The Project Gutenberg EBook of Scrimshaw, by William Fitzgerald Jenkins

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Title: Scrimshaw

Author: William Fitzgerald Jenkins

Illustrator: Kelly Freas

Release Date: December 10, 2007 [EBook #23791]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Astounding Science Fiction_ September
1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note. Subscript
characters are shown within {braces}.

[Illustration]

SCRIMSHAW

_The old man just wanted to get back his
memory--and the methods he used were
gently hellish, from the viewpoint of the
others...._

BY MURRAY LEINSTER

Illustrated by Freas

Pop Young was the one known man who could stand life on the surface of
the Moon's far side, and, therefore, he occupied the shack on the Big
Crack's edge, above the mining colony there. Some people said that no
normal man could do it, and mentioned the scar of a ghastly head-wound
to explain his ability. One man partly guessed the secret, but only
partly. His name was Sattell and he had reason not to talk. Pop Young
alone knew the whole truth, and he kept his mouth shut, too. It wasn't
anybody else's business.

The shack and the job he filled were located in the medieval notion of
the physical appearance of hell. By day the environment was heat and
torment. By night--lunar night, of course, and lunar day--it was
frigidity and horror. Once in two weeks Earth-time a rocketship came
around the horizon from Lunar City with stores for the colony deep
underground. Pop received the stores and took care of them. He handed
over the product of the mine, to be forwarded to Earth. The rocket went
away again. Come nightfa