Astounding Stories #34

In "Punishment!" from Astounding Stories #34 (1968), a hardened criminal is sent to a brutal prison planet as a final reckoning—where the sheer horror of its endless war, crime, and disease forces him to confront a transformation he never expected. The story follows Jo as he faces a reality so unforgiving that even the promise of Earth feels like a distant memory.

In "The Touch of Midas!" from Astounding Stories #34 (1968), a greedy man discovers the legendary source of Midas’s power, confident he can control it with a pair of protective gloves. But when the gloves themselves turn to gold upon contact, he realizes too late that the curse cannot be tamed—only inherited.

In "No Bars Could Hold Him!", the legendary escape artist criminal The Great Gordoni faces his most baffling challenge yet: a cell rigged with so many keys that deciphering the right one should take twenty years. With only three pages to spare, the clock ticks as he confronts a puzzle that tests not just his skill, but the very limits of his reputation.

In the quiet chaos of a 1968 basement, John Winters’ life unravels when a malfunctioning device flings him 550 years into the future—only to be arrested as a spy. With just minutes to prove he’s not an invader, fate takes a turn when his son, Jo, steps into the same room and shuts down the machine, pulling his father back to the moment before the accident.