
Johnson is stationed on the sun‑baked world of Marlock, where the famed Nature’s Moebius Strip draws curious tourists for a brief, dizzying thrill. From a shaded stand he watches the crowds wobble along the looping path, their excitement turning to nausea as the strange gravity pulls them sideways. He’s not there for the spectacle, though—he’s waiting for a particular man who arrives with a briefcase, the key to a crime that could be perfect.
When the bearded target steps onto the Strip, Johnson follows, slipping past other visitors and feeling the unsettling pull of the alien terrain. The farther he goes, the more his stomach rebels, and the advertised “point of no return” looms ahead, promising both danger and opportunity. As vertigo threatens to overwhelm him, Johnson must decide whether to press on or abandon the hunt, knowing that the outcome could change everything.
Language
en
Duration
~36 minutes (34K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Robert Cicconetti, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2010-09-21
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1911–1997
A mid-20th-century American writer of science fiction, he was known especially for short stories that appeared in genre magazines. His work mixed playful ideas with classic pulp-era energy.
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