
A weary spot welder from Chicago finds his routine night shift abruptly transformed when a routine repair on a mysterious “manhole cover” sparks a blinding flash and drops him into an unfamiliar, moon‑lit landscape of limestone cliffs. Disoriented, he’s greeted by a broad‑shouldered sergeant in an unfamiliar uniform, who seems as baffled by his sudden appearance as the welder is by the strange terrain.
The two quickly discover they’re tangled in a secret government project that has crossed the boundary between ordinary industry and experimental space travel. As the welder, nicknamed “Tuck,” tries to explain his accidental involvement, the sergeant—named Yogi—offers a grudgingly humorous partnership, promising to sort out the bizarre circumstances that have thrust a civilian into a top‑secret world. Listeners get a blend of mid‑century sci‑fi intrigue, dry wit, and the uneasy humor of an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary danger.
Language
en
Duration
~23 minutes (22K 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
2021-09-27
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Best known for a single 1954 science-fiction story, this elusive writer left behind a small but memorable footprint in the pulp-magazine era. That mystery gives the work an extra spark: a glimpse of classic mid-century imagination from an author history has mostly misplaced.
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