What Goes Up by Robert Sheckley. Short summary

5 seconds

A bankrupt goes to a planet where everything is predicted. He becomes rich. But he does not take into account the fact that there are periods where events are reversed. And he becomes a pauper again.

1 minute

Edgarson is financially ruined and flies to the planet Porif. Here he met Fowles and his sister Hetty.

He learned that on this planet, events in all spheres of life are predetermined and calculated 10 years in advance. This was also true for the stock market. Edgarson realized that he could easily get rich.

He married Hetty to get the money. Edgarson invested it in stocks and got rich.

Ten years later, however, he went bankrupt and became a pauper. Fowles explained that between ten-year cycles, everything changes exactly the opposite. And the rich man becomes a pauper.

Edgarson escapes and lands on an unknown planet. He is desperate, thinking that he will die in a primitive world.

But he sees a native wearing platinum and diamond bracelets, who is carrying earth in a cart made of pure gold. Edgarson’s spirits lifted at once.