Short Fiction · Chapters

Chapters explained

Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Mack Reynolds.

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Chapter 1
Tourists to Terra
Captain Foren and his crew manage a luxury cruise ship for wealthy thrill-seekers, who participate in primitive wars for sport. After a tourist is injured at Troy, the Captain decides to move the ship forward in time to find safer conflicts. They arrive in 1845, then jump to 1945, only to discover they are near the site of the first atomic bomb test, forcing a panicked evacuation.
Chapter 2
Not in the Rules
Gladiator Jak Demsi, having survived the Interplanetary Meet's free-for-all, faces a tribunal of judges and diplomats who accuse him of violating the contest's code of honor. He defends his tactics—throwing the emerald to divide opponents, fleeing to choose his ground, and feigning death—as legitimate Terran customs, citing Sioux maxims, 'playing possum,' and Brooklyn pragmatism. With support from Suzi and Alger Wilde, his explanations are accepted, and he is awarded the Venusian emerald. The chapter underscores the political stakes of the Meet, where planetary dominance is decided by proxy combat.
Chapter 3
The Martians and the Coys
Maw Coy brings food to her family's moonshine still, where her simple son Lem dreams of shooting a Martin. Meanwhile, a Martian commander reports to his superior about a failed invasion attempt in Kentucky, where their advanced weapons proved useless against the primitive but fierce Earthlings. The chapter ends with Lem claiming to have killed a 'passel of Martins,' though his family dismisses him.
Chapter 4
Mercy Flight
Phil Mooney, a former space-force pilot turned independent space hauler, risks everything to rush a critically ill eight-year-old girl, Lillian Marshall, from Luna to Earth for emergency medical treatment after her parents are killed in a nuclear accident. Despite his radio appearing to malfunction, he manages to attract global attention through a newspaper chain, ultimately landing safely and securing both the child's medical care and financial future, while also benefiting from the ensuing publicity.
Chapter 5
Halftripper
The narrator, a spaceman in a Mars bar, encounters a halftripper—a victim of space cafard—and an old man named Joseph. Joseph shows compassion for the halftripper, prompting a discussion on salvation and inner peace. The bartender Sam reveals Joseph is an immortal former spacebaron who, along with his brother Micheal, caused a revolution on Calypso by refusing to let a plague-stricken ship land, unknowingly killing his own son. The chapter ends with the narrator suffering a space cafard attack and glimpsing Joseph, recognizing him as his brother Micheal.

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Tourists to Terra

Not in the Rules

The Martians and the Coys

Mercy Flight

Halftripper