
Part 1
In the icy reaches of the asteroid belt, Sam Knox pilots the modest freighter Wanderer, drifting among glittering rocks and the relentless nets of miners. He works for the Department of Terran Justice, tasked with tracking down a fugitive named Pell, not for wealth but to fulfill a deeper, personal code. The belt’s tight‑knit mining crews, bound by danger and the promise of rare ore, watch his movements with wary suspicion. As rocket‑powered nets snag meteors, Knox must decide whether to blend in or stand apart.
A sudden distress call from the nearby ship Fleetblast shatters the routine, pleading for a scarce supply of penicillin‑X to save a wounded crew member. Knox seizes the moment, racing to deliver the drug despite his limited cargo and the perilous environment of space. The risky maneuver forces him into a tense chase with the mining fleet, testing his resolve and the delicate balance between duty and survival. Listeners are drawn into a gritty frontier where law, loyalty, and the harsh realities of asteroid mining collide.
Language
en
Duration
~28 minutes (27K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
Jan 12, 2021
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

A byline from the pulp science-fiction era, this pen name is tied to fast-moving stories full of robots, space travel, and strange planets. The work published under it captures the breezy adventure and big ideas that made mid-century magazine SF so memorable.
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