BLANK?

Episode #257 · Randall Garrett · Narrated by Scott Miller

Imagine waking up to discover that you have already lived two weeks you cannot remember—and that during that time you made flawless financial moves, placed daring bets, and left yourself careful instructions. That is the position Bethelman finds himself in, holding handwritten notes that are unmistakably his own.

The streets feel ordinary. The calendar does not. Money appears where it should not exist. People respond to conversations he cannot recall having. Each discovery tightens the knot: someone has been steering his life with calculated precision, and that someone appears to be him. The notes are practical, confident, and disturbingly calm. They suggest he should keep going, keep investing, keep following the plan.

Randall Garrett builds the tension not through spectacle, but through mounting realization. The missing days were not lost in confusion. They were spent gathering information, placing wagers, and arranging future leverage. As Bethelman pieces together what has already happened, he begins to see how the pattern fits. If the sequence repeats, he will know which horses win, which stocks rise, and where to hide every message to himself. The opportunity is staggering—but so is the risk of pushing it too far.

The story moves with clean, confident pacing, anchored by a premise that feels both playful and unsettling. Garrett keeps the focus on decision. If you knew what was about to happen, how far would you go? And once you realized someone else had figured it out too, would you still feel in control?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randall Garrett published steadily throughout the 1950s and 1960s in leading magazines including Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy, If, and Fantastic Universe. He wrote both under his own name and in collaboration with writers such as Robert Silverberg, producing a substantial body of short fiction across major venues of the era. Garrett later gained lasting recognition for the Lord Darcy stories, which combined detective plotting with an alternate-history setting. This tale reflects his early-career strength: a tightly structured speculative idea, brisk dialogue, and a wry awareness of how quickly human ambition adapts when given an advantage.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Blank? by Randall Garrett — a clever vintage science fiction short story of lost time, future knowledge, and a gamble that could change everything.

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