Zeritsky’s Law by Ann Griffith Episode #485

Ann Griffith

ZERITSKY’S LAW

Episode #485 · Written by Ann Griffith · Narrated by Scott Miller

A single discovery quietly transforms the relationship between time and consequence. In Zeritsky’s Law, the ability to halt life itself becomes a commercial service, offered without judgment to anyone willing to pay. What follows is not a story of scientific triumph, but of human temptation, moral shortcuts, and the illusion that time can erase responsibility.

As word spreads, the clientele grows stranger and more troubling. Criminals vanish into the future. Celebrities preserve their fame. Ordinary people attempt to escape aging, regret, or difficult lives. Each frozen body represents a gamble on tomorrow, and each return exposes the emotional and social cost of stepping outside time.

The tone remains deceptively calm as the consequences accumulate. Griffith allows the logic of the system to speak for itself, revealing how even a flawless technology can collapse under greed, secrecy, and human error. When that collapse finally arrives, the public response is brutal, final, and irreversible.

Ann Griffith was known for intelligent, socially aware science fiction that explored the ethical edges of innovation. Rather than focusing on technical detail, her work examines how systems affect people once they are placed in human hands. Zeritsky’s Law stands as a prime example of her restrained, incisive style—using satire and understatement to deliver a powerful warning about progress without conscience.

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Listen to Zeritsky’s Law by Ann Griffith — a vintage sci-fi short story that asks what happens when time becomes a commodity.

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The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.3 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

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Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.