GAMBLER’S ASTEROID

Episode #428 · Written by Manly Wade Wellman · Narrated by Scott Miller

Hector spins in darkness, wrapped in glassite and glittering with temptation. What was once a lifeless fragment of rock now hosts luxury salons, flashing lights, and a gambling floor suspended over open space. Every deal is played above the abyss. For Patch Merrick, that setting feels uncomfortably accurate.

Merrick is running out of money and out of places to hide. Branded a fugitive alongside the Martian Zaarrgon, he comes to Hector not for pleasure but for supplies that will keep them free. The game is simple. The stakes are not. When a final wager demands collateral he cannot afford to lose, Merrick pushes his luck anyway. A single card changes everything—and puts him directly in the hands of a far more powerful adversary.

Captured and locked inside the mechanical heart of the asteroid, Merrick and Zaarrgon discover something unexpected about Hector’s fuel source. The discovery offers a narrow path to freedom, but only if they are willing to tear their way into vacuum and outrun pursuit. Escape will not be handed to them. It must be forced.

And waiting beyond the chase is Morgana Conti. Brilliant and calculating, she moves pieces across the System with quiet precision. Whether Merrick is her target or her chosen piece is a question that lingers long after the cards are dealt.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Manly Wade Wellman published across nearly every major pulp and digest market of the twentieth century. His fiction appeared in Weird Tales, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories, and Astounding Science Fiction. He created the Appalachian occult hero John the Balladeer and the occult investigator Judge Pursuivant, and he wrote planetary adventures, historical fantasy, and mystery fiction with equal authority.

Wellman won multiple Edgar Awards and later received a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In stories like Gambler’s Asteroid, he combines brisk pacing with sharp character tension, placing flawed but capable protagonists in situations where decisive action matters more than rhetoric.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Gambler’s Asteroid by Manly Wade Wellman — a thrilling vintage science fiction tale of fugitives, high-stakes gambling, and escape from a spinning asteroid.

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