The 25th Golden Age of Science Fiction by Raymond Z. Gallun
Author:Raymond Z. Gallun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, adventure, pulp, sci-fi, short stories
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2015-09-30T16:00:00+00:00
THE PLANET STRAPPERS
Originally published in 1961.
I
The Archer Five came in a big packing box, bound with steel ribbons and marked, This end upâhandle with care. It was delivered at a subsidized government surplus price of fifty dollars to Hendricksâ Sports and Hobbies Center, a store in Jarviston, Minnesota, that used to deal mostly in skin diving equipment, model plane kits, parts for souping up old cars, and the like. The Archer Five was a bit obsolete for the elegant U.S. Space Force boysâhence the fantastic drop in price from two thousand dollars since only last June. It was still a plenty-good piece of equipment, however; and the cost change was a real break for the Bunch.
By 4:30 that bright October afternoon, those members who were attending regular astronautics classes at Jarviston Technical College had gathered at Hendricksâ store. Ramos and Tiflin, two wild characters with seldom-cut hair and pipe stem pants, who didnât look as if they could be trusted with a delicate unpacking operation, broke the Archer out with a care born of love, there in Paul Hendricksâ big back-room shop, while the more stolid membersâand old Paul, silent in his swivel chairâwatched like hawks.
âSo who tries it on first?â Ramos challenged. âDumb question. You, Eileenânaturally.â
Most Bunches have a small, hard, ponytailed member, dungareed like the rest.
Still kidding around, Ramos dropped an arm across Eileen Sandsâ shoulders, and got her sharp elbow jabbed with vigor into his stomach.
She glanced back in a feminine way at Frank Nelsen, a tall, lean guy of nineteen, butch-haircutted and snub featured. But he was the purposeful, studious kind, more an observer and a personal doer than a leader; he hadnât much time for the encouraging smiles of girls, and donning even an Archer Five now instead of within a few hours, didnât exactly represent his kind of hurry.
âIâll wait, Eileen,â he said. Then he nodded toward Gimp Hines. That the others would also pick Gimp was evident at once. There were bravos and clapping, half for a joke.
âThink I wonât?â Gimp growled, tossing his crutches on a workbench littered with scraps of color-coded wire, and hopping forward on the one leg that had grown to normal size. He sort of swaggered, Frank Nelsen noticed. Maybe the whole Bunch swaggered with him in a way, because, right now, he represented all of them in their difficult aim. Gimp Hines, with the nylon patch in his congenitally imperfect heart, and with that useless right underpinning, had less chance of taking part in space-development than any of themâeven with all his talent for mechanics and electronics.
Two-and-Two (George) Baines, a large, mild person who was an expert bricklayer in his spare time, while he struggled to absorb the intricate math that spacemen are supposed to knowâhe used to protest that he could at least add two and twoâbounced forward, saying, âIâll give yuh a hand, Gimp.â
Mitch Storey, the lean colored kid with the passion for all plant life, and the specific urge to get somehow out to Mars, was also moving to help Gimp into the Archer.
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