
In the far‑reaches of the Saturn system, three desperate survivors cling to a tiny escape pod, pleading for rescue as their air dwindles. When a massive freighter answers their call, the trio—Jake, the quick‑tongued leader; Matt, the brooding gunman; and Henry, the scheming opportunist—turn the rescue into a trap, boarding the ship under false pretenses and seizing control of its precious cargo.
Now the freighter hurtles toward Japetus, a barren moon that hides a secret leak threatening an entire colony on Titan. The three thieves must decide whether to profit from the stolen oxygen or confront the moral weight of a people’s survival depending on it. Their uneasy alliance, hidden motives, and the looming danger of space law set the stage for a tense, high‑stakes gamble among the stars.
Language
en
Duration
~9 minutes (8K 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
2021-05-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1923–1981
A Chicago science-fiction fan and small-press publisher, he helped launch Shasta Publishers, one of the notable specialty presses of early modern SF. His name is tied to the postwar fandom and book-collecting world that helped shape the genre’s first serious publishing community.
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