4-1/2B, Eros

Captain Hank Karns, a weather‑worn trader who roams the tangled, rain‑soaked lanes of Venus, has just watched his longtime friend Cappy Wilkerson hauled into a courtroom and sentenced to hard labor. The trial is a thinly veiled shakedown by a corrupt local council that routinely confiscates ships and sells them to the highest bidder. As Karns surveys the hurried notice announcing the auction of his own vessel, the Wanderer, a dangerous code—“4‑1/2B, Eros”—glints in his mind, hinting at a way to tip the balance.

Stirred by indignation and the looming threat of his friend's fate in the fever‑ridden Great Swamp, Karns pushes through the crowd to confront the officials. The story follows his quick‑thinking scheming as he navigates Venusian politics, the seedy underbelly of the Interplanetary Federation, and the looming mystery behind the cryptic code. Listeners are drawn into a gritty, fast‑paced adventure where a lone trader must decide whether to fight a crooked system or flee its grasp.