Mutiny -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Space pirates -- Fiction; Space ships -- Fiction
In those days, ships usually carried things that were mighty hard to
get or make on Mars, and were not too scarce on Earth. In this case,
there was a ton of U235, a lot of organic chemicals that still couldn't
be synthesized from their elements, and an assortment of odds and ends
that were prized by the Martian natives in spite of their cheapness.
Into the bins where this stuff was stored, the shouting pirates who
had lately been a well-behaved crew swarmed, shouting and pushing, and
laying claim to this and that and the other; and in less than five
minutes, three separate fights started. Gilligan stormed, threatened,
and at last resorted to violence.
"This stuff'll never be divided fair if you lugs try to settle it by
fightin' for it," he roared after he had clipped a couple of them.
"What do you think you are, a bunch of pirates? You fools kill each
other off, and who brings the ship into port, eh? How long do you
think you'd go on livin', if we go short-handed and damage this can on
landin'? Huddersfield would kill you off like flies for that. Now calm
down and let's get this thing settled."
They stood meekly enough after that, while Gilligan looked the cargo
over and assigned this portion to this fellow, that portion to that. He
had apportioned a large part of the spoils to them when he came to a
dozen or so large corrugated boxes. He read one of the labels and broke
out into laughter.
"Look at this, you lugs," he chuckled. "Who's going to get this for his
share?"
The others looked and grins began to spread over their faces. The
labels said: "_Dentogleme Tooth Powd. 1/2 Gr. 4 oz._" The grins became
laughs, and a dozen eyes turned to Manool. The little farmer felt
his face begin to redden; it dawned on him that his habit of dental
fastidiousness was not unknown to the crew. Gilligan's next remark made
it obvious that this was the truth.
"Manool," he said. "This stuff was probably goin' to Mars to polish the
teeth of them shark-jawed natives. But it would have been wasted there,
Manool, wasted. But now, Manool, it shall be awarded to you, who'll
value it, in appreciation of all you done for us, durin' the mutiny."
His eyes hardened for a moment as if in anticipation of a complaint;
then, seeing nothing in Manool's eyes but plaintive acquiescence, he
went on: "Take it, Manool, and get out o' here. Take it down to the
farm and gloat over it, farmer. There's enough there to last even you
for twenty years."
The crew looked at him, looked at the dazed Manool, and burst into
spasms of laughter. They poked jibes at him, made obscene puns at his
expense, and Manool stood there, taking it all in and getting redder
and redder.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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