Doctor Universe

In the smoky lounge of the Spacemen’s Club, a hard‑boiled pilot‑turned‑billiard‑room regular is startled when a frail, umbrella‑toting woman slips past the club’s strict “no‑women” policy. She’s none other than Grannie Annie, the legendary pulp‑science‑fiction author who writes under a flamboyant pen name, and she’s as sharp‑tongued as she is out of place in the frontier‑town haunt. Their banter crackles with old‑school charm as she regales him with tales of interplanetary adventures that blur the line between imagination and reality.

Before long, Annie drags her bewildered companion toward the ramshackle Satellite Theater, where a one‑night spectacle titled “Doctor Universe and His Nine Geniuses” promises a mind‑bending question‑program for the whole crowd. The theater, a rickety platform above the swamp’s muck, teems with miners, freight crews, and curious onlookers, all buzzing with anticipation. As the curtain rises, the stage is set for a peculiar blend of science‑fiction showmanship and hidden danger that will test both the narrator’s wits and Annie’s notorious knack for finding trouble.