F-O-B-VENUS By NELSON S. BOND Lancelot Biggs was perhaps the worst second mate Captain Hanson had ever shipped, and he was convinced of it when he ruined their cargo. But how dumb a man is, may sometimes be a matter of opinion. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Fantastic Adventures November 1939. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Something had gone a little haywire with my bug, and I had just repaired it and was CQ-ing on the 20 band when the door opened and Captain Hanson walked in. Naturally, I was surprised. We were only four hours out of the Venus H-layer, and I hadn't expected any visitors; least of all the skipper. But he plunked himself down in the best chair and said, "Sparks, look at me! What do you see?" That gave me a jolt. Even the best of them make the old dipsy-doo once in a while, but I never thought I'd live to see the day when Captain Hanson went space nutty. He'd been with the Corporation, man and boy, for more than thirty years now, and had never spent a day in dry-dock. I reached behind me cautiously and said in as soothing a voice as I could muster, "Why, I see a very nice man, Captain. Now, just you sit quiet for a minute. I've got to--" "Stop bein' a damned fool, Sparks!" said the skipper wearily, "An' put down that monkey-wrench! I'm not slippin' my gravs--yet. I'm just askin' you a simple question. What do you see?" I said, "Is it facts you're after, Cap, or am I allowed poetic license? If it's facts, I see a swell, slightly gray-haired guy in his middle fifties who's been through the mill, knows space like a book, and--" "Wrong!" said Hanson. "Sparks, all radiomen are dumb. I guess that's why they're radiomen. What you see before you is a broken man. A man sadly buffeted by Fate and the dread clutch of circumstances. Not to mention meddlesome vice-presidents." This time I got it. "Biggs?" I said. "Yes, Sparks. Biggs. Now tell me, man to man, what did I ever do to deserve Biggs?" He had me there. Being the skipper of the _Saturn_ is not what I'd call an easy job under the best of conditions. The _Saturn_ is the oldest space-lugger still doing active duty on Corporation runs. She was built 'way back there before the turn of the century. For the past ten or twelve years, she had been on freight service, having been judged unfit for passenger duty by the SSCB--Space Safety Control Board. To make matters worse, while we were taking on cargo at Sun City spaceport, the skipper had been called into the company offices. When he came out again, he had this Biggs in tow.