The Mystery of the Third Planet by Kir Bulychev. Short summary

5 seconds

Space pirates hold Captain Kim captive and demand from him the formula for a special rocket fuel. A talking bird tells the Seleznyovs where to look for the prisoner.

1 minute

Professor Seleznev flies to get animals for the zoo and takes his daughter Alice with him. He learns about the planet of Captains Kim and Buran. Statues of the heroes are erected there, and one of them has a talking bird on his shoulder. Four years ago, Kim went missing. The museum curator Verkhovtsev advises to fly to the Bluk.

There they look for a man who looks like the director, who has destroyed all the talkers. The Seleznevs accidentally buy the last bird at the market. The strange fat man asks to give it up for any money, but the professor refuses. The talker reports that Kim is on one of the planets in the Medusa system. «Pegasus» lands in a clearing of mirror flowers and falls underground. There stands the missing astronaut’s ship.

The doctor and the fat man threaten to kill the prisoners unless Kim discovers the secret of galactium, a superfuel. Buran, who flew in to help, appears out of the darkness and orders the pirates to surrender. Behind him comes the real Verkhovtsev. Under the mask of the museum director, the bandit Rat is hiding. He is put in a cage on the ship. «The Pegasus takes off.