
A weary accountant who has spent three decades watching rockets launch from his office window finally decides to trade his ledgers for a personal starship. Fueled by quiet obsession, he funds his own vessel, learns navigation, weapons handling, and the lore of distant worlds, all while dreaming of the places the tourist tours never reach. When he steps aboard his ship, the quiet of his former life gives way to the roar of engines and the promise of adventure among the shining stars.
His first stop is a bustling, other‑worldly casino on a moon where Venusian smoke, Martian dancers, and Ganymede’s alien music fill the air. There he meets a grizzled veteran of the asteroid lanes, sharing stories over cheap beer while the protagonist confronts the dazzling, chaotic life he has long imagined. The tale captures the thrill of stepping out of a mundane existence into a universe where courage and curiosity are the only compass.
Language
en
Duration
~57 minutes (54K 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
2020-08-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1904–1988
A quiet giant of science fiction, he wrote humane, thoughtful stories that mixed cosmic ideas with small-town warmth. Best known for classics like City and Way Station, he spent decades imagining futures shaped as much by kindness as by technology.
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