, were put to the test when each was forced to betray each other to save their own world from peril!”