Winston K. Marks 15 min read

Poised and unhurried, a man crosses the spaceport concourse trailed by a robot luggage-cart, and calmly pays four thousand dollars in excess baggage without blinking.

Winston K. Marks's 1954 story opens on a smooth operator and his mysterious, very heavy bags, building a wry space-opera caper. Sharp, entertaining golden-age SF. Read it for a slick tale about a traveller from Mars whose luggage is worth a small fortune, and why.

In its time

Published in 1954, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

15 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

W. E. Terry