Two small-time grifters roam the outer planets with a portable casino and a carefully timed escape plan. They drift from world to world setting up crooked games for unsuspecting natives, collecting alien valuables, and disappearing before the Space Patrol notices. For Harding it’s simple business. For Sheckly it’s something closer to a nightmare.
Their latest stop looks promising. The reptilian villagers greet them warmly, offer food, and invite them to a nighttime ceremony. Harding sees a room full of eager gamblers. Sheckly sees knives, strange customs, and a culture he doesn’t understand. Harding laughs off every warning. Sheckly wishes they had never landed.
Morning brings a horrifying discovery. Harding never returned from the ceremony. The villagers calmly explain that the previous night was their seasonal shedding feast. Harding tried to join them, but the process proved difficult.
Tonight, they expect Sheckly to participate.
Now the frightened Earthman must decide whether to play along with the creatures surrounding him or run for his ship and risk provoking them. Either way, the village is watching—and the ceremony returns when darkness falls.
Charles E. Fritch built a reputation in mid-century genre magazines for stories that mixed suspense with sharp, ironic reversals. His work appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Fantastic, and other science fiction and fantasy magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. Fritch also published horror and crime fiction and later became known for editing and writing in the mystery and suspense field. “Skin Game” captures the dark humor and sudden twists that frequently appeared in his magazine work.
