# Vern Engdahl — Short Fiction character guide

> Vern Engdahl in Short Fiction by Frederik Pohl.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Engdahl, Vern, Solemnly Engdahl, Say Vern

**First appearance:** 0000-asteroid-of-the-damned

## Snapshot

Vern Engdahl is the earnest, throat-clearing engineer whose brain-in-a-bottle gadget keeps failing while the Major's party sails on regardless.

## Who they are

Vern is the ship's responsible man, the one who notices the East Side power plant billowing smoke and tries, with careful deference, to steer the Major toward trouble he'd rather ignore. His typewriters, rigged with endless paper rolls, clack out ominous warnings nobody wants to read, and his lamely offered drinks can't quite drown them out. He matters because his gadget and his conscience are the early fault lines along which the voyage's cheerful negligence starts to crack.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/i)

A companion who entered the city via the big bridge; Sam expects him to make contact.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as having sold his interest in Arthur to Amy.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/iii)

Manipulative electrician's mate who arranges the sale of Arthur and secures a job for himself.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/iv)

Sam's partner; works as the Major's specialist in caring for Arthur; devises the plan to steal a ship as a 'birthday gift' for the Major.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/v)

Sam's partner; locates a tanker with oil in Bayonne but accidentally causes a massive explosion.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/chapters/vi)

Assists in hooking Arthur into the ship's systems and tries to distract the Major from the power plant issues.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/characters/engdahl
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_18_se/characters