
Stranded in the scorching Scorpion Desert of Venus, a young prospector pilots a rugged sandcar across endless dunes, chasing rumors of goldenstone veins that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Armed with only a meager grubstake and a stubborn belief in his own endurance, he left the dusty outpost of Presto to carve a fortune in a landscape three times the size of Earth’s Sahara. The heat‑blasted horizon, swarms of sand‑wolf packs and the distant hum of Venusborg’s music set a vivid backdrop for his solitary trek.
On the twenty‑first day, a sudden collapse of a massive dune sends his vehicle careening, wheels shredded and sand choking his senses. As the sandcar tumbles and comes to a jolting halt, he awakens bruised, his supplies dwindling, and the clock ticks toward a brief, desperate nap. Yet even in this precarious moment, his mind races toward the promised strike that could fund a future on Earth’s oceans, keeping his resolve as fierce as the desert itself.
Language
en
Duration
~49 minutes (47K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2016-04-15
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1928–2005
Best known for sharp, funny science fiction that could turn absurd in a heartbeat, this American writer made a specialty of stories that feel playful on the surface and unsettling underneath. His work helped define the satirical side of mid-20th-century SF.
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